Charleston, SC

Sunday we left Savannah and anchored out in the salt marshes once again on our way up the AICW.  It was peaceful and still and you could hear the birds across the marsh.  Monday we made the last leg up to Charleston.  We had to make it a two day trip in order to time our arrival at a temperamental stretch call the “Elliot Cut”.  We had been warned that the best way to go through that area was to wait until the tide was pushing us along – and that meant early to mid-morning.  So all went well and we are now at Charleston Maritime Marina. 

The wind has been fierce.  This week the rest of the country is experiencing a ferocious outbreak of tornados and we are getting thunderstorms and rain.  Pulling into the dock was a concerted effort from our highly skilled captain and three strong deck hands trying to get our lines tied down as we bounced and pitched.  We are at a long dock with “Carole Ann” right in front of us, and “Field Trip” right behind.

Table Cloths imported from France

We have gone into Charleston and shopped at the city open-air market.  I got some French cotton tablecloths and Loretta found the Sea Grass basket she wanted. The baskets are a Charleston specialty, hand woven from bulrushes, sea grass, palmetto and long pine needles.  There were at least 20 choices of hand-weavers selling them at the market and on the street.  

Loretta buying a sea grass basket, very nice!

We also took a trolley down King Street today, and walked among all the beautiful historic homes and gardens and along the Battery.  That is the seawall of the city, built for protection from enemies and floods.  The houses here are beautifully detailed with ironwork, balconies, side porches and of course, pillars.  They are also often painted in pastel colors.   We stopped for a refreshment at the Southern Brewing Company and checked out the menus at numerous restaurants to plan ahead for tomorrow, our last day here.

South side porch on a narrow house, a Charleston original

 

Lovely architecture

Delphinium in bloom

The street entrance often leads to the porch

Port Royal Landing Marina to Church Creek Anchorage

Port Royal Marina

Sorry we did not post last night, we were either having too much fun or were tired from the day’s activities. The people at Port Royal were just great, I can highly recommend this marina to all Loopers. They helped us land, told us of all the great places to see on our short visit, allowed us to use their truck to go into town (nice truck by the way), provided directions and a map and generally were great fun to be with. The town has a wonderful historic district and at least three fine restaurants downtown. There is a West Marine and Auto Parts store close to the marina. Bay Street takes you downtown to a lively active environment. The historic area is on the river close to downtown, all very compact and lovely. We were sorry we arrived as late as we did and needed to leave again this morning, we could have enjoyed another day here.

Q on Bay for Bar-B-Q

We were warned about the 8 foot tides in the area and how that might affect navigation on the rivers, so we left about 8 am this morning. It is best to travel some of the designated cuts at mid to high tide, our experience was very positive and although we appreciate the local knowledge some is exaggerated to an extreme. Travel today was slow, 5.5 mph, at times and quick, 10.2 mph, at other times. The current changes with each part of the Intracoastal based on the closest water route to the ocean. We can time the height of the tide at any point but not the direction of flow without a lot of calculations. The sea breeze was also very strong providing a following sea at times that required manual steering. But all in all a very good travel day, we are now about 20 miles from Charleston.

Paris Island Marine Base

 

Nice Houses in SC

The Cruise Ship that works the coast line

Savannah, GA

Henry Ford's first showroom in Savannah

The thing that makes Savannah GA unique is the fact that it survived the Civil War intact.  Because General Sherman and the Yankees determined not to destroy the city as they had Atlanta, the beautiful architecture and design of old Savannah exist almost totally as it was in the early 1800’s.  General Sherman gave Savannah to President Lincoln as a Christmas present and to the delight of the residents of Savannah Lincoln accepted. Today we took a long trolley tour of the Historic center of town and saw hundreds of pre-civil war and Victorian homes and almost every street was canopied in giant old Live Oak trees. 

Oglethorpe, the English general that founded the city, designed a whole system of parks/city squares that initially were meant to aid in defense of the city in the event of an advance by the Spanish from Florida.  However, what followed were 22 beautiful squares (parks) evenly scattered through neighborhoods.   Each one has some memorial or statue that makes it unique and the parks are centers for each area.  Since today was Saturday, we saw weddings being set up or celebrated in almost every square.

Oglethorpe Square

We enjoyed cruising the tourist shops and stopping for photos while we walked around town.  We also enjoyed the restaurants that we sampled.  The trolley tour was very interesting and we had a full day.  The weather was perfect and we would love to spend more time in Savannah someday.

SCAD (Savannah College of Architecture and Design) hosted their annual sidewalk art program today in Forsyth Park a 22 acre green space on the edge of the historic district.

The fountain in Forsyth Park

Pre-Victorian Homes

Beautifully preserved homes

Certificate of Appropriateness is required for exterior changes

First place High School Class

Unexpected quality

Redbird Creek to Thunderbolt Marina, Savannah, GA

We arrived at Thunderbolt Marina near Savannah, Georgia this morning after a short run from the Redbird anchorage.  We caught the high tide for all the spots we needed and were able to make very good time.  After some days of salt marsh views, we began to see riverfront homes as we approached the city. 

Homes have a Southern Flair

 

This is a terrific marina with a large boatyard.  They do everything that can be done to boats right here and they have a huge facility and staff that are experts.  But for transients like us they also do a great job.  The place is beautiful, with nice big (and very clean) showers and laundry.  They deliver Krispy Kreme donuts and a newspaper to every boat in the morning and there are two nice patio areas to gather or sit in the shade and read.  There is an all night security guard and locked entrance so its all good.

We won two free nights here at the MTOA rendezvous and I would highly recommend this marina to other boaters.

The Cotton Exchange, now a meeting place for Masons

This afternoon we took a bus into the Historic Downtown area of Savannah along with Bob and Martha from Field Trip, and Randy and Sheri from Priorities.  We enjoyed walking through the city market and down on the Riverfront.  We had a great dinner at Barracuda Bob’s – fantastic seafood.  I had crab legs and a really good sangria.  Everyone had something different and all of it was great.  The Riverfront shops and restaurants are all located in the old Cotton Exchange buildings where merchants and sailors and planters did all their cotton business in the 1800’s.  It has now become one of the highlights for tourists and it fronts right on the river, so you can watch the ships go by.  Since it’s a Friday night and the weather is balmy, there were lots of people out strolling and enjoying the beautiful parks all over downtown Savannah.

Baracuda Bobs with Paul the best waiter

 

Thunderbolt Marina

Wally's Leg to Redbird Creek Anchorage

Traveling through Georgia on the ICW is traveling through miles and miles and miles of sea grass marshes with the occasional cluster of trees off in the distance.  The waterway is a tangle of narrow rivers, wide inlets and usually three or more bodies of water crossing over one another.  This means the currents can be crazy and if you add in the tides and the wind, the driver must remain constantly alert for changes in speed and shoaling.  Tides in this area can be as much as 8 feet up and down.  A boat some miles ahead of us could go through a very shallow channel, and by the time we get there the water might be 9 feet deep.  Sometimes you have to stop and wait, or time your daily travel to coincide the high tide with the shallow channel.  Lots to think about.

  

iPad with part of today's route

In the criss-crossing channels it is easy to lose track of your GPS trail (a thin magenta line on the screen marks the ICW) or the proper markers.  ICW markers have a small yellow square on them, but every river has red triangles and green squares to show the width of the channel.  Channel markers also show us where to turn into another body of water, or where the water is too shallow to risk. 

We came upon a beautiful catamaran today that had apparently headed straight across St. Catherine’s sound, to the red marker on a nearby river, and missed the turn onto the ICW.  He had run hard aground and a US Tow Boat was there to help.  But even a towboat can’t take you off a totally visible sand shoal, and the catamaran was destined to sit and wait for the next high tide to float him away.  Fortunately a catamaran has two hulls, so he was sitting straight upright.  A regular sailboat would have been tipped over at a 45-degree angle and even a trawler like ours would be tipped 20 degrees or more.   We never laugh at the misfortunes of other boats – it could be us tomorrow.

Sometimes you watch the show, other times you are the show

However, it is a pretty and peaceful trip for the most part. There are many water birds along the shores, and dolphin playing ahead of the boat many times a day.  It was sunny all day, but this afternoon the wind did pick up and it was a cool ride.  Tonight we are anchored at Redbird Creek, with nothing but sea grass as far as the eye can see – except for the one bald eagle in a distant tree. 

The tide range here is 8.3 feet, +8.1 to -0.2

Lots of marsh grass and trees

Cumberland Island to Wally’s Leg Anchorage, Stop at Jekyll Island

Cruising up the Intracoastal we will try to plan our days based on the places we would like to visit but still cruise some distance each day. We hope to stay at marinas for two nights so we can see the major sights and large cities.

Our tax $ at work, cool!

We passed a nuclear submarine base in Cumberland sound, we saw several security boats but no submarines. 

Today we stopped at lunch time on Jekyll Island, anchored and traveled  by dinghy a mile and a half to the “millionaires’ village” on Jekyll Island. Lunch was at Latitude 31 a restaurant right on the dock. There were 34 homes in the village with a large Club Hotel, nice homes for the owners and several nice cottages for the people that worked on the estates and hotel. There are indoor tennis courts, a croquet field and a beautiful setting. 

Croquet field in the foreground a single stake in the center

 

Jekyll Island Club History

At the turn of the century, tycoons, politicians, and socialites flocked to Jekyll Island to revel in their own luxury and America’s burgeoning wealth. Our historic Georgia Club was described in the February 1904 issue of Munsey’s Magazine as “the richest, the most exclusive, the most inaccessible club in the world.” Its impressive members included such luminaries as J.P. Morgan, William Rockefeller, Vincent Astor, Joseph Pulitzer, William K. Vanderbilt, and other recognizable names on the roster were Macy, Goodyear, and Gould.

After our visit we loaded up our dinghy and traveled another 4 hours to our current anchorage in the marsh lands of Georgia. Pretty setting but quite buggy. We have learned to close up the boat early, turn on the generator and air conditioning to reduce the number of bugs.

Nice quiet sunset.

Beautiful grounds, well preserved

Fantastic homes

Peaceful

Fernandian Beach to Cumberland Island

Back on the water again!  We departed Fernandina Beach in beautiful weather, gentle breeze and calm seas – such a treat after a week of stormy rain and blows.  We went a very short distance of 12 miles to stop at Cumberland Island and it now ranks as a favorite stop.  We are anchored just north of the Sea Camp dock and we took the dinghy to the dock to go exploring.

Wooded trail to the beach

The island is beautiful, uninhabited except by wild horses and forest rangers.  We hiked to Sea Camp beach and went through a woodland of wide trails, surrounded by thousands of huge live oak trees draped in Spanish moss.  The landscape was covered with palmetto on the lower level.  We crossed high sand dunes on long boardwalks and came out on a vast, quiet beach.  The Atlantic was rolling in and as we looked down the beach we saw some of the wild horses of Cumberland Island.  They seemed to tolerate us with our cameras as long as we kept a respectful distance.  The beach was at low tide and we saw lots of bomb jellyfish and starfish.

Our first view of horses on the beach

After a picnic in the shade we continued our tour by walking to the Dungeness Ruins.  This is all that remains of a four story, 40-room house of the Gilded Age.  The home was built by Thomas Carnegie (brother of Andrew) for his wife Lily.  There were 37,000 square feet in the home as well as dozens of outbuildings and recreational buildings, few of which show any remnants at all.  At least 7 of the Carnegie children built homes on Cumberland as well.  Now most of the island has been made into a National Seashore and Park and it really is a tremendous gift that this piece of land and history is available to us all.  In order to see it, however, you must come by ferry or private boat.  It is worth the time.

Anchored here with us are three other Looper boats: Field Trip, Priorities and Choices so we had everyone over to enjoy the sunset and cocktails on our sundeck.

Carol got closer to the horses

The Dungeness ruins

And a bit closer

Mom with a new foal

These horses are pretty tame

Finally on the trail leading back to the ranger station

MTOA Rendezvous

Fun with a Jigsaw puzzle

The Rendezvous is over, its Thursday evening and we enjoyed all the meetings and camaraderie.  Bob Smith, the man who designed the Lehman Diesel engine for Ford Motor Company, gave a presentation that many people attended.   No matter what your question, Bob has the answer if it’s about diesel engines.  Also very interesting were talks on boat insurance, boat electronics, and a session on the all-too-common shoaling in the Georgia and South Carolina ICW.  These states have not allocated any money to dredging and maintaining the ICW for some years.  Unfortunately that means Tow Boat US is very busy in Georgia and SC.

MTOA members receive turtle pins for every volunteer effort and the people who have been very active for a long time, have dozens of turtles.  Dennis and I now have one each.

We did some shopping in the very nice center of Fernandina Beach and had some dining out experiences ranging from Mexican, to salads to shrimp bisque and all-American burgers.

Tomorrow, Friday, we will leave here by car to spend Easter weekend in Sarasota where we will visit family.  We will also join some friends for a Jimmy Buffett concert on Saturday.  Hopefully the weather will improve by the time we return to the boat next Monday.  Between now and then we will not be posting a blog,  we plan to start traveling again Tuesday and will keep you informed of our progress on the Great Loop.

Martha, Bob, Doug and Leslie, Awards Dinner

MTOA Rendevzous

Hors d' oeuvres table

We arrived at Fernandina Harbor Marina for the 2014 Southern MTOA Rendezvous on Sunday afternoon.  78 boats were expected at this marina, and most of them were already here.  We are docked on the farthest dock out from anything…. Almost at the end, but we are inside the dock from the open water so we can expect some protection from wind and waves.  The hike from our boat to the washrooms and the meeting tent is about ½ mile one-way.  We met a lot of nice people at the first group gatherings.  On Monday there were a couple of introductory meetings and we met the couple that volunteered to be our “mentors”.   This pairing is meant to make sure newcomers get involved and feel welcome.  Joe and Pat Apicella have done a great job at that, despite our teasing.  They are traveling on “Glory Days” and I have read their blog account of the great loop that they did a couple of years ago.

Bob and Martha on “Field Trip” are here and we are enjoying ourselves.  Also on Monday was the Pub Crawl – slightly misnamed, as the pubs were little places attached to charming restaurants and a bed and breakfast.  The town of Fernandina Beach is small and so a group of 180+ people gathering here is a big deal and a boost to their economy – we are very well treated.

A bit of a lull in the storm this evening

Yesterday talk of a storm started brewing, and many boats that had been tied to the outside dock opted to go further into the marina where the bottom is shallow muck.  They basically drove into the mud and are stuck there until we leave in a few days.  They will have to wait for high tide to get out of their slips.  By Tuesday the storm was upon us and the extra lines and fenders everyone put out were worth the trouble.  The rain fell in torrents this morning (while we were all in a big tent listening to it) and again this afternoon as we tried to keep everything tied down. 

We will be rocking to sleep tonight.

So we just continue to go to the gatherings, attend the seminars and join in the parties.  We are just doing it all in raincoats.  Fortunately boaters don’t put a high value on glamour or looking elegant.  Everyone is in the same boat……. well, you know what I mean.

P.S. Tuesday evening:  Looks like there is going to be quite a storm, it’s a good time to be at a dock and a marina.  We’ve tied on every line, and hung every fender and that’s all we can do.  We did just realize that Dennis’ bicycle must have blown off the dock while we were on land this morning.  So we also tied down the deck furniture.

Our Mentors Joe and Pat

Hard to show the force of the wind, lots of bouncing

Fort George Anchorage to Fernandina Harbor Marina

Kingsley Plantation National Park, Anchorage

Did a few boatkeeping things this morning and then off heading to Fernandina Beach and the MTOA Rendezvous. Sunny, a bit humid and mid 70’s this morning. No-see-ums were a bit of a nuisance last night and they were back this morning and after we landed at the marina they still persist. We purchased some special NoKnat spray and it seems to work quite well. I was reminded of the substantial tidal flow here on the southeast coast, Fernandina has a semidiurnal tide of 5.9 feet, up and down twice daily it creates quite a current that can move the boat quickly when docking.

The topography here is very flat and with a 6 foot tidal range there are miles and miles of marsh and some mud flats as well. Quite pretty but different from the other areas of Florida.

Marsh Grass and Beach Buildings

The marina is quite full of trawlers of every size, I think it will be a fine gathering. We met our mentors Pat and Joe and had docktails with them on their boat Glory Days. 

Trawlers at the Fernandina Harbor Marina

Sunset over the Intracoastal