Author: Mike & Jonell Murphree

May 1 –  Tue
After a wonderful week in Hilton Head, we had an incredibly peaceful ride from Hilton Head to Beaufort SC. The waters were calm, the skies were blue & sunny, it was a wonderful day, UNTIL WE GOT TO THE MARINA AT BEAUFORT.

Shortly after arriving at Beaufort, gettin’ tied up, and meeting Harbormaster Mary, we began hooking up the power & water.

Oh Crap – where’s the Shore Power Splitter ?
You active blog readers may remember the Splitter !
It was the same splitter we had to buy new at $550, after we had an electrical issue way back at Grafton Harbor outside of St Louis in September of 2017.

After the normal 30 seconds of oh crap, panic, now what do we do – I called the Harbour Town Marina back in Hilton Head and told them that I had left the splitter connected to the shore power station.
Nancy at Harbour Town said that “they would check & call me back”.
After an eternity of 10 minutes, Nancy called back and said “the splitter was not in the shore power station”. 
I said “Oh crap, please go talk to Steve & Norm” in the 2 boats that were on each side of us, to see if they have it”
After another eternity of 10 minutes, Harbour Town employee Leslie called back and said “We have your splitter, we initially checked the wrong shore power station”.
I told Leslie “great, hold it for me, Mary from Lady’s Island Marina has offered to give me a ride back to  Hilton Head” ( 55 miles & 1 hour drive by land).
Leslie said “I think I can beat that deal, I live near Beaufort, I will bring it about 5pm tonight”
I love this boating community, especially in the south, they will do anything to help boaters in need !

 

We had hooked up the 30amp cables at 1pm as a short-term fix to get power to the fridge & 1 AC unit.
Leslie arrived early at about 4pm.
We hooked up the splitter & had 50amp power.
All was happy again in Gettin’ Looped Land !

After the hectic arrival in Beaufort, everything was now calm again.
The marina is very low key, and is just across the swing bridge from downtown Beaufort.
After gettin’ the power re-connected with the 50amp lines, we cleaned up and headed into downtown Beaufort for dinner.
Vicky & Diana in the Lady’s Island Ships Store, recommended The Breakwater Restaurant & Bar, so that is where we started our visit to Beaufort.
The Breakwater was a very modern looking / artsy place in an ole-time city. Today was Tuesday Tacos night. Vicky & Diana had told us that every week, the Breakwater chooses a different taco filler – sometimes Grouper, sometimes Mahi, tonight it was Chicken Tacos (2 of $9 or 3 for $12). They also had a beer that I had never seen – Michelob Ultra Pure Gold, made with organic materials. It tasted just like regular Mich-Ultra.

After dinner, we strolled the waterfront in Beaufort.
The waterfront is a nice park-setting area with lots of grass, a nice waterfront paver-brick boardwalk, and a LOT of swings and park benches. The swings, park benches, grassy areas, and trees are right on the waterfront. The bars & restaurants have waterfront views, but are set back from the water, behind the park-like areas.

After strolling the waterfront, we stopped at a place called Panini’s on the Waterfront, for dessert & beer. The outdoor setting was very nice with a great view of the park and waterfront & the indoor ambiance was sweet with a very highly wood-crafted bar.

After dinner, we returned back to the Lady’s Island Marina.
It is a very low-key sleepy marina, but in a refreshingly restful way after the recent stops in the more active marinas at Hilton Head & Savannah.
Lady’s Island is on a small river which is about a half-mile from the ICW.

This marina has something that no other marina we have been to has had – a complimentary work/project room complete with – grinders, band saws, bench vices, etc.

May 2 – Wed
On Wednesday morning , I washed the boat in preparation for some long needed fiberglass cleaning & waxing. It has been about a year now since the Gettin’ Looped has had some new wax.

After the morning boat wash, Jonell & I rode the bikes over the swing bridge into Beaufort for a 1pm carriage ride tour. The carriage tours are a great way to get to know the city upon arrival. We met our crew including horse “Silver”, driver Mark, and tour guide Nicole. Nicole said that Silver is 15 years old and is actually strong enough to pull 3 of the 12 person carts we were on.

During the ride Nicole gave us a bunch of history about Beaufort, and of course, showed us many of the most historic homes. We will cover the homes tomorrow when we can get better photos, but here is some quick history of Beaufort South Carolina, the area (including Hilton Head) also being known as “Lowcountry”

Beaufort History Lesson ; Nicole described Beaufort in 5 different time periods ;
> Colonial period: 1711–1783
Founded by the British in 1711 (21 years before Savannah in 1733), and named after Henry Somerset the 2nd Duke of Beaufort. By 1776, the city became well known for its shipbuilding enterprises & its rice and indigo trade.
The American Revolution split loyalties in the community, with several families supporting the British while others favored independence.  After the American victory in 1781, the British began moving out of Beaufort in the summer of 1782. The treaty of Beaufort established the boundary between South Carolina and Georgia in 1787.
> Antebellum period: 1783–1861 (pre-Civil War)
Carolina Gold Rice (from Indonesia, considered the g’father of current American long grain rice) & Sea Island Cotton brought enormous wealth to Beaufort. Beaufort was one of the wealthiest cities in the United States prior to the Civil War. Lowcountry planters in the city and the surrounding islands were among the most ardent supporters of state secession from the Union. Prior to the Civil War,  Beaufort was at its cultural, economic, and political peak.
> Civil War and Reconstruction: 1861–1893
The Civil War had a dramatic effect on Beaufort, an attack in November 1861 made it one of the first communities in the Deep South to be taken over by the Union. The Port Royal Experiment (a test program in which 10,000 former slaves successfully owned & worked on the land abandoned by owners who had fled during the war) proved that former slaves could be productive/contributing members of the society. Robert Smalls, a Beaufort native became a leading figure in post-war Beaufort & would later become one of South Carolina’s first elected African-Americans to the United States Congress. Due in part to the large African-American population and also Small’s leading role, Beaufort remained one of the last outposts of Republican Party power in the Solid South.
Some of Beaufort’s most prominent families returned to the area but never regained the enormous wealth that the original slave-based agriculture provided. Most of the original antebellum power brokers never returned to the area. The influence of cotton declined but phosphate mining increased. By 1890, Beaufort had regained some of its wealth and prosperity, but a series of coming events would bring Beaufort into a steady economic decline for over half-century.
> The Declining Years: 1893–1945
On August 27, 1893, a category 3 hurricane slammed into the “Lowcountry”, killing over 2,000 area residents and heavily damaging the city. A fire in 1907 continued to inflict economic and psychological harm to the city. The final blow to the area was the infamous boll weevil bug which, like Savannah, decimated most of the cotton crop, which had been the major commodity. By 1910, Beaufort had lost almost 40% of its population from ten years earlier. Beaufort became one of the poorest communities in the state through the 1940s. The growth of lettuce and tomato farming, in addition to shrimping, became the major drivers of the economy during this time.
> The Recovery Years : 1945 – present
Beaufort’s economic recovery in the late 1900s can be attributed to three major influences: military investment, resort development, and downtown revitalization. 1. Parris Island was selected as a permanent home for the U.S. Marine Corps.
2. New investment in the form of resort and lifestyle development on nearby Hilton Head & Fripp Islands also contributed to the economy of Beaufort in the 1960s.
3. Downtown Revitilization, including the completion of a downtown waterfront park spurred the redevelopment and reinvestment of adjacent Bay Street and downtown Beaufort, propelling land values and commanding the attention of real estate investors, national media, and Hollywood.
In recent years, renovations to the park, countless renovations to private homes and businesses, and several streetscape projects have continued to improve the overall quality of life in Beaufort.

Out of all the history, what interested me the most was the Hollywood movie connections. Nicole told us that over 15 movies have been shot in Beaufort. The movies with the highest percentage of filming in Beaufort include; The Great Santini, The Big Chill, G.I. Jane, The Prince of Tides, and maybe the most famous – Forrest Gump (70% of Forrest Gump was shot in Beaufort). More on this tomorrow after we take some photos.

Another story Nicole told us, was the story of Robert Smalls, mentioned above in the post civil war section. Robert Smalls was an African American who taught himself to read at age 17, and during the civil war gained his freedom in a very interesting way. Working on a ship as a slave, Smalls learned a great deal about sail-making and sailing the tides of Charleston harbor. Smalls’ navigational skills earned him a job as the pilot of the confederate boat – the SS Planter.  He was known as an expert pilot, and had studied the maps and sea charts of South Carolina. On May 13, 1862 he freed himself, his family, and many slave crew members, by commandeering the SS Planter in Charleston harbor, and sailing it from the confederate-controlled waters in Charleston to the Union waters 7 miles north. His courage & excellent speaking abilities helped convince President Lincoln to accept African-American soldiers into the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy.
We will show the Robert Smalls’ birth home in the photos tomorrow.

After becoming Beaufort historians on Tuesday afternoon, we went to dinner Tuesday night at the locals hangout, recommended by Mary the harbormaster, a place called The Fillin’ Station (they spell like we do, no “g” in Gettin’ Looped).
The Fillin’ Station is known miles around for their Wednesday night $4 dinner special. The $4 special includes a Hot Dog, a Hamburger, Pork/Beans, & Potato Salad.
The $8 dollars of food was pretty good and very fillin’, especially when accompanied with the $36 of beer we drank. Ok, we had help with the beer. We met 2 couples at the place that was filled with mostly “regulars”.
Warren & Bonnie are Beaufort natives, and gave us a lot of advice on restaurants & places to go/see while in Beaufort, and also in the upcoming city of Charleston South Carolina. We were so busy talking we forgot to get the blog photo.
The second couple, Vin & Amy, have become near locals in Beaufort after a 3 month stay at Lady’s Island. They did not originally plan a 3 month stay, but liked the area so much and wanted to do some work on their sailboat, so they decided to extend their stay. They have a very interesting story. They are traveling boaters like Jonell & I, but are full time not one year. This is now their life. Amy is a nurse by background and does 40 hours/week of medical records work remotely  while traveling. Vin has had an assortment of jobs, but currently devotes most of his time to an AWESOME video blog of their adventure called “Sailing Nervous”. Below is the header of their website.
‘Sailing Nervous’ is the story of two novice sailors – married for 30 years – searching for freedom and fun. The ‘Sailing Nervous’ video series will trace their progress as they attempt to make their dream a reality. From learning how to sail, to buying the best used sailboat, to fixing up the boat, and then finally beginning their journey, where they live on a boat and travel to exotic places! They invite you to come along each step of the way!
They have had over 2.5 million views, and have a sponsorship of over 125 patrons supporting their dream. Here is their website. = https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4x5ZeAGz8Z_k0TzQO6fYIQ

They are a very interesting couple. It was great to listen to their story.

May 3 – Thu
On Thursday, I started the day with a trip to the barber for a long overdue cut. Johnny Harvey, of Harvey’s barber shop fixed me up. Johnny is the owner/operator of what looked to be a large 4 chair shop. His dad was a barber and the shop has been family owned for over 80 years.

After the cut, Jonell & I took the bikes over the bridge into Beaufort and went on a bike tour of some of the homes that we had seen while on the horse carriage tour. There are over 30 homes of historic significance in the tour book, but we will show only a select few. Most of the houses will be from the Antebellum Period (pre-Civil War, 1812-1861), but we will also show some houses from the Victorian Period (Colonial period 1837-1901). For unknown reasons, the self-guided walking tour book only referenced the Antebellum period houses, and did not supply any background on the Victorian period houses.

First is The Thomas Hepworth House – Built in 1720 and reported as the oldest house in Beaufort.

Second is The George Mosse Stoney House – Built in 1838. No reported big story about this house, but it had a wonderful rear garden/backyard, right on the waterfront.

The Lewis Sam Reeves House – Built in 1852, most famous for being in the movie “Prince of Tides”.

The McKee-Smalls House – Built in 1834, the birth house of Robert Smalls – the ex-slave who became a boat pilot and took a confederate sailboat from the Charleston Harbor, north into Union waters, and turned the boat & a lot of battle information over to the Union forces.

The Edgar Fripp House – Built in 1853, and maybe the most famous house, having been featured in two major motion pictures ; The Big Chill & The Great Santini. The house was in a high state of re-work with contractors trucks & equipment all over the grounds. We ran in to a local man near the house who gave us a background story. The house was just purchased by a man in New York, who is renovating the house, and will have his marriage ceremony on the grounds and live with his new bride beginning in November of this year.

The Victorian Period Houses (1837–1901) – as I mentioned above, we don’t have any detail on these houses, but they are in fact older than the houses shown above. A couple of them have been featured on HGTV.

In addition to the houses, there are also some famous buildings in Beaufort. One of the most famous is The First African Baptist Church, built in 1865, and was featured in Forrest Gump. This is the church that Forrest sang with the Baptist choir. The church and choir are active today, with one of the choir members , Marleena Smalls of Beaufort, being a local celebrity.

As I mentioned earlier in the blog, over 70% of the movie Forrest Gump was filmed in Beaufort, here are some of the interesting facts ;
> The Bayou Le Batre Hospital, which Forrest endows and is renamed the Gump Medical Center, is actually the front exterior of the Beaufort Performing Arts Center, located at 801 Carteret Street
> The Gump boarding house run by Forrest’s mother was actually built from scratch on private property in Colleton County and was fully functional. However, since it was built hastily and not to code, it had to be torn down after the shooting.
> Bubba’s mother was played by Marleena Smalls of Beaufort. Marleena’s choir group “The Hallelujah Singers” was also featured in the movie.
> Forrest’s shrimp boat, which he called “Jenny,” once belonged to local Beaufort shrimper Jimmy Stanley. The boat is now on display at the Planet Hollywood restaurant in Disneyworld Orlando.
> When Forrest goes on his cross-country run, the Woods Memorial Bridge in downtown Beaufort appears in the scenes. In fact, during the shooting, the Bridge had a sign on it that read: “Welcome to Mississippi.”
Here is our photo of  The Forrest Gump Bridge, it is the same bridge we take the bikes over to get from Lady’s Island Marina to downtown Beaufort.

After a full day of touring Beaufort on Bikes, we came back to the boat to rest up & clean up for dinner. We needed a pump-out of the holding tanks, and experienced something for the first time on The Loop – a Pump Out Boat !
Same process as usual, but the small boat services all boats that cannot be reached with the dock-side hoses. The pump-out boat has a 300 gallon tank.

We ended Thursday with a lovely dinner at Panaini’s restaurant where our dinner was accompanied with live Jazz/Blues music. We were also highly entertained by our waiter and transplanted New York native Mel.

May 4 – Fri
Friday was a little more of a “work day”.
The teak chairs that we have had on the aft deck were gettin’ a little abused/scratched/worn, especially at the arm rests, so it was time for a tune-up. I spent the morning sanding the chairs and the afternoon putting a coat of Man-O-War Marine Varnish on the chairs. The work room at the marina provided a great place to do the sanding. We applied the varnish on the aft deck. First coat went ok, we need to steel wool sand & do 2 more coats this weekend.

After the chairs, I did some banking, and we watched a little golf on TV, then went to dinner.
Dinner on Friday night was at a highly rated place right next door to the marina called The Dockside Restaurant.


I had the Crispy Scored Flounder recommended by Warren & Bonnie, who we had met at The Fillin’ Station on Tuesday. Nellie had shrimp/flounder combo, and we both enjoyed some amazing corn bread. The flounder was drizzled with both sweet & spicy Asian sauces, it was very good (9 of 10 rating).

After dinner we came back to the marina. The tide had rolled out leaving a waterbed ground covering that looked like the moon surface.

May 5 – Sat
Saturday I began the day with a bike ride to the hardware store to get some more steel wool & another varnish brush. After returning to the boat, I gave the chairs coats #2 of the Man-O-War Marine varnish.

We then cleaned up and headed by Uber over the bridge into downtown Beaufort. Saturday was a special day in Beaufort, with the big “Taste of Beaufort” festival. It was the usual “Taste of” type activities, with lots of food, beer, music., and knick-knack items for sale in tents.
There were 3 bands which started at 11am and finished at 5pm, we stayed and watched all 3. The 1st & 2nd bands were great, the 3rd was ho-hum. The weather was beautiful and it was a wonderful care-free way to spend the afternoon – people watching, boat watching, and listening to some good music.

We had lunch from one of the vendor tents representing the restaurant The Port Royal Road House. They featured a snack of Pulled Pork Slider, Mac/Cheeze, & Bourbon Baked Beans for $5.

We had dinner at a local pub called Luther’s, but I forgot to get any photos.

After the festival & dinner, we returned back to the SS Gettin’ Looped about 6pm. We were quite bushed. We watched the end of the Tigers/Royals baseball game & exchanged some texts with our family back home who were out celebrating Cinco-de-Mayo in metro Detroit (Kenny/Carla, Brenda/Joe, & Paula/Michael).

The night ended with a very nice phone call from our great friends the Schellers & Spraggs.

It was a wonderful day !

May 6 – Sun
Sunday was a very low-key day.
We slept in until 8:45am.
We did some blogging, some clothes washing, completed coat #3 of varnish on the chairs, went grocery shopping, watched some golf, and had hot dogs for dinner.

The highlight of the day was watching the marina dog barking at the Dolphins. Yes, back home in Royal Oak Michigan, we watch the dogs barking at the squirrels. On the Great Loop, we watch the dogs bark at the Dolphins = https://youtu.be/BQTq4o9ONsM
Also notice the other boaters watching the dog bark at the dolphins, it was hilarious.

Next Stops 
> Edisto Island South Carolina for 1 night
> Charleston South Carolina for 4 nights

 

As Jimmy Stewart would say – “this has got all the earmarks of a run” (Wonderful Life, 1947).

> St Augustine was awesome.
> Savannah was awesome.
> Now, Hilton Head is awesome !

Apr 27 – Fri

We checked in on Friday to The Harbour Town Yacht Basin, which is on the southwest corner of Hilton Head Island.

Hilton Head Island is a small resort island ( 5 miles wide  & 12 miles long) north of Savannah Georgia & south of Charleston South Carolina. The island is named after Captain William Hilton, who in 1663 named “Hilton’s Head” after himself. The year-round population is pretty small at 37,099 , although during the peak of summer vacation season the population can swell to 150,000.

The Harbour Town Yacht Basin is a beautiful resort marina. We knew this place was different when we arrived, and immediately after tie-up were presented with a welcome information package & a BOTTLE of WINE.

The Harbour Town Yacht Basin is in a circular formation with shops, restaurants, a concert area, rocking chairs, condos, a light tower, and a golf course – all surrounding the marina.

The Golf Course was not just any golf course, the marina overlooks The Harbour Town Link Golf Course, home of the RBC Heritage PGA Golf Tournament. The professional golfers were just here two weeks ago, we watched the tournament on TV two weeks ago in anticipation of our arrival.
You can see the 18th green from the marina. The workers were still in the process of taking down all the spectator stands.

As the light tower shows, the RBC Heritage Tournament has significant links to the PLAID design. Since the RBC Heritage Tournament almost always falls the week after the Masters on the PGA Tour schedule, golf fans probably figure there’s some jacket envy of the Masters green jacket. However, the history of the plaid jacket at the RBC Heritage suggests that’s not the case.
When organizers started the tournament over Thanksgiving weekend in 1969, there were no plaid jackets. That was changed a few years later, when organizers were inspired by the famous 1790 golf print of Sir William Innes, who was captain of the Society of Golfers at Blackheath in Scotland, playing in a tartan jacket. Innes’ image was also included in the tournament logo until RBC became the tournament title sponsor in 2012. The Tournament held two weeks ago was the 50th anniversary of the Heritage Golf Tournament.

For dinner on Friday nite, we went to the restaurant at the golf course, called “Links an American Grill”. As expected, it was a somewhat opulent looking place, but the staff was very friendly and we had a wonderful dinner in a beautiful environment.

 

Dinner was awesome. I had Swordfish with Crab & Nellie had Chicken. Both meals were very good.

After dinner, we hung out at the course for about an hour to digest the food.

After returning back to the marina, we sat in the rockers, drank free yettie juice, and listened to the easy music entertainer. It was a wonderful first day/night in Hilton Head.

https://youtu.be/VOrc9cE-qZQ

Apr 28 – Sat
We had not had “Beach Day” in quite a while, and the weather was a wonderful 80 & sunny, so Saturday became beach day at Hilton Head.

The SeaPines Resort Complex which owns the Harbour Town Marina we are staying at, also owns several other places on Hilton Head Island : 3 Golf Courses, 6 Tennis Courts, 9 Restaurants, Horse Riding Stables, a Fitness Center with a large Pool, and a Private Beach connected to the SeaPines Beach Club.

Prior to going to the beach, we completed a “Dress Shopping” experience on Saturday morning. On Friday afternoon prior to dinner, we walked around the many shops in the Harbour Town Complex. There was a very nice dress shop named The SM Bradford Co, and Nellie found a dress she liked a lot in the window. She tried it on Friday afternoon, thought about it Friday night, went back to try it on again in high-heeled shoes on Saturday morning, and we decided to buy “The Hilton Head Dress”.
Jonell will wear the dress at the upcoming wedding of our son Daniel & fiancée Megan Durrant, when we return in September.
To keep you all in suspense, we chose to not show the dress on the blog, only Megan has seen it.

We went to the beach about noon, staked out our chairs & umbrella, and then went up for a little lunch at the “Coast Restaurant”, which is part of the Beach Club Resort.

After lunch, we resumed our heavily planned day of lazing in the lounge chairs at the beach.

 

A few hours later, I got bored and went for a walk down the beach. The sand up by the resort was a very nice, very soft, very white sand. Reminding me of the beaches in western Michigan. The sand down by the water was hard-packed, reminding me of Daytona. It was also interesting to see that the beaches were mostly uninhabited. Other than the few resorts on the beach (SeaPines & Hilton), most of the beach was lined with private homes, so you would see clumps of people in front of the resorts, and then nobody for miles of beach.

 

After Beach Day, we came back to the boat about 4pm, watched a little golf on TV, cleaned up with some showers, and walked around to several restaurants to scope out our dinner choice.
We ended up at the Quarter Deck Waterfront Restaurant, just below the Light Tower. There was outdoor seating available, but the inside upper deck seating was even better. It had great ambiance, great views of boat traffic coming in/out of the marina, great views of the 18th green on the golf course, and a wonderful sunset thru the sun-screened tinted windows.

We ended the night with a little more harbor side music, then went back to the boat and caught up on 4 episodes of The Amazing Race TV show (I also hope to do this someday).
Day 2 at Hilton Head is now complete.

Apr 29 – Sun
Nellie was gettin’ her beauty sleep on Sunday morning, so I went for my morning body evacuation to the shore-side restroom. After taking care of the paperwork, I spent a little time sittin’ on the harbor-side rocking chairs, listening to the soft soothing jazz music, & reading the complimentary newspaper. I can’t tell you how relaxing it was and what a great way it was to start the day.

To further enjoy the soft start of the day, I spent a little time walking around the harbor looking at all the wild variations of Oak Trees on the SeaPines grounds.

Later in the morning we went on a short 1 mile bike ride to another one of SeaPines shopping/eating areas. We had some breakfast sandwiches at a place called Low County Produce Market Cafe, met a wonderful woman named Nancy from Beaufort North Carolina, who gave us tips on what to do & see when we get there in a few weeks. The bike ride was wonderful. SeaPines has over 15 miles of bike trails in tree-lined, flower adorned pathways. The restaurant was quaint, and the food was good.

On the way back from the bike ride breakfast, we rode passed the many Tennis Courts at the resort, and went to the Harbour Town Inn & Club Resort Pool. It was 85 & sunny, the water was heated to the perfect lounging temp, and the couple next to us was playing nice pool music. It was a great afternoon.

After spending most of the day at the Pool, we came back to the ss Gettin’ Looped and watched the Zurich Classic Golf Tournament for a couple hours.
We then went to dinner at The Harbourside Café right in the marina harbor. We could see our boat from the restaurant. There was a good musician playing mainstream pop music.

After dinner we went for a walk over to the Harbour Town Links Golf Course, where the RBC Heritage Golf Tournament was held 2 weeks ago.
It was late in the day and there was only 1 guy on the course just finishing up a round. The guy playing turned out to be a Harbour Town Links employee. We asked the guy if he would take a photo of us near the flag on the 18th green. He was a nice guy and happy to help.

It was a splendid weekend at Hilton Head.
This port has become one of our favorites, definitely in the Top-10 !
I knew that it would be a nice place and somewhat opulent, and I expected the people to be a little stuffy. But on the contrary, everyone we met from harbor employees to the other visitors, were very friendly people.
It was a great stop.

Next Stop = Beaufort South Carolina

 

 

 

 

 

 

Warning – this is a very long post, we were in Savannah for a week.

OMG !
We thought St Augustine was a great stop.
Savannah blows St Augustine away.
Well, it doesn’t really blow it away, but it is a much bigger city and has even more options for things to do, places to go, food to be eaten !
There is so much to see & do here ; waterfront restaurants/bars, historic buildings, 22 park town squares, water fountains, statues, historic homes, shopping districts, churches, city markets, museums, connections to Hollywood movies, art, theatre, graveyards, moss filled oak trees, cobblestone roads, beaches, & more (that means I can’t think of any more things).

This long blog update will be set up in 3 sections
1. a Savannah History Lesson
2. What Nellie & I did in Savannah
3. Photos & background of some of Savannah’s most well known landmarks

Let’s start with the Savannah History Lesson (the Murphree version).
We spent our first 2 days gettin’ to know the city. We went on a city trolley tour on Saturday afternoon & went to the Savannah History Museum on Sunday morning. From these 2 information sources, here is my rough outline/understanding of Savannah’s History.

> The city is about 285 years old, founded in 1733 (remember, St Augustine is the oldest, founded in 1565).
> Savannah was founded by the British, a guy named James Oglethorpe, as a strategic post for defending England’s rule of northern cities like Charleston, from the Spanish down in Florida.
> Savannah was the 1st American city to be designed using a grid-system street layout.
> In the 1700’s , Savannah’s climate, river system, and grid layout allowed it to prosper as a cotton/silk producer bringing riches and prosperity to the region.
> During the 1760’s-1770’s, The British had passed new laws to govern the American colonies ; a Sugar Tax in 1764 & the Stamp Tax in 1765.
> The American colonies revolted and declared their independence in 1776.
> In 1783 at the end of the Revolutionary War, peace negotiations begin in Paris. The United States sent Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay. A peace treaty was drafted calling for Great Britain to recognize the American Independence & provide for the evacuation of all British troops.
> During the late 1700’s to early 1800’s, with its river port and economy booming through cotton, Savannah’s new-found wealth created lavish mansions and civil buildings across the city. The still-standing Savannah Cotton Exchange set world commodity prices.
> During the Civil war 1861 – 1865, most of the southern cities were burned to the ground.
> In 1865, after the Union had defeated the Confederacy, Savannah’s picturesque cityscape, serene lifestyle, and charm saved the city from total destruction by General Sherman’s Union army. General Sherman couldn’t bring himself to issue the order to burn Savannah to the ground, he then offered the city to President Lincoln as a Christmas gift.
> Reconstruction occurred during the late 1800’s-early 1900’s. With much of the south demolished following the American Civil War, Savannah’s economy collapsed and times were tough with little supplies, food, etc.
> By the early 1900’s, the cotton industry was beginning to revive until a plague of boll weevils struck (bugs), destroying the cotton plants. This happened concurrently with the Great Depression and the subsequent bank and business failures.
> In the early 1900’s, Savannah then went thru a period of heavy industry & manufacturing, attempting to diversify from only cotton. Wood, Paper, Pitch & Turpentine (required for wood ships) became new industries. During World War II, Savannah aided the war effort with the creation of Liberty Ships. All of the new heavy industry & manufacturing resulted in the demolition of many historic places in Savannah.
> In 1955, the demolition of the City Market (1870) on Ellis Square and the attempted demolition of the Davenport House (1821) prompted seven Georgia women to create the Historic Savannah Foundation. Throughout the 1960s, the foundation was able to halt some further destruction of historic buildings and to preserve the original structures. In 1978 the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) was founded, and rather than building one centralized campus, it began a process of renovation & reuse of many notable downtown buildings. These efforts, along with the work of the Historic Savannah Foundation, have contributed greatly to Savannah’s rebirth.
> The city’s popularity as a tourist destination grew in the 1980s and has been solidified by; the 1997 motion picture Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, and the Robert Louis Stevenson book Treasure Island, which references the now famous Pirate’s House Inn.
> Savannah has now drawn over 50 million visitors to the city since the year 2000. This district is now one of America’s largest National Historic Landmark areas.
> Like New Orleans & Key West, Savannah has also become a popular destination for parties & parades, including the second-largest St Patrick’s Day parade in the United States. This is aided by a very lenient public drinking policy which allows open alcoholic beverages every day of the year in the Historic District.

Enough of the history lesson !

2. What Nellie & I did in Savannah

Apr 20 – Fri
As stated in the previous post , we arrived in Savannah on Friday afternoon, washed the nasty/filthy/ salt water crystals off the boat, talked with Dan & Megan, reserved a car for 5 days in Savannah, had Poppa John’s pizza for dinner , and called it an early night.

Apr 21 – Sat
Saturday was really day 1 for us in Savannah (Friday was a wasted cleanup day).
We spent the morning visiting with some fellow Loopers, and went to pick up a rental car.
Savannah is about 15 minutes away from the marina, and each uber ride would be about $20 one-way. So we decided to rent the car for multiple trips into Savannah, trips to the beach, and to get & return oil for the next scheduled engine oil change.

We picked up the car up about 11:30am.
We then headed into downtown Savannah about 12:30pm and spent the afternoon & early evening in Savannah.

We started with lunch on the balcony of a waterfront place called Lizzy’s Tequila Bar & Grill.
The food was pretty good, we split a Grouper Rueben.
The setting & surroundings were awesome, with great views of; the Riverfront District, the Cobblestone Roads, the Savannah River, large freighters loaded with shipping containers, and a musician playing “America the Beautiful” just below our balcony – which was also hanging the American Flag.

After lunch we went on a trolley tour recommended by our Looper pals Rula Bula.
I did not really expect so much, but it was great. It was funny & educational.
Some of the highlights from the ride were ;
> Our tour guide Gertrude, an ole southern bell.

> We met captain Jack Sparrow

> We met Savannah native, Forrest Gump (more on this later)

 

Apr 21 – Sat (continued)
After the trolley ride and a lot of walking, we met our friends Rula Bula Saturday afternoon at the area known as The City Market. It is a pedestrian area with bars, restaurants, etc.

We met at a place called Wet Willy’s and had Adult Smoothie Drinks. I had a drink recommended by the trolley guide known as a “Triple Play”


After socializing with Rula Bula and their fun friends Willy & Kelly , we had dinner at one of the many “must-see” places in Savannah called The Cotton Exchange Tavern, along the riverfront, where the commercial cotton trading business once existed.
The Cotton Exchange was opened relatively recently in 1971. Prior to that date, it is reported that the riverfront was not family friendly, and was occupied mostly by sailors & bars.
The building is circa 1823 and is made out of ballast stones that the cotton ships of England arrived with in their hulls to stabilize the boats. After arrival in America, the stones were repurposed for roads and buildings, including the building currently known as The Cotton Exchange Tavern.

After adult smoothies at Wet Willy’s and drinks at The Cotton Exchange, I was feeling quite “Loopy” and in a weakened moment, went into a place called The Savannah Candy Kitchen.
OMG, big mistake, 30 minutes later we had spent another $50 on taffy & cookies.

We exited the Riverfront Street via the historic/danger steps, returned to the boat as comatose zombies, and passed out after a long day of tourism, walking, eating & drinking.
But what a fun 1st full day !

Apr 22 – Sun
On Sunday we started the morning with a trip to the historical museum. We went there mainly to get a photo of the Forrest Gump park bench (more on this later). But we also got some tips on other significant things to see in Savannah before we left.

After the museum, we went for brunch at a place on Broughton Street (the major shopping district street) called The Funky Brunch Café. After breakfast, we walked Broughton Street and saw a famous Savannah ice cream shop called Leopold’s (check out the line at 11am). Having just had breakfast, we resisted the ice cream !

After brunch/breakfast we then continued our research of historic facts & photos. It was a LOT of walking with the goal of gettin‘ photos of the places we had heard about on the trolley tour & seen at the historical museum.

After walking and taking photos of the churches, historic homes, and parks, we took a time-out rest at the Forsyth Park – Dating back to the 1840s, Forsyth Park is the largest park in Savannah & occupies 30 acres in the Historic District. There is a large water fountain at the center, gardens, walking trails, sports fields and a quaint café. During our fatigued time-out rest, we watched a cricket match !

After our Forsyth Park rest, we met Rula Bula + son Ryan (who had just arrived in Savannah) at The Moon River Brewing Company for some pre-dinner socializing.

For dinner on Sunday night, we went with Rula Bula & son Ryan, to another one of the “must-see” iconic restaurants in Savannah called The Pirates House restaurant.
A portion of the structure was built in 1734, making it the oldest standing building in the state of Georgia. Originally an Inn and tavern for seaman visiting from abroad, the restaurant was established in 1753. The Pirates’ House is home to some rare early edition pages of Treasure Island, the book by Robert Louis Stevenson. The pages can be seen hanging on the walls of the Captain’s room and the Treasure room in the Pirates’ House.

 

Apr 23 – Mon
Monday was a sucky day, it was about 60 degrees, and high wind with heavy rain ALL DAY.
So we turned Monday into a work day.

I went to West Marine and purchased some Salt-Away, boat cleaning product recommended by a couple of our Looper friends; Derek Gamradt from the vessel Donna Mae & Tim Gareau from Craic.
They advised that the Salt-Away hooks directly to your water hose and dramatically reduces the time to clear the salt water film off of the boat vs a full wash. Can’t wait to try it out at the next port.

Monday was also Oil Change Day for the 2 motors.
I had last changed the engine oil in Fort Myers Beach, about 125 hours & 1200 miles ago.
This would be the 4th oil change so far, with 2 more planned before we return to Michigan.

Jonell did some cleaning in the morning & helped me with the oil change in the afternoon.

For dinner, we went again with our pals from Rula Bula (Mike & JoAnne Feeney from Green Bay). It was our farewell dinner for a while. Rula Bula will be speeding up a little to get son Ryan to Beaufort SC by next week.
We went to a restaurant near the marina called The Driftaway Cafe.
There was nothing special about this place, it was not on the must see list, but it was a nice friendly atmosphere with cheap beer & good food. Oh, they also had a cool fish tank with jelly fish !

 

Apr 24 – Tues
On Tuesday I spent the morning making marina reservations into North Carolina for our upcoming visit with friends Dave & Ginger Hinman. They will join us on May 15th.
I had previously made reservations for the bigger cities like, Georgetown, Mertyl Beach, and Beaufort, but had some open holes in the smaller cities. It’s a good thing that I was calling early, as there appears to be a big sportfish tournament in Wrightsville NC on May 20th, booking up many marinas.
We usually book marinas about 2-3 weeks in advance of our arrival.

We departed the boat and went into Savannah about 10am for, guess what, some Eating !
There is yet another iconic, “must-see” restaurant in Savannah called Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room.
The Problem = Mrs Wilkes is only open from 11am – 2pm Monday thru Friday, has very long waiting lines to get in, and does not take reservations.
So if you want to get stuffed on (Chicken, Ham, Beef Stew, Potatoes, Yams, Collard Greens, Green Beans, Lima Beans, Black Eyed Peas, Baked beans, etc) at 11am in the morning, you have to arrive and stand in line by 10am.
We arrived at 10:30am, below is a photo of the line 30 minutes before opening.
We were seated in the 2nd grouping of folks, about 12 noon (a 1.5 hour wait) !

Mrs. Wilkes History = Most Southern towns used to have a boardinghouse where you could find a quiet room and a communal dining room that offered at least two hearty meals a day. Boardinghouse food was the normal daily fare for middle-class laborers.
In 1943, a young Sema Wilkes took over a boardinghouse in historic downtown Savannah. Her goal was modest: to make a living by offering comfortable lodging and homestyle Southern cooking served family style in the downstairs dining room.
The goal lives on today, with only 8 tables of 10 seats each, serving only 80 people per sitting at a time. Each table is covered with about 20 bowls of food. You sit with 9 other people at your table, eat hearty, and get to know previously total strangers during the meal.

The bottom Line = It was a good experience, but 11am is toooo early to be eating a meal that big. The food was good, especially the chicken, but we felt ill & lethargic the rest of the day.

After Mrs Wilkes Dining Room, we went on a tour of The First African Baptist Church. The church claims to be derived from the first black Baptist congregation in North America. While it was not officially organized until 1788, it grew from members who founded the congregation in 1773. Its claim of “first” is contested by the Silver Bluff Baptist Church of South Carolina, and the First Baptist Church of Petersburg, Virginia, whose congregations officially organized in 1774.

The tour guide and parishioner Josef, gave us about a 1-1/2 hour tour and history lesson about the church & the underground railroad.
No photos were allowed inside of the church.
The building which houses the Church was finished in 1859, almost 100 years after the land was obtained for the church.
The historical features inside of the Church include; a 1832 Pipe Organ, support pillars which are aligned thru 3 floor levels of the structure, air holes in the flooring which covered underground tunnels from the church to the river & carvings on the ends of the pews which represented the many slave tribes which contributed to making the church. Josef reported that the church was made entirely by slaves who came to work on the church after long days in the cotton fields. Religion was in high regard in the south, so allowing the slaves to build their own place of worship was endorsed by the slave owners.

The church became a significant tool for the Underground Railroad (a network of secret routes and safe houses used by enslaved people to escape to the free northern states and Canada, with the aid of both black & white abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause).
The ceiling of the Church was designed similar to a “Nine Patch Quilt” that Josef showed to us. The “nine patches” provided a hidden message/pathway of how to use the underground railroad to search freedom to the north. Each of the patches on the quilt represent directions of steps to take, to lead one from the south to the free northern states and Canada.
Most slaves were illiterate, so the symbol meanings were taught by other slaves who could read (sometimes called Uncle Tom) and created a pictorial communication /road map from south to north.

Apr 24 – Tues (cont)
After the church tour, we went for a car ride to scope out Tybee beach, supposedly one of the top beaches, about 18 miles east of Savannah.
The Tybee Island & beach were not so impressive to us. The area looked like it may have big crowds at some point during the year, but the town looked sleepy/tired when we rolled thru. The beach did not have so many folks, and rental chairs & restrooms were not evident (are we gettin’ spoiled ?).

On the ride back to the boat we stopped at a cool little coffee shop called The Tybean Art & Coffee Bar, on Tybee Island. Nellie had COFFEE, I had a delicious smoothie.

After the big meal and long day, we came back to the boat about 6-7pm.
Mike worked on the blog, Nellie read, we had turkey sandwiches for dinner.

Apr 25 – Wed
On Wednesday we had another full day.

We started the day with a visit to The Wormsloe House. The House is listed as the oldest standing structure in Savannah dating back to 1739. It was the home of Noble Jones who was basically the right hand man of Savannah founder James Oglethorpe in 1733. The house is really just remnants of the original structure, and so highly surrounded in vegetation that photos were not available. We wanted to go there because we had heard that the house is at the end of a 1.5 mile street lined with Oak trees and Spanish moss. We were not disappointed, the ride down the perfectly straight Oak tree lined road was spectacular. The photos again don’t do it justice, just how magnificent the ride was. It is reported that there are over 400 Oak trees on the approach to the Wormsloe house.

Check out this video to get a feel for the ride. I have filmed only 30 seconds, the ride was about 8 minutes long at 15mph = https://youtu.be/YS7cYmPwT8o

After the Wormsloe House, we had to run an errand and return the used oil from yesterdays oil change, to the local O’Reilly’s Auto parts. It is a nice service that they accept the used marine oil, even though we did not buy it there.

After dropping off the used oil, we went to the Bonaventure Cemetery. Bonaventure is advertised as one of the most beautiful cemeteries in the country, with many famous folks from Savannah’s history buried there. The Bonaventure Cemetery is a public cemetery located on a scenic bluff of the Wilmington River, east of Savannah. The cemetery was cool, but not as beautiful as I had anticipated because we are too early in the season.
Here is what it looks like later in the spring (google photo).

Some significant burials in Bonaventure include ;
> Noble Jones – Physician, Civic leader, & the man most responsible for the formation of Savannah, next to founder James Oglethorpe. Surprisingly, there were many major/large monuments in the cemetery, the Noble Jones monument/casket was very small.

> Johnny Mercer – Songwriter and singer born in Savannah. He was also a record label executive, who co-founded Capitol Records. He wrote over 1900 songs,  including Moon River for the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s. He was buried with his family members, but also had the smallest tombstone of all his family members gravesites.

> Gracie Watson – The most visited grave site in Bonaventure Cemetery is that of Little Gracie Watson. Gracie died of pneumonia in 1889, just two days before Easter at the age of 5. Her father fell into a deep depression after Gracie’s death. As a tribute to his beautiful little girl, Gracie’s father had sculpture John Walz carve a monument to his girl. Using a photograph as reference, John Walz sculpted the monument which now sits upon Little Gracie’s grave site out at Bonaventure Cemetery. It is a life-size representation of Little Gracie Watson. This monument to Little Gracie has captivated visitors to her grave site for over 100 years.
The most heart-breaking part of the story is the Gracie is here all alone. After her death, her father quit his job managing the Pulaski Hotel in Savannah. He took a job working at the Desoto Hotel. However, that didn’t last too long. Eventually he and Frances moved back to New England, leaving Gracie all alone in Savannah. After their deaths, Gracie’s parents were buried in New England. Is this part of the reason why Little Gracie’s grave site is such a popular place to visit in Bonaventure?

 

After getting depressed at Bonaventure, we went to the Savannah riverfront and had lunch on the river at Joe’s Crab Shack. Yes, we know it is a chain restaurant, but it did have a very nice riverfront deck, and it was a beautiful day to be on the river watching the boats go by.

After lunch, we chilled in the riverfront park for a few hours.

We ended the day with; some grocery shopping , some blog writing, some prep work for our next stop at Hilton Head, and a late night eclectic meal from a place called McDonald’s.

Apr 26 – Thu
Thursday was a bust task day, with a bunch of little assigmnents which had been lingering.

We took the rental car back, created the route to Hilton Head on the IPAD, called the marina to get our slip assignment, did some banking, did some laundry, studied the route up into Cheasapeak Bay, and completed the lovely blog.

Tonight we will take the marina courtesy car to dinner at a nearby Mexican place.

Tomorrow we depart for Hilton Head.
The Harbour Town Marina is right behind the 18th green of the Harbour Town Golf Course, where the televised 2018 RBC Heritage Golf Tournament was just played 2 weeks ago. It was cool to see the marina where we will be staying on TV.

It was a darn fun week in Savannah !
It has become one of our favorite cities on The Loop.
I said at the beginning of the blog, that Savannah blows St Augustine away, but this is not really true.
Savannah is much bigger, and has a lot more options, but we both agreed that St Augustine was much more quaint and lovingly low-key.
So it really depends on what you like & want, both cities are awesome.
Can’t wait for the upcoming cities of Charleston & Beaufort.

I mentioned several times, all the walking and photo taking we had done. Here is the summary of our historical research into a very historical city.

3. Photos & background of some of Savannah’s most well known landmarks

> The Waving Girl
Florence Martus (1868–1943), also known as “the Waving Girl”, took it upon herself to be the unofficial greeter of all ships that entered and left the Port of Savannah, Georgia, between 1887 and 1931. The reason she greeted ships was because she had fallen in love as a young girl with a sailor and wanted to be sure he would find her when he returned. When after 44 years, he did not return, she died of a broken heart.
Unknown sailors would bring her gifts.
When the captain of the ship that brought her memorial statue to Savannah arrived, he refused to accept payment because of his fond memories of Martus.
The statue was made by the sculptor Felix de Weldon, who also created the US Marine Corps statue of Iwo-Jima in Arlington Virginia.

> Colonial Park Cemetery
Many prominent people are buried here, the most notable is Button Gwinnett, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Gwinnett died on May 19th, 1777 when a duel with Lachlan McIntosh ended his life.
The ride past the cemetery prompted the guide to discuss the early Safety Coffins, which had a cord leading to an external bell. Back then there was no embalming process, and due to yellow fever people would go into coma’s for weeks and be buried alive. The bells were added just in case someone was buried by mistake. This also prompted the terms “saved by the bell” and “a dead ringer”.

> Bonaventure Cemetery
We went into much detail earlier in the blog. The cemetery became famous when it was featured in the 1994 novel “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil”, and  the subsequent movie directed by Clint Eastwood. It is the largest of the city’s municipal cemeteries, containing nearly 160 acres. The walking tour identifies 36 famous people from Savannah’s past, and also has different sections devoted to Savannah natives from all the different wars (Spanish, Revolutionary, Civil, WWI, WWII) .

> SCAD – Savannah College of Art Design
The trolley tour went by the main building of The SCAD College. SCAD has about 1500 students, with a masters program in restorical renovations. SCAD has been one of the moving forces in Savannah, along with the Historical Society, responsible for the re-birth of Savannah. SCAD owns 85 buildings in Savannah.

> City Hall & The 23 Karat Gold Dome
Built in 1905 on the site of the 1799 City Exchange. Savannah’s City Hall is the called the most distinctive building in town with a clocktower topped with a gold dome and a towering American flag. The dome was historically copper, but was coated in gold leaf as recently as 1987 after a large donation from an un-named local philanthropist.

> Wrought Iron Fish Shaped Downspouts
Wrought iron was a symbol of wealth in the glory years of the Savannah historic home building. Many house have wrought iron fish-shaped downspouts like this one.

> 22 Town Squares
The city was laid out in a grid fashion. Within the grid there are 22 squares in Savannah which provide locals and visitors with a little greenery amid all the businesses and historic houses. The squares are surrounded by some churches, historic homes, Bed-breakfast inns, & museums. The squares are also shaded by huge oak trees and contain fountains & statues.

> The Savannah Theatre
Built in 1818, and is the oldest continually operating theatre in the USA.
BTW, there have been over 70 movies filmed in Savannah, including; Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil (directed by Clint Eastwood with Kevin Spacey), & Daniel’s favorite Forrest Gump.

> The Forrest Gump Bench
We had heard prior to arriving in Savannah, that the bench that Forrest sat on and told all his stories, was located in Savannah. The bench that Hanks/Forrest sat on was actually a movie prop (never a real park bench) that has since been placed in the Savannah History Museum. But the location of the bench for the movie in Chippewa Square is still a popular spot for photographs. Here are our photos of the bench in the museum & a comparison of the park location identified by the locals vs a photo from the movie – does it look like the same place, I think yes ?

> Historic Churches – there are MANY churches in Savannah, the 3 below seem to be the most significant historically.
The Roman Catholic Cathedral of St John the Baptist located at the northeastern corner of Lafayette Square, was built in 1876. It has tall peaks and 81 Tiffany stained glass windows. The locals say that the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist is the most photographed landmark in Savannah.

> Congregation Mickve Israel is reported as the 3rd oldest Jewish Congregation in the United States, organized in 1735 by Jewish immigrants of Spanish-Portuguese background from London who arrived in the new colony in 1733.  They consecrated their current synagogue, located on Monterey Square in Savannah, in 1878.

> The First African Baptist Church – discussed in detail, earlier in the blog. It claims to be the first black Baptist congregation in North America from members who founded a congregation in 1773, but were not officially organized until 1788. Its claim of “first” is contested by 2 churches in South Carolina & Virginia.

> The Chandler Oak Tree – is estimated to be about 300 years old. It is 54 feet tall, has a circumference of 16.85 feet and a 63 inch diameter. Its average crown spread is 110.25 feet. After years of stress caused my automobiles, construction, and other signs of progress, the Candler Oak was in serious decline with a life expectancy of less than 20 years. In 1982, concerned citizens formed the Savannah Tree Foundation to protect the Candler Oak as well as other Savannah trees. The group made history by securing the first conservation easement on a single tree in the nation. In 1985, asphalt was removed from a parking lot over the tree’s root area and the landmark was put on a health plan with guidelines for watering, mulching and fertilizing. In 2001, the Georgia Urban Forest Council designated the tree as a Georgia Landmark and Historic Tree.

> Historic Homes – there are MANY, we are showing only a few key notables.
> Kehoe House – Built in 1893 by architect Dewitt Bruyn for William Kehoe, the dark red brick mansion used cast iron for all the exterior trim. William Kehoe arrived in Savannah when he was ten years old. After an apprenticeship as an iron molder, Kehoe later became the owner of a successful iron foundry. William and his wife Annie had ten children, and built this imposing house to accommodate their large family. The white exterior trim looks just like wood, but is definitely CAST IRON, I knocked on it !

> Owens Thomas House – built starting in 1816, completed in 1819 & designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976. Reported as having 22 inch thick walls & the 1st home in Savannah with plumbing in 1819. Built with three cisterns holding a total of 7,000 gallons of rainwater, with flushing toilets, marble bathtubs and sinks.

> Hamilton Turner House – Built in 1873 for Samuel Pugh Hamilton, who would become mayor of Savannah. He and his wife entertained lavishly, and wanted a house to suit that need. It was the first home is Savannah to have electricity. Nearly demolished in 1965 for a parking deck, but was saved by the Historic Savannah Foundation.

> Juliet Low Birth House – Founder/creator of The Girl Scouts of America
The house was built in 1818–1821, and is currently owned by the Girl Scouts of America.

> The Wormsloe House – we discussed this place in great detail earlier in the blog, but the 1.5 mile / 400 Oak tree lined entrance is incredible, the photo looks like a post card. The house structure remnant is listed as the oldest standing structure in Savannah dating back to 1739 (note, the Pirates House claims that part of their structure dates back to 1734??). The Wormsloe House was the home of Noble Jones who arrived in Georgia with Savannah founder James Oglethorpe in 1733. Noble Jones named the estate the “Wormsloe Estate” based on his roots back in England.

 

THE END !

 

This week was an exhausting week on The Loop !

We went about 220 miles from St Augustine Florida to Savannah Georgia in 4 days.
> Tuesday – St Augustine to Amelia Island Florida = 60 miles
> Wed – Amelia Island to Jekyll Island Georgia = 45 miles
> Thursday – Jekyll Island to Midway Georgia Sunbury Crab Company = 75 miles
> Friday – Sunbury Crab Company @ Midway to Savannah Georgia = 40 miles

Most of the miles were at 6-8 mph, making for very long days !
We did this to ourselves because we have heard from many other Loopers that there is not so much to see, or so many great stops on the Georgia ICW.

We also wanted to save time for a week in Savannah Georgia, and several weeks in the upcoming stops in SC & NC (Hilton Head, Beaufort, Charleston, Mertyl Beach, etc).
We will be in Savannah until next Thursday, April 26th.

We will then spend most of May in South Carolina & North Carolina, June in Chesapeake Bay, July in New York & Canada, and August in Georgian Bay and Lake Huron.
Estimated return date is Aug 30th, for my son Daniel’s bachelor party on Sept 1st (wedding Sept 16th).

Apr 17 – Tue 
We were supposed to leave St Augustine on Monday, but we had a 1 day delay due to wild storms & 50mph winds Monday afternoon. I watched the storm from inside the flybridge, it was awesome.

From St Augustine to Jekyll Island we had a 60 mile ride north, but at only 6-8 mph, it made for a long 8 hour day.
We had to depart St Augustine at 6:30am because we were cautioned by the marina to arrive before 3pm or we would not have enough water to get into the marina.
We arrived about 2:30pm & we were wiped out (driving a boat is tough work).
We had dinner at the marina restaurant and called it a night.

Amelia Island Marina was pretty blasee, with nothing special except the tidal swings of 6 feet exposing a very shallow entrance into the marina. We were cautioned to arrive 2 hours before low tide, and found out why when low tide arrived about 5pm.

We had dinner on the outdoor deck at marina restaurant, The Galley Bar & Grill.
It was like the marina , Ho-Humm, lots of fried food (Nellie & I are now both health nuts – grilled or baked for us) !
The setting was very nice over-looking the mud in the marina when the tide went out.

The night did end on a high note, with a nice sunset & Jonell got an excellent rising moon photo shortly after sunset.

Apr 18 – Wed
On Wednesday morning, we had to wait until 9am to depart Amelia, for the tide to come back into Amelia Island Marina. While just messin’ around, I saw a very large manatee getting a drink off of the seawall. He was covered with slim/moss and looked like he could use a scrubbing.

We took off about 9am for a 42 mile ride / 4 hours from Amelia Island Florida to Jekyll Island – Jekyll Harbor Marina.
It was a bitter-sweet morning because we said Goodbye to Florida , & now I got sweet Georgia on my mind.

We had arrived in Clearwater Florida, after the over-night Gulf crossing, on Nov 30th.
So we had spent 4-1/2 months in Florida, but are now excited as we approach what many Loopers call the best part of the trip (South Carolina, North Carolina, Chesapeake Bay, NY City, the Hudson River, the Erie Canal, the Trent Severn Waterway, & Georgian Bay).

On the ride to Jekyll Island, we noticed a large structure that looked at first like a structure for loading ships with cargo. But on second look, it seemed more like a boat wash for large ships. Any of you blog followers know what it is ?
I am still not sure what the structure was, it was not noted on our charts.
It is open on both ends, you could drive a ship thru it ?

We arrived at Jekyll Harbor about 1pm, a nice 4 hour ride at an average of 10mph (faster than usual).

Jekyll Harbor Marina is very different for transient boaters – there are not any “boat slips” for visitors, there is simply a 1000ft long transient dock with about 20 transient spots, no normal boat slips.
We are also now experiencing the wild 8 ft tides we had heard about in Georgia. Look at the marks on the floating dock pillars, and this was not yet at low tide.

After we got settled in, we borrowed the complimentary bikes and went to a late lunch/early dinner, about 1 mile away – Go Nellie Go !

We had Linner (Lunch/Dinner) at Tortuga Jacks Baja Mexican restaurant.
I had a very good “Big Boy Burrito”, but I ate like a little boy and did not finish it.

The restaurant was right on the Atlantic and had excellent views of the ocean.
From the tiki-hut of Tortuga Jacks you could see a very strange/long “sand bar, shoal, etc” which went out into the ocean about a mile.
There were many people walking far out into the ocean at low tide.

After linner we went to a local state park on the way back to the marina.
There was a long walkway between the over-hanging vegetation to get from the pier to the beach.

While on the beach we noticed some very wild jet airplane vapor trail patterns.
We also watched a kite surfer while waiting for the Mexican food to digest.

It was an early bed-time on Wednesday night, due to a long day planned on Thursday.
We watched Netflicks – we are done with “Mad Men”, still watching “Shameless”, and are now hooked on “The Crown” (thx Brenda & Joe !)

Apr 19 – Thu
On Thursday we went 75 miles from Jekyll Island Georgia to Midway Georgia.
At the usual Georgia ICW speed of 8 mph, this would have meant a 9-10 hour day if we took the ICW.

I began checking the wind/wave apps about 2 days ago, and conditions looked good for an outside ocean ride.
So Gettin’ Looped took the outside Atlantic Ocean route for about 50 of the 75 miles from Jekyll to Midway.

There were 5 other Looper Boats at Jekyll Island – First Forty, Home Office, Dash Away, Proper State of Mind, & State of Bliss.
All of the other Loopers were trawler boats who are normally topped out at 10mph speed, so there was not much advantage for them to go outside, based on the distance inside vs outside (73 vs 75 miles).

We all left Jekyll about 9am, as we again had to wait for the tide to come in and provide more water depth to exit Jekyll Harbor (but not as bad as Ameila).

Gettin’ Looped took the outside ocean route, and arrived about 2pm at the Sunbury Crab Company in Midway Georgia.
Total of 5 hours travel time, with 3 hours at 20mph.

The Trawler Loopers arrived at 6-6:30pm, doing about 6-8mph , with reports of very low water at many spots. The Loopers also saw Boat US servicing 2 boats grounded, who had either read the charts wrong or just got on the wrong side of the markers.
It was a good day to have a faster ship and experience some more open water cruising.

We were very happy with our decision to go outside, and proud of our off-shore race boat, but as we were coming back into the ICW from the ocean, we encountered about 35mph west winds (25mph wind + our speed of 10mph heading into the west wind). The waves on the ocean were ok because the wind was from the west and blocked by land.
But entering the large open inlet heading west created a high wind condition.
I heard some clanking and looked behind me to find half of the rear canvas from the flybridge, flying around in the breeze.
We had the front window of the flybridge open, the rear door was removed from the flybridge, and this created a situation where the rear canvas did not have so much perimeter support, and was getting exercised heavily by the wind.
The above conditions, combined with the fact that the canvas stitching appears to be weathering prematurely given it’s 2014 installation date, resulted in the rear canvas zipper on the headliner letting loose halfway across the back of the flybridge.

With a quick reaction, we unzipped the rear canvas, Nellie folded it and took it below in the salon, and we completed the ride with no rear canvas at the bridge.

After arriving at the Sunbury Crab Company and Gettin’ tied up, I spent the next 3 hours re-stitching the zipper to the headliner.
Luckily I had gotten a spool of marine thread from the guy who did our aft deck canvas right before we left. I also purchased a needle set just before we left. I also had sewing lessons from Carol Perotta in Algonac Michigan just after we left the going away party when a similar issue happened to the rear door of the flybridge.
3 hours later, the canvas was fixed.

While I was sewing the canvas zipper, Nellie spent 3 hours washing the grimy/nasty salt water film off of every inch of our polluted boat.
I hate salt water, “Salt Life Sucks”.
Great Lakes Fresh Water is where it’s at !

We need a state which has fresh water & 12 months of 75-85f degree weather !

Ok as I stated earlier;  we arrived at the Sunbury Crab Company Marina about 2pm.
It’s not really a marina, it’s really a restaurant with dockage, power, & water.
No VHF radio to communicate with on the way in (had to use cell phones), no showers, and a shaky start to our new digs !

Sunbury Crab Company did have valvetech fuel with no ethonol, delivered about a month ago.
After exercising our race boat on the Atlantic, we used a bunch of fuel (110 gallons for 75 miles).
So with the help of owner/operator Elaine – we got fueled up, moved to our spot on the long dock, got to know Elaine a little & got some really good initial vibes from her greeting and personality.

For the next 3 hours, I repaired canvass & Nellie got her 1st experience washing the boat (3 hours of washing, thanks baby).

The other Loopers arrived about 6-6:30pm.
We helped Elaine & one other staff person get all the Loopers tied up.
Elaine and her staff were also running the restaurant, while welcoming in the Loopers.
Elaine & her family were also preparing, all day, for the wedding of her son this weekend.

Nellie & I cleaned up & went to dinner about 7:30pm.
After the initial impressions from the “marina”, I did not expect much at the “restaurant”.

The restaurant was up a long pier from the dock.
I expected that me, Jonell, and the other Loopers would be the only people in the place.

OMG, were we blown away !
The “Sunbury Crab Company Restaurant” was one of the best restaurants we have been to on The Loop.
The place was packed, we had to wait for a table about 30 minutes.

Jonell & I both agreed that we had ;
The Best appetizer Nachos we have ever had – Shrimp Nachos with some type of sauce + homemade chips.
Neither of us have ever had or ever heard of shrimp nachos, maybe we are sheltered.
The Shrimp Nachos were rated a 10 out of 10 on the Murphree culinary scale.

The best grilled grouper we have ever had !
The Grouper was a small portion & cost $30, but after the first bite we both looked at each other and thought it was the best fish we have ever tasted. There was some type of seasoning on it that made it taste like a BBQ rub on a fish. There were no sauces, only the seasoning. The grouper was also very soft/tender but not too soft or mushy, easy to cut with a fork but tight enough to not flake apart after cutting.

Jonell & I combined our 2 dinners, splitting the Grilled Grouper & Grilled Shrimp.
The Grouper was the best ever (also a 10 of 10), the shrimp was good (7 of 10) but not as spectacular as the Grouper.

There was also some damn good mashed potatoes & awesome cream corn made from corn off the cob.
The photos don’t really do any of the food justice.

Elaine stopped by 4-5 times, we fell in love with her down home charm.
She reminded me of my dad’s Aunt Gerry, my G’ma Murphree, my aunt Sharon & Jonell’s G’ma Hoppie.

While writing this blog, I decided to do some research on The Sunbury Crab Company.
It has received many awards, and is also listed by “Coastal Living Magazine” as #13 in The 20 Best Seafood Dives of all Time, by Steve Millburg of Coastal Living Magazine
May 2017.

We went to bed stuffed like a stuffed flounder.
Tomorrow would be an easy 38 mile ride into Savannah.

Mar 20 – Friday
We left the Sunbury Crab Company about 9am and headed another 38 miles north into Savannah. We traveled with the Trawler Loopers on the ICW so the going was slow, but the off-channel radio communication (general vessel/vessel communications channel 72) made for a fun ride.

We arrived at The Isle of Hope Marina in Savannah about 2 pm.
We needed a pump out of the holding tanks and had that done on arrival.
We then went to our slip, even here it was a spot on a T-head dock, but a nice marina facility.

We spent then next 3 hours , again washing the nasty/filmy/grimy salt water crystals off the boat.

We had Papa John’s pizza for dinner, reserved a car for the next 5 days (as downtown Savannah is about 15 minutes away), & spoke for a while with Dan & Megan.

I then worked on this fabulous blog update, while Nellie read a book.
She has read about 8 books since we left Michigan.

Our next update will be from Savannah, port #75.
We have heard a lot of great reports about this city and can’t wait to see it.

So long.
Thanks for reading.

 

Hey Gang,
This is a long update, but I think one you may like.
Don’t start if you are in a hurry, read it later.
BTW – St Augustine is an AWESOME city !
We are in a marina right in the middle of St Augustine Old Town.

Preview
In this installment of The Murphree’s Great Loop Adventure, you will see and learn about ;
> Old Town St Augustine
> The Castillo de San Marcos National Monument
> The link between the The Castillo & Football
> Flagler College
> The Oldest Street in the USA
> New Friends ; Bob & Marjorie Stoker & Bryan & Kim Hinman
> The St Augustine Love Tree
> Old St Johns County Jail
> The Fountain of Youth

Apr 12 – Thu
OMG !
We just arrived in St Augustine Florida this afternoon.
We had very little time to scope out the city, but what we saw so far is awesome.
The city seems like a cross between – New Orleans, Key West, Mackinac Island, & Greenfield Village.
It appears very touristy, but also very 1700’s European settlement like.
There appears to be hundreds of restaurants & pubs, and music in almost every venue.
Secluded patio areas, riverfront balcony places, horse-drawn carriages, spooky graveyards, torch lit coves, and more.
I can’t wait to see what the next few days bring.

Before walking the town at night, we had a late dinner on the front porch of a small British place that looked like an early settlement home (called The Prince of Whales). There were 2 adorable golden retrievers on the porch (Max & Emily, not related) , a guy playing music on the street corner across from our table, a real English waitress, and The Best Fish & Chips in Town (see the sign below to prove it).

It was a wonderful 1st afternoon & night.
We can’t wait for the weekend.

PS – Happy B’day Randy (#56) !

PS #2 – Are you thinking about Looping, here is todays fuel bill. This will take us only for the next 300 miles. But I did get the -$26.00 discount (1 cheap meal or 4 beers).
Makes filling up the Jeep Grand Cherokee seem like not such a big deal.

Apr 13 – Fri
Day 2 in St Augustine was quite the fun/exciting day.
We started the day with the not-so-fun washing the boat routine, but by 11am we were on our way for a stroll down the riverfront boardwalk. We walked to the place where there were Horse Drawn Carriages that would take you on a guided tour of the city.
Upon arrival, we met driver “Emily” and horse “Brock”.

During the 1 hour ride we saw several sites; The Castillo de San Marcos Fort, 3 different churches, Flagler College, Museums, Hotels, Bed/Breakfasts, Restaurants, The Oldest Street in the USA, and the Tallest Building in St Augustine.
The Castillo de San Marcos is a fort built by the Spanish in 1672 which became a National Monument in 1924 (more on this later).

 

 

Flagler College is a private four-year liberal arts college in St. Augustine, Florida. It was founded in 1968 and offers 29 majors and 34 minors. Named after Henry Flagler of Standard Oil fame, who also is primarily responsible for the development of the Atlantic coast of Florida. I can’t describe how beautiful the Flagler College Campus is, the photos don’t really show it.

 

The Lightner Museum is a museum of antiquities, housed within the historic Hotel Alcazar building.

After all that carriage pulling, Brock was very hungry, and stopped at what appeared to be one of his refreshment stands, the local Lost Art Gallery, where he appeared to know the owner.

After the Lost Art Gallery, we continued down what is supposed to be The Oldest Street in the USA – Aviles Street.
Google says = Aviles Street is a narrow, brick road in downtown St. Augustine that is chock-full of history. Now, an archaeological dig appears to prove what many people in St. Augustine already claimed – that Aviles is the oldest street in the United States (May 4, 2010).

Driver “Emily” identified several Bed/Breakfast places during the tour, and told us that there were 36 bed/breakfast joints in Old Town SA., ranging from small hidden places to large waterfront places.

We went by many restaurants , of which O.C. White is supposed to be one of the “best” in SA according to Emily the tour guide, along with Columbia and A1A. We will most likely try one or more of them before we leave.

It was a fun morning spent with Emily & Brock.
After the tour I asked “what places should we not miss before we have to depart SA in 2 days”. Emily mentioned – The Castillo de San Marcos Fort, The Old Jailhouse, Ponce de Leon’s Fountain of Youth, and the The Flagler College Tour– where there is supposed to be 79 Louis Comfort Tiffany Stained Glass windows which stream light onto the beautiful hand-painted murals on the walls and ceiling.
So much to do, such little time.

After the Carriage Ride, we did go to one of the recommendations from Emily. We went to the nearby Castillo de San Marcos. The Castillo de San Marcos is the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States built-in 1672, 107 years after the city’s founding by Spanish.
My attempted quick version of the Castillo de San Marcos History, from the billboards at the fort;
> Ponce de Leon landed near St Augustine in 1513 and claimed “La Florida” for Spain.
> The Spanish established their hold on La Florida in the 1600’s.
> Europeans battled for control of “The Americas” in the 1600’s.
> France, England, and Holland attacked locations held by the Spanish in Florida.
> The Spanish built The Castillo de San Marcos in 1672 to secure their deliveries from Europe to La Florida.
> The Spanish used the fort to defend their territory several times in the early 1700’s.
> Spain ceded control of La Florida to England in the 1760’s after the 7 Year War.
> Spain regained La Florida after helping the United States defeat Great Britain in the Revolutionary War (1775-1783).
> In the late 1700’s to early 1800’s Spain’s control over La Florida became weakened due to battles in Europe (Napoleon) and South America. La Florida became a near law-less land of border raids and rebellion.
>  The United States acquired Florida from Spain for 5 million dollars thru the Adams – Onís Treaty of 1819. The treaty defined a new boundary between the New U.S. & the  New Spain (now Mexico).
> In 1900 the US army left the Fort de Castillo, the fort became vacant.
> In 1924 President Coolidge made The Castillo a National Monument.
> In 1933 the National Parks Service took over, and operates The Castillo de San Marcos today.

Before you fall asleep with the history lesson, perk up – we have Football !
The fort had all the usual fort type stuff, but there was one room in the fort that we walked into a late discussion linking the fort to football. My attempted Short Story ;
> In 1875 Captain Richard Henry Pratt assumed command of Fort Marion (formerly The Castillo de San Marco).
> Captain Pratt believed, contrary to his commanders, that Indians should be redeemed and educated, not exterminated. He treated them as fellow human beings and spent the next three years doing everything within his power to educate, teach and “convert to Christ,” the Indians under his charge.
> 1875-1879 George Pendleton , a US Senator met Captain Pratt and became involved.
> In 1879 they were granted permission by the U.S. government to create an Indian school called The Carlisle Indian School, in Carlisle Pennsylvania.
> Twenty-nine Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians are brought to the newly opened Carlisle Indian School. In the fall of 1879, the Carlisle Indian School formed its first football team.
> Today, the Carlisle Indian School is known world-wide for Jim Thorpe and the 1911 football team called the Carlisle Indians, who compiled a record of 11–1 in 1911 and outscored their opponents 298 to 49.
> The coach of that team was “Pop” Warner (Glenn Scobey Warner), who started coaching at The Carlisle Indian School when he was 28 years old.
> The Carlisle Indians’ Football Team was active from 1893 until 1917. It became a very successful Div-1 program, with a winning percentage of .647 which still stands as the best of any college football team in history. In her 2007 book about the Carlisle Indians, author Sally Jenkins characterized them as The Team that Invented Football, due to Pop Warner’s innovations such as; the Forward Pass the term Touchdown, and the End- Zone which was initially an End-Line.
> In 1912 there was an important game between Carlisle vs. Army that pitted one of America’s finest athletes, Jim Thorpe, against the man who would become one of the nation’s greatest heroes, Dwight D. Eisenhower.
During the game, Dwight Eisenhower, aware of Thorpe’s talent, attempted to knock him out of the game several times. One one attempt, Thorpe was in fact knocked out of the game, but returned on the next play. On a subsequent attempt to injure Thorpe, Eisenhower hurt his knee and was never the same player afterwards.
Carlisle won 27-6.
> Evidently, there are several well-known books on this subject, most notably “Carlisle vs Army” by Lars Anderson.
> So we can thank the Carlisle Indians, Jim Thorpe & Pop Warner for  – the creation of modern football as we know it & for making sure that Dwight D. Eisenhower did not get drafted by the NFL so he could go on to become one of the country’s greatest presidents.
At the end of the Castillo de San Marcos Tour, we watched a re-creation of a cannon-firing. The Spanish troops were taught a very elaborate procedure, in order to not make mistakes during the heat of battle. Me & Nellie both had the same comment – “the procedure takes so long for 1 fire (10-15min) , how did they actually defend off invaders. The demonstration was over 10 minutes, we have only shown the actual firing of the cannon.
Cannon Video = https://youtu.be/3Q0ypyWxjkU

Friday night we had a special treat !
One of our blog readers is Chris Elliot (formally Chris Stoker, I still call her “Stoker”).
Chris is my sister Brenda’s life-long friend from high school at Dondero in Royal Oak.
Chris made a comment on the blog a few days ago that her uncle lives in St Augustine.
I called Brenda to get Chris’ phone number.
I called Chris to get her uncle Bob’s phone number.
I then called Bob Stoker to see if he would like to play tour guide.
The rest is history.
Nellie & I now have great new friends in Bob & Marjorie Stoker.
Bob & Margie arrived at the ss Gettin’ Looped about 4pm.

We proceeded to be Gettin’ Looped between 4-9pm.
We had dinner at an excellent place across the Lion’s bridge called The BlackFly.

The BlackFly restaurant is under the internationally known BlackFly Brand of Vaughn Cochran, a Florida artist who lives and paints in St. Augustine. The kitchen at BlackFly is a “Scratch Kitchen”; everything is fresh, as local as possible, seasonal and made to order.
Bob & Margie seemed to know everyone in the joint, including the owner & our very social waitress Allison (on display in the photo below).

Nellie had the Black Fry Shrimp, I had the Sweet Tea Pork Chop – which may have been the thickest/most tender pork chop I have ever had.

It was an awesome fun night making great new friends.
Thx a bunch Stoker (I mean Chris) !

Mar 14 – Sat
Guess what , more surprising treats !
While on the phone Friday with my pal of 43 years, Dave Hinman, I was told by Dave that his nephew Bryan also lives in St Augustine and has been here for about 25 years.
Shortly after hanging up with Dave, I received a call from Bryan Hinman asking if we were interested in a St Augustine tour guide on Saturday.
The rest is history !
More new friends – Bryan & Kim Hinman.
Bryan & Kim arrived at the ss Gettin’ Looped about 12 noon.

After the mandatory welcome aboard photos & guest log book signing, we sat on the aft deck and talked about Dave for about an hour, talked about The Loop, talked about our families, and became pretty good friends in a very short time.

Bryan & Emily took us on a tour of the Flagler College Campus where Kim got her degree in teaching. Unfortunately, the campus Dining Hall (not to be called a cafeteria) with the 79 Tiffany Stained Glass windows, was not open to the public on this day. We did however get a small glimpse of the Tiffany windows from the outside (less impressive due to protective coverings on the outside). The campus is beautiful, the photos don’t do it justice. The first photo below shows the hall where Henry Flagler’s remains were put on display for 3 days after his death (the Ponce de Leon Hotel at that time). Upon his death, Flagler requested that all the windows and doors be opened for 3 days to allow his spirit to leave for the afterlife. Before day 3, a large storm arrived, the janitor closed the doors and windows, and Flagler’s spirit was trapped. Kim Hinman, who lived in the women’s dorm in this building, concurs to the stories of “spirits & strange happenings” in the building.

We also walked to St George street, the oldest school house, & the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine Catholic Church (the seat of the Catholic Bishop of St. Augustine).

 

Before returning back to the boat, we made a brief trip to The St Augustine Love Tree.
St. Augustine’s Love Tree is really two trees—there’s a sable palm growing out of the heart of an oak tree. If you separate them, both will die. According to the legend, if you kiss your love under the tree, you will have everlasting romance.
Nellie & I are going on year #36 in September, but a little insurance policy can’t hurt !

While touring, we stopped and had lunch at The Mojo Old City BBQ.
Nellie & I split a Mojo Club (pulled pork, smoked turkey, bacon), Kansa City Burnt Ends (outer edges of beef brisket), and the house specialty Mac-n-Cheese.

After lunch we returned for our premature farewell, as Bryan & Kim had a local fund raiser later Saturday night and had to leave earlier than any of us wanted.
It was a great beginning to a new friendship.
Thx for the hookup Dave !

After Bryan & Kim left, we were out on the aft deck of Gettin’ Looped, and Looper Bill from the vessel First Forty yelled over “hey Mike , NASA is launching another rocker in the next 10 minutes”.
Sure enough, about 5 minutes after he said it, up went the rocket.
Blog followers may recall that we saw a launch while in Cocoa Beach right from the beach , 3 miles away from Cape Canaveral. The launch was a little disappointing , but we understand the rockets used then were small for a small payload.
Now we were about 125 miles away from Cape Canaveral, and the launch seemed almost as big.
It was a nice late afternoon treat.

Saturday night, Jonell & I were still full from lunch.
We skipped dinner, but went out for milkshakes about 8pm.
We went to a place called Cousteau’s Waffle & Milkshake Bar.
It was a no-frills, Waffle & Ice Cream or Milkshake place alone.
Nellie had The Calypso – a key lime pie type shake
I had the The Ping Island – a peanut butter buster type shake.

Apr 15 – Sunday (Tax Day Tomorrow, are you ready) !
Today Sunday, was tourist day for us (as if every day is not already).
We went to the very touristy “Old Jail” and the “Ponce de Leon Fountain of Youth”

The Old Jail or Old St John’s County Jail 
This was a real functional jail from 1891 to 1953.
The Old Jail was built by the P.J. Pauley Jail Building Company in 1891 (same company that built Alcatraz). Its was financed by Henry Flagler, who struck a deal with the county for $10,000 because the former jail building stood on land that Flagler needed for the construction of his Ponce de León Hotel. The Old Jail served as the St Johns County Jail until 1953. After a new more modern jail was built, the vacant Old Jail was sold to entrepreneur Henry “Slim” McDaniel who began operating the remarkably well-preserved building as a roadside tourist attraction. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.
Originally built to house up to 72 prisoners, and at one time holding over 120 prisoners, the Jail consisted of; a general population area, a maximum security area, a women’s section and a lower level kitchen. The maximum security housed the most dangerous prisoners held at the Jail & included a Death Row Cell. A total of 8 men were hung from the Gallows on the Jail compound during its history. Overall conditions at the Jail were quite poor by modern standards and prisoners were typically used as free farm laborers during the day. Baths were infrequent, toilet facilities consisted of one bucket per cell and diet was poor and was typically supplemented by any animals that the prisoners might catch while working on the fields. The two-story southern wing of the Jail consisted of an Office for the Sheriff and living quarters for his family. The jail was meant to look like a house not a prison (requested by Flagler), and it also served as a house for the sheriff & his family.

Next stop on the Sunday tourist day was The Ponce de Leon Fountain of Youth.
The Fountain of Youth tales have been recounted across the world for thousands of years, with writings going back to 5th century BC.
The legend became particularly prominent in the 16th century, when it was attached to the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León, who was said to be searching for the Fountain of Youth when he traveled to what is now Florida in 1513.
But just how magical is the Fountain of Youth?
The very widespread story goes something like this …
In 1513, Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon became the first European to land in Florida and was in search of the Fountain of Youth. Some records from the turn of the 17th century state Ponce de Leon was impotent and wanted to find a cure. Others indicate that standing at 4-feet, 11-inches, he sought more height, power and strength like the native American Indians.
Through the centuries, the St Augustine site of the Fountain of Youth remained active. A well around the springs was built in 1875, and in the early 1900s the site became a roadside attraction when landowner Dr. Luella MacConnell began selling “magical” water for 10 cents a glass. When she died in 1927, Walter Fraser took over the property, and his family still runs it today.
So, is the water really magical? Well, Luella MacConnell died at the age of 56 & Ponce de Leon died at 61. And it turns out that based on his armor swords and personal furniture, Ponce de Leon was around 5-feet, 8-inches tall, which was around the same height as the average male Indian. Ponce de Leon also had children, so he was neither short nor impotent. He is properly credited, however, with naming Florida, which translates to “Flowering Easter” in Spanish since he landed around the Easter holiday in 1513.

This is the “Actual Fountain of Youth” in the same room as the pumped in spring water.
Fountain of Youth Video = https://youtu.be/FkLEyTN4OCM

BTW – the Fountain of Youth Park had a lot of other stuff like a celestial navigation room showing how early explorers used the stars to navigate.
But the most interesting thing was a large flock of Peacocks, very active & very proud to be displaying how beautiful they can be.

After Tourist Day, we got back to the boat about 2pm and began to batten down the hatches for a storm that is predicted to cross St Augustine between 4-6pm this afternoon. The storm is projected to bring winds of 50mph.
So if you don’t get any more blog updates, come salvage the remnants of Gettin’ Looped.

We have reservations tonight at the highly recommended Columbia Restaurant. It is about a 10 minute walk from the boat. The weather will determine if we keep the reservations, or have jambon & fromage sandwiches tonight.

Next Stops =
> Amelia Island, Fl = Tuesday
> Jeckyl Harbor, Ga = Wednesday
> Sunberry Crab Company, Ga = Thursday
> Savannah, Ga = Friday for 1 week
> Hilton Head, SC = watch the HBC Heritage Golf Tournament this weekend, we will be staying just behind the 18th green in 2 weeks

 

 

Apr 11 – Wed
Today we moved from New Smyrna to Palm Coast Florida.
The ride to Palm Coast was pretty uneventful, but as we got closer to Palm Coast, the houses got much nicer with huge lanai’s. Each home also had their own boathouse & lift. The ICW looked funny with all the boat houses lining the river.

We docked at The Palm Coast Marina.
Due to the weather delays in New Smyrna, we will stay only one night in Palm Coast.
So here is our 1 afternoon/night review.

The marina is nice but not glamorous. It has a nice outdoor area with lounge chairs to chill out at. It also has individual bath houses with shower/toilet/sink all in the same room – most marinas have separate shower rooms.
Similar to New Smyrna, the folks are really nice. We must have had 5 different people stop by to say hi when they saw the AGLCA flag on the bow & the Michigan home port on the stern of the boat.
The marina is just off the ICW in a nice tree-lined protected cove. The winds were again high on the ICW (25mph) but nice and calm in the marina harbor.

The surrounding resort was very nice.

We had to walk thru the resort to the curvy road main drag, where we walked about a 1/4 mile to a place called The European Village.

The European Village was an area with, guess what – shops, restaurants, pubs, etc.
The European Village did appear to have a bit of a European look, with tall exterior walls of condos & the restaurants/shops/pubs lining the interior perimeter of the town square. The village had a wide variety of foods from different ethnicities.

Due to budgetary constraints, and the fact that we spent at lot of $$ at the New Smyrna restaurants, we settled for pizza at an Italian place called Mezzaluna.
The ambiance was pretty good (they had the mandatory photo of the Rat Pack), the pie was just “OK”.

Next Stop = St Augustine Florida
It is supposed to be a great city, and founded in 1565, is reported as the oldest European settlement that is still inhabited in the United States.
We will be there for 1 week.

Apr 8 – Sun
We traveled from Cocoa Village Florida to New Smyrna Beach Florida on Sunday.
It was a 51 mile ride on an overcast day that started very calm & got very windy.
We departed Cocoa at 7:30am & arrived in New Smyrna Beach City Marina about 2pm. It is a quant little marina with very nice friendly folks.

New Smyrna/New Smyrna Beach is a small city of about 25,000 located between Cocoa Beach & Daytona Beach Florida. Some historians believe New Smyrna is the original St. Augustine, the Spanish-colonized town in Northeast Florida known as the nation‘s oldest city.
Right across the street from the marina, we saw a large rock structure. My attempts to google the history found the following; The rock structure was credited to have been built by a Scottish physician named Andrew Turnbull. Dr Turnbull colonized the area for England in 1768. He came to Florida by ship, bringing with him nearly 1,500 Greeks, Corsicans, Italians and Minorcans in hopes of establishing a new colony. The general consensus is that the Turnbull Ruins are the remnants of his abandoned mansion, but some local historians suggest the coquina foundation may have been a colonial church, a site for constructing ships, or the original Castillo de San Marcos.


Apr 9 – Monday
We started Monday with a walk in downtown New Smyrna on Canal Street. It had a few bars, a few nice looking restaurants, clothes shops, hair salons, and normal every day business shops. The nicest looking places for dinner looked to be Yellow Dogs & The Corkscrew Bar & Grill ($5 Margareta’s on Mondays).

After walking the main city of New Smyrna, we took an Uber across the bridge to New Smyrna Beach. Every Uber ride involves making new friends, as all of our previous guests can attest to (Spraggs , do you remember Norm ?). So on this Uber ride we met Gregory. We found out that Gregory drives Uber in his spare time, but also caddies for senior PGA tour player Scott Hoch.

Once across the bridge, we found out that New Smyrna Beach is where all the action is. There were numerous restaurants & pubs on the main drag.

There were also many hidden places down mid-street corridors and side-streets.

We had lunch at a place called Breakers on the Atlantic Ocean.
Not the nicest looking outside or inside, but a great view from any seat in the place.

 

While at lunch we noticed that we are starting to get to a different kind of beach, more typical of Daytona with hard packed sand, where cars/trucks are allowed on the beach. It works out great for the handicapped. We observed two older women who had a special support van & a big balloon wheel chair enjoying the beach right up at the water (not shown in this photo).

After lunch we did some more walking and looked in/at all the clothes shops, gift shops, coffee shops, & bed/breakfast joints.

The town also appeared to be very into Shuffleboard !
The photo shows only 65% of the courts (8 courts of 12 shown).

At the end of our walk from the beach back towards the city, just before the ICW bridge, we found a place called The Grill at Riverview. We stopped in to have a drink and watch the boats go under the draw bridge. We later went back for dinner with Looper pals Tim & Patti from Craic. The Grill was very classy inside, great views on the outside deck, and awesome food (I had a lemon butter trout, yummie).

Mar 10 – Tue
Tuesday was supposed to be moving day, but we had monsoon rains all over northeast Florida, so we extended our stay by 1 day in New Smyrna and delayed our trip to Palm Cost Florida.
Photos below show ; Radar map of NE Florida & Beautiful Snow Photo in Auburn Hills Michigan from brother Kenny, both on the morning of April 10th.

 

Since we had a 1-day weather hold-over, we were able to go to dinner at a place we almost forgot about. One of our blog readers recommended a place called The Garlic, about 2 miles from the marina. Whoever you are, thanks for the tip, please respond with a comment to identify yourself.

The Garlic Restaurant was awesome.
The Garlic is an open air environment set in a garden/jungle type décor. There was also an attached bar called The Blue Room. There were 2 different entertainment groups ; the band in the main restaurant was a 3 piece group playing jazz complete with saxophone, the 2nd group in The Blue Room had a singer and keyboard and played Sade type easy listening music.

The meal was as good as the settings.
I had the Veal Oscar (thinly sliced pan seared veal topped with crabmeat, poached asparagus, and béarnaise sauce).
Nellie had the 4 cheese Ravioli Bolognaise.
They also served every meal with a hunk of bread and a very large garlic clove. The clove comes whole and the waitress mashes/smashes it down to a wonderful bread dip.

Next Stops ;
> Only 1 day in Palm Coast Florida, a 43 mile ride north, port #70.
> Then St Augustine on Thursday.

 

 

Mar 31 – Sat
On Saturday we moved 32 miles north from Melbourne Florida to Cocoa Village Florida.
It was our test ride for all the mechanical issues discussed in the Melbourne update.
All systems were in ship-shape with a smooth ride, no noises, no vibrations, and cool stuffing box nuts !

We had to delay our departure from Melbourne, waiting for a sailboat to depart our slip in the Cocoa Village Marina. We arrived about 2pm, under windy overcast conditions.

We spent most of Saturday afternoon prepping for visitors – washing the bed sheets, cleaning the boat, and grocery shopping.

Saturday night we ate subs that I had purchased at the Publix grocery, and watched Michigan beat Loyola-Chicago in the Final Four.

Apr 1 – Easter Sunday
On Sunday after morning coffee, we began Easter Sunday with a nice Pump-Out of the toilet heads, emptying them before company arrived.
It was a glorious sunny, calm morning after a windy rocky night.

Our neighbors from Royal Oak Michigan, Al & Roberta, arrived about 1pm.
We have known Roberta since we moved into our current home on Aberdovey, the same year Daniel was born, in 1990 (28 years).
Roberta & Al met about 15 years ago, and Jonell & I attended their marriage ceremony about 10 years ago.

We got Roberta & Al checked into the SS Gettin’ Looped, and settled in for some catchin-up discussion on the aft deck. We had not seen them since we left Michigan last July. They are on their way home to Royal Oak after 3 months in their annual winter retreat of Bradenton Florida. They planned to see us for a few days in Cocoa Village and then visit Roberta’s friend Marilyn in Jacksonville on the way home.

After  a few hours of catchin-up discussions, we cleaned up, and went for a walk around the beautiful Historic Cocoa Village Downtown.
The downtown area in Historic Cocoa Village is very pretty with lots of local mom/pop shops, hidden garden restaurants, and entertainment venues.
Cocoa was founded by fishermen with the first families arriving around 1860. A post office was established at Magnolia Point, and the city’s first commercial building was erected around 1881. It is located along the Indian River, which is part of the Atlantic ICW, and is a few miles from Cape Canaveral & Cocoa Beach.

We had Easter dinner at a place called The Tulip.
I had the “World Famous Oven Roasted Duck”
I asked the waitress how/why it was world-famous, she advised that it became famous in the early 80’s when Walter Cronkite frequented The Tulip and raved about the duck. The duck was combined with seasonal apples, raisins, and walnut sauce.
Walter was correct, it was very good , “and that’s the way it is !”

We ended Easter Sunday night by enlightening Al & Roberta into the joys of pre-bed time snacks of Magnum ice cream bars & Twix candy bars.

Apr 2 – Monday
Monday was an exciting day, it was both Beach Day & Rocket Day.
We started the day with breakfast at a place called The Wanderlust Cafe, a new recently opened joint, with a very pleasant young owner.

After breakfast, we packed up the cooler, called the Uber, and headed to Cocoa Beach.
Cocoa Beach is about 7 miles from the marina, on the Atlantic Ocean. We camped out just north of the Cocoa Beach Pier, a very active place, and even more active due to the NASA Rocket Launch scheduled for 4:30pm later that day.

We arrived at the beach about 12:30pm.
By 2:30pm, me & Al were fairly bored.
Al wanted to get some apparel at the Ron-Jon’s Surf Shop about 1 mile away, so me & Al went for a long stroll down the beach to Ron-Jon’s.
Along the way we saw many people attempting to surf in a Ron-Jon directed “Surf School”.

A while later, we arrived at Ron-Jon’s.
The place was not like the T-shirt places I had remembered from my younger days in Daytona Beach. The place was a gigantic 2 story building, with everything from; apparel, shoes, surf boards, scuba gear, water skis, bathing suits, etc.

After the long walk to Ron-Jon’s, we caught a break on the way back. To get to Ron-Jon’s after walking the beach for a mile, we had to walk from the beach another 1/8 mile into Cocoa Beach City. We were not looking forward to the long walk back to the girls, but as we were coming out of Ron-Jon’s, I saw a Trolley car coming.
I stopped the trolley and asked the driver if he went to The Cocoa Beach Pier, he replied “yes I do”.
I asked “how much”
He said “It’s free”
I said “Ok, we got a deal” (Looping budget remains intact)
A short while later, we met back up with the girls about 3:30pm.

It was our original plan to leave the beach and watch the rocket launch with the other Loopers on the 2nd story of the marina office, about 10 miles from the launch pad. It was billed by the marina staff as a great location (tables in upper/left corner).

With the launch scheduled for 4:30pm, and since it was already 3:30pm & we were much closer to the launch site at the beach (vs at the marina), we decided to watch the launch from Cocoa Beach.
The launch was a Space X / Falcon 9 Rocket carrying a payload that included Costa Rica’s first satellite. The satellite, which is part of the Irazú project and is a small cube shape, was designed to collect data on the growth of their country’s forest.

The anticipation was excruciating, with the tension building by the minute, crowds lining the Beach & Pier.

I readied my camera, I started to see the rocket take off, I pushed the camera button, and attempted to follow the path of the rocket. It was very difficult to see with the sun immediately behind my phone camera.
Oh-Crap !
As the rocket was decoupling from the payload, I realized that in all the excitement I had not hit the Video Button, I had hit the Photo Button.
I had only taken 1 photo, Crap !
Here it is

Luckily, Nellie to the rescue.
She did not take video, but took a series of still photos.

Even at only 3 miles away, the event was somewhat of a let down.
It was not as big, as loud, or as earth-shaking as I had imagined.
I was told by locals that the recent Elon Musk rocket that launched the Tesla into orbit a few months ago, was much more spectacular.
I was also told by our fellow Loopers, that the event was really hard to see at the marina.

After the launch, we waited about an hour for traffic to clear, took the uber home, got cleaned up, and headed out to dinner.
Dinner was at a place called Murdock’s Southern Bistro.
I had meat loaf, smothered in onions & gravy, Al had blackened Cobia, I don’t remember what the girls had.
As we were eating, our very good Looper pals Mike & JoAnne Feeney from Rula Bula walked in about 8pm, returning to Looping after their recent trip home to Wisconsin to do taxes.

The night ended with TV, and watching a disappointing Michigan Wolverine stomping by the Villanova Wildcats. Never the less, congrat’s to Michigan on a great March Madness run.

Apr 3 – Tue
After a very short 2 days, it was goodbye day for Al & Roberta.
We started the day with some coffee, and sat out on the upper deck of the marina office chatting with the marina staff and other boaters. It was a prestine, very calm, nice sunny start of the day.

We had breakfast about 9:30am at a place called The Ossorio Bakery & Café.

On the way back from breakfast, we passed by and went into the LARGEST HARDWARE store I have ever seen. It was 1 block wide /1 block long / and 2 stories tall. It is known as the S.F. Travis Company. 
The history of the store as told by current 4th generation owner Travis “Mac” Osborne is as follows ;  “In 1885, my great-grandfather, Colonel S.F.Travis, who served in the American Civil War, had a sailboat going up and down the rivers, delivering items and taking orders from Jacksonville to Fort Pierce.  In 1892, S.F.Travis purchased an existing store on the river and used it as a warehouse. The building eventually grew into a retail store and the S.F.Travis Company that is there today. “Until 1955, he still ran a barge up and down the river to make deliveries,” says Osborne. “In the old days they would run tabs for customers until the crops came in, then they paid them off. Business was done on a handshake.”  
Travis “Mac” Osborne took control of operations in 1983, and is the 4th generation owner. I could see Travis on the stool behind the counter barking out directions to the workers. He sounded like a Mississippi or Alabama good ole boy !
The hardware had everything you could dream of , the most interesting items for me were the huge machinery box wrenches on sale for $1100.00 each

We returned to the boat about 10:30am.
Al & Roberta got packed & said farewell about noon.
It was a very fun 2 days !

Later that night we had dinner with our old Looper Pals Rula Bula & Craic, and new Looper friends Paul & Caryn Frink on the vessel Seeker.
We went to a place called Time-Out Plus, featuring $3 pitchers of Miller Lite !

Mar 4 – Wed
Wednesday was a very laid back day.
We did some banking, cleaning, had some drinks on the upper deck of the marina, walked around Cocoa Village, saw an awesome ’68 LeMans convertible, sat in the town park for a while, watched boats come in/out of the launch ramp, had pizza on the upper deck at Ryan’s Pizza & Pub, and watched a beautiful rainbow form while at Ryan’s, after a soft rain.
Not much else to report for Wednesday.

 

It was a pretty fun, laid back day with Just me & Nellie.

Mar 5 – Thu
After shelling out $30 to Uber just to go to the beach and back (only 8 miles away), we decided to rent a car for the remaining 2 days, because we wanted to go on an Airboat Ride about 25 miles away, which Uber projected at $40 one way.
The Enterprise rental was $95/2 days – and we were Riding in Style – a nice Cadillac CTS !

On Ferris Buehler’s Thursday, we drove our fancy Cadillac to the following places ;
> Liberty Bell Memorial Museum = sorry folks closed, moose out front should-a told ya !
> 1 drink @ The Beach Shack
> Lunch at Mambo’s Beachside Bar & Grill
> Nappin’ & Reading Books at The Lori Wilson Park Beach
> Watchin’ Cruise Ships depart the Port Canaveral Pier
> Chillin’ at The Manatee Sanctuary Park – No manatee’s, just a laid back local park.
> Dinner at Fishlips (per recommendation of blog follower Jaime Elliot).

We ended the night with TV = Survivor, Madmen, & NCIS

Mar 6 – Fri
Friday was an awesome, great, memorable day !
We used the rental car to travel about 30 miles to The Midway Airboat Company in Christmas Florida.
Midway is located along the St John’s River , between the St John’s National Wildlife Refuge & the Seminole Ranch Conservation Area.

We were accompanied to Midway by Tim & Patti from Craic.

When we arrived, prior to the ride, we met Porkchop the Pig & an Un-named Parrot.

We checked in, and were soon matched up with our airboat captain Dave.

The ride started with a high speed ride on a large, wide section of the St John’s River.
Come along for a Video Ride, it’s very cool = https://youtu.be/83_RqQXd6Js

Later during the ride, we got into some more narrow/shallow sections, where Dave showed us how the Airboat manuevers.
Video Ride #2 = https://youtu.be/2S4bzII5qQc

It was interesting to see him operate the boat, it looked pretty easy compared to a ’43 Viking, there were only 2 controls ; “a foot throttle & a steering lever” = https://youtu.be/23eZrO6CVUs

If you have not had enough video, here is another  = https://youtu.be/jpP9M5dlVyY

If you did not watch the videos, here are some still shots.
We traveled over wide/deep sections, curvy/shallow sections, and medium sized sections of the St John’s River.

I asked Dave – “how much for the tickets to drive the Airboat”
He advised – “$100,000”
I asked “if he took Visa or a trade for a used ’43 Viking”
He said “No”
$100,000 seems quite high, I just looked on Ebay and found a 4 seater for $28,000
He did however, let me checkout the captain’s chair after the ride.
Dave was a pretty cool guy with lots of knowledge of the local surroundings & wildlife.

Along the ride we saw ;
> Gators
> Gators eating Turtles
> Cattle
> Cattle near the Gators
> Blue Herons
> Bald Eagles

 

But wait, the event at Midway was not over.
As a farewell gift, we were allowed to HOLD A GATOR !
Baby Gator, mouth wrapped tight, but still – holding a gator is pretty cool.

But wait, the visit was still not over !
Inside the museum/zoo – they had a Burmese Python !
I asked if Nellie could hold the Python, before they answered, Jonell answered the question for me.

It was a very fun, memorable day on The Loop !

Next Stop = New Smyrna Beach Florida, 60 miles north of Cocoa Village.

Dear Blog Followers,

Well we have had some interesting events since we last wrote.
I wanted to let you all know that Looping is not always Blue Skys, Sandy Beaches, and Immaculate Marinas. Even in Looping Land we have some tough days !

Mar 26 – Wed
We started the day with an early 8am departure from The Palm Beach Gardens Yacht Club at Jupiter, and headed another 62 miles north to The Suntex Marina at Vero Beach. The ride was a somewhat uneventful ride up the ICW with 12 bridge crossings, but the lowest bridge was 17 feet, so we did not require any bridge openings. The ICW has many no wake / slow speed zones so even at only 62 miles, it was an 7-8 hour day.
During the ride we had two rain storms, followed by a LOT of wind (surprising, it usually gets calmer after the rain storms).

Then came all the fun.
OMG, worst thing that can happen, it did happen !
While backing into our slip at Suntex, I contacted the boat in the neighboring slip !!!
The wind was NE at about 20-25mph.
When the wind is high, I usually do a practice pass to see how the wind will push the boat.
On the practice pass, the wind was pushing from port to starboard. while sterning in.
I turned the boat around, realigned, and started backing into the slip.
Just as I was getting the stern into the start of the slip, a large blow of starboard to port wind occurred (opposite of the practice run) and pushed the front half of the boat into my port side neighbor, while the stern was 1/4 into the slip.
During the gust, I attempted to apply more starboard reverse / port forward throttle to rotate the bow straight, but the wind kept pushing the bow to port.
Just before contact, I went to neutral, and the contact was mainly due to the wind force contact only.

Luckily as Rodney Dangerfield said in Caddyshack “Your dinghy scratched my anchor”.
This turned out to be true, as the bulk of the contact to the neighboring boat was via his anchor. The net damage to his pristine Sabre Motor Yacht named Grand Crew, was a 2-3″ scratch on his previously pristine rub rail.
After contact, the owner John Lawrence came out from below deck.
I was surprised that he did not come out with a baseball bat.
He was very calm & understanding.
He did advise that they had just put the boat on the market, and that he would like to get the rub rail repaired.
We agreed, and settled the next day with a Murphree check & bottle of alcohol.

 

 

The SS Gettin’ Looped took the brunt of the contact, with a gouge to the upperbody gelcoat just below the window, and a bend in one of the port side hand rail tubes (fixable with Murphree skills).

 

 

I had been getting pretty good at dealing with wind & current, and had sterned-in at most of the ports since Fort Myers. But it was one of those humbling days in the life of Captain Mike Murphree.

We laid low that night, Nellie made Stouffers lasagna for supper. We licked our wounds with a couple soda pops, watched Netflicks, and had an early bed time.

Mar 27 – Tue
I had called Mike Miller’s Marine service last week while we were in Jupiter and set up an appointment to get the stuffing box packing replaced in Vero Beach. I had the packing done in Detroit when we first took ownership of the boat in 2016, but we have put about 400 hours on the drivetrain since then.
Both Port & Starboard shafts were leaking about 15 drips/minute stationary, there should be no leakage without the shafts turning. I attempted to snug up the starboard packing nut myself by rotating the nut about two nut flats, but the nut got too hot under operation, so it was time for a repack job.
I had watched this operation in 2016, and have watched countless videos on how to do this. I am sure that I could have done it myself if the boat was out of the water, but I did not have the go-nads to attempt to repack the stuffing boxes myself with the boat in the water.
Mike Miller’s rep Kenny arrived about 10am & was done by noon.
We now have no leak at idle, and we will find out on Thursday if the nut temps are ok while underway, or need adjusting.
I also learned that changing the packing while the boat is in the water is not that big of a deal, I will be able to do it next time, if ever required again.

Tuesday night returned to fun-time, as we took a taxi from our Suntex Marina at Vero Beach about 5 miles south to The Vero Beach City Marina, to meet our friends from the vessel Craic, Tim & Patti Gareau.

We had not seen Tim & Patti for about 3 weeks, since The Fara Blanco Marina on Marathon Island, when I went on the dinghy flotilla ride with them on their dinghy.

 
Mar 28 – Thu
Thursday was a low-key day.
The Suntex Marina is a nice pretty place, it is immersed within a beautiful gated golf course community, but it is too far away from the city. If you don’t have a car, it is a little bit boring. The marina trip planner (me) needs to do better research next time and book closer to the city.
The Uber/Taxi rides of only 5-6 miles are $15-20 one way, so we laid low.
Jonell did laundry.
Mike did advanced marina planning.
We sat by the very nice Suntex Pool, and listened to the pool side waterfall for a few hours.
Local Davila’s Pizza delivery for dinner.

Next Stops =
> Melborn Florida on Thursday & Friday
> Cocoa Village Florida on Saturday for 1 week (Nasa Falcon 9 Launch on Monday Apr 2).

We departed the Lighthouse Point Yacht Club about 8:30am Friday morning.

Prior to departing, we had a last night goodbye dinner with Jodee & Dean at the Lighthouse Point Restaurant, out on their back patio overlooking the marina.
I initially felt bad talking Jodee & Dean into the Lighthouse restaurant when I opened the menu and saw entrée prices starting at about $35 and going up to $75. I kept flipping the menu to find the sandwich/burger page, but was unsuccessful. My Visa card stopped buzzing when the waitress advised that they had 3 specials that day; a Turkey Thanksgiving type special, a Prime Rib, and a Chicken dinner, all for $23.
Nellie had the Turkey dinner, Jodee, Dean & I had the prime rib. The dinners were awesome. Dean also had the $6 martini special. It turned out to be a great dinner in a great setting. We ended the night with some drinks and TV (Red Wings Hockey)  on Gettin’ Looped.

Mar 23 – Fri
Friday morning The ride from Lighthouse Point to our next destination of The Loggerhead Marina Palm Beach Gardens in Jupiter Florida was about 42 miles and we had to go under 17 bridges, of which we had to wait for about 5 bridges to open. Most of the bridges are on a set schedule and open on the hour/half hour or on the quarter/3 quarter hour. Some bridges open only on request, and any bridge that opens for you usually requests your vessel name for their log.

During the ride, as we started to approach West Palm Beach Florida, we noticed that the waterfront homes on the shore were starting to get a little nicer & larger.

During the ride we also passed thru West Palm Beach. I had tried to get into the marinas in West Palm a few weeks ago but was unsuccessful due to the West Palm Boat Show. As we passed West Palm there was a lot of boat traffic, lots of police presence in the water, and we got a small glimpse of the large boat show.
We also learned later that President Trump was coming into Mar-a-Lago that afternoon, just south of West Palm Beach.

Just north of West Palm Beach, we passed a small Island called “Peanut Island” (shout out to Randy). The island is surrounded by beautiful aqua blue water, and the boats can pull up to shore with their bow, but the water deepens very quickly to over 10 feet within a boat length. I’m not sure how/why the water changed color from drab blue/green to vivid blue so quickly, I don’t know if the rich people in West Palm pay extra taxes for Aqua Blue Water.

We arrived at The Loggerhead Palm Beach Gardens Marina about 2:30pm.
Ho-Humm, another beautiful marina complex.

Mar 24 – Sat
Saturday morning we rode the bikes about 2 miles to the Loggerhead Marine Life Center, where they were having a once per year event called “Turtle Fest”. Turtle Fest is a fund-raiser with many tents of folks selling stuff with the profits going to the turtle hospital charity. There were also games, bands playing all day, and food. And of course there was a lot of educational stuff about the work they were doing helping damaged/sick turtles recover.

 
After Turtlefest, we returned to the boat, had some lunch, and watched the PGA Dell Technologies Match Play Golf, with one eye closed (nap time is very healthy).

About 4pm, we headed out for an early dinner.
We went to a shopping/restaurant complex called The Harbourside Place. We had been told by some locals about a car show & music the last Saturday of every month. Harbourside Place is a large complex right on the ICW with lots of restaurants / bars / shops, surrounding a large entertainment amphitheatre with fountains.
We had dinner at a place called The Calaveras Cantina, a very colorful place decorated with the theme of skeletons, with the name Calaveras meaning Skulls. The food was great. We had tacos for dinner, they had 9 choices of taco fillings. I had 3 tacos ; Mahi, Andouille Sausage, and Shrimp !

After dinner we strolled around the car show being put on by The South East Classics Car Club. Lots of nice metal on display, with a lot of Mopar based products. Thinking of my cuz Tony Chesney (sorry, there were no ’63 Chevy Impalas to take photos of).

After the car show, we got settled in some seats in the amphitheater before the crowd gathered. We watch the young children play in the fountain. I told Jonell that I wished that I could have that care-free / no responsibility fun of a child again, she said “you are, stop whining”.

The band began about 7pm, it was a 2 hour show with the 1st hour being a tribute to Rod Stewart & the second hour a tribute to Bruce Springsteen. The lead singer definitely had the Rod Stewart look and sounded just like Rod Stewart. I asked Jonell “Do you think I’m sexy & you want my body” , she said “NO”.
The same guy did Springsteen with a different costume on, but it was not the same hearing Springsteen with a British accent.

After the concert, we returned to the boat about 9pm and watched The Michigan Wolverines defeat the Florida State Seminoles in the Elite 8 championships, Go Blue (I didn’t go there, but I wrote many checks for Ashley, so I guess the many checks represent Go Green) !

Today on Sunday, we will get pumped out (the holding tanks, not our stomachs), spend most of the day by the pool, and prep for travel to Vero Beach tomorrow. Vero Beach will be a long day, about 60 miles, with 12 bridges, but we should be able to pass under all 12 bridges without opening.

Have a good Sunday all you blog followers.

Congrat’s to The Spraggs, who apparently had an awesome retirement party last night.
There were several texts sent last night, showing all the fun we missed !
Jonell & I were represented by Dan & Megan.