20 MARCH 2022 – SAVANNAH, GA
Oldest grandson Eldon (turning 23 on April 16!) joined us in Jacksonville for a week of cruising. What fun to see our Adventure through the eyes of someone very curious, very eager and very appreciative of everything around him. He was thrilled when he saw his first dolphin off the stern of the boat and later when he discovered an entire flock of over 50 arctic terns dancing (!!) behind us for several miles.
After leaving our Jacksonville marina, we cruised along the waterfront for about 15 miles to get back to the ICW. We were all enthralled as we watched the loading and unloading of monstrous container ships and huge auto carriers .
We saw monster ocean-going barges and tugboats, some over 150 feet long. And then we came across a very unusual structure that looked sort of like a railroad bridge (left photo below). As we got closer, we realized it housed a nuclear submarine (right…note flag on its conning tower mid-ship).
We thought it might have something to do with protecting highly-secret radio frequencies, but after some research, Gary discovered a map of the area that labels this as a “Magnetic Silencing Facility.” It is part of the Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base that runs along the west side of the ICW just north of Jacksonville and is the U.S. Atlantic Fleet’s home port for U.S. Navy Fleet ballistic missile nuclear submarines. Fascinating!
We spent one night at Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island (our last Florida stop), and the next morning headed up the St. Mary’s River (the Florida-George line) to Cumberland Island National Seashore where there are over 300 species of birds as well as a herd of wild horses (which I was especially excited to see). When we got to the Marina, we experienced the power of tidal currents for the first time. When the tides are moving out or in (ebb or flow), the currents are much stronger than when there is a slack tide (no movement either way before the tidal stream reverses). We tried to dock when we arrived (in order to make an 11:45 ferry to the Island), but the tidal currents would have literally slammed us into the dock and the next slack tide was 3 hours away. So, Captain Gary wisely RECALCULATED (a favorite words of ours). We turned back to the ICW and cruised another 40 miles north to St. Simons Island, GA (where Aaron Burr sought refuge after his duel with Alexander Hamilton). That docking was much, much easier…and the Marina delivered free muffins to our boat the next morning–a nice perk! (One marina farther north delivers Krispy Kreme donuts!). We certainly have a greater appreciation for these tidal currents, which we now know are much more pronounced on a river than on the ICW, and even more so when they are near an inlet from the Atlantic Ocean. We also better understand why some Loopers choose to bypass the coast of Georgia, cruising outside the barrier islands in the Atlantic from Fernandina to Savannah. We’re glad we chose to stay inside on the ICW.
On St. Patrick’s Day we headed 5 miles up another river, timing the tides better, and where the currents were much less pronounced. We enjoyed a highly-recommended, very rustic marina and locally renown restaurant called the Sunbury Crab Co. As we walked to the restaurant a brawny local was wheeling in a huge basket of oysters he had just harvested and Eldon enjoyed a feast of their famous Seafood Platter—oysters, crab, jumbo shrimp (all harvested locally that day) plus corn and sausage. He ate for 1.5 hours and still didn’t finish, but he fully enjoyed every bite, using oyster scissors and a mallet. He was especially appreciative since he lives in Flagstaff, AZ where there is no fresh seafood. He’s also become a fan of shrimp and grits, which has been offered throughout the South.
The only downside of this particular adventure is that in the morning we woke up to teeny-weeny gnats covering every window on the boat plus all the seats on the bridge (where the helm is). AND they were flying everywhere as we were unplugging the power cord and freeing lines to get going. They flew in our mouths, hovered around our eyes and ears and some chose to nibble all over Eldon’s legs and feet. It was our first experience with any bugs since a few on Lake Michigan, and for the first time we brought out the repellent and a new gadget called a “Thermacell” which we’re told keeps all the bugs away (so far, so good!).
Eldon loves being outdoors even more than we do (except when bitten by teeny-weeny gnats or whatever they were). He really gets how nourishing it is and loved seeing the birds along the ICW, the endless barrier islands of marsh grasses and the large, ancient oaks draped with Spanish Moss. When we arrived at our Savannah marina, he was thrilled once again by a huge bald eagle that circled quite low over us for several minutes, joined by a red-tailed hawk. We all find this exhilarating and never seem to tire of all that nature has to offer. We’ve also enjoyed the delightful floral displays of azaleas and dogwood that are now in bloom here. So beautiful!
Eldon’s visit with us went way too fast—we had great conversations (many very deep and insightful), enjoyed fixing meals for each other, shared the duties of being on a boat (lines, fenders, watching for markers, turns at the helm, cleaning etc.) and had many laughs together. AND, on Saturday (3/19), daughter Carolyn and fiancé Drew met us at the boat and we all went to lunch nearby before they took Eldon with them to Alpharetta (second home near Atlanta—they live most of the time near us in San Luis Obispo aka S.L.O.) They had driven to Charleston the night before to have dinner with Richard (C’s father) and Nancy (2nd wife) who really like their new surroundings after many years in Key Largo. It was so much fun to be with family!!!
We head up the South Carolina coast next—Hilton Head, Beaufort, Charleston and North Myrtle Beach, and look forward to it all. There will still be 8’ tides to consider some places, but we’re certainly more aware of how to work with them now…all part of the Adventure! Happy Spring! And, as we’ve heard several times in recent days, “Til our wakes cross again, peace and love and shrimp and grits!”
Cruising with Gary & Annie 
Again, thanks for sharing! Loved the pictures. What an adventure- much to think about it as you see our country from the waterways.
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Again, thanks for sharing! Loved the pictures. What an adventure- much to think about it as you see our country from the waterways.
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Lovely family photos. I couldn’t believe Eldon’s meal — looked like enough for 6! I hope you have a chance to spend some time in Charleston; it’s a beautiful city with wonderful restaurants and gorgeous window boxes everywhere. We had a fantastic time there a few years ago.
Any idea when you might be in our area?
Happy travels.
Love, Elizabeth and Tom
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Hi there! We are currently in Beaufort, SC (Bewfort) hunkered down for 2 more night because of nasty, not-fit-for-cruising weather. Took a wonderful tour this morning that filled us in on a lot of history, many wonderful old houses, gorgeous (!) azaleas and dogwood. This is a very sweet town and all a short walk from the marina. On Friday we head to Charleston, then Georgetown before visiting Barbara & Bill Jackson in North Myrtle Beach for a few days. She now has Parkinsons and is barely ambulatory, and I’m glad we’ll get to see her…last time was maybe 15 years ago when Gary and I visited Charleston and Savannah before attending a SF high School Reunion at a classmates’ home on Hilton Head. At any rate, we recently met with a young boating couple who are based in the DC area and they said The Wharf right near the mall had been recently restored and it was a fabulous place to meet up with people. That sounds a whole lot easier for you than having to meet us in Annapolis or some such place.
In the next week or so, we’ll map out the next segments of our Adventure. We have an America’s Great Loop Cruisers Assn. (AGLCA) Rendezvous in Norfolk, VA May 1-6, and we’re thinking we could get to Norfolk as early as April 18 (Carolyn’s 54th birthday!), which means we might cruise on up the west side of the Cheseapeake BEFORE the Rendezvous, including cruising up the Potomac. Then we’d come back down to Norfolk and after the Rendezvous we would take our time cruising up the eastern shore. Like I said, we still have to map this out and check distances and timing, etc., but that’s what we are leaning toward.
So that means we could see you at The Wharf some time between April 20 and April 28?!?!?
Don’t write anything in ink yet, but this way, you could come visit us at The Wharf, and then maybe we could come out to see your home and garden one afternoon and go out to dinner.
We don’t have any “dressy” clothes, but we clean up pretty well!! 🙂
Is there anything on your schedule that we need to work around? The only other people I’d really like to see is Sue Evans and also Mary Rowan. In fact, if we can plan at least one day at The Wharf on a weekend, we might invite all the Rowan family to stop by for an “open boat” (vs. open house) gathering. AND, we’d prefer to spend separate time with you so we can really visit without a lot of other people around, if that’s okay with you. As I’m typing this, I’m thinking we might rent a car to go see Sue (lunch?) and then we could come to you for an afternoon (in addition to your visiting the boat). How does this sound?
I don’t check these comments as often as I could, so let’s plan on emailing via my regular email in the next few weeks. We sure are looking forward to seeing you and will touch base as soon as we finish our planning session (hopefully some time next week or soon after that). Thanks for your patience with all of this!
We continue to have a grand time and keep enjoying all our Looper people. When we arrived yesterday, there were 3 other Looper boats here and, even though we’d never met any of them before, we all ended up at a “docktail” party later in the afternoon, exchanging boat cards, sharing stories and just having a good time. We are meeting so many wonderful people!
More soon! Meanwhile, big love and many hugs to you both. Hope you are doing well!
xoxoxo
Annie
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WOW! What a handsome young man Eldon has grown to be!!! How wonderful that he could join you on this adventure. With his love of nature I am sure he will use this experience to good advantage.
Who is that wild man sitting next to you with the beard?
Love to you all,
Joyce
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Sounds wonderful and we are looking forward to seeing you. The only commitments I have during that time period (1) I am hosting my church book club on Sunday the 24th and (2) I have a doctor appointment on the morning of April 27. I hope those dates will not be a problem.
Happy cruising. Love, Elizabeth and Tom
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Hey you two – all the talk of Jacksonville takes me back to wartime when I lived at Ponte Vedra Beach while my father was at the naval base. I remember all the streetlights were painted half black on the ocean side so as not to attract enemy subs – although I’m petty sure they new where Florida was. This was the last place we lived before leaving for the West Coast and eventually Pasadena where I lived at 300 South Arroyo Blvd just down the street from Anne Hereford. There’s more to the story.
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Hi Pieter…always so fun to hear from you! Fascinating story about living at Ponte Vedra Beach. Thanks for sharing. By the way, hope you’re planning to go to our 60th Reunion with Classes of 61-62-63 in October. Should be lots of fun. Also hope to see you in San Anselmo one of these days. Meanwhile, we continue to have a wondrous time on our Adventures.
Hope all is well with you and yours!
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It was such a delight to have both of you visit our little jeweler store in Beaufort! I enjoyed speaking with you then and am now enjoying reading your past adventures with anticipation of future ones! What a blessing to have your grandson join you with the exception of our gnats (no-see-ums). Making memories is one of the best things in life. Enjoy your time traveling the coast!
Warm Regards,
Melinda Cato
Bay Street, Beaufort, SC
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Hi Melinda! So fun to hear from you and know you are cruising along with us.
We LOVED Beaufort and loved it even more after being in your wonderful jewelry store.
We are now in Norfolk and about to post about our adventures up the Potomac to D.C.
AND we keep telling people to visit your store. LOVE my silver tree earrings!!!
Hugs to all your staff….such a warm and friendly group in such a beautiful store in such am amazing town. Blessings to all!
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