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.
No comments:
Post a Comment