May 17, 2014 Saturday, Royal Port Landing Marina, a must stop, two days third free

Leaving Beaufort today,for an anchorage half way to Charleston.  Beautiful cool day in the low 60's, 10 knot winds.  Said goodbye to a wonderful couple on Dubhe a Willard 30 Nomad motor boat, very cute boat, getting ready to start their dream cruising this December, January.  Hope to catch up with them in the Keys this winter.  Sad to leave here, everyone so nice.  Took a shower to a live band just outside the bathroom.  Good music.  Bet most of you can't say you've done that before.  Looking forward to more firsts.

May 16, 2014 Friday

Woke up after a very windy stormy night to sunshine and wind.  Also I woke up to nausea and dizzyness.  Not sure if I was sea sick from the movement all night or another vestibular migraine.  Anyway, another beautiful morning shot, took my meds and luckily got the courtesy car went touring, I slept in the back seat and Curt toured.  Started to feel better around noon, able to walk a little, on the boardwalk and to the beach and lighthouse.  Slept while Curt walked to book stores downtown Beaufort.  Got back to the Marina, everyone asking if we were coming to the Barbeque and Pot Luck tonight.  So rode our bikes to the grocery store to by stuff for the potluck.  Met some very nice Low Country South Carolina people and of course good food. Lots of sailing stories and exchanging information back and forth.  Good for us to know good anchorages and marinas coming up. Wind finally went down and calm,  beautiful cool night.

See the tiny crabs with one pincher called Fiddler crabs.  Millions in the mud when the tide was down below the marsh boardwalk.

May 15, 2014 Thursday, Port Royal Landing Marina

1. Good night, only rained for a little while but really warm and humid, able to put the air on with only a few sprinkles thru out the night, lots of rocking and rolling, wasn't sure if my head would let me walk in the morning.  Guess I'm still not completely over it.  Took the courtesy car this morning went driving thru downtown historical Beaufort, South Carolina, beautiful antebellum homes along the water. We also thru a Beaufort National Cemetery which was huge, very impressive with all white marble head stones of soldiers who had served in multiple wars.  Next to it was a local cemetery that was in very much disrepair. Went to St. Helena Island to see the Penn Center, place where they had first started a school for the slave children.  Laura Towne from Mass. came here with another gal just for a few years as a Missionary with the Unitarian church, ending up staying here for 20 plus years, dying here.  It is one of the cultural centers sharing their Gulla/Geechee African heritage.  This is a place where Martin Luther King frequented to study and relax, it was also one of the few places in the 60's where whites and blacks could meet for conferences peacefully together.  Other places called them communists for meeting.  It was also said this is the place where Martin Luther King started writing his speech "I have a dream".  At the Penn Center they taught typical classroom lessons for 4 hours but in the afternoon they taught vocational skills, men were taught blacksmithing and carpenters,mechanical repairs.  Women were taught, canning, gardening, making quilts and basket making with sweet grass.  When the slaves were freed, they were given land to the family, not just to one person, so they had someone come in and teach them how to keep their land or sell it.  Basic education was started here for the slaves.  Harriet Tubman came here also.  She had been a spy, nurse and guerrila fighter.  Must have been quite a lady.  The Penn Center was put on the National Registry of Historic Landmarks  for what they did instead of for the buildings which is very very unusually.  We then had lunch at a Gulla Resturant, really good BBQ chicken leg and thigh along with potato salad, different flavors but good, Curt had fresh caught Breaded Shark Strips with potato salad and the best corn bread I've ever tasted.  For desert we had to try the Sweet Potato by with the Sweet tea and Swamp tea. We told the waitress to tell Mr. Bill, it was the best cornbread and meal we've had in a long time. She said the Low Country food is always good, we agreed. We went on down the road to Hunting Island Park to see the Lighthouse and walk the marsh boardwalk but decided we didn't have enough time, hopefully tomorrow.   Currently sitting out on the covered patio at the marina with the rain and lightening around us.  Bugs started to bite.

Historic Beaufort, driveways were very scenic

Lots of houses for sale, but looking down the street was beautiful

The ceilings of all the porch ceilings were painted baby blue, rest was white

Can you find the Red Cardinal, second one we saw, love the tree trunk, above and below

Love the wreath on the door

A marsh and back water

Just kept taking pictures of all the grave stones, unbelievable, so amazing this many have served in the military to give us freedom and this is only one cemetary in the U.S.

The headstones kept on going, lots of shorter unmarked stones

It was very beautiful to look across the evenly spaced headstones.

Front entrance

Gulla Restaurant

May 14, 2014 Wednesday, leaving Savannah Bend Marina

7:30 am  Gail Warning the Island Packet gone already, we payed our bill for last night and off we went down the ICW.  Had to stop and circle till the bridge opened but continued at 6.5-7.5 knots, going with the tide.  Quickly down the ICW and in 15 miles going by Hilton Head South Carolina.  Decided to keep going and stop at Beaufort.  After listening to the weather, a big storm coming for three days, lots of rain and wind, we stopped at the Port of Royal Landing Marina, cheaper than Hilton Head and 3 rd night free.  Courtesy car also.  Anchored in the marina since wind starting to pick up on the outside dock where they first put us.
Rode their bikes over to Port Royal Island and looked around.

 Looking up from our boat, a parasailer going over us as the boat passed us by Hilton Head South Carolina

 Houses along the ICW on Hilton Head

 Little Private Marina behind these huge houses above, see the sailboat masts.

 Art/Antique place at Port Royal Island, very interesting way to use junk metal,

Wouldn't you love to have this rocking horse,?

 This sculpture was $10,000, yes I have the 0's correct

 Looking down mainstreet, alot of buildings empty

May 13, 2014 Tuesday Savannah Bend Marina

Nice nite, good to have air conditioning again.  Rode our bikes into get a new prop for the 9.9 engine, carburetor kit not in yet, went to the BiLo grocery store, first time at this one.  Back to the boat, prop on, motor running smoothly.  Helped Curt take apart the carburetor on the 2.5 engine, found out there was tons of sludge in it and most likely the culprit.  Cleaning everything up, just as Curt was putting the last screw in at 4:30, they called to say the kit was in.  On our bikes again, over the steep busy bridge to pick up the kit and back to the boat.  Decided to check out a locals Seafood Restaurant and ended up staying for dinner having a 1/2 lb shrimp, sausage, potatoe, corn on the cob boil.  Sure was good, fresh caught shrimp.  Passed up the steamed oysters.  Met a couple traveling up the river in their 35 ft Island Packet docked on the next dock away from us.  They invited us over for wine after dinner.  We got back to the boat, filled with water, took the dinghy out for a ride to check out the motor, can't believe how good it runs.  Curt's a good boat motor mechanic, good thing too.  Took a shower, put our bikes away while the No Cums were completely covering our bodies.  Went over to Nick and Gail's boat, they said they had just given up on being outside because of the bugs also so went down in their boat for good wine and good stories.  Finally saying our goodbyes 2 hours later at 11 pm went back to the boat in beautiful moonlit night.  Happy to have the air conditioner again.  Thanks Pete and Darlene.

May 12, 2014. left Herb anchorage

Motored past Thunderbolt anchorage and decided to not go down the Savannah River since so far and closer by bus or taxi.  Stopped at the Savannah Bend Marina, nice folks. Talked with a Yamaha motor mechanic and decided most likely the carburetor needs cleaning, so order a carburetor kit and walked into town to find a bus and tour downtown Savannah till the kit gets here tomorrow.  After walking over the bridge and into Thunderbolt, waiting 75 minutes for a bus that is supposed to go by every 30 minutes, we finally caught the bus and took a tour of the area, long tour, till we got to Savannah Historic District.  What do you want for $1.50.  Walked around downtown, the river front to see what the city dock looked like to tie up to.  Decided with all the traffic, we made the right decision to stay where we were.  Made a reservation for dinner at Lady and Son's, Paula Deen and her Son's  Restaurant downtown.  Walked around till 4:30 and had the Buffet.  Good Fried chicken, BBQ, collard greens, macaroni and cheese, zucchini casserole, great salad bar, Curt said the best Ranch dressing he's had, I loved the pickled beets and of course the biscuits, baked and fried were delicious. I had the Peach cobbler and Curt had the Banana pudding which we were way to full to finish.  Barely able to walk we made our way back to the Red Trolley to take a guided historic tour of downtown Savannah.  It was too far to make the last Trolley so he offered the Carriage Ride, which was cheaper not as long and fun.  Fun to here all the stories of the historic buildings and people.  Went by the house that was built by the lady who started Girls Scouts, where they have girl scout conventions till to this day.  Talked about General Green and how much he hated the area, the temperature, humidity and thought the Spanish Moss on the trees were ugly.  He ended up dying of sun stroke in 1786 at the age of 43, later his grave was moved to one of the squares that was a park in historic downtown Savannah.  Soon thereafter a hurricane came thru blowing all the Spanish Moss off the trees in the square(park) and to this day there is no Spanish Moss on those trees and there is always a cool breeze blowing down the street his square blocks.  Strange to see trees without Spanish Moss.  Finally we get a horse drawn Carriage Ride.  We made our way back to the bus stop, just missing our bus at 8:10pm, then had to wait for the bus that was supposed to come by at 9 pm, last one for the night.  Sat there till 9:20, asked another bus if one was coming, she said yes but she would take us to the Depot where it was lighter.  It was lighter but there was strange people there so we walked over to the Hampton Inn and had them call us a taxi.  Back to the boat after our $20. taxi ride, oh well we didn't have to walk that mile over the bridge to the marina in the dark.  Smart decision.  We plan, God laughs and directs.

 a huge Yacht in Thunderbolt Marina, had MIT Seas on the side, can you see the two people on the back of the boat, shows you how big this boat actually was.

 Other boats in this Marina

 Could get over how big this boat was.  Bob this is your boat.

 Touring downtown Savannah, this is one of the original cobblestone streets from the 1800s, stones used as ballast in the big ships coming across the Atlantic, left here in America so they could carry cargo back to Spain or England.

 History tells of this young girl waving her hankerchief at passing ships hoping one has her sweetheart on it.

 This was a huge cargo ship coming into the Savannah Port, notice the green and red rectangles are actually the size of semi truck trailers.  Amazing a boat this size can float.

 We've seen these pictures at other art galleries, thought they were quite clever.

 More cobblestone strees looking down at the water front below.

 Gold Dome sticking up between the trees, the court house at the end of Bull Street, which is the center of the downtown historic district.  Story was the Bull would stop at the court house.

This was the Historical Savannah Cotton Exchange Mason's building with the lion water fountain below out front of it.

 There were squares which are parks all over town.  Ogelethorpe had designed this town the same as Brunswick with town squares that remain as parks.  One of the town squares was where they hung people which happened to be close to the cemetery.

 Homes on Park Street were of the richer times, the more Wrought iron you had on your home the more money you had.

 Many red doors, in the 1800's they signified the homes were payed for and the banker didn't have to come knocking on the door to collect.

 Beautiful Catholic church covering an entire block.

 There was a tax on doors in their home in the 1800's so they made windows on the upper two floors going out on the balcony instead of doors.  Some towns the tax was on the width of the house, that's why the homes were so narrow.

 Soldiers camped in the cemetery during the Revolutionary War, the horses knocked down some of the headstones and some soldiers changed the date of birth on some of the headstones, silly young men.

 Beautiful architecture, carvings around the windows

 Statues in the squares of famous people but didn't always match the name of the square or park.

 Had to take the picture of a quilt in the window of an antique store.