Navigating the shoaling Georgia waterway and nestled in Florida

We indeed left Charleston on slack high tide and motored our way down the Intracoastal Waterway.  We knew the trip from Charleston to Florida would prove challenging due to much shoaling in the ICW along the way.  We use a crowd-sourced application called Active Captain all the time while traveling to learn from others what is ahead of us.  This has been of tremendous assistance to us and has saved us from unpleasant and potentially dangerous groundings.  What we didn't expect was the cold we experienced along the way.

Our first stop was Hilton Head Island at our friend Karen's beautiful home in Wexford Plantation.  As always, she welcomed us with open arms and made us feel right at home in her large and luxurious abode.  We were also excited to get to meet her mom who stays with her much of the year.  We had lovely meals together, good walks, some fun shopping and helped with a few small projects around the house.  It was a delightful three days and we are so thankful for her kind hospitality.

Karen and her mom

Greg had his eye on a painting at Endangered Arts Limited Gallery last year when we visited Karen.  This year he bought one, an oil painting by Rino Gonzalez.  Greg has developed a taste for still life art, especially those among the "Realist" school, meaning they paint to depict the objects of their art as realistically as possible.  Courtney and Paolo agreed to store it until we move back to a land home.

New Acquisition

We left Karen's backyard dock mid-morning and navigated our way out of the lock system at Wexford.  We only went a short distance as weather was on the way and we wanted to be tucked into a marina.  We found a small family run marina that had space for us at Isle of Hope in south Savannah.  Greg was busy with work, but by Friday afternoon, we started the weekend early and Uber'd into town for dinner.  We walked along the waterway and discovered some of the unique history of Savannah and ended up at a lovely French restaurant called Circa 1875 for a yummy meal.  Saturday was more work for Greg and then a ride into town.  We walked and walked and enjoyed the unique architecture, beautiful parks and historical squares.  This was a stop we've talked about making each year and were happy to finally get the time to do so.

The historical stairs from the riverside

City Market area

Cathedral of St John the Baptist

The following are all examples of the architectural detail

Forsyth Park - lots of weddings going on this Saturday

Live Oaks

Candler Oak - thought to have taken root in the 1700's

Wesley Monumental United Methodist  

More of the architectural detail

Sherman's Headquarters

We stopped for lunch at a crazy pizza place near downtown called "The Mellow Mushroom". Can you guess why? :)

These from the Mellow Mushroom local fabulous pizza place!
The Peace symbol continuously changed colors

More mellow art!

The pizza was fabulous, and Greg is not an easy mark when it comes to pizza!  Still, we're wondering if the pizza itself was good, or maybe the ingredients helped our attitude a little!

The shoaling reports we learned about made it necessary to leave as early as possible each morning and stop sooner than we may have wanted to, in order to traverse many areas at high tide.  The tidal range in Georgia is nine feet (as compared to 18 inches in Stuart, FL)!  Two days after Savannah and predictions for more nights in the high 40's, we scheduled another stop at Jekyll Island.  After longingly floating past here each year, we were excited to finally get a spot on the town dock.  Though we would have loved to have gotten the bicycles out and stayed for several days, we had wasted enough time by now that we needed to keep moving.  So, off we went, transiting the lumpy Jekyll Sound, trying to take the bad spots at high tide and making as much mileage as possible each day.  The trip was mostly uneventful and smooth from here on down the coast.

Free bikes at the Jekyll Island marina

The beach at Jekyll Island

The Jekyll Island dock - Dream Catcher is tucked in third from the end. 

The good news was that once passed St Augustine, the evenings got warmer and we enjoyed several beautiful nights on the hook.  We kept pushing on, and by Sunday, November 19, we pulled into the fuel dock at Sunset Bay Marina in Stuart, FL, filled the tanks and slid nicely into the slip that was to be ours for the next two months.  This new spot offers a very nice restaurant on the same property, easy walks into town for shopping and dining, great walking along the St Lucie River and easy car rides to the beach.  Only an hour north of daughter Courtney and new husband Paolo, we will enjoy sharing the holidays at their home and discovering a new area.  There is a pretty strong live-aboard group here at the marina and a couple boats we recognize from our travels.  We look forward to enjoying our time here.

Here are some great shots that Greg took as we transited Haulover Cut, just north of Cape Canaveral.

Who are you looking at? says the Osprey

A Belted Kingfisher

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue ready for take-off

Oh the sights we see!  'Til next time -