Trip #10 Savannah, GA - St. Augustine, FL

Length of Trip: 17 days

Nautical Miles Traveled: 230

Hours of Cruising: 20 hours

Longest Cruising Day:  5.5 hours, 60 NM, Myrtle Beach, SC - Georgetown, SC

Pleasant Surprise: No damage from the hurricane!

Biggest Disappointment: American Airlines (Delta definitely superior as all the awful airlines go)

Favorite Destination:  Charleston, SC

Favorite Activity:  Historic tours by horse-drawn carriages & the roof top bars!

Favorite Meal:  Magnolia's, Charleston, SC

St. Augustine’s nickname is the ancient city, but ancient only by United States standards.  The city is the oldest continually occupied city founded by Europeans in the US dating back to 1565.  We began our tour of the city as I like to do whenever possible with a trolley tour tour that takes you all around the city in a little over a hour with the driver providing various historical tidbits along the way.  After completing our tour, Matt and I were hungry and what better place to address a hunger than at a BBQ, the Mojo BBQ to be precise. 

After lunch it was time to see the most famous site in St. Augustine, the Castillo De San Marcos, a fort right in the heart of the City.  The most interesting aspect of the fort was the re-enactment of the process involved in firing the canon.  Re-enactors in period costumes go through a very formal ceremonial process to fire the canon.  Supposedly the process was intended to avoid missing a needed step in the firing process but Matt and I both felt if fire was being returned from an approaching ship it was hard to imagine them actually retaining the elaborate movements we saw.  

Then it was back to the boat for a final afternoon of cocktails on the flybridge before a quiet dinner at Preserve, a restored home made into a very lovely restaurant.  Tomorrow our trip ends and we return home.  

Matt and I had the entire day free and decided we should go see the sights of of the City of Jacksonville.  Unfortunately there really wasn't a lot that sounded particularly interesting after looking through the TripAdvisor recommendations.  Surprisingly, Matt was interested in the Jacksonville Zoo which was completely fine with me so that became our primary attraction for the day.  

We started, however, with lunch at the Jacksonville Landing on the St. John's River.  The Landing is a retail and restaurant development which has struggled since its opening but is one of the more well known landmarks in the City.  There ate a disappointing lunch at Finn McCools before heading out to the zoo.  The Jacksonville Zoo has over 2,000 animals spread out over 117 acres and is most well known for jaguar and tiger exhibitions.  We both thought the zoo was very well done and allowed for fairly close of viewing of the animals in fairly nature settings.  

On the way home we stopped at the second largest West Marine in the nation to pick up a part we had ordered to repair the VHF radio on the flybridge.  The day finished by walking the other direction down the road to Marker 32, yet another restaurant recommendation of our friend from Fernandina Beach.

We have a relative short 23 mile run down the intercoastal to Jacksonville Beach, FL.  We arrived around noon in time to walk down the road to TacoLu, a taco bar recommended to us by the local beside whom we were docked in Fernandina Beach.  Then back to the boat for a thorough clean up before our big guests arrived for hors d'oeuvres and cocktails, Joan and Mark Davies, who live in nearby Ponte Vedra Beach.  Matt BBQed some sausages (used the BBQ twice this trip!) and we put that together with some fruit, cheese and crackers for as fancy a cocktail party as two guys could put on.  After an hour or so on the boat, they took us to one of their favorites restaurants in JAX Beach, Mezza.  The Italian dinner was superb!

Today we ran the 3 hour, 40 mile trip to Ferdinanda Beach, FL on the inside through the marshes and lowlands of Georgia.  This northernmost city in Florida is known as the Isle of 8 Flags because the island frequently changed possession and is the only place in the US to have 8 different flags flown at various times in its history.  We had heard Fernandina Beach was a charming town and it did not disappoint.  Dozens of restaurants and quality shops filled with unique items lined several streets.  We started our tour with lunch at the Salty Pelican overlooking the Amelia River before exploring the town.  Needless to say, Matt and I are not big shoppers, but we did pop in a few shops and mentioned to each other on several occassions how all the ladies we know would have particulary enjoyed this stop.  Because we were quick shoppers, we had plenty of time left over to enjoy a late afternoon of R&R on the boat before heading off for one of our nicest dinners on this trip at 23 South.  

We were able to enjoy a very leisurely morning because our next destination, Brunswick, GA was just 30 minutes away.  We arrived just in time for lunch and walked the couple of blocks to Indigo, recommended by the couple at the table next to us at dinner the night before.  There was not a lot to see or do in Brunswick as it was one of those towns where about a third of the stores were either vacant or consisted of second-hand stores.  But it was a beautiful day and perfect for downtime on the boat which is a welcome option on any day, particularly in a place like Brunswick.  And of course, there is always a need to catch up on a few boat projects and repairs.  Dinner at Basil's completed our day.

PS. I didn't take any pictures in Brunswick so the ones featured above were from St. Simon's Island

The Savannah River runs adjacent to the city and leads to the Port of Savannah, which quite surprisingly, is the fourth busiest container port in the country.  The Westin's docks are located right on the river and container ships were passing all through the night.  Even though the ships went by at a very low rate of speed, the enormous size of the ships resulted in a night of bouncing around from the passing wakes.  

Nevertheless it was up early at 7:00 to begin preparing for our departure.  Fortunately the forecast called for only 1 - 2 foot following seas "outside" (in the ocean versus running "inside" along the Intercoastal Waterway) so our 90 mile trip which might take as much as 8 hours on the inside would be just 4 1/2 hours at our regular cruising speed of 20 knots.  It was such a beautiful cruising day that after over a 120 days of boating we achieved a boating first - we used the BBQ on the boat!  Nothing very exotic - just hot dogs - but nevertheless a first.

We arrived at the Golden Isles Marina with plenty of time to enjoy drinks on the flybridge before ubering the short distance to the center of the island for dinner at Bonefish before retiring for the night.  

Due to a very busy summer of travel we were only going to complete a single boat trip this year to make it a bit easier on Timi.  Before canceling I check with Matt Mirenda and he was up for substituting for Timi and so the trip remained on after all. 

Matt and I arrived on our flight to Savannah, GA around 4:00 pm and after picking up essential supplies at the Food Lion (beer, hot dogs, chips and bourbon), we made our way to the Westin Savannah where the yard had left the boat so could maximize our short time in this beautiful, historic city.  After quickly unpacking we headed across the Savannah River to the historic downtour so I could tour Matt through several of the 22 squares around which historic Savannah was organized by James Oglethorpe. On our last visit with the Prestons we enjoyed cocktail from several rooftop bars, so not wanting Matt to miss that experience we threw a couple back at the Cotton Sail rooftop bar before dining at Vics on the River right on the riverfront.  Then it was back to the Westin to get some rest before our longest leg of the trip tomorrow to St. Simon's Island.