Savannah, Georgia and on to Hilton Head and Beaufort in South Carolina

On Monday, April 13, we had a short cruise to Isle of Hope Marina in Savannah, Georgia. The seas were calm and we saw lots of birds and beautiful homes.  Isle of Hope is on the Skidway River just minutes from downtown Savannah. We walked over to nearby historic Wormsloe, the colonial estate of Noble Jones, one of the first settlers of Georgia in the 1700s. His descendants still live in the home, but have sold the rest for a state park, including the 1.5 mile road lined with live oaks, which has been used in several movies scenes.  Wormsloe got its name from Jones' township in England. 

On Tuesday, we were joined by good friends Roylana and Yves (boat YKnotX) ,who were anchored nearby, to Uber to downtown Savannah to see the sights by trolley. There is so much history in Savannah and we saw quite a bit on the Old Town Trolley Tour, narrated by Denise. We rode the whole 1.5 hour tour and then got off for lunch at Six Pence English Pub. The Trolley Tour came with a free sample at the Savannah Distillery so we took advantage of  that. When we returned, Roylana and Yves decided to move a few miles to a new anchorage because another boat near them broke loose from their anchor and the owner was not back to the boat yet.  Speaking of anchors, we then helped another looper who had just pulled up his anchor but it had several other anchors and chains attached to it! It's always a new adventure on the Loop, but it's great we can all help each other out!

On Wednesday, we moved onward to South Carolina! We went to Skull Creek Safe Harbor Marina on the northern end of Hilton Head Island. We only had a day there but were impressed with the area that we did see. Roylana and Yves were there too, and Roylana had previously offered to help us by making inside shades for the large windows on the bow with a fabric that keeps the UV rays out and thereby making it cooler on our boat. I assisted her  with this in the afternoon.  We are so grateful for her help with this and the boat is much cooler and the A/C can keep up now. Tim and I walked to a nearby restaurant and on the way we saw Fort Mitchel. We had dinner at Dockside on the water and enjoyed a beautiful sunset! 

On Thursday, we moved to Beaufort, South Carolina and stayed downtown at Safe Harbor Beaufort. On the way we passed the Marine Corps Recruit Depot located there. The water tower says "We make Marines".  Tim being a Marine appreciated that. Boot camp for the Marines is only at 2 locations; Beaufort if you live east of the Mississippi, and San Diego if you live west of the Mississippi, which is where Tim went to boot camp back in 1979. After getting settled at the marina I did some laundry and then we set out in the late afternoon to see the historic sights and have dinner. We visited the Beaufort History Museum, and Reconstruction Museum, and other historic buildings. We were given a book with historic  houses and one of them we remembered from the 1979 movie "The Great Santini", a popular movie with Marines starring Robert Duvall. We enjoyed seeing that house since we remembered seeing it in the movie. It was also used in the movie "The Big Chill".  We had appetizers and dinner at Paninis on the Waterfront and Saltus River Grill. We finished the day with another beautiful sunset from the boat.  Tomorrow we will move to the Charleston area to Ross Marine to get some maintenance done, including replacing shaft seals. We will meet Roylana and Yves again there as they are, oddly enough, getting shaft seals done too. Stay tuned for our time in Charleston, South Carolina!