Strider is now on the hard (or on the hill, as the Americans say) at Ross Marine, on John's Island in greater Charleston. Ross Marine is on the Stono River, about 90 minutes' motoring (but 20 minutes by car) from where we were anchored in the Ashley River just off the Charleston City Marina.

We had initially set off for Ross Marine last week Thursday, but after upping anchor and a short attempt against the current up Wappoo Creek, we realised that Strider was up to her sometimes evident wiles - despite high revs we were hardly moving. So we turned back and re-anchored close to our former spot to try and identify the problem. Ferdi (rightly, it later turned out) thought the prop was the culprit, so at 5am the following morning, at slack tide, he dived down in decidedly murky water to see if he could remove some of the sea creatures which we assumed had accumulated on the blades since our departure from Beaufort. He managed to scrape off some of the barnacles and around 9am we made a second attempt to leave, this time successfully and this time, with the current.

Around 10am, both of us realised it was my birthday - the first time in 43 years that I had failed to take cognisance of this milestone until so late in the day! One of the great things about cruising life is the fact that one day flows into another and we often don't know what day of the week it is, let alone the date.

After a short stint up Wappoo Creek, we turned right into the Stono River and soon arrived at Ross Marine. There Strider was hauled out and we could see for the first time the extent of the marine life that had taken over on the hull and especially the prop. Our boat was washed down with a high-pressure hose and transferred to her spot on the hard in the boatyard.

Captain Haddock would have said of our prop: "Blistering Barnacles!" Closer inspection also revealed that all three blades were bent - no wonder we had made so little headway the previous day. We also now saw the result of the loud crunch we had heard on our ocean trip down from Beaufort to Charleston (on my watch, you can imagine my angst!) We knew at the time that we had struck a submerged object (not indicated on the paper charts, but it showed up on the chart plotter as a defunct lateral marker), but had not been aware of what damage it had caused. So when we come back in October, the prop will have to be sent off (again) to beat out the dents. Why are we having such bad luck with this prop? (Although I must admit I'm grateful it was the prop and not part of the hull that took the brunt of the collision!)

Since we are not permitted to sleep on the boat at Ross Marine, we rented an apartment close by (and a car) for a few days. To celebrate my birthday and to make up for our earlier memory loss, we went to downtown Charleston later that evening and had a fabulous evening on the town.

Getting a boat ready to hibernate for three months is quite a task - Ferdi and I have spent the past few days working our butts off in searing heat and near 100% humidity. This is what we have done: removed the genoa and mainsail (folding them up neatly on the grass next to Strider and storing them below decks), cleaning the interior, having the heads (toilet) holding tank pumped out, cleaning and hauling up the dinghy onto the deck with the aid of a halyard (our dinghy is quite heavy, so this led to some cussing and a minor disagreement between the captain and his only crew), and covering most of the boat with tarpaulin to prevent weather damage (we had looked into having Strider professionally shrink-wrapped, but prohibitive costs led to us doing the job ourselves), and cleaning out the bilges.

One of the last evenings before we left Charleston was spent on Ulysses, the steel boat of fellow cruisers Ben and Kat Okopnik - Russian and Japanese Americans respectively, and their adorable two-year-old son Michael - who were anchored in the Ashley River next to us. We spent a lovely evening with them and were sad to say goodbye when they dinghied us back to shore from their boat.

With Strider now safely nestled between several other boats hauled out at Ross Marine for the hurricane season, we are really looking forward to getting back home for a while, both for a complete change of scenery and also to catch up with all our friends and family back home. South Africa, here we come!

(See new pics in the album "A Few Weeks in Charleston").