See you soon, Heartbeat!! We really enjoyed getting to know our new friends and hope to see them again soon.
Afterwards, Kelly went shopping. Mike worked and Jen rested. Jen wasn’t feeling well and spent most of the day in her “cave” room staying away to keep the rest of us from getting sick. After work, Mike and Kelly went shopping at an outlet mall.
Clothing space is limited on the boat, and we are repeating outfits often. So, getting some new clothes is exciting!! We will have to mail some clothes home to make room for the new ones. Afterwards, we got some ice cream and returned the rental car.
In the evening, Mike was doing some outside boat work and we met our neighbor, Gary. Gary is a retired Marine. He gave us a tour of his boat. It is a 55 foot Atlantic. It is an old boat in great shape, and we really enjoyed seeing it. We shared navigation tips and loved to hear Gary’s stories. Now we have another new friend!!
Today was a slow day. Jen helped the girls on Heartbeat organize their rooms with containers we bought from the local dollar store. Their mom, Nareesa, didn’t feel well so Jen helped the family make dinner and brought the food back to our boat. Kelly worked on trip planning and Mike worked.
See you soon “Silver Linings”! Saying goodbye is hard to do so we prefer to say, “see you soon”. At 7:30 am, we helped our friends push off the dock for them to start heading north.
Afterwards, Mike worked. Jen and Kelly took a nap! We were still tired from our travels and crazy offshore day. Later, Kelly did some cleaning and Jen walked the dogs with the kids from “Heartbeat”.
Mike and Jen went to the grocery store.
That night, Jen made dinner and we brought it to “Heartbeat’s” boat. We enjoyed hearing about their time in the Bahamas and we shared our stories. It is so nice to compare stories and learn from each other. We are so happy that we got to collect more new friends!
Today, we spent the day in Savannah, GA with Katie and Ruby on “Silver Linings”. It was a beautiful day in a beautiful town with great friends.
We toured the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist church. It is one of the most popular tourist attractions on Savannah. The volunteers do a great job providing historic information about the beautiful stain glass and wood carvings. And, before we left, we took time to pray.
We then toured the Wayne-Gordon House. His second wife, Juliette Gordon Low is the founder of the Girl Scouts. The house has great history. Juliette recruited girls all over town at churches, synagogues, family, friends and acquaintances. She held elaborate teas in her parlor to recruit as well. Another, interesting fact, Robert E. Lee stayed there when he was older, and people tried to meet him.
We then had lunch at Mrs. Wilkes house. They are well known for their fried chicken and family style meals. They served approximately 20 dishes for us to sample. All of it was fantastic. We got to meet Mrs. Wilkes’ granddaughter and hear her stories and she signed her cookbook that we bought.
Afterwards, we toured the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). They have a fun, interactive movie and tour. It was fun to hear the story of its founder, Paula Wallace. She was a kindergarten teacher with a dream for a different kind of college and preparing students for a career in art and design.
We ended our tour at Leopold’s Ice Cream! Long line but great ice cream!!
Later that evening, “Heartbeat” invited everyone over for dinner. We played games again including our favorite care game Shanghai.
Today was a fun day exploring Hilton Head. Jen and the girls on “Silver Linings” and “Heartbeat” took the dogs for a walk. They really enjoyed the loving on the dogs. The dogs came back so happy.
We then walked to the free island trolley. Hilton Head has beautiful trees and trails. It was a nice, relaxing walk. The trolley took us to a shopping center. Jen got some really pretty sundresses and Kelly got a wicker purse….that Jen says we are sharing! Ha.
Later that night, we had dinner on “Heartbeat’s” boat. They made chicken chili and it was yummy. After dinner, they introduced us to several games. It was another great night.
At 7:00 am, we pulled away from Brunswick Landing and met “Silver Linings” to travel offshore for our next adventure…..and it was an adventure! Wind and waves were more intense than our weather apps predicted. Wind was 12-15 knots and waves were 3-4 feet at 3 to 5 seconds. It was a very bumpy ride. We had to batten everything down even more. Teddy threw up 5 times and Kelly once. Mike did a great job getting us through the difficult waters.
Prior to our bumpy ride, Mike put some fishing lines out and then the waves came. It was too dangerous to go to the back of the boat to pull the lines in, so we pulled them the entire way.
When we got to the inlet the waves calmed down a little. Jen pulled the fishing lines in. She put on her life jacket and headset. Kelly watched her while Mike talked her through pulling the lines in.
Our travel was 102 miles and 11.5 hours. Palmetto Bay Marina, Hilton Head is a nice marina, however, past storms destroyed some of their amenities (laundry, shower, and restrooms). They also have upgraded power so we could not use our air conditioning due to concerns about tripping their system. Fortunately, the days and nights were cool enough that we didn’t need it.
That evening, we had dinner with our friends from Marathon, “Alacrity”, our travel buddies “Silver Linings” and new friends “Heartbeat”. It was so nice to see Anne and Jay (“Alacrity”) again. Kelly and Anne became good friends in their short time in Marathon. Everyone was happy to be together. “Alacrity” was in the Bahamas with “Silver Linings” and “Heartbeat”. It was a great night.
Brunswick celebrated their blessing of the fleet today. They had a farmer’s market, cook off, music and local chefs. Midday, we gathered along the coast and watch the Paster stand at the end of one of the shrimp boats and bless the shrimp boats and coast guard as each one passed by. Steve and Terri on “In Custody” joined us. It was a nice relaxing day.
We bought a lot of local fruits and vegetables and have a new challenge – “Chow Chow”. It is cabbage, onions, tomatoes, peppers, vinegar, sugar, mustard, turmeric, ginger etc. We aren’t sure how to use it but it will be fun to find out!
The marina has a big fenced in yard for dogs to play. And, that evening, we let the dogs run loose! Living on a boat, they don’t get the opportunity to run so they enjoyed it.
After we said goodbye to Steve and Terri, we spent the evening getting ready to leave early the next morning. Jen did laundry, Mike did some engine checks and Kelly cleaned.
In the morning before Mike started work, we used the marina’s free golf cart to drive into town for breakfast with Steve and Terri. We did a little shopping and headed back.
At 10 am, we pulled away from Jekyll Island marina for a 3 hour trip to Brunswick Landing marina in Brunswick, GA. We heard the bridge next to the marina can be tricky due to current and tide. So, we decided to leave at high tide. The bridge turned out to be pretty easy. There was some shallow areas along the intercoastal so we went slow and carefully followed our charts. Jen drove and Kelly navigated.
Pulling into the slip at Brunswick Landing happened smoothly. There was little current moving us around and the slips were wide with an easy approach. Whew!
Our friends, Kent, Katie, Ruby and Violet on “Silver Linings” were at a nearby marina so they took an Uber over to spend the evening with us. It was great to have “Silver Linings”, “In Custody” and “Wishes” back together which was the first time since we crossed the Gulf from Carrabelle to Clearwater FL. We were all so excited to see each other. We went to the festival in downtown Brunswick. Many of the stores were giving away free beer and margaritas. Jen got a cool denim jacket with white flowers painted on it…..and we got several drinks.
Unfortunately, it began to rain. We ordered some pizzas to bring back to the marina and sat under a pergola. We shared our travel stories and supported each other in our challenges. It was great to laugh at our stresses with fellow boaters that can relate. It energized us to continue our adventure.
Our new friend, “Avalon”, pulled up her anchor early before us and we left at 9:30 am. Jen drove while Mike worked. It was an easy drive to Jekyll Island Marina. We arrived around 1 PM and our friends, Steve and Terri on “In Custody” were there to help us tie up.
It was a scenic, beautiful drive….with the exception of the horseflies! Jen sprayed the canopy on the flybridge and it seemed to help.
Kelly and Jen joined Steve and Terri at the marina pool for a few beers. After Mike finished worked, we used the marina free golf cart to take a short drive around the island. We then had dinner at the marina restaurant. On driving days, we don’t eat much so everyone was very hungry. There were no leftovers! We also sampled their Key Lime Pie and we are happy to say it is now one of the top pies. Dewie Destin in Flordia is still #1 but this one is in the top 4!
We pulled up our anchor at Mile 769 anchorage with our new friend, Leslie on “Avalon”. It was a beautiful weather day which made it easy for Jen to drive while Mike worked. We traveled 61 miles in almost 9 hours.
In Jacksonville, we did a small side trip and drove towards the inlet to see the Navy military base. We got to see a helicopter practice moving a barrel and dropping it off to a specified place. It was also exciting to see all the huge Navy ships.
Heading back towards the ICW we saw a huge yacht (“Siren”) that Kelly looked up and found it belongs to the second riches person in the UK, David Ruben. He is Indian and made his money selling carpets and then real estate and stocks. We got to see them test their water cannons to defend off pirates. It was cool but a harsh reality of offshore long-range travel.
Later, we decided to stop for fuel. We don’t have fuel gauges, so Mike has to measure the levels in the tank and do some calculations. He determined that we could make it to Jekyll Island in 2 days but felt safer if we got fuel now. Kelly found a marina that was easy on and easy off. Price was $6.30 so we decided to hedge our bets and only got 150 gallons! The Wishes crew did a great job, and it was only about a 45 minute detour.
The ICW can be tricky because of water depths and high/low tides. One of the challenges is watching your charts and attempting to visually gauge depth. Today was one of those challenges. We ran aground. Fortunately, BoatUS happen to be passing by and we flagged them down to help us. It wasn’t serious because he was able to get us out quickly. He gave us some tips about the waterway north of us which was a big help. “Avalon” bumped the shallow water too but was able to pull herself out.
Afterwards, we (Wishes and Avalon) decided on an anchorage just a few miles up. When we got there, it seemed a bit too shallow. So, we pushed on to Fernandina Beach which was another hour away. Glad we did. The depth was 25 feet, lots of open space and it was beautiful.
Jen took a shower out on the back deck and watched the sunset and dolphins play. Teddy sang for us tonight as well… see video below. Along with videos of military training.
Cruising Wishes 