April 24-25, 2017 - Savannah

We spent most of Monday recuperating and doing a few chores around the boat.  We had an electrician come to check out one of the air conditioners.  We borrowed the courtesy car and made a quick trip to Publix in the afternoon, and had some docktails with the boat behind us, Walrus (we had seen it at the marina at Jekyll Island).  I had met Phil and Janet earlier in the day in the laundry room, so we had a nice visit with them.  They are from Houston and both went to SMU.  Small world.  Tuesday, after a good night's rest, we headed back into Savannah.  Our first stop was Mrs. Wilke's Dining Room.  This place is so popular that people start lining up at 10:00 in the morning to get a seating for this meal which starts at 11:00.  The food is served family style (10 people to a table) and is already on the table when you sit down.  The food was delicious, and we enjoyed talking to our group.  Next stop was a Segway tour.  This was Jack's first time on a Segway and I, again, was able to complete the tour without crashing.  It was a fun way to see some of the historic sites up close and personal.  After our tour, we headed into downtown and had a delicious ice cream cone at Leopold's. This place was founded by 3 immigrant brothers in 1919.  All the ice cream is made in their store.  The current owner, Stratton Leopold, was also a famous producer in Hollywood for a number of years, but eventually returned to his store in Savannah.  After that we went back to the City Market area filled with restaurants, stores, and, of course, more ice cream and candy.  The highlight of the day, however, was running into a man (and his wife) who was wearing a nice, neat Longhorn shirt (I was sorry I left mine at the boat) and who just happened to be from Houston. Another small world.

Walrus taking off for Hilton Head

A little later Shell Belle passed us

(we've been leap frogging with them all along the coast)

First stop, Mrs. Wilke's Dining Room

(the line started forming at 10:00; we got

there at 10:25)

Our eating group - look at all that food

(oops I cut the last two out of the picture)

The rest of our dining room (there are 1 or 2 more rooms)

We had a great waitress who was eager to

bring food whenever we wanted it

The back of their shirts was cute

(and they're right - the fried chicken was delicious)

More of the many beautiful homes

(they would probably look older if there were older 

cars parked in front)

Our orientation

We made it this far

Of course there's always a stop for ice creams

Some of the posters depicting movies Mr. Leopold directed

A line to get in for lunch, and a line to get in for ice cream

The oak trees were absolutely beautiful

This is the Pink House

(a very high-end restaurant)

The City Market

And more candy!!

We watched them make taffy

and pralines

and package the taffy
(they threw us one off the line)

Wow - who would expect to find Longhorn napkins in Georgia!

April 23, 2017 - Savannah

We left our anchorage early and were tied up at Thunderbolt Marina by 10:30 where we will spend 3 days.  We took a quick walk along the river, found a breakfast place, and then decided to go into Savannah for the day.  We took an Uber into town and spent the rest of the day getting on and off a tour bus in the historic part of Savannah.  We took one complete trip around and then the second time got off at several locations.  The historic district is beautiful and is laid out in blocks with several parks along the way.  We took a stroll through Forsyth Park, a very beautiful park with a huge fountain in the middle (only 3 like it in the world).  Since it was Sunday, it was filled with people and dogs.  We then walked over to the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.  There are no pictures or words that can describe the breathtaking beauty inside the Cathedral.  Jack said he had never been in such a big church.  There are quite a few historic homes in the area  - a few being the birthplace of Juliette Gordon Low (Founder of the Girl Scouts) and the Mercer House (built by Johnny Mercer's grandfather).  After all the touring and the history, we hit the River District and stopped at Lizzies for a margarita.  We walked around the shops in the area and discovered that Savannah has a lot of candy stores and, of course, ice cream stores.  We eventually ended up in the City Market area where we found a little burger joint for some dinner.  After all that, we were exhausted and called Uber to take us home.  On a side note - this marina is very nice, the people friendly, AND they deliver 6 Krispy Kreme donuts every morning!

Our home for the next three days

View overlooking the ICW - the marina is on the upper far right
of the picture

Fountain in Forsyth Park

A few of the many beautiful homes

Voted the most beautiful street in Georgia

Cathedral of St. John the Baptist

The picture is dark, but this is a view of the organ pipes

Note the curved staircase - the men went up one

side and the women the other

Also notice the opening and bar on the third step on the left -

this is where men scraped the heels of their shoes

before entering the houses

After all that history, it was time for a margarita

And then there was the candy store

And then there was more candy

(the chocolate factory in St. Augustine looked pretty slim

compared to this place)

The Georgia Queen paddle boat

This container ship took up most of the waterway

These steps lead from the River District back up to the main part of town

(whew it was a long climb)

Looking back down to the river

City Hall - the steeple is solid gold
(a donation from a citizen)

This is the park where Tom Hanks sat on the bench

in Forrest Gump

(the actual bench is in the museum)

April 20-22, 2017 - Wahoo River, Turners Rock

We met Jim, Tracy and Don for breakfast before leaving Brunswick.  We then left Brunswick for another great day on the water.  Our weather continues to be great and we enjoyed the winding ICW through the marsh lands of Georgia.  We anchored at Wahoo River, at the recommendation of Tricia and Rob.  It was a very peaceful and relaxing anchorage and we stayed two days.  Jim and his crew on Nvr II Nauti arrived shortly after we did and they all came over for some docktails.  We spent our two days doing a few chores but mostly reading, catching up on taped TV shows, and listening to all the birds.  With no city lights around, the stars are very bright at night.  We pulled up our anchor Saturday morning and headed a little closer to Savannah.  We anchored at Turners Rock, took the dinghy down, found a dinghy dock, and walked to a close-by Publix.  Since it was Saturday, there was a lot of  recreational boat traffic around us.  Tomorrow we head into Savannah.

One funny little story -- when we travel with another boat (today it was Nvr II Nauti), we usually put our hand-held radio on another channel so we can communicate without aggravating the Coast Guard.  Suddenly on this channel, we heard a police broadcast about an armed robber, who ran into a marina, hit the owner of a boat with something silver, and then took off in the boat.  The police were giving the location of the boat and we realized it was the river just parallel to us on the ICW and he was heading our way.  We were surprised they were broadcasting on a public channel but got pretty excited thinking we might see a police chase.  We watched an unmarked boat go by several times with police on board.  Jack even went so far as to get our gun out!  We even warned a boater behind us to monitor that channel.  After a while, we realized it was just an exercise!  After the disappointment and laughter subsided, we put the gun up and continued on our journey!

Our anchorage at Wahoo River

Another view

Docktails with Jim, Tracy and Don

Green box and street lamp sitting on the edge of

this little island - have no idea what it's for but

the light comes on after dark

Another view from the anchorage - getting a little windy

The sun setting behind Nearly Perfect

(thanks Jim for the picture)

Our GPS showing how the ICW winds its way through the

marsh lands

View from our anchorage at Turners Rock

April 19, 2017- Brunswick Landing

We left our anchorage around 7:30 for a quick trip to Brunswick.  Shell Belle was there so we all went to lunch.  Most of the day was spent relaxing, doing chores, and walking to a grocery store.  The marina had a great happy hour that night with free beer and wine.  The people were great and everyone introduced themselves to the group.  We met Jim Cash (the man who sold friends Barb and Ross their boat), along with Tracy and Don (who were crewing with Jim as far as Savannah).

Entering Brunswick

Very nice captain's lounge and happy hour party

Us with Jim, Mandy and another boater

Sunset over Brunswick Landing