Savannah!

Finally, on Sunday, we made it to Savannah, officially. We were a bit concerned because all of the marinas were full when we called around - but we finally got one of them to make room for us. We pulled in, got the lines settled and immediately had our friend Adam, who we know from Jacksonville, come pick us up.

He was a fantastic tour guide - taking us all around the city, telling us where everything was and the little bit of history that he knew in his short time of living here (2 months). We parked downtown and went on a River Street Bar and Appetizer Crawl. We strolled down historic River Street and ate and drank our way through all of the local favorites. We were all sufficiently full and exhausted by the time he dropped us back at the boat later that night.


Our own personal Tour Guide:

The following day, we rented a car and toured some of the city ourselves - stopping to admire the squares that break up the city and keep the old southern charm alive and also an extremely old cathedral and cemetery. After some sight seeing, we hit the highway and drive down to Darrien, GA to see one of the doctors who I used to work with in Jacksonville. He has since opened up his own clinic and we were eager to see how it was doing and catch up with him. He took us out to lunch at the local diner and the food was to die for! Brad opted for the buffet which was filled with down home cookin' and delicious desserts, and I had their infamous Fried Shrimp. I seriously cannot get enough of this Georgia Shrimp!!

That evening we ran errands and caught up on a bit of boat work and laundry. Brad streamed the Tampa Bay Lightning hockey game and we watched as the Bolts got another win!! Go Bolts!

Tuesday, we used our rental car to tour some of the surrounding beaches and islands. First, we headed over to Tybee Island - which is where all the Savannah people go to the beach. The beach was beautiful, very wide and had an older beach town feel. We stopped and checked out the lighthouse, although it was closed on Tuesdays (?!) and one of the old Batteries from the 1800s.

Next stop, Hilton Head. Neither of us had ever been here and wanted to check it out, so over to SC we went. The island is very unique, not like any beach town I've ever experienced. It is covered in tall pine trees and although there are the requisite chain restaurants and shopping malls, along with the typical little beach shacks, they are all set back off the road, so the main road is just surrounded by trees. And the area is largely residential - it is difficult to find a road that cuts through to the beach. We did find that there was free beach parking - if you could find one of the parking lots. The beach was similar to Tybee and overcrowded, but the water temperature was divine!

We met back up with Adam for dinner once we returned to Savannah and had one last dinner on River Street overlooking the Savannah River before we all hustled back to our respective homes as a huge storm system came through. There was a downpour for hours and lots of lightning and thunder. We stayed tucked safely in the marina and were very happy not to be stuck out on the hook in the weather!

Wednesday morning came early and we rushed around to get some last minute things done (laundry, filling the water and fuel and walking the mutt) before casting off. We were sad to leave Savannah but are excited to finally be crossing in to South Carolina tomorrow. Our next stop is Beaufort, SC - which will take us about two days due to the tides.

We were very sad to be leaving Thunderbolt Marina as everyone was extremely nice and the amenities were fabulous! And, to top if all off - we got fresh Krispy Kreme donuts delivered to our boat every morning!!

**Side note for my Mom: This is the Juliette Gordon Lowe House - the founder of the Girl Scouts which we visited the last time we were in Savannah, many many moons ago!

Surrounded by Help!

So last you heard, we were still sitting at anchor off Sapelo Sound trying to fix our engine. Well, don't worry, we aren't still there; I've just been a slacker at keeping up with the blog. So, here goes:

Brad worked on the engine all morning while I did a few things around the boat, including a bit of blogging. Almost as soon as my blog hit the internet, we had help. A family friend contacted us and gave us the number for a good friend of hers who works on trawlers and is great with engines. Our boating buddies on "Bluewater Cat", who are currently up in Charleston, gave us a few options to mull over and try out. And, our brand new friends on "Iemanga" who loaned us the tools the other night, emailed us to give us some ideas as well.

We immediately contacted the engine guy and Brad spent some time going over the problems with him. With a couple of pictures sent back and forth and a bit of trial and error, he was able to quickly diagnose the problem - it was somewhere down our cable from the batteries to the engine. So, Brad set to work checking out every inch of every cable. Luckily, the problem was very obvious once he knew where to look. One of our connectors at the solenoid had completely corroded, to the point that when he touched it, it just came crumbling off in his hand. And then - as if our lucky streak had changed - we actually had the spare part we needed to fix it on board!! What a miracle!!


This is starting to be a common sight on our boat - Brad with he head in the engine:

Within an hour Brad had the part replaced, hooked up and the engine running. Hallelujah!! We hauled up anchor, even though it was afternoon and decided to get a few miles under our keel. Right as we were pulling back onto the ICW, our friends on "Iemanga" hailed us on the VHF. They were right behind us and had seen us hoist the anchor. They were happy we had gotten the problem fixed as they had been racking their brains for a solution, digging out tools that might help us and were planning on stopping to see if they could help!

So, our luck seemed to have been changing back in our favor and it was all due to the quick thinking of some great friends and a few strangers! The generosity of strangers never ceases to amaze me - especially in the boating world!!

We made it ten miles up the Ditch and then anchored for the night next to our friends on "Iemanga". We headed over to their boat for some sundowners and to finally get to know these people who had been so enormously generous with us!

We traveled with a few other sailboats in the afternoon - one of those is "Iemanga":

The following morning we upped anchor and traveled the rest of the way to Savannah. Instead of heading in to the marina however, we opted to anchor just a mile South and spend the evening on the hook. It was a beautiful evening and we had a few things we wanted to get done before we headed in. Tomorrow (Sunday) we will check in to the marina bright and early - we are eager to finally make it to Savannah!!

GOREE

We have been in the ICW about a month and we have repeatedly seen this man, in a strange little boat rowing along the waterway. Same man, same boat. A few weeks back, we googled him and found out that he is rowing for a cause. His brother died of AIDS and so he is raising money and awareness for this cause. He started in Africa, rowed across the Atlantic and is now rowing up the Ditch to NYC, his end destination. Sounds crazy to me, but we have taken to keeping a close eye on him since we cross paths so frequently. Check out his WEBSITE and his FACEBOOK page and support his cause! And watch out for him on a waterway near you! You can also follow along with his travels on Spot (located on his web page).


Can you believe he crossed the Atlantic in this thing?!