To Georgetown

Upon leaving Charleston we happened on the Carnival Fantasy cruise ship (impressive from our boat.
We traveled through lots of little rivers and creeks;  lots of marsh and seagrass and a few housing developments.
It was a cool day (76) but with lots of horseflies for part of the day; we closed all of the canvas and windows but some of them still got in.

Good meal have to do something about those legs!



A nice boat in front of someone's house



an impressive bridge

Lots of fishermen along the way

An impressive shrimp boat (looked new!)

Georgetown itself was a pleasant surprise with the harbor and marina imbedded right on mainstreet. Lots of restuarants, bars and shops but with a small town feeling.  Nice place.
It's getting to be a lot of fun meeting people for the 3rd and 4th times who happen to be on the loop or at least traveling in the same direction.

Chareston day 2

After sleeping late we took the marina van to downtown to begin our walking tour.  We saw many of the government buildings which have a lot of history behind them.  We stumbled upon a museum that proved to be a real educational experienc - The Museum of Slavery.  The museum was in the actual building where the slaves were sold. We learned a lot through the many recorded interviews with former slaves.

The old financial exchange building with it's dunguens, historical tour and artifacts was also interesting especially considering that we were surrounded by 50 school kids!

Incidentally we met a couple from Hamburg Germany who have been around the world twice in a sailboat!!  met another guy who just came into the marina from the far out Bahamas ( forty hours of heavy weather (10 to 15 foot waves - he stated that the crew was not happy!)


Charleston the town where the civil war began is a real historical treat.

Jayne incognito waiting for the bus

Everyone looks happy except for the horse

Beautiful City Hall inside and out



Sculpture of reading boy on a flying carpet outside of a building



Met a nice tour guide - told us about excellent restuarant

Tomorrow we travel to Georgetown South Carolina

To Charleston SC

The weather looked terrible with lots of dark clouds, and 20 to 30mph winds.  We thought that it might be wise to stay in Beaufort one more day.
Then again the fact that we would be in rivers most of the day it couldn't get too bad! Right?  85% right!

The other 15% found us in rivers that were 4 miles wide; with wind blowing so hard we thought it might rip the new canvas right off the boat.  Docking the boat in 30 mph winds was a really interesting procedure!

We are happy that we went on to Charleston because Thursday is supposed to be really windy and stormy and this is a better place to spend an extra day. So we will be here until Friday.

Charleston marina from the water

A boat yard for old workboats to be repaired

Tug at rest with 2 barges

Bob holding up a railing

We recieved a lot of info from the marina and weather permitting we are looking forward to exploring Charleston.
Then it's on to Georgetown SC on Friday

To Beaufort S Carolina

Today's forecast was for scattered thunderstorms throughout the area.   We had a little rain shower around 8:00 am.  Prior to that rain the bugs were fierce for anyone trying to get prepared for leaving - we lucked out because the rain seemed quite the bug action.  We left at 8:30.
The landscape became more varied as we went north.  Instead of mostly marshgrass the many islands contain quite a few large trees.  We traveled on some very small and some hugh bodies of water.

sight seeing boat on the river

Beautiful river front park

beautiful

Magnificent homes

With a tree!

Some of the sounds were very large but only one became a little scary and that was the Port Royal sound; mainly because of lots of wind, the size of the body of water and threatening thunderstorms that never materialized.  But we did have 3to 4 ft waves which were negotiated by the excellent driving  of first mate Jayne. 

We arrived in Beaufort around 2 PM, used the courtesy car to see the beautiful ante bellum homes and to do a litte shopping .
  The river front is really done well featuring several restuarants, lots of flowers, lawn, and statutes.

Isle of Hope Day 2

We used courtesy cars several times today to do a little sight seeing and shopping;  we went downtown Savanna by bus ( the 20 minute trip took over an hour each way because of all of the many pickups all over town - a great tour without the narrative!)
Although we had been to Savanna previously, we enjoyed seeing it again and from a different perspective.
Some of our buddies left today and a couple stayed on as did we.

Tomorrow we leave Georgia early morning to travel to Beaufort South Carolina (an old town near Hilton Head with lots of history).

The old Savanna warehouses are filled with many antique shops and eateries

Boy climbing tall ship mast (mom/dad??)

Interesting Savanna harbour

A man and his boat(?)

Couldn't resist the picture!

Isle of Hope

The beauty of the anchorage proved to be a very nice place to wake up to.

Tonight we are staying in a little town called Isle of Hope in the Isle of Hope marina.  Amenities include  use of a rental car and bicycles.  We used a car to do a little Walmart shopping and to have a nice meal while out.
To get to this area we traversed many different rivers creeks and sounds.  A Sound is actually the area that includes the mouth of a river and the beginning of the atlantic; these sounds are very wide with many of them a few miles wide.  The landscape has been quite primitve and very few houses.  Lots of coots(birds) dophins and very few horse flies ( maybe we killed them all?) Don't think so!

We are very close to Savanna;  we will spend time there tomorrow.

These people are traveling along with us but only for a short while; they are also doing the loop but in short spurts otwo or three weeks at a time.

southerner from Minnesota?

Outdoor rec center

Tuesday we are boating to Beaufort South Carolina.

The Anchorage

We spent a lot of time cruising around the little river where we are staying trying to find less current and less wind.   After we finally anchored we realized what a beautiful place it is to stay over night.  For the last few days we have had tides of 8 foot!! Compared  to Florida ( a foot? )
The trip was rather uneventful with lots of the usual birds and dolphins and HORSE FLIES!!  We murdered a lot of little beings today ( its them or us! )

Our boats were kicking up  the little fish;  sea gulls were going crazy eating (hard to see in the picture)

A Georgia sunset at anchor

Our anchorage ( took it a little late?)

Note the bridge like the skyway bridge in Florida

Tomorrow we travel to Savanna where we will spend two days.

To Jekyll Island

The water depths were a lot different today in that much of the water we traversed was 40 to 60 foot of depth.   There were two places where our route took us out in the Atlantic for 1/2 hour or so.  It was pretty calm with 2 or 3 ft swells.   This travel day was only a little over 3 hours.  The big activity on Jekyll island is biking the great network of trails.  Jayne and I had done just that about 5 years ago when we visited the island so we used much of our time to do some house keeping chores such as washing the boat and our clothes and fixing a few things.   We did meet some really nice people
The marina had more to offer than any so far:  A courtesy car; a pool; hot tub; free laundry; and free bicycles.

I had a fight with the GPS tonight; it kept me up a little late but I won!!

A fishing boat loaded with expectant fisherman

To large navy ships at the Kings Island Navy Base

The restuarant on the marina grounds (so so)

Good night!

Tomorrow we anchor out in a secluded area in back of an island ( a little spooky? thats OK Jayne is there to protect me! 

Day two in Fernandina

We explored Fernandina today and came to the conclusiion that this is one of the prettiest towns we have ever experienced.   The townspeople evidently found a way to keep the old town as is with all the big homes, historical places, trees and lush vegetation but at the same time integrating restuarants and shops in a way that everything seems to fit.  I took a bicycle ride across the island (Amelia Island) 4 miles to the atlantic where I found the beautiful beach to spend some time.   Jayne didn't go because of not wanting to harm her arm as it heals.
We hope to return here some day.

Vegetation everywhere and especially private homes

A front yard at easter time!

The smart phone decided to switch the pictures to black and white!?

Breakfast today

Lush

One colorful character

The atlantic side

I found the color button!!!

Tomorrow we cross over into Georgia to Jekyll Island where we have reservations at a resort style marina pool hot tub and all.  As we travel through Georgia and South Carolina we will encounter many islands.

To Fernandina

This quaint city is just across the line from Georgia.  The landscape has changed considerably so that now we see vast areas of "swamp grass" with small islands; actually very similar to the everglades.  The Amelia river proved to be a challenge in that the depths varied from a few feet to 40 feet and the distance between markers so great that it became difficult to stay in the channel.   The homes on the waterway were simply magnicent.
After strolling around town we had an excellent fisherman's  platter.
We have decided to take a breather and stay here for two nights.   This will also allow us to catch up on our maintenance of the boat, route planning, and laundry.

The oldest rail station in Florida

Who are these people??

They needed a tow so we did!(Dad is 90 years old!)

the landscape

St Augustine

We passed lots of new big home communities but some communities didn't seem to have people living in them which led us to believe that some of these communities and their residents were caught in the housing depression.   However there were also many fine homes that were indeed being lived in.

It was a nice day for traveling with thousand of little white butterflies flying across the rivers.

Nice 85 foot boat!

Low tide at our dock (4:30)

On the way up tide( six foot tide!)(7:00)

The oldest house in town

The beautiful Flagler College

Adisplay in the elegant Flagler hotel

It's a living!

The docking was a little exciting considering that the current in the river was 3 knots and the wind was blowing at around 25 mph in the same direction!  
We got the job done ; then rewarded ourselves with a great cuban dinner before seeing the sights.

Tomorrow, the most northerly city in Florida - Ferdinandina