Sunday 29 November
Today included transiting the infamous Hell Gate. Albeit relatively short, this is a very narrow and extremely shallow channel that we have heard horror stories about all along the ICW, with reported depths of less than 4 feet at times of low tide. (Remember – our draft is 5 feet – and you can easily do the math. More boat than water means grounding.)
We were sandwiched between two boats on the long dock and had to strategically figure out how to leave the dock, with the strong current coming the wrong way, and very little maneuvering room without hitting either boat. 
With the assist of two neighbors on the docks handling some of our lines, Bob pulled off the maneuver by backing down on the spring dock line (tied to mid ship cleat), thereby pointing the bow of the boat away from the dock and the stern into the dock, then moving forward pulling away from the dock, retrieving dock line and not having the dinghy get caught up on the power pedestal. It is a maneuver that takes excellent timing (and a bit of faith and confidence).
We timed our departure from Isle of Hope Marina so we would be passing through Hell Gate at high tide. We followed the strategically located markers and had no problem with the channel, not ever seeing depth any less than 11 feet. No regrets on over- planning this one. 
From there we winded our away through the river to our marina for the night.
Many cruisers prefer to avoid Georgia on the ICW because the rivers wind back and forth adding miles to the trip. But if you don’t have a particular agenda and are in no hurry to get to your destination, the winding rivers of Georgia are quite pleasant. Bob took advantage of the wide deep rivers by sitting back for a while and letting the auto-pilot have control.
We chose to stay at Kilkenny Marina which is actually a fish camp with few amenities. But it did have electricity and clean shower facilities, and made for a lovely evening swatting at nasty biting sand flies.