Southern Hospitality and Charm

A stately home in Charleston, where we are until Thursday when Rick, Cheryl, and I fly home. I'm trying to finish this blog before Brian arrives here from Columbia, the capital, which is 90 minutes away in the center of the state. Therefore, I'm going to be brief for the 16 pictures.

We have a very hot day for March 22, 88 degrees!! We toured the museum today and two old homes. One was restored to its 1808 grandeur, while the other was left in a "preserved" state of decay. It was still very interesting to see how they lived and how the slaves lived.

One characteristic of many Charleston homes is shown in the picture above, namely, the false front door that actually opens to a side porch. They do this to help catch the breezes flowing through the homes. During the hot months they spend a lot of time on the porches, at both levels of the home.

With this picture we return to Savannah, where I was when I last posted a blog. We had played through St Pat's Day, but not yet toured the city's highlights. The town truly is beautiful with its live oaks with Spanish moss, its 16 squares, charming old homes, and waterfront history. Isn't this boulevard pretty with the parkway down the middle?

Here's where Forrest Gump's bench was in the movie. They relocated the actual bench (a Hollywood prop) to the local museum and we got to see it there later. Do you fans of the movie recognize this spot? Janet and I are going to watch the movie later this week so I can see this and a few other spots we saw where that movie was filmed.

They built this statue to honor a woman who waved at every arriving and departing ship for much of her life. Legend says she was always hoping her love would return, but he never did and she died of a broken heart. This statue faces the river where we did see many a huge ocean liner pass during our few days there.

A few feet away was the Olympic Torch from the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, because they held the yachting events here. Just up on the bluff was an old tavern (now a restaurant where Cheryl and Rick ate dinner) that had a secret tunnel down to the wharf. If a guy got too drunk, they'd whisk him down and throw him on a departing ship so he'd wake up in the navy. This happened to a city policeman and it was two years before he got home.

Springtime! We got to see so many blooming trees and flowers. They have 16 city squares in the downtown area, as laid out by Britain's General Oglethorpe in 1732.

We had a long, nice day of seeing the city on a narrated bus tour, and then walking back to places to see in more detail. Such as the cemetery, which stopped taking new "customers" in 1853! The tour guide said that while the Union forces were occupying the town (and not destroying it, luckily), the soldiers got their laughs messing with the gravestones by making the birth and death dates nonsensical; for example, the person would have died before he was born, or born before his parents were. Weren't they funny? groan...

Cheryl was driving the boat only long enough for me to snap this picture!! We were on our way from Savannah to Beaufort, South Carolina. Most of the traveling was through winding expanses of marshland, as it had been in Georgia.

We arrived in Beaufort late in the afternoon in a strong wind (what else is new?) and at extremely low tide - 1.5 feet below normal low. The tidal swing was greater than usual, linked to the extra full moon we were having. The total tide was 11.5 feet!!! We had just enough water to tie to a city dock. When we returned after walking the town, the dock had risen five feet and the sailboat behind us, which had been sitting in mud, had re-floated and was gone.

Beaufort was loaded with beautiful stately homes, all decorated with moss-laden live oak trees, spring flowers, and ivy. The town is a National Historic site. We walked up and down most of old town to admire the homes on a warm Sunday afternoon. One Africa-American Baptist church from 1863 was where they filmed Bubba's funeral in Forrest Gump.

Look at this oak tree!! They have been one of my lasting memories from the South, so formidable and draped with the moss, adding a special beauty to every scene.

At the St Helena's Episcopal Church, with its ancient cemetery encircling it, we realized many families have forgotten who won the "War of Northern Aggression", as they call it here. Can you see all five Confederate flags in the picture? There were hundreds of them in the cemetery.

Isn't it nice that they spare the live oak trees? You get to drive right under this bridge on one of the residential streets in Beaufort. In another spot, the huge oak was left in the road, and cars had to just make their way around it! Cool!

When we arrived in town, as I mentioned, it was extremely low tide. This picture is from when we were leaving the next morning, at extremely high tide (11.5 feet higher). Notice that the green channel marker is almost under water! The day before, we passed this same marker and it was sitting on dry land. A boat with a family of kids was beached and they were running around on the island. With tides like this, it makes the tidal currents extremely strong and swift. At the same engine rpm, my speed would alternate between 4.5 mph and 10 mph depending on where I was. Amazing!

This picture is meant to show you how long people's docks are at their waterfront homes, so that their boats can be in deep-enough water. It would be exercise in itself just to hike to your boat, about 200 yards out across the marsh. We have passed long docks like this for days on end out here in the "low country". One guy, however, got creative. He turned his dock into a driving range and putting green. I imagined the marshes across the river were chock full of golf balls from his drives over the years. (His huge backyard also was a mini golf course.)

We arrived in Charleston yesterday about noon and docked at their HUGE city marina. We had time to take a narrated city tour. This town, like Savannah and Beaufort, is remarkably beautiful. It helps to be springtime. This picture is along the "battery", their 300-yr-old waterfront with stately homes and parks. When Fort Sumter was bombarded from all sides at the start of the Civil War, the townsfolk viewed it from here as if it were a show.

Here are, from right to left, Debbie, daughter Grace, and John Beahm. What a great visit and dinner we had with them! Debbie grew up down the Hawthorne street from Janet Amuchastegui, and they have remained friends all these years (these FEW years! lol). Sister Janet knows Debbie too, since they were the same HHS graduating class, and they've been Facebook friends. Debbie and John have been married 42 years, he being the cousin of Debbie's and Janet A's best friend. They lived most of their married lives in Washington, D.C., but have followed Grace, a newspaper photographer, here to Charleston 7 yrs ago.

We had Happy Hour visiting on Breaking Away, with three separate and lively conversations going at once, and then moved across the river to an appropriately named restaurant, California Dreaming. The fun and multiple conversations continued all evening there too! So great to share old and new friendships. If only the two Janets could have been here too.

The Beahms brought me this fresh pineapple. Legend has it that sailors in port would display the top of a pineapple in their home window to show they were back from their voyages to exotic locations. They were quick to point out, though, that it most probably was designed to signal to the lonely wife's suitors that hubby was home and they'd need to wait until he sailed again to return for a visit.

So this morning I cut the top off the pineapple and displayed it in Breaking Away's window (it was fabulous to eat too!). However, it will make sense only if I now take it home with me and display it in Janet's window so her many boyfriends will stay away. lol

St. Patrick's Day in Savannah - WILD!!

Here are Rick, Cheryl and I at the HUGE city party in Savannah. It was a coincidence that we happened to arrive here the day before St. Pat's Day, not knowing the city is famous for its wild celebration and completely closes down (even the schools)!! We had wanted to take a city tour today, but none of the companies was operating. We soon learned why. It's a week-long party here, one of the biggest in the country. Reminded us of Mardi Gras, with about 200,000 people attending. More photos farther down.

I returned from Rich Hess's memorial service (life celebration) on Monday morning after the red eye flight to Jacksonville, FL. Within two minutes I started the engine and Rick untied the lines to shove off. We had to retrace our course to the Intracoastal waterway headed north, after we had departed up the St Johns River 10 days earlier.

It was the first calm day since we left New Smyrna Beach on March 1. I tried to catch up on sleep while Rick piloted us the 18 miles back to the Waterway. Just as we were turning north back into the Waterway, I gave up on a nap and joined Rick to watch the new scenery. Our destination was our most northerly city in FL, Fernandina Beach. We tied to a mooring ball outside of the city marina, and dinghied ashore to sight see and do laundry. Fernandina Beach is an historic town, famous too for being a pirates' hideaway in days gone by.

This picture shows the old train station, at water's edge at the end of the quaint main street.

While the laundry was going, we biked around the town. What better place to sample local flavor than the tavern. This one dated from 1878.

The town also has numerous stately Victorian homes. We rode the bikes up and down each of the streets, and also down the highway a few miles to shop at the Winn Dixie grocery store.

The next day we got an early start since we needed to travel 75 miles. Why? Because Cheryl was arriving at the Savannah airport 130 miles away in just two days, so we needed to make some distance. Within a few miles of leaving Fernandina Beach, we entered Georgia. For the first time since Nov 2 (other than one night on Jan 16 in Alabama), we were out of Florida.

The Waterway in Georgia was a new experience! It was a serpentine maze of rivers and creeks through marshland and barrier islands. Flat as far as the eye could see with only occasional clumps of trees. Hardly any homes or structures, except for some vacation homes on Jekyll Island and Cumberland Sound. Georgia has the least populated section of the entire Intracoastal Waterway. Many of the rivers coming and going are posted with channel markers, so you have to pay attention to which one you're supposed to be on.

There also are many inlets from the ocean. This picture is of the tip of Cumberland Island at St. Andrews Sound. Luckily it was a calm day out on the ocean so we did not have swells hitting us as we crossed the inlets.

At one point I will admit it: I ran aground...again. I got confused based on the depths showing on the chart, and also wondering whether a red marker was meant for my channel or a side channel. Fortunately I slowed to idle speed since I wasn't sure, so when I grounded, I was able to put it in reverse with lots of throttle and just back off. Whew!

After 75 miles, we arrived at Crystal River, one of many possible diversions. In a mile we turned up a smaller creek to an anchorage recommended in our guide. The tides in Georgia are huge - 8 feet, so, you can imagine how swift the currents are. Therefore, we had to use both bow and stern anchors to keep from swinging.

Here is Rick grilling up our chicken, while I made the salad and heated the corn in the galley. It was such a warm evening we ate upstairs, for the first time since last October. Just behind us was a docked shrimp boat; we saw many of them in this section of the Georgia marshland.

Then we arrived in Savannah after a 55 mile cruise yesterday, with identical scenery of flat horizon. Our actual marina, southwest of town, is called Isle of Hope. They have two loaner cars, and I had reserved one so we could get Cheryl at the airport. While waiting for her flight and talking with the tourist information ladies, we learned about Savannah's very famous and monstrous St Pat's Day celebration.

Since we had the loaner car the rest of the evening, we went into downtown and saw the beginnings of The Party. The beer had already begun to flow, the live outdoor music was underway, wild green costumes/accessories were out in force, and this bagpipe ensemble marched past our outdoor cafe table to bring festivity to our dinner (with green beer).

One of the highlights of the day is their 4-hour parade. We wanted to go see it, but the problem was getting there. We talked to others on the dock, but no one had a workable plan to get to where we could be shuttled into downtown. So, we used a loaner car to do grocery shopping, then watched the parade on the boat TV.

But it was going on and on and on, and we soon learned that the marina would let us three and four from another boat use the loaner van all day long if we wanted! So we loaded up at noon and drove as close as we could to the festivities, and hoped a parking place would open up. One did! It was quite a walk, but we ran into the parade still going on, and got to watch quite a bit of it live. FUN!! This picture is just one of many I took as thousands and thousands lined the route whooping it up on a hot sunny day.

The Harley Davidson Girl on their float! She had a thing for me, yes? hahaha

When the parade ended, we wandered with the rest of Savannah all around the party until 7:30 pm. The hottest spots were along the river. Drinking everywhere. Beer sold everywhere. Mechanical bull riding, street performers, green green green everything. Shepherd's Pie for lunch. Bead necklaces tossed to us from windows above. Dancing to the live music. Oh, and did I mention beer?

Another picture of us having a blast. Course, my nose was usually in my cell phone texting Janet and sending her pics (no use trying to talk with the noise). I wish she could have been here for this party! Once her class was done for the day, she could reply and caught a bit of the party flavor.

This is just a typical crowd scene along the way, in a blocked-off street section up from the river. It's probably a lot more crowded out there right now. We left early.

I wore my green Margaritaville shirt I had bought in Key West, but eventually I bought this shirt and changed into it. Had to have a souvenir from this crazy day! And we just happened upon it! Now we knew why when I first was calling ahead to marinas, the one on the waterfront was quoting us $200. We had no idea what was going on here in Savannah.

Now we will take our city tours tomorrow, set back a day from our original plan. We'll leave here Saturday, and still arrive in Charleston on Monday evening. In that case, we ARE reserved at the waterfront marina. Lots of touring and visiting planned...son Brian is driving down from Columbia, and we'll have dinner with Hawthorne High friend Debbie (Christian) Beahm and her husband Johnnie). See you soon.

We saw our manatee!

We traveled 122 miles south on the St Johns River to see a manatee, and here he is! We were not skunked. Sorry that Beth didn't get to see him. More on this fellow farther along in this blog posting.

The morning after I posted my last blog, Rick and I went "gator hunting" in the dinghy for about two hours in Deep Creek. We saw about 15 of the beasts!! Most were sunning themselves on logs near the shore, but a few were swimming at the surface. Here is one of them that didn't hop in the water when it saw us getting near.

Once we continued on south, we saw about four more along the way. Pretty soon it became commonplace to see them, but each one was still a thrill. Oftentimes a turtle was sunning itself on the same log, so we got to see a lot of them too, some very big!

Not ALL the waterfront homes are mansions.

As we got farther south, the river changed from wide and lake-like, to narrow and winding, and swampy! This picture made me think of a true swamp. Look at all the moss on the trees, and how the trees are rooted in water.

That night (Tuesday) we anchored in another incredible creek all by ourselves in total serenity. The days have all been very windy, but that night and the one before were completely calm and peaceful (which means I sleep better too).

When we anchored up on Wednesday night, this gator was right next to us! We were surprised that he never fled the entire time we were anchoring, which is a loud process. When we were all done, he was still there and I got this photo. We then took the dinghy farther south about 4 miles to see if we could find a manatee at Blue Springs State Park, where they were said to be plentiful. Incidentally, by this time we were directly west about 20 miles from New Smyrna Beach, where we began our trip on March 1. We had come as far back south as we had gone north.

Here he is again. We actually did not think we'd see any manatees. We asked a boat full of sightseers about them and they said the manatees had gone a few weeks earlier. We considered turning around right then, but decided to call the park to ask. They said there had been five that morning, but they didn't know if any were left. We continued on in hope. When we finally arrived, two park guides said they had all left because the 72 degree spring water was now too warm for them compared to the temp in the St Johns River. Just then we saw this one!!!

He happened to be one with a GPS float attached to his tail so officials could track his travels (I had also seen one like this back in Crystal River). The park had boardwalks along the stream, which was crystal clear. Our manatee swam slowly along most of its length, so we had perfect views of him for about 20 minutes. We also saw many fish, so it was totally cool. Rick was ecstatic!

Here's yet another. He's getting a breath, which they must do about every five minutes. This guy is actually small. Some I saw at Crystal River were three times his size. They said that in January, they had about 200 of them here.

We returned back to the boat just in time before total darkness, and a wild and crazy thunderstorm. The wind gusts blew us all over the place, even turning us completely around so we faced the opposite direction from when we had anchored. Luckily, before I went to bed the wind died down so I was able to sleep okay. It allowed Janet to sleep peacefully as well. Right in the middle of the storm, she wondered whether I was okay because she had a second sense that something was amiss. I had to tell her what was going on and reassure her, even though at that point I was so sure myself.

The next morning (yesterday) we left early because we had to get clear back to Jacksonville in two days. I am flying tomorrow to California to attend Rich Hess' memorial service. It was rainy most of the morning, and windy, and we were almost the only boat to be seen. We got to see birds galore. The best sighting was when a bald eagle flew across in front of us and snatched a fish right out of the water in full flight. He then continued up and landed in a tree on the shore. Immediately a second eagle from the same spot had to chase away an osprey, and the two had a "dog fight" right in front of us! When the eagle returned to his mate, I snapped this photo. The one had already begun to eat the fish, which was particularly cool to see.

This is a lock on a canal that was never used. It was part of the Cross Florida Canal, which was to have connected the St Johns River with the Gulf of Mexico. It was one-third completed before being canceled in 1971. This perfectly new-looking lock has sat unused for 40 yrs. We traveled along the canal 1 1/2 miles to this lock and tried to land at the wall, but the wind prevented us.

I think I've mentioned this before, but almost every navigation post has an osprey nest. This time of year they are particularly active in them, so I took several pictures as we passed. Here's one of many I took. The shoreline is also replete with snowy white egrets, herons, birds, birds, and more birds. We also saw several more alligators sunning themselves, whenever there might be sun.

This is Rick and me with two other Loopers at a brewery next to their marina in Jacksonville tonight. As we arrived in Jacksonville, we heard a radio conversation between two boats, one of which was named Magoo. We knew Magoo! We had traveled a few days with them in early Sept back on the Illinois River. So I found their card they had given me (it's common for Loopers to have "business" cards to share with contact information, although I never did them), and called them. We decided to have Happy Hour together and catch up on our travels and adventures. Rick and I walked across the bridge to their marina, and we all had a great time. Art and Sandra have been together since 7th grade, which sounded familiar (when Janet and I first met). They will complete their Loop shortly, when they get to N. Carolina.

When Rick and I walked back across to our same dock where we were a week ago, the square with the free concerts was PACKED. We asked, and country singers would be performing. We could tell it was a major deal, but the person we asked didn't know who it would be. After dinner we returned and could barely move in the sea of humanity. There were two front groups before the headliner, Chuck Wicks. The crowd was wild for him. I did recognize one song from the radio, Pick Up Truck. The girls were going wild and tossing pieces of clothing on stage (he draped bras over his guitar). I've never seen any place so jammed tightly with admiring fans.

Interesting notes about our travels since Rick and Beth joined on March 1: We stayed in marinas only twice. Since 9 days ago we used electrical hook-up only once, and went that whole time before having to pump out the holding tank today. In other words, we've been anchoring out or tying up to free docks with no amenities, as we are here in Jacksonville. For a yacht, we're roughing it! We love it.

Gators finally! And WOW, Jacksonville.

Look at that fellow! Rick and I meandered up a creek that flows into the St Johns River near Palatka (for those of you following us with a map), and we've seen three alligators. This was the only one who remained out of the water for us to photo. Several others splashed wildly into the water ahead of us before we could glimpse them.

We saw two gators swimming along the surface, and this was one of them. We decided to anchor in here for the night, and take a quiet dinghy trip, using the oars, in search of more. We paddled for about two hours in the afternoon, but did not see any. Maybe this morning (Tuesday, March 8). It sure has been beautiful in this creek. All to ourselves and totally peaceful. Birds galore.

This picture was from last Friday morning, when Rick and Beth went searching for manatees. Alas, they did not see any. We had heard they might be where the warm water was discharged from a nuclear power plant on the way into Jacksonville on the St Johns River. We anchored off to the side of the river, and off they went. It was still very windy, so I stayed back to make sure the anchor held. We then continued west to downtown Jacksonville.

Look where we docked for the next two nights! And it was free! We were right in the thick of things, a few steps from the exciting downtown happenins. We got to people-watch as hundreds and hundreds strolled/jogged along the walkway. The only bad part was that we were exposed to swells from the wide river, and we jostled quite a bit. But it was worth it, as this was a fabulous setting and location.

Jacksonville Landing is where we were, and there was a big square filled with restaurants and shops, and people. We found Happy Hour specials, such as those $4 margaritas on our table. A dance troupe and choral group was rehearsing in the square, with its water fountain. A rock group was setting up for free music later, which we returned to hear after our dinner at an Irish Pub (a long waterfront stroll away, but worth the walk cuz it was a blast there!). We were happy to be part of the Friday night scene, such a perfect place to be.

The next morning I took an 18-mi bike ride, and snapped this picture from one of the bridges on my return. Do you see the glass-front building right behind Breaking Away? That was the concert hall, and guess who was performing there right next to us? Diana Ross on Fri night and John Cougar Mellencamp on Sat night.

Before I took my ride, we had hundreds of citizens out jogging along the waterfront next to us on a sunny Sat morning. But the most noticeable thing was the "boot camp" group immediately next to us, with the "drill sergeant" yelling encouragement to his charges as they did push ups, pull ups, running sprints, and much more. He must have had about 40 die-hards out there toiling to his commands.

Then there was the big street event a few yards away - the bed races. It was a fund-raiser for the homeless. Lots of dressed-up contestants and racers, all dancing to music on the closed-off streets. Fun to wander among them having so much fun.

Here are the dancers for their finished performance in the square on Sat afternoon. The choral group is on the stage. They were dance majors at the local college. It was a fabulous show (modern dance style). Later in the evening, a different music group performed for the crowds. They did oldies, and they WERE oldies, but we loved it. We even ate dinner right on the square and could continue to listen and watch impromptu dancers, mostly children, performing for the crowds.

Here we are enjoying our scenery on Breaking Away during our Happy Hour Saturday afternoon. We had on the oldies radio station and you can see Rick singing away. A wedding party came along and we watched them pose for about 30 minutes. We were in their background for some! All in all, you can see why we loved this spot and stayed two days.

Isn't the view at night so incredible? Lots of bridges in the downtown.

Beth left Sunday morning for the airport. She flew to Rhode Island to visit Sarah, Anthony, and little Bonnie. Great having Beth join us on the trip for a few days. Too bad she never got to see a manatee.

Rick and I headed south on the St Johns River, which is upstream. We arrived at a little village called Green Cove Springs. This picture shows the spring. It emits 3000 gallons/minute @ 78 degrees, and flows directly into the swimming pool. At the far end of the pool, it flows out and down a stream to the St Johns River where the pier was that we were docked at.

It had been continuously windy ever since Rick and Beth joined my on Feb 28, and that afternoon was no exception. Usually the wind was from the northeast, but luckily when I docked in a tight slip at the end of the pier, headed straight in westward, the wind was coming straight at us from the west. It made the docking easy. We had electric and water hook ups, and it cost only $10 (vs the usual FL marina cost of about $70). I paid the fee at the police station!

I got to watch the finish of the 1st stage of the Paris-Nice bike race, while we also watched the Lakers plaster the Spurs. We were in a cozy bar n grill across from the park. Nice. We then grilled chicken for dinner in our delightful spot on the river.

Here's a waterside church, from 1879, that we walked past yesterday morning before departing Green Cove Springs. We were carrying back some groceries from the market, and stopped into this pretty little find.

Here's where we anchored for the night, and are still here as I am typing this. It was like going on our own personal Jungle Cruise as we came in here yesterday, and what a serene and quiet creek. One of my favorites on the entire trip. Now we will go see if we can see any more gators. I'll let you know!