Sum Escape: Georgia to South Carolina and a "vacation" from cruising. June 28 to July 5, 2017

Last day of cruising...for a while. More on this later in the post.
Leaving Jekyll Island on June 28 we set out for Kilkenny Marina (about 70 miles) and the Marker 107 Restaurant next door. Not much of a marina, but a great restaurant next door! About 2 miles off the ICW.

We had a great fresh seafood meal and planned to leave Thursday morning at 8 AM, slack tide (the currents rip at 2+MPH through Kilkenny Creek) and a time that would put us at Hell Gate, a notoriously shallow section of the ICW after the tide started to rise. The plan worked well.

Running through Georgia can have some huge biting flies. Today was no exception so the lower air conditioned and comfortable helm station was the choice for this helmsman. Nice and cool ("feels like" temperatures were in the high 90's outside), dry and no biting flies. That is one of the things we really like about our boat, good options for piloting based on weather. And the windshield wipers going through the sounds for wiping salt spray and the occasional rain showers were great too.

We arrived at our destination marina in South Carolina and got settled.
Here are photos of the lock we came through to get into the marina. It is only 19 feet wide and we are 16 feet so with the cross winds it was a bit of a challenge, but we have been in tighter spaces. Julie is a great coach on the headsets to direct me. The team works.

And here is the marina on the other side. Very protected and being behind the lock negates any tide in the marina. Very nice facility.

Fortunately we did not have to use too many of the steps on the flowchart below to dock here. But it is so true! Anyone who docks a large vessel will get this.....

A photo from one of our walks around the beautiful community. Well protected basin here.

The South Carolina Yacht Club is in the background. A unique motor vehicle traffic "slow" sign.

The view of an approaching daily thunderstorm.

We do have a temporary change in lifestyle to share with you. This was our last cruising day for a while..... Why?
"Sécurité, sécurité, sécurité. Please switch to channel 6-8 for a broadcast of Sum Escape cruising status. Over."
"Family, friends and followers, family, friends and followers, this is Sum Escape on 6-8. Well, sometimes a curve ball comes from nowhere and things change. God has a plan for all of us and one never knows until it is presented.
In our case, with a late start to northern cruising due to extended repair time, Eliza and Jordan's wedding in early September in Michigan, my former employer needing some temporary help and spending some time with Mom this summer, we have decided on a bit of a change of pace.
I will be taking the Interim Executive VP/CFO role at SpartanNash Company in early July.
We have accepted the temporary employment, put the boat into a safe harbor in South Carolina, entered maintenance contracts for care taking of Sum Escape, had engine and genset oil changed, topped off / stabilized fuel in boat and dinghy, investigated having to modify our insurance coverage as "absentee owners", picked up a rental car and we spent a week packing up most of our belongings and driving to Michigan to rejoin the city life soon. We hope to see many of you in Grand Rapids soon.
More to come as we plan to resume cruising in a few months. Over. Sum Escape, standby 16."

And so here we are carting our belongings to the SUV for the trip to Grand Rapids...