To get to Savannah, a boater has two choices; go to Thunderbolt on the waterway and take a cab to Savannah, or take the time to go up the Savannah River and tie up in the heart of the city. Because we were running out of time (yes, we actually had things to come home for) we opted for Thunderbolt. If you go to the Thunderbolt Marine, where we stayed, make sure to say "yes" to the fresh half dozen Krispy Kreme donuts they bring you in the morning. SO good!! And my first ever was at this marina back when the kids were little and I've never come down from that culinary high!
This was our neighbor at the marina. I asked if I could just swap boats.
They laughed at me, although I can't imagine why?
After taking the cab to Savannah, our first stop was for lunch at Vic's on the River,
a definite must if you LOVE fried green tomatoes like I do! I had a fried green tomato BLT. Yum, yum! And for history buffs, they have this map they uncovered in the plaster on the walls that shows General Sherman's march during the Civil War. It's really amazing.
Then it was time for, you guessed it - shopping! First stop was this uber-cool design store I'd never been in before called 24e. They had this awesome "chandelier" made from an old ship's searchlight. Definitely worth a stop!
The Paris Market never fails to impress, especially with their DIY costume jewelry bar.
This beer store sold open beers, and taps. Who knew there were so many? And the last two stores I dragged my poor husband to were, One Fish Two Fish and my most favorite Savannah store, Number Four Eleven which has the greatest collection of items that can all be monogrammed in the coolest ways!
We kept walking and window shopping, but mostly walking and admiring the mossy live oak trees...
…private gardens...
and entry ways.
After meeting up again with our new boating friends who opted to take the river route and docked in downtown Savannah, we shared a drink or five :), and then made our way back to the boat for an early departure.
In the morning, bright and early, we left.
Thank you Thunderbolt Marine for the yummy donuts!
And because there was a BIG storm brewing that would last for days, we had to go "outside", my LEAST favorite thing to do, and travel in the open ocean from Savannah to Cape Canaveral, Florida. Dah, dah, dunnnnnnn (cue creepy music). This Navy observation platform was out in the middle of nowhere, on our trip in the middle of nowhere.
Staples of a long day/night/day - Yahtzee (the L.L. Bean Edition), pistachios, goldfish, the waterway guide, a sweater and a blog book - got to keep my skills improving :)
Other staples - a diet Coke in a roll of duct tape so it doesn't move, a sombrero just because, and the red log book that I write in every day.
My collection of stickers are growing and I need to add them to the old frig...
and I need to get a white paint pen to cover the rusty spots on this old thing.
It was a BEAUTIFUL, peaceful (and evil because it made me think the rest of the day/night/day would be like this) day.
The sunset was gorgeous and I was still delusional, hoping/praying/knocking on wood that the waters would stay flat.
Here is our chart plotter showing our route. It looks upside down but you can see the green boat (the pointy bow is headed in the direction we were traveling) and the curve of the Florida coast (in brown). We were probably about 38 miles from shore. Oh, and to top it off, our autopilot overheated so the whole night of wave after wave, we took turns driving manually. Good times!
My usually reliable moon, that to me is like a giant ocean flashlight, was basically a no-show this night. The skies were too cloudy, the ocean building in intensity and no other boats of any kind were out here except for this Carnival cruise ship that came really close to us. Yikes!
It was my turn to drive, of course.
It was SO rough out and we were tossed all over, that we had no choice but to pull in to Cape Canaveral. One of our engines hated the rolling we were doing and kept seizing. In case the engine quit, and being nervous that we'd be entering a major cruise ship port with no engine power, at sunrise we called TowBoat US and asked them to travel alongside us, just in case. The picture doesn't tell you how rough it was, but about an hour after we entered the port, a call was sent on the radio of a boat sinking from right where we had just traveled. The next day, they were still looking for Dolphin's Dream. I really hope those people are okay.
It was bittersweet to see the old NASA buildings and space shuttle launch pads. Hopefully again in my lifetime we'll see the U.S. back in the space business, and from U.S. soil.
Coming into Cape Canaveral, it's easy to see why it wouldn't be fun to be stuck in the channel in the way of the ships.
The galley wasn't looking so good after that rough night...
…nor was the sink. I had to move a lot of glasses off the shelves because they were rolling around and crashing into each other.
A Disney Cruise ship! To this day, it's still one of the best vacations we've had as a family!
I would do it again tomorrow!
I loved this tray from iomoi, but sadly it broke in the chaos.
Time for a new one!
After checking the engine's filters and other things, we were able to go through the barge canal with much happier engines. Flatter water here we come!
Makes me sad to know there aren't any space launchings.
This kite sailor was flying through the water and came over to jump the boat's wake. Awesome!
Random little pirate ship on one of the tidal sand bar islands - arrgh matey!
Pretty cool way to spend a day on your own little private paradise.
The weather wasn't getting any better, but after 33 hours of continual driving, we pulled into the Loggerhead Marina in Vero Beach to get fuel and spend the night. No need to go anywhere, we ate quickly and then passed out!
The next morning we were excited to finish the trip!
First we had to snake through this super narrow channel.
These people clearly like to party with their own tugboat towing their own party gazebo!
My kind of fun!
The beautiful Jupiter Island Club's golf course.
Not too many golfers today, but I just love the Palm trees :)
The Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse greets all in the waterway and those coming in from the ocean.
Such a nice sight.
More golfers…we're getting warmer!
And here we are! Palm Beach, the island. We have a mooring in Lake Worth, but apparently while we were gone, someone decided to stick their boat on it. Now we have to figure out how to get them off so we can use our own mooring - ugh
One of my favorite yachts in PB. Our boat's interior was designed by Trumpy, the same man who designed this yacht. (ours needs a lot more work though - ha ha)
I've also always loved this orange house's tower peeking above the palms.
Yup, we're definitely out of our league, but it's so fun here.
Ahhh…finally able to put on my white jeans and Lilly top, and have a quick drink before dinner
This would look so sweet on the upper deck and would be such a great way to get around.
Yes, please!
And that's a wrap! Unable to move the mighty Seyon back on our mooring thus far, we rented a slip and here the boat will stay until our next adventure!
Cheers!
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