Hilton Head to Charleston - Loop Trip Days 124 - 130

We're only at Hilton Head for one full day and it was a sunny, cold one to start. Fortunately it warmed up quickly and we took the bikes off for a ride. The ruins of  the Stoney - Baynard House are not too far from Harbour Town so that's the first stop. This was an old cotton plantation in the late 1700's until the Civil War. The house burned shortly after that and the foundation and a piece of a wall are all that remain. From here we rode to the South Beach portion of the island, past some quite amazing homes and along a nice bike path. The next stop was Salty Dog Cafe for lunch and a little break. We checked out the shops here before returning to the Harbour Town shops. At the end of the day, this all added up to a little over 8 miles, not a bad workout.

The Ruins

Remaining wall

Marker

Marker

Marina at Salty Dog's

On Saturday morning, we went over to a breakfast place located in the Charleston lighthouse keepers cottage. This 1880's structure was moved from the Battery to Hilton Head to become the Harbour Town Bakery and Cafe. Good place, but it was spring break crowded!  Today's trip to Beaufort required a little timing to arrive close to high tide. We were here about two years ago and I remember the current raging through the marina and didn't want anything to do with that. Everything worked as planned and we were tied up about an hour before high tide. Looking through all the info that the marina provided was a reminder of the Dockside Restaurant just over the Lady's Island bridge so Uber came through again with a ride. Dinner was excellent and we just beat the crowd so no waiting was involved!  We'll be here a couple of days and this will give us a chance to check out all the possibilities in town.  Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/990911

On the dock

Sunset over the mooring field

Last night was a bit rough, literally, because the wind was blowing across the open area to the south of us creating waves that slapped the side of the boat. The noise and rocking did not make for a good nights sleep!  Sunday morning was gray and raining. The wind had shifted coming from the north bringing in more cold air. We got out our warm Gill coats and walked to The Brick for lunch and to watch some basketball. After the first game, it was into town to see what else was happening. The first restaurant we found with televisions was Hemingway's.  They just happened to be celebrating their 20th anniversary so we stopped to see what was going on, they gave us some raffle tickets as we walked in and next thing you know we had won a gift pack!  How's that for a welcome to town! From here, we walked over to Luther's because it was a bit larger and had more TV's to watch sports. They had a band playing and several people from the crowd went up to do songs. Got to say a couple of them were pretty good!  After listening for a while, we went back to the boat, hoping for a warmer and dryer day tomorrow. 

Beaufort Marina

Our winnings!!

Monday was much dryer, but colder than it was yesterday. I had to go back into the under floor storage to get out more winter coats!  Braced for the "feels like 37" temperature, we walked into town to go to Blackstone's Cafe for breakfast. This is an interesting little hole in the wall place that gets great reviews and serves up a really good meal. Afterwards, we visited a few of the shops while waiting to join a tour through the Verdier House. This home, right on the main street of town, was built in 1804. An interesting piece of history here in Beaufort is that, shortly after the beginning of the Civil War, Union warships attacked the forts at Port Royal. The Confederate officers warned the citizens that city could not be held and advised them to evacuate. They all left and the Union troops moved into the deserted town, seized it and used it as a base. The city was left untouched throughout the war and a few original citizens were able to return when it all ended.  Later, we borrowed the courtesy car for a trip to Walmart and a ride through the portion of town called "The Point" to see some of the beautiful, historic homes. 

Main staircase of the Verdier House

Good day for a fire!

The morning we  left Beaufort was again grey and chilly. Current was running pretty strong, but we want to leave now so arrival will be at slack tide. There are the big, old houses along the waterfront heading north, but shortly after that the landscape goes back to sea grass. Along the way, only a couple of areas have any homes and these are in small groups before going back to basic swamp land. We have to pass through three "cuts" that make the ICW connect to rivers. Two of the three are narrow and shallow so these required extra attention. Reaching the South Edisto River, we start to see the development on the island and as we approach the Atlantic inlet, the beaches and homes become more prominent. The marina is on Big Bay Creek which for some reason has no markers, but the water was quite deep making the entry no problem. We were placed on the fuel dock, right in front of the restaurant here, all by ourselves. Regina did some research places to go for dinner and found Ella & Ollie's. This is right next to the Wyndham and was very good. Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/993709

Deer family on the way to dinner

Wednesday was the first day with sunshine in a while!  And it was finally warmer too!  We chilled out a bit while I took care of a couple of maintenance items needing attention. After checking out our options, we decided to walk up to Dockside and check it out. This waterside location was basically deserted when we arrived, but started filling up before we left to go back to Ella & Ollie's. This place was so good last night that we just had to go back!  Without a doubt, this is probably the best place on the island and they are getting ready to open a Mexican restaurant very soon. 

On the dock - check out the guy putting his boat on the trailer

The trip from Edisto to Charleston will take about four hours and again must be timed to arrive at slack tide to reduce current as much as possible.  We are now on sections of the ICW that we were on a couple of years ago, but I can only remember pieces of that trip. I don't recall this long section of wilderness heading toward Charleston. As we get closer, I do remember how it almost suddenly starts showing signs of life and particularly the narrow Elliott Creek cut entering Charleston Harbor and the raging current flowing there.  The marina put us, and seemingly all the transients, on a face dock open to the harbor. Today the wind is howling out of the south at about 20 mph and we are being rocked and rolled.  Waves are pounding the side and stern making it very loud inside. After checking out what was nearby, we headed into town for dinner at Stars and then walked to Prohibition to listen to some live music. While there, we met Meredith and Stuart, who offered to let us sit at their table. Turns out they are getting ready to sell their house, buy a boat and become live aboards! Fun to hear about their search and plan. The wind had not let up when we got back and we didn't sleep much with the noise and pounding waves. Since there is a lot to see and do in Charleston, we will be staying here for several days. Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/995797

In the waves

Band at Prohibition on the patio

With Stuart and Meredith

The band moved inside so we did too

Tuba serenade

He plays for everyone

With the arrival in Charleston, we have traveled about 2,320 miles or 2,042 nautical miles, just a little over one-third of the loop.  This took about 236 hours of run time on the engines.  At some point, I'll have to add up how many gallons of diesel fuel that we burned.

The track from Chattanooga to Charleston

Brunswick to Hilton Head - Loop Trip Days 117 - 123

Brunswick is a very quiet, laid back little town. The most activity we've seen are boats coming in for fuel - they do have a good price here. This is a nice marina. The slips are very wide and the fairways between docks are also very wide. They have free laundry facilities which we have utilized.  On Friday, while Regina did laundry, I worked on our route to Savannah and on reservations further north. This resulted in another change when I discovered that Charleston Maritime Marina is closed for hurricane repairs. This is a great place on the edge of town with a free trolley passing right by that connects to the entire city system. Oh well, I booked City Marina instead which is at least sort of in town. In the afternoon, we walked into town and went all along the main street looking at the shops and little parks. For dinner, we went to Basil Thai restaurant which was quite good and we have leftovers. Then we walked to the marina's "Yacht Club" where they have free beer all the time and a free wine happy hour three nights a week. There was a decent crowd there for happy hour, but interestingly these people seemed to have their own agenda and weren't very friendly. That just normally doesn't happen in a boating group. Oh well, we stayed for a while and then returned to the boat for more March Madness. This is also a long marina and that Yacht Club is at least a half mile from the transient slips. I'm thinking this was prior planning!

Fountain in one of the parks

Old courthouse

Our spot out on the end 

Sunset

Saturday was a beautiful sunny day with the temperature finally getting back to 80. Unfortunately, it is short lived as next week goes back into the 60's. Maybe we're going to have some spring weather before much longer. The last loads of laundry were finished today and our rugs and salon runner are all clean again. Regina has somehow hurt her right thumb and is having some serious issues with that. I've hurt a thumb before so I know how bad that is because, without realizing it, you use thumbs for everything. It's a good thing that we will be anchoring out tomorrow because lines are going to be a problem to try to do with one hand. This afternoon will be a late lunch/early dinner day at Fox Pizza so we can get back to see the Vols play in the second round of the NCAA tournament.  The pizza was a great deal and really good, but the game didn't end up as hoped.

The marina

A fire in the sky

Sunday morning was sunny and nice, but a little windy. We left about 9:45 going back down the creek to the Brunswick River and the ICW. There were a couple of inlets that we passed opening out into the Atlantic, but everything was pretty smooth all day. The scenery along the way was mostly wetlands and swamp grass. In the distances, you could occasionally see homes or other buildings. Only one place on the waterway had any homes and it was adjacent to Doboy Island. I'm thinking there has to be a story behind that and would love to know what it is. The trip to Savannah is rather long and since there's not much here our plan was to anchor at Vandyke Creek. It was easy to get into and no problem anchoring. The wind was blowing out of the west when we arrived, but at about 9 PM it switched to roughly 13 mph from the east and we had no protection from that direction. It was pretty rough with rocking and rolling until about midnight when the wind stopped. The other thing about this was the little black biting gnats. They first showed up when the wind died and fortunately, I have a ThermaCell which I fired up. Those things really work, but the boat was covered with dead gnats the next morning.  Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/986439

Vandyke Creek

The next leg is to Savannah continuing up the ICW. We need to leave the anchorage before 10 AM to get to Hell Gate around the peak of high tide. This area is well know as a very shallow cut to everyone on the ICW. Our timing was good and we arrived there about 30 minutes past what the tables said was high tide. The depth finder registered a minimum of 10.5 feet as we went through which sounds great, but you must account for an 8 foot tidal change, so at low tide this would be 2.5 feet! I wouldn't be able to get through long before it ever got to that point. A little past here, we finally returned to civilization and got to the first town, at Burnside Island, that we had seen since Brunswick. From here on, the homes and marinas were all along the way making the ride very scenic. Thunderbolt Marina was the destination and the tide was beginning to drop as we came in creating quite a current on the river. This made getting in an tied up interesting! My former client and still good friend, Jimmy, came to pick us up later and we went out to his home on Tybee Island. A beautiful place, overlooking the beach and the ocean entry to the Savannah River. We visited for a while to catch up and then went to AJ's for dinner. It's been months since we've been up this late!  Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/987459

With Jimmy

View from the top balcony

Tuesday was the day to go downtown for a little sight seeing. It was warm, but the black clouds were all around. Not long after we arrived at the Ships of the Sea Museum, it opened up and just poured down for over an hour. The wind and thunder literally shook the old, historic home that houses the collection. Outside is the largest private garden in the city and luckily, we walked through it before the rain started. This museum has amazing models of all kinds of ships. These are so detailed they look like they could be sailing in the ocean! I lost count of how many were named Savannah, but there was only one named City of Chattanooga, didn't expect to find that! A little break in the rain came so we could get to the Thomas Low House. This was once the home of a wealthy cotton factor and was completed in 1849. In spite of his great wealth, he had great tragedy in his life loosing two wives and later a daughter in child birth. That was obviously a risky thing in those days! Robert E. Lee even visited this house shortly before his death in 1870. It was Low's son's wife who founded the Girl Scouts and had the original headquarters in this house. An interesting fact about Savannah is that it was held by the Union throughout the War of Northern Aggression and many in the city, like Thomas Low, were Confederate spies and assisted blockade runners. After completing the tour, we went across Lafayette Square to the Cathedral of St John the Baptist. This extraordinary building was started in 1879, suffered a fire which destroyed much of it and was finally completed in 1900. The detail and beauty of the interior is breathtaking and well worth a visit if you're ever in town. From here, we went back to Jimmy's house at Tybee for dinner. He grilled the most incredible tomahawk steaks. This is a special ribeye cut that is shaped like a tomahawk and these were quite large. Dinner was fabulous and we had a great evening.

Thunderbolt along the Wilmington River

Some big azaleas

Ships of the Sea Museum

One of the Savannah's

Thomas Low House

The parlor

Robert E Lee bedroom

The Cathedral

Interior

Alter at front

Another view from the balcony

Tomahawk steaks!

The opportunity to go shopping came on Wednesday when Jimmy arrived to take us to the store. We have basically run out of food and jugs of water for coffee. Without coffee, the boat won't run so this was a really big issue. There was a Publix nearby so we were able to restock. After getting everything unloaded and put away, we were off the visit the Crow Bar, one of Jimmy's favorites. Neat little place that's been in this location for 48 years! Then it was a trip by Sherri and George's house, Jimmy's sister. We haven't seen them in a few years so this was a nice catch up. Tonight is Italian night at 80 East Gastropub on Tybee so that will be our dinner location. While we were at dinner, I heard Jimmy on the phone talking to someone and the words "Knoxville, architect, Bob Carroll". When he saw my mouth fall open, he asked if I knew him. I explained that yes I did and I had worked in a firm where he was a partner back in the 70's. Well, lo and behold, it was Bob's daughter, Ann, he was talking to and she was now on the way over. We talk about it being a small world and things like this just confirm that. It was very nice to meet her and exchange some memories of a really great guy who had a lot to do with developing the foundation of my career. There have been many days I wondered what had happened to Bob and some of the other folks at that firm. It was sad to hear that he had passed away, but remembering some of the funny things he would say made me laugh out loud.

The Gang

Me and Ann

Next stop is Hilton Head. Not a long trip and on Thursday morning, we braved the cold and the wind to make this leg. It only took about two hours until we were tied up in the harbor looking at the lighthouse. This place is quite nice. Jeff met us at the entry in his small boat to guide us to the slip and after getting us settled in presented us with a bottle of wine in the welcome package!  After some cleaning and research on the selection of nearby eateries, we decided to try One Hot Mamma's!  They are known for ribs and wings.  The little place seemed to be almost empty when we arrived, but was full when we left.  Food was great and there's another restaurant next door that may be our place for tomorrow.  Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/988747

Hilton Head Lighthouse

The Harbour

St Augustine to Brunswick - Loop Trip Days 110 - 116

There's a lot going on in Saint Augustine and we're beginning to think that our stay will be too short, but today it's off to catch the tour trolley and see how much we can see. The trolley is a pretty good deal. We got a two day ticket which makes it even better. They narrate the ride so you can learn about the city's history and you can get on and off all day long. We got on at the winery and rode to the old fort where we got off and walked to breakfast at the Maple Street Biscuit Company. Great spot, quite inexpensive and interestingly located on Cordova Street, go figure. From here, it was on to the Oldest Schoolhouse. Boy, were things tough back in those days. You had to bring wood for the fire, food for the teacher and if you misbehaved, you got put in the closet under the stairs! How do you think that would go over these days? After that, we went to the Castillo de San Marcos, probably better known as the Old Fort. Lot of history here and an interesting engineering lesson about how the coquina stone could stand up to bombardment without failing. While there, the Park Service did a demonstration of the firing of a cannon! You would be deaf from doing that with any regularity. From the fort, we went to the Colonial Quarter for a tour of what life was like during the various occupations of the city. John was our guide and he did a great job narrating the tour. Amazingly the day has flown by and it's time to head to the Prohibition Kitchen for dinner. This place has a decor from the 1930's and jazz music daily. We got in just before the hoards arrived and packed it to the gills!

Old school room

Old school ouse and kitchen

Marker

Old City Wall

The Old St Augustine Fort

Firing the cannon

Interior of the fort

Ship building at the Colonial Quarter

Prohibition Kitchen

Yesterday was windy and about 44 degrees, but this morning the wind has died down and the temperature is closer to 60. Much better! We walked to our trolley stop and waited, but no trolley. Much to our surprise today is the St Patrick's Day parade and a Celtic Festival is going on so downtown is a total mess. Now those tickets aren't looking like such a deal. Anyway, the only way to town is on foot so we're walking. Our plan was to go to brunch at the Casablanca hotel, when we arrive it will be an hour to get seated and place an order. Next door is the Harbor View Grille which is a little diner that has been here for 30 years. We met Mary, the owner, sat at the counter and had a great meal. From here, the next stop is the Pirate and Treasure Museum. Paul, at the marina, told me about this place and how the interior was done like the inside of a ship. Actually, part of the design was done by Disney and the exhibits are excellent. From here, we were finally able to get on the trolley and rode from the Old Fort to the Oldest Jail. The tour of the jail was quite a tale! It was funded by Henry Flagler when he came here to rebuild the city and his hotel. He gave the City the money with the requirement that it be at least one mile from his hotel. This was not a place you would have wanted to be. The six foot by six foot cells with four bunks typically housed 12 to 16 prisoners!! After the jail, it was back on the trolley to get back into the downtown area. We went back to the Prohibition Kitchen to watch the Vols in the SEC semifinals and have dinner.

Pirate Museum

Pirate Museum

Our convict tour guide at the Old Jail

Cell interior

Sunday morning, we left for the next leg up the ICW. The first part goes past the downtown area and the Old Fort. You pass under the Bridge of Lions which is a really cool, historic structure. Just past here, the ICW turns east straight toward the St Augustine Inlet and then makes a hard left turn. The waves were breaking and the view was great. For about the next ten miles, the waterway is wide and almost totally undeveloped with no speed restrictions. This was great until about 12 miles below Jacksonville where the ICW suddenly becomes very narrow with houses, docks and restaurants lining the banks. Now the restrictions are back and the next six miles are slow. At least there is stuff to look at. After what feels like an eternity, this is finally past and it's only a few more miles to our stop for the day which is Palm Cove Marina . Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/979991

Passing the Old Fort on the ICW

Our plan was to leave early this morning, but for some I woke up even earlier than planned. While trying to figure out why, I looked at the weather forecast to see that the front is moving faster expected. So I woke up the sleeping Admiral, much to her dismay, to let her know we had to go - now! We got rolling quickly. This is an ugly, windy, drizzly morning and almost no one else is on the water. This is a good thing as we need to get to Fernandina as early as possible. Just north of where we had stopped is the St John's River and huge ship building facilities. Going through this makes you feel really small and compared to even the smallest of these ships, we are! The area beyond here is probably very pretty on a nice day. Most of it passes through a preserve area and two state parks. Desolate, untouched, islands, swamp and sea grasses like it all must have been years ago. Arrival at Fernandina City Marina was at 11 and wind was already blowing straight out of the west at about 15 mph. West was good because it blew us right onto the face dock where we tied up. The rest of the day wind increased to about 30 mph and the waterway looked like the ocean. Thankfully, there is a floating dock between us and the open area that was badly damaged in Irma, but is stopping the waves before they break on us. We braved the windstorm and walked into town for dinner at the Salty Pelican, great food at this waterfront place. The winds will be dropping during the night so tomorrow should be a much better day. Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/980695

The floating dock protecting us from the waves

Whitecaps 

Tuesday morning was entirely different than yesterday. It was cool this morning, but the wind has basically stopped and the water is flat. The marina had a breakfast place listed as the best in town so this was a must visit location. The name was Bright Morning Cafe so I Googled it to find where we were going. Turns out it was only about three blocks away. When we walked up to the restaurant we both said, "we've been here before", which was two years ago and it was still a great place to eat. From here, we went to the Maritime Museum. It didn't look like much from outside or when we first entered, but turns out that the guys who run it are actual treasure hunters and knew Mel Fisher, the renowned treasure hunter who has the museum in Key West. This museum had some amazing artifacts and the guys had so much personal information that was very interesting. Don't miss this if you're in town. The typical tourist shopping stroll through town came next. Midway through that, we came to the 1892 historic courthouse and decided to walk in. The security guard met us right inside the door, but was really nice and invited us in to look around and see the old courtroom. What a beautiful old building, well preserved and cared for. We walked all around town before deciding to stop at the Green Turtle Tavern. While sitting in a couple of tall beach chairs outside, we met a couple from New York who were here to see their son who is stationed at King's Bay. He is a submariner and has some very interesting history of the Navy. We were very impressed by his enthusiasm and commitment to his service and training in the USN! Around the corner from here was an Italian restaurant we stumbled into and Ciao turned out to be an excellent choice. We got back to the boat in time to see another Florida sunset.

The Maritime Museum

Old Courthouse

The Courtroom

Marker

Lesesne House

Sunset

On Wednesday, the wind picked up again and it was rather chilly. We hung out on-board for a while to let it warm up some and then broke out our bikes. I had been told that Old Fernandina was a place to go see so that was the plan. It was about 2.5 miles, but that didn't take too long. Unfortunately, there's nothing there so this was a bit of a let down. The map showed a nearby road leading to Fort Clinch so we went a little further only to find that it was a locked gate. Determined to make something of this trip, we headed back toward town, then east, to the main entrance to the park. From here it was a pretty, but three mile uphill, ride to the visitor center and the fort. I seriously thought my legs were going to fall off by the time we got there and I literally toppled over at the destination. The fort turned out to be a pretty neat place with a video history and a lot of details added to the various rooms in the structures. It overlooks the ICW and the Saint Mary's Inlet so we will hopefully see the water side tomorrow. After touring all over the fort, it was back to the entrance and then west back to town. The whole trip was just short of 15 miles - quite a workout for one day! And no Rob, we're not professional riders like you!  Back at the marina, we went to the Shrimp Museum before putting the bikes away and walking to dinner. Our pick was 29 South Eats, a place that we went to a couple of years ago. It's located in a little house and is very good. They were literally booked for the evening, but we had gotten there early enough that they squeezed us in!

There was a fort in Old Ferandina

Pippy Longstocking House

Fort Clinch

Guns over the waterway

The Quartermaster Room

Kitchen and laundry buildings

Big guns!

Foundation for Officers' Quarters which were never constructed

Sunset

It was again cold, but no wind, on Thursday morning when it was time to leave. We eased out and continued the voyage north toward Saint Mary's inlet and then past Cumberland Island. This is a really long island and very remote. The scenery is nice and we saw a few dolphins along the way. At the top of the island is St Andrew Sound, you actually go into the Atlantic Ocean to get around a shoal in the middle of the inlet. Thankfully, it was a very calm day and the inlet was a smooth crossing. Just north of here was Jekyll Island and another narrow creek that made up this ICW section. At the north end of this island is St Simons Sound and the Brunswick River. Our destination is to the west and off the ICW. We will spend a the next few days at Brunswick, Georgia to explore this town. Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/982538

Our neighbor - about the same size??

Sunset