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PF rule set, PCs are just about to finish up Children of the Void.

Shorty Wobblybush: Halfling Rogue5, has a tendency to rip off the rest of the party and pocket more loot for herself than needed.

Zarg: Half-Orc Barbarian4/Cavalier1, "traditional" barbarian (he's illiterate and impulsive).

Zanhan: Dwarf Ranger4/Druid1, greedy but driven. He's already stolen two boats and has been obsessively training Profession: Sailor since the first acquisition.

Myla (RIP): Half-Elf Bard4. The only Good-aligned character in the party, and often mediator of internal disputes. Unfortunately, after nailing the door of the safest-seeming structure on Devil's Elbow and going to sleep, the party faced a wraith that claimed Myla before being cut down.

Mebbitinkle: Gnome Sorcerer5 reincarnated into a bugbear body. Wears fake manacles and chains when meeting new NPCs to allay their fears and hostility, and shocks most to find that instead of the calculated and brutal killer that inhabits most bugbear bodies, she is a brash thrill-junkie that likes to see the pretty lights her magic can make.

We will soon be adding an Osiriani cleric of Pharasma that works as a paranormal investigator and ghostbuster. She has traveled all of the way from the Inner Sea to investigate the hauntings of the failed colony on Devil's Elbow.

After mentioning some scholarly speculation on p.50, I had pictured the Cyphergate not so much as an arch, but a half-buried ring. This would explain the existence of more runes deep underground in the excavation room, since the portion of an arch that far down would be a simple structural footing or foundation. Since it is described as being 35 feet across inrectangular cross-section and speculated to be a ring, I would assume that the 35 feet is constant. This makes the arch a very easy area for the PCs to run around on once they get over the first couple of climb checks, which should decrease in difficulty as they progress.

Also, Rule-0 should probably be used to some extent here, as a frustrated and bumbling party trying to boost each other up onto the side of a landmark while the bad guy wins isn't very epic. However, the new kids in town doing battle with a mythical creature in full-view of the city while running around 350 feet above the harbor certainly is.

Name: Mebbitinkle
Race: Gnome
Class: Sorcerer 3
Adventure: Shadow in the Sky
Location: Depora's Lair

Catalyst: Impulsive even by gnomish standards, after seeing her companions all vomiting on their shoes due to a Stinking Cloud, Mebbi decided to run through the cloud. She very luckily avoided the cloud's effects, but ended up realizing that she had cornered herself with a very unfriendly drow on one side a small army of self-summoning dretches between her and any help she might have. Needless to say, Depora made short work of the little sorceress while her companions were busy cutting their way through the lesser demons.

I decided to expand upon this adventure by making one trait from the Player's Guide to Riddleport mandatory for my characters. This allowed them to pick seeds for their own backstories that I've been fleshing out with each of them privately. As we progress through the adventure, their pasts come back to haunt them sporadically, and with as much character interaction as possible to keep it interesting.

For example: our Barbarian took the trait involving investigation of possible demonic/diabolic involvement at the gambling tournament, and without my input, decided to wear a signet ring of his order. I moved Old Scratch to the door to oversee the signing of the "Contracts" necessary for entry and had the imp become visibly and loudly agitated at the sight of the ring. Currently, Old Scratch is accompanying the party and trying to (secretly) damn our Sorcerer while occasionally granting her bonuses for Knowledge: Planes and such.

While I realize that I'm potentially making it far more difficult for myself to keep the party on-track, or even unified, I'm also allowing them to play a big role in writing their own adventure as it goes along. This has already fleshed out the adventure in a big way, and we've only just finished the first module. Whether they make it to the end of this story without killing each other or just plain abandoning the AP isn't a huge concern for the kind of game I'm running, so if the convenience of a pre-written path is a major factor in your GMing, your mileage may vary with this technique.

The tsunami had totally slipped my mind, thanks! I think I'll give them the rent or repair option, and either way have somebody steal their stolen boat.

Oh boy.

I'm running the Second Darkness campaign after having played through it with another group. My PCs are still on SitS, but should be finishing it up soon to head out to Devil's Elbow.
My problem is this: in one of the SitS encounters, the players are instructed to pick up some imported liquor from the docks for Saul. Contrary to their original intentions, these PCs are all turning out to be pretty obviously CE, and a simple delivery errand turned into an absolute bloodbath, and with the help of some very fortuante rolls, the forgery of the title to the Foamrunner.
Now I have PCs in the posession of a craft that is perfectly capable of transporting them to and from Devil's Elbow, but no seafaring rules for the Pathfinder game system.
Furthermore, by docking their own ship on the island, they have a safe house of sorts to rest and regroup while they are there, making the perils of wandering this wilderness pretty minor.

Any suggestions on letting them (attempt) to sail their own ship or to keep them from breezing through this module?

PS: The idea of them having the ship is fun and opens up a lot of possibilities, so I'd rather not just take it away from them without giving them a chance to keep it.