Savannah to Florida

Savannah to Florida – December 1-15

Click on the above thumbnail for a map of points visited during this time period.

On the road again....

We had a beautiful day December 3rd for the Savannah Bridge Run and were proud of Chuck when he came in 3rd for his age category. We won't mention what that category is though. We spent our last week in Savannah finishing our projects and visiting family and friends. We spent an evening with Laurel Greenlaw, had lunch with Daniel and Samantha Liang, dinner with Dick Munson, and dinner with Ray Greenlaw. We also spent a lot of time with daughter Danielle and granddaughters Kristen and Abigail. We really enjoyed our time at the Isle of Hope Marina and plan to stay there in the future while in Savannah. The staff are very friendly and accommodating, and the village itself -- with its narrow streets and white fences -- is quite charming.

On the 8th we left Savannah and cruised up the Ogeechee River to our old neighborhood. We used our new anchor for the first time and were amazed at how easily we were able to get it up and down. We may not wait on the delivery of the bow roller after all, but pick it up when we return to the States in the spring. We had a great time on the Ogeechee: dinner with Dick and Barbara Kent, an evening with Joanie and Mike Sasser, (Barb and Joanie went to "The Journey") and all-too-short visits with former neighbors Marie Lynch, Gene & Pat Hahne and LeighAnne & John Allen. We also took the dinghy over to Ft. McAllister and greeted our old friends from the biking club, who coincidentally happened to be starting a ride from that location. We later rejoined them for a "Soups On" lunch at Ric's house,

Danielle and Abigail delivered the Sunday paper the morning of the 10th and a spent few hours with us before we left. Abigail loved the dinghy ride and has proclaimed the dinghy to be "Abby's boat". We had a tearful good-bye and headed south after lunch.

Anchored the first night behind St. Catherine's Island in the Walburg Creek, in just about the same spot where we several years ago first met our friends Jack and Jo Brinckerhoff, owners of the 39' Krogen "Bodacious". Anchored the second night in Frederica creek, right next to historic Ft. Frederica, founded by General Oglethorpe himself in 1736. The town/fort is now almost totally gone, with just a few tabby ruins remaining.

We took our kayaks over to see the fort, and on the way over noticed something white along the shore. Turned out to be a soft-bottomed raft that was tied into a bundle; it had apparently fallen off some vessel and had found its way up the creek. What a find! Of course, Chuck had to salvage it. Trouble was, the current was very strong, and the raft was very heavy. The harder he paddled the farther he was swept from our trawler. So Barb zipped up to our boat and grabbed a long docking line. Realizing it wouldn't float, she tied it to her kayak and set it sailing out to rescue Chuck. Oops! Too short, and he is making unhappy noises as he struggles against the current and load. So she grabs another docking line and attaches it to the first, and anxiously watches as the kayak slowly slowly ever-so-slowly inches backward toward Chuck, who by now is making very very unhappy noises. It doesn't quite reach, but Chuck redoubles his efforts and lunges for the end of Barb's craft. He misses, and the lunge and the unusual weight at the back nearly capsizes him. He tries again with another burst of a dozen extra speedy and powerful strokes and another lunge. Just by the very end of his finger tip he manages to catch the very end of the kayak, and he pulls it to him. And holds on while Barb, in her effort to pull the two kayaks and one folded raft up to the trawler, finally realizes the reason for the unhappy sounds. :-)

There is a nice visitor center at the fort, and we noticed a sign that mentioned the oranges that grow along the former streets of the town. Turns out they are a species that are resistant to freezing; hence their survival for all of these years. But they were described as being very sour -- so much so that they are considered ornamental only; even the wildlife doesn't touch them. But they *look* so good!

We had thought of stopping at Jekyll Island, Brunswick, St. Mary's and Cumberland Island during our trek south, but decided to skip all but the last in an effort to get south and find some warmer weather. We are tired of being cold. But we just couldn't pass up Cumberland. Barb had several nice walks and Chuck had some very peaceful runs. What a gorgeous part of the world. And since we spent Tuesday and Wednesday there -- days on which the ferry does not run during the winter -- we had the place almost entirely to ourselves. But not quite. We had to share it with the egrets and herons and terns and wood storks and pelicans and dolphins and wild turkeys and wild horses and armadillos.

We are very happy with our new batteries. We no longer have to worry about battery capacity on an overnight anchorage. We can use electrical appliances, the TV or the computers without a concern for getting below the 50% capacity limit. The batteries are charged when the boat is running, so we don't have to worry about charging them at all except when we are at anchor for multiple days. Then we should only need to charge them once a day at the most. The other good thing about the new batteries is all the storage area that got added when they were changed out. Chuck painted all the new shelves so things are looking pretty spiffy in the engine room and lazzarette.

On the morning of the 15th we weighed anchor at Cumberland and headed the few miles to Amelia Island, FL where we plan to refuel and then head to St. Augustine for a few days.