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| Fountain in one of the parks |
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| Old courthouse |
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| Our spot out on the end |
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| 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.
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| The marina |
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| 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
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| 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
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| With Jimmy |
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| 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.
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| Thunderbolt along the Wilmington River |
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| Some big azaleas |
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| Ships of the Sea Museum |
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| One of the Savannah's |
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| Thomas Low House |
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| The parlor |
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| Robert E Lee bedroom |
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| The Cathedral |
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| Interior |
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| Alter at front |
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| Another view from the balcony |
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| 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.
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| The Gang |
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| 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
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| Hilton Head Lighthouse |
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| The Harbour |
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