Leonard wasn't in favor of staying in Beaufort until the front
passed, so we headed out just after sunrise, taking advantage of the
last of the ebb current flowing down to Port Royal Sound.
Several of the boats joined us. An E wind piped up with the
day, giving us a nice sail across Port Royal and Calibogue
Sounds.
Most of the anchorages in SC and Georgia have wave protection
thanks to marshes, but few have land and trees. Much as we
would have liked to have ridden the high tide further, we stopped at
Bull Creek, one of the few with trees. The positive side
of stopping early was getting our pick of spots to drop the
hook.
11/19/15
To 32 00.761N, 80 59.326W
Hogan's Marina on Turner Creek, Savannah, GA 21/9NM
The big mess of green, yellow and red on the radar when we went to
bed broke up overnight. While we had some rain, it hadn't
poured and looking at the radar in the morning it appeared
unlikely we'd have thunderstorms during the day. So we
decided to mosey on our way once the tide came up a few feet,
about 1000.
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| Panorama Looking SW to NE at the Bull Creek anchorage |
We'd had one of those 'oh oh' moments after anchoring
Wednesday. Leonard found a cap head machine screw on the
deck by the bow pulpit but it wasn't obvious where it had come
from, but most likely on the roller furling. He poked and
looked with a flash light inside the barrel, but all were in
place. This was NOT a good feeling - the last thing we
wanted was to have the furling gear not work, especially if the
sail was out. We slept on it, and when we awoke to dead
calm, decided to drop the jib to look at the top of the furling
mechanism. A great idea, but no screw was missing.
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| A preening loon in Bull Creek |
While waiting for the tide, Leonard dug out the roller furling
manual and started reading and looking at the diagrams. Ah
ha, he located the place on top of the barrel and, as per the
manual, returned the errant piece with some lock grip to keep it
in place. Much relieved, we headed on our way at 1030.
A glance at Callibogue Sound revealed a long string of vessels
headed S. Since we usually motor a bit slower than most, we
slid in behind 10-12 boats. We'd run into the Sail Magazine
ICW Regatta - some 20 boats strong, puttering along at 5 kts in
groups of 5 or 6 boats. With plenty of water we passed one
group before we got to the tricky shoal areas. The next
group slowed for an oncoming barge and tug and we caught up with
them once we were by the barge. As we approached the
Savannah River, an inbound ship called to alert boats crossing the
river of his eminent arrival. He requested the last sailboat
in the group of the regatta to stay clear as he wouldn't be clear
of the big ship channel in time.
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| Passing a barge with a load of concrete beams before the Savannah River |
Once across the Savannah River, they were motoring alone slowly
and worked our way pass them before arriving at the only swing
bridge for the day. Another boat was already waiting, and
when we called the bridge, he asked if other boats were behind
us. Since there were, we had to wait until they got closer
so he'd only need to open once. Of course they were slow in coming
to the bridge.
After reading recent negative postings about the Savannah
waterfront docks, we discussed staying at a marina in Isle of Hope
and taking a bus into Savannah for the day on Friday.
Unfortunately the regatta had similar plans, and there were no
slips available at any of the marinas in Isle of Hope. Since
we're a bit ahead of schedule this year, we dug out Captain Bob
and checked on Active Captain looking for alternatives, and
finally found room at Hogan's Marina. It's a bit out of the
way, off the ICW, but I was told it was on a bus route into
town.
 |
Sunset from Hogan Marine
|
Once we were checked in, we looked up the bus schedule and found
we could catch a bus just up the road. Looking at the route,
we saw the Oat Island Nature Reserve is on the way into town, an
opportunity to see something new that looks interesting. The
down side is the return buses that come this far out stop running
at 1830, ruling out dinner in town.
11/20/15 At Hogan's Marina, a Lay Day
Our plan for spending the day in Savannah was to catch the 0930
bus into town and stopping at the Oatland Island Wildlife Center
before heading into town. Our all day senior rate bus
passes, $1.50 each, were a real bargain, and our driver was
helpful, letting us know where to get off. It was a bit
less than a mile walk to the visitor's center, and we arrived
just as they opened at 1000.
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| Bob cat at the Oatland Island Wildlife Center - he moved, or we wouldn't have seen him |
According to the sign, the Center, is part
of the Savannah school system, a great resource for
introducing kids to conservation, native wildlife and their
habitat. After paying our entry fee, $3, chatting to a
volunteer and looking at the exhibits in the building, we
headed out to do the 2 mile trail loop. Essentially it
is a zoo with the various critters cleverly ensconced in
widely spaced enclosures representing their native habitat
connected by trails and boardwalks. We didn't see all
the animals - the cougar was either shy, very well
camouflaged, or tucked into its cage, and we couldn't spot
an alligator. Many of the animals were acquired from
zoos, born in captivity or rescued and rehabilitated.
All the birds of prey had been injured and unable to be
returned to the wild. All in all, a pleasant place to
spend a couple of hours, and a vast improvement over most
conventional zoos.
 |
| Grey wolf |
We caught the 1200 bus into Savannah with the same driver,
making his second trip of the day. We decided to ride the
bus to the terminal before disembarking to pick up a bus
schedule. Next up was the nearby Visitor's Center for a
map. We got the standard spiel, and learned Savannah is
basically 1 square mile between Forysth Park and the river, and
the width of the waterfront, with 21 squares scattered
about, very walkable, especially on a sunny day with the
temperature in the low 70's.
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| The Savannah Propeller Club Monument on the river |
After lunch we walked down to the river to look at the
docks. It appeared the info Leonard had read on line
wasn't correct, the docks looked the same as always and the sign
indicated boaters needed to check in at a parking garage to pay
the $1.50/ft - no one shows up to collect the fees (same as
always). Four boats were on the dock, spaced to preclude a
5th boat joining them. We walked the river walk E
past the Mariott Hotel to check the docks beyond the
hotel. We've never seen them in use, and a number were on
shore, having been damaged, possibly in the recent floods.
They have neither water nor power, and appear to be a bit too
open and insecure to leave a vessel unattended, not tempting to
us.
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| Bald eagle soaring over the Savannah River |
After visiting several squares and the Colonial Park Cemetery,
we were walked out and decided to catch the 1630 bus back to
East Savannah. The bus ride was interesting - the drivers
really try to stick to the schedule, traffic not
withstanding. The route wound through a variety of
neighborhoods giving us a broader view of the area. We
decided we weren't sorry to have skipped the docks in town and
have he opportunity to tour the Wildlife Center.
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| The Colonial Park Cemetery in Savannah with graves dating back to the 1700s |
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