We are awoken at 2.30 am this morning as a micro-storm passes overhead. Thunder, lightening, torrential rain and wind gusts of 45 knots are all over in about 30 minutes.

Back to bed but up again at 5.30 am to the bright flashings of lightening reflecting on the cabin ceiling from yet another storm - after which we decided there was no point returning to bed but rather to get underway for the last part of our journey to Thunderbolt where we will lay up Alexia for a couple of weeks.

We pull the anchor which is crusted with silver grey mud and it takes some time to hose this off despite our very powerful seawater pump connected into the anchor locker.

We then nose our way out of Wrights Creek - it's a great day for a sail and we manage a few miles under jib until we reach the 'cross roads' of the Savannah River - we look left and right for container ships but everything looks clear and we cross over.

The Savannah River is a main container ship traffic route to and from the Atlantic Ocean a few miles away and has fast running tides. A container ship moves probably four times faster than a sail boat and has no means of stopping immediately so all small boats are requiried to keep out of their way rather than the other way round.

Finally, Thunderbolt in view - we pass under the US80 Highway Bridge and Alexia settles comfortably into her slip where she will remain until tomorrow when she will be lifted out for her annual hull check.