Friday of last week we had answered prayers in the form of our davit being repaired in one day instead of five. We were docked on the working side of Thunderbolt Marine, and we were told that we could now move to the marina side, where we would be more comfortable. There was some dredging going on right beside us, so the dredger asked us to wait for about 30 minutes till he could be out of our way. In less time than that, the sky darkened and wind came up and it started raining like crazy again! We decided to move later… and there was nothing uncomfortable about where we were. So we moved to the marina side the next afternoon. I wasn’t sure what was supposed to be more comfortable on that side… until we woke Sunday morning with fresh Krispy Kremes delivered to our door! I think this is the only marina in the world that gives guests complimentary doughnuts every morning! I ate one, and gave the other five away to some great guys we met that are there permanently and therefore don’t get the delivery. (Cherryl is too smart to eat them!) The next morning we got another half dozen… so I ate half of one and asked the two guys that had come in late Sunday if they wanted the other five. They were very happy to take them, and asked me on board. In their saloon, I noticed another Krispy Kreme box, and discovered they had gotten theirs already! They sheepisly admitted they’d finished their box and were happy with more. I cancelled the delivery for the next day!
I tried this picture to show how busy Cherryl is in the galley…
We did see a lot of Savannah – a beautiful old town.
Amazing architecture is everywhere in Savannah! We toured the Owens-Thomas house, built in 1819. It is considered one of the most elegant homes surviving in Savannah. It is said that the Marquis de Lafayette stayed here when he toured the states at the 50th anniversary of our independence. From a balcony, he addressed the huge crowds that filled the square to see him. It is said the people were so happy to see him, they listened through a very long speech… without understanding a word. He spoke in French, which very few could understand!
We had dinner at Bella Napoli, a great little Italian place. The proprietor had some dishes that he would mix in a huge hollowed out parmesan cheese wheel.
Monday we were going to have a guy from Thunderbolt look at the drains for our A/C units. Two of them aren’t draining like they should, and all the water that the A/C units take out of the air (Like how your car drips water from the A/C on the ground) drips into our bilge. But not just a little water… two buckets full per day! (It’s so humid here we have to keep raisins in a sealed container lest they pop back into grapes!) But anyway, they had no good solution for the condensation water so we will worry about that another day.
Tuesday we ran up to Charleston. It was a very long day in the ocean. We are very excited about our kids and grandkids coming next week to see us in Myrtle Beach, so we decided we didn’t want to spend much time in Charleston but get on up to Myrtle Beach. But maybe one day would be OK… Mid morning on Wednesday the dockhands came to us and said “The owner of this slip came back early and we need to get him in. Can you leave really soon? Like Now??” So we fired up and moved to a bigger marina near downtown Charleston. What should have been a 20 minute trip up the bay was interrupted by another rainstorm. It rained so hard we could not see the land surrounding the bay in any direction! Our radars and chart plotters assured us we were OK, but we just hung out in the center while it blew over, and then we plodded on to the next marina. And goofed off the rest of the day.
We headed to Georgetown early Thursday morning. We got there mid afternoon, and after getting settled Ubered (I guess that’s becoming a word now) to the historic district. We had a nice walk down front street, had dinner in a kind of funky little place, and then walked down what they call “Harbor Walk” – a several block long wharf with private boats on one side and trendy restaurants, shops and bars on the other. A nice stroll, highlighted by seeing a small alligator being harassed by turtles! The gator was three, maybe four feet long, and the turtles were about a foot across. Four of them would swim all around him, almost climb on his back, and swim right in front if him like they had a death wish. He half-heartedly snapped at them a few times, but I guess their heads tucked in quickly enough to stay attached!
It was so nice out we decided to walk the couple of miles back to the boat. We went through block after block of beautiful homes, many with plaques saying they dated from the 1770’s! It was very frustrating- every time I stopped to take a picture, the mosquitoes would pick me up and ruin the framing of my shot. We gave up batting them off, and called an Uber to rescue us. Turns out the same guy that drove us into town picked us up again. Maybe Georgetown has one Uber driver.
Friday was another early morning start on the way to Myrtle beach. Some of the time we had some fairly heavy seas, but one time we rolled quite far to the port side. A bit startling, but all seemed intact. When we arrived in Little River, north of Myrtle Beach, we found that the two big barrel chairs in the saloon had each slid out 3 feet from the wall! That’s the first time we’ve seen them move.
So now we’re in a nice marina, near Myrtle Beach, looking forward to having kids and grandkids on board next week!