Beaufort, South Carolina

Picture perfect weather today. After enjoying our complimentary Krispy Kreme donuts we threw the lines and headed north.  We traveled 43 NM and arrived Beaufort at slack tide! We are docked at Downtown Marina of Beaufort.

Harbour Town Lighthouse, Hilton Head

Parris Island, Marine Corps Training Camp. Water tower reads, "We Make Marines".  Charlie's father, Woody, trained here.

We're glad we also own an electronic Garmin......

Dinner tonight at Old Bull Tavern.  The Green Eggs and Ham where great! Wasabi Deviled Eggs with Prosciutto, for starters. By far the most amazing waiter ever. The epitome of perfection, and his name is Alex.  Highly recommended stop when in area.  We will make it another stop to be here for this again.

Wha-what?!  Wine on tap!!!!!

Nice sunset to end a great day of travel but, more importantly. a very sad day as we have lost Charlie's father. We are happy that he got to share our short adventure thus far via text, phone, and photo's.  We have loved him being such an active part of our lives. We love you, Woody. May you rest in peace.

 You are forever etched in our hearts.

A Sampling of Historic Downtown, Savannah, Georgia - Day 2

We woke up this morning to complimentary donuts! Then, we ventured out to see Savannah's historic downtown and riverfront.  We used the complimentary bus passes the marina offered us and jumped onto the local public transportation. A great day!

This girl, born in Lafayette, finds Lafayette Square! And it looks so much like Lafayette, LA

Cathedral of St. John the Baptist

Of course, we went down these steps!

 Colonial Park Cemetery            Savannah's Fallen Firefighters Memorial

My Battalion Chief meets Savannah's Battalion Chief's

Our lunch stop, Clary's Cafe, EST. 1903, which was made even more popular by the movie, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, as the diner where eccentric Luther Driggers ate his breakfast and lunch. The movie was directed by Clint Eastwood and starred John Cusack.  We did have to have some Georgia Pecan Pie (a la mode, per Charlie) and some Georgia Bread Pudding!

The Georgia Queen

Today was a short sampling of what we will return to explore more next year here.  It was a day well lived.

Savannah, Georgia

We threw the lines at 6:45 a.m. to a beautiful sunrise and cruised for 7 hours up the ICW.  We traveled approximately 103 NM with very little traffic along the way. We did experience some very narrow channels and some incorrect chart information that was not noted in Active Captain. (I'll post those notes accordingly for the next cruisers.) Charlie did a great job of planning around the tidal fluctuation as we had plenty of water when we arrived Savannah, GA.   We are docked for the day at Thunderbolt Marina. Garmin was able to run off lease with me for a while in the grass under the huge Oak Trees at the marina!

I was relieved this guy was leaving port before us as there was a very strong parallel current and a sailboat was docked about three feet from our stern.

Beautiful sunrise as we were underway leaving the marina.

The Captain at the helm.....'Flying on the Flybridge'. (Thank you Marty for the awesome T-Shirt!)

Garmin is at my feet, of course.

At tonight's port, Thunderbolt Marine and Marina, Savannah, GA.

Life is good.

Who knew?!:

*Savannah is called ‘America’s First Planned City’ because Oglethorpe carefully organized the town into grids, with wide streets and 24 public squares. 21 of these squares were carefully preserved throughout the years and still exist today.

*Girl Scout founder Juliette Gordon Low was born here and also began Girl Scouts in Savannah.

*When General Sherman marched through Savannah during the Civil War, he was so impressed by her beauty that he sent a telegraph to President Lincoln, offering Savannah to him as a Christmas present.

*Lawyers were not allowed to practice in early Savannah.

*More than 20 major movies have been shot in the city. For the past 100 years, Savannah has been the backdrop for a number of films. Silent movies, the original Cape Fear, the TV miniseries Roots, Forrest Gump and Midnight In the Garden of Good and Evil are just a few of the movies filmed in Savannah.

*About 11.4 million people visit Savannah each year.

*Savannah is one of a handful of cities that allow to-go cup cocktails.

*The American Institute of Parapsychology chose Savannah as “America’s Most Haunted City.”

*The average annual high temperature is 77.1 degrees.