Jekyl Island, GA; St Marys, GA; Fernandina, FL

We traveled from Crescent River to Jekyl Island on the 20th then on to St Marys on the 21st. The weather has been cool, but sunny during the day and cold at night. We had driven to St Marys several years ago to explore with Pat and Brian. It is only a few miles up the St Marys River from Cumberland Sound. The river itself marks the boundary with Florida. We were fortunate to be at Lang's Marina restaurant for all you can eat shrimp night.
Yesterday we came on to Fernandina, FL which is only about 7 miles from St Marys. So, we are now back in Florida. Found a terrific spot for lunch at a place called 29 South. We will move on to Jax Beach tomorrow where we will stay until after Thanksgiving. Expect to be back in Ft Lauderdale around the 4th of December.

Incorrect address

I checked it three times and missed it. Here is the correct web address for the Google Earth site
http://www.greatloop.org/Mapping/membermap.php?id=937

Isle of Hope (Savannah) and Crescent River

Brrrrrrrrrr. It is 26 degrees this morning anchored out on the Crescent River. Fortunately, we bought a dual control electric blanket the other day. That combined with the reverse cycle AC has kept us comfortable. I am loving the lower helm station also on these cool days.

We traveled from Hilton Head to Isle of Hope on the 16th. Isle of Hope is a charming little historic community along the Skidaway River near Savannah. Had another good time in Savannah on the 17th. Great lunch at Vic's then toured one of the old mansions that once hosted the Marquis de Lafayette. We had cocktails at "17 Hundred 90" a B&B that dates back to that time. At Happy Hour the bar was full of men, regulars that have been coming there for 30 years. Met some real characters. One in particular had just competed in an open water, 5.1 nautical mile swim from Tybee Island to Hilton Head. He was 70 years old. He was very kind and drove us back to Isle of Hope.

The picture shows the approach drive to Wormsloe Plantation at Isle of Hope that dates back to 1739. We are now working our way though Georgia. We will be in Jekyll Island tonight and St. Marys tomorrow night.

For those of you that like Google Earth you can go to http://www.greatloop.org/Mapping/membermap.php?=937 and see the places we have been and our route on Goggle Earth. I just discovered how to do this and I am still inputting some of our early itinerary, but it is kind of neat.

Harbortown Resort, Hilton Head Island, SC Nov 14-16

What a treat this place turned out to be. It is a circular basin surrounded by condos, bars, restaurants, shops and hotel. We were tied up stern-to and felt like we were in the Med as the shops were right behind us so we could people watch. Being Friday night we went to Happy Hour at the Quarter Deck where a very good guitarist was playing. A couple of inebriated high rollers came in and got everybody together for a party atmosphere by buying shots of tequila for everyone in the bar more than once. Turned out to be a great time. Even met a couple that recently moved from our neighborhood.

We will come back here some day and spend more time. They have many bike trails and great beaches, but we couldn't take advantage of them due to inclement weather.

Beaufort, SC Again Nov 11-14

We liked Beaufort the first time on the way north, and found we like it even more with this stay. Our favorite restaurant here is Emily's which has a good selection of tapas. We toook the courtesy car to the ABC store and local food store. We were only going to stay 2 nights, but on the day of our planned depature it was extremely foggy, plus we had already decided we would like to spend some more time in the town.
On Friday the 14th we left with the tide change as the current in the marina is wicked makng manuvering difficult. Our destination was Hilton Head Island. Weather was reasonable on departure. It turned foggy as the day wore on to the point we could only see a few hundred yards by the time we arrived at Harbortown Marina. Thank goodness for radar, chartplotters, and depth finders. I have a whole new respect for mariners that navigated without these modern tools.

Charleston Again Nov. 8-11

This time in Charleston was a bit more relaxed as we had done many of the tourist things on the last visit. We made one very big mistake on Sunday. We chose Hyman's Restaurant for lunch as it was picked by Southern Living magazine many times as the best seafood in the southeast. the meal was so disappointing Debby is going to cancel her subscription to the magazine. Our alternative would have been a jazz brunch at High Cotton which we will do on the next visit. The picture was taken at the roof top bar at the Vendue Hotel at sunset.
Great view from there of Charleston Harbor.

Waccmaw River and Georgetown Nov. 6-8

The trip from Southport takes you to the Waccamaw River which is the most scenic part of the trip on the Intracoastal Waterway. It was particularly beautiful this time as we caught the last of the turning leaves on the cypress trees on a clear sunny day. These pictures are taken from the osprey marina which is just off the river at the northern end.
From Osprey it was a short trip to Georgetown. We had stopped here on the way up and liked it. There is a nice boardwalk on the water front where we finally got a picture of both of us.

Southport, NC Nov. 1 - 6

We left Beaufort on the 1st of November headed for Southport, NC with an intermediate stop at Harbor Village Marina which is near nothing (although it is a very nice marina). We had not stopped in Southport on the way North, and were eager to see it. It sits at the mouth of the Cape Fear River with direct ocean access, and has been consistently voted one of the top 10 towns in the country for retirees. The first day there we did not leave the boat as it rained all day long. We did get out the second day and liked it enough to stay a third day when a Farmer's Market was scheduled. Debby felt the shops in Southport were the most unique of the trip. We found several good restaurants for lunch. PJ's has special significance as that is the name of our grandson.