Savannah

This shows how "off" the charts can be. We were in the middle of the channel. Got to watch what's in front of you all the time!

Heading up the Savannah River

This is the first trip to Savannah for Escape and Rocking B. Margaret has been here by land, but it's the first time for the rest of us.

We had an experience with a huge container ship on the way up the Savannah River. Our first communications with any ships was from the Viking Star, an ICW cruise ship. He hailed us on channel 16 on the VHF and told us the big ships would use channel 13 to communicate. We had already seen a huge ship coming up the river behind us at 10kts, so we knew it would pass us soon.

We found a wide place in the river, slowed down, and waited for him to get there. And he did. And he's huge. Imagine a skyscraper laid over on its side sailing down the river. Yes, that's what it looks like!

Glad he's gone!

The pilot told us to wait on the SC side of the river until he passed by. So we did. He goes by and then his wake comes by. Big rolly waves bouncing us around! Thank goodness, everything stayed in it's place. We had not prepared for waves like this in the river, that's what you expect in the ocean.

Old Fort Jackson, named for Andrew Jackson.

Lots of dredge work going on near Savannah.

Anyway, we survived. We followed him up the river and watched him go under a bridge. Shay made the comment, "We think we have bridge issues? He really has bridge issues!"

We had planned our trip to have as much push from the current as we could and then have as little current against us as we docked. Remember, its been a long time since we have stayed at a dock, Myrtle Beach last October. And this dock does not have any dockhands waiting to catch your lines.

So here we go. We pull up to the dock, I wrap a line around a cleat, pull it tight, and there we are! Well, we have to put on more lines and tighten them up, but we're docked!

 

Savannah is a place of many firsts for us. First time in Savannah for Escape and us. First time staying at a dock in a long time. First time with dock power since leaving Morehead City on October 9th. And first really good bath for Escape since Morehead. Now we didn't do a first class job on her bath, but its better than the rinses she's had after a rain shower or heavy dew for the past 6 months!

Yes, since the dock power is free, we plugged in! It was nice to not think about turning off the inverter, or microwave, or TV. We have become very frugal with power, since we have to replenish our solar power each day. But we haven't really done with anything, just careful.

Escape at dock.

It's been a long time since we used this power cord!

Biscuit is making sure all is secure on Rocking B.

We are in Savannah. Who else is in Savannah? Well. Y'all know that Paula Deen's restaurant, The Lady and Sons is here. So where do you think we do lunch? Yes, Paula's place. Margaret called and got reservations, we cleaned up a little and took off.

Savannah is a beautiful town, with brick streets, balconies, beautiful houses, and beautiful parks all thru the town. Margaret had told us that the town was built around parks with trees, fountains, statues and benches. They are lovely and you could spend lots of time walking thru them all. But we were on a mission and had a time limit, so we kept walking.

Kids playing near the waterfront.

Beautiful buildings

One of the many beautiful park areas.

Old brick roads.

As we got to the restaurant, we could see the line going down the street and around the building. Ken went to the front of the line to see if we had to wait in line if we had reservations. Thank goodness, we didn't. We went inside to wait and Margaret and I went to Paula's store next door. It was full of all things Paula and southern. Lots of pretty stuff to eat, wear and decorate your house with.

I'm glad we didn't have to wait in that line!

 We were seated upstairs and were able to see the buffet as we walked by. It looked good. Fried chicken, baked chicken, pasta, meatloaf, stew beef, rice, potatoes, corn casserole, sweet potatoes, green beans with big hunks of meat, black-eyed peas, collards with big hunks of meat, mac and cheese, cheese biscuits, and fried corn cakes. We all got the buffet and it was really good.

We had seen some reviews that made us skeptical and even looked at other places to eat. I told Margaret that I might not be back in Savannah and I wanted to eat at Paula's. I don't thing anyone was disappointed. Shay said if he went back, he might get a veggie plate and yes they were that good. Of course, the meatloaf wasn't as good as Jean, Shay's mom's is. But it was ok.

We were definitely walking slower when we left the restaurant, so we got on the free city bus to sightsee. But we couldn't really see, so we got off and walked back to the boat. Some of us, I won't mention any names, took a nap and others didn't. Just know that I felt better after my nap!

The dock is right in the middle of the waterfront, so we had lots of activity. People playing music and singing, people selling art and stuff, and people walking down the waterfront. We even had a parade marching down the street like you see at Mardi Gras in New Orleans. I was going to record it the next night, but it was raining so they didn't come out.

Lots of people passing by.

We had lots of boat traffic along the waterfront. The big container ships that came up the river to deliver stuff went right by our boat. They were going by constantly, day and night. The morning before we left around 3:00 am,  we heard a loud ship's horn and Shay got up to see what was happening. We thought maybe it was out of control and sounded an alarm to let us know! Nope. I guess since he was up, he wanted everybody else up too.

Look at those anchors!

Will he make it under the bridge?

Two boats meeting near our boat.

This boat is tied to the back of the container ship to keep the stern in position.

 

Well, they made it!

 

Beautiful bridge

 

Life raft on a container ship

There were small ferries running up and down and across the river constantly. Their wake moved our boat more than the big boats did. They were going fast and were closer to the docks.

The river is not clean and had lots of debris moving with the current. We pushed logs and stuff away from our boat several times. Don't  want to get in this water!

There were lots of shop that sold food, clothes, jewelry, art, and candy. Shay and I went out one night and found a candy store with everything. We went in one door that had an old fashioned candy store look and that didn't appeal to us, so we went out and into another door. This one had CHOCOLATE and PRALINES and yum! They had chocolate covered-marshmallows, pretzels, oreos, graham crackers. Then they had pralines-plain, milk chocolate, white chocolate, and dark chocolate. Then they had goobers-plain, milk chocolate, white chocolate, and dark chocolate.  Then another door had pop corn with caramel and white chocolate and milk chocolate. And apples covered with caramel and all kinds of chocolate. And then they had all kinds of gelato and ice cream! All these delights were in the same store. We got a couple of pralines and goobers and got out of there fast!

But we went back with Margaret and Ken the next day and got more. I am a chocoholic and do not want help. That store was great! The only thing that saved me was my frugalness.

We walked around town for a while, got ran back to the boats because of rain, and spent time on Rocking B looking at house plans with Margaret and Ken. They plan to build a guesthouse near his mom's to spend some time at during the summers.

We did have one negative thing while we were there. They found a body floating near our boats! Yes! The picture below was on the internet news. You can see both our boats in the background and the police standing near by. Don't know what happened.

We really enjoyed our time in Savannah and will definitely put this on our list of places to visit again. It's a beautiful town with lots to see and do.

Good bye, Savannah! We will be back!

Put up a new flag after the bath. It looks good.