We are in Savannah I do declare...Forest Gump, lovely people, and new crew

32:25.81N 80:40.57W

6th May 2015

8077 Miles from Ramsgate by log.

After leaving St Marys island we travelled on northwards 45 miles crossing St Simons inlet and finally dropping anchor just south of the Golden Isles marina on Lanier island. The next morning we took the dinghy ashore to see what we could find and tied up in the marina. As soon as I got ashore I noticed another Vagabond 47 “Live Now II” moored in the marina and so I went over to introduce myself. John the owner was on deck doing a bit of varnishing, when do you not do a bit of varnishing on Vagabonds, and we compared notes on our boats. We were soon joined by Norma and Johns wife Pat came on deck and invited us aboard. They have owned “Live Now II” for 12 years and she is in a very good condition, the layout was slightly different with two singles up front and the side cabin converted into a walk in wardrobe, she also sported a very large shower at the back as the original owners liked to shower together apparently!!! All Vagabonds are different and I think most were semi bespoke at the time of building which only goes to make them more interesting in my humble and definitely biased opinion. We swapped war stories of our travels and then took our leave saying that we were going to walk over the bridge to Lanier Island. John and Pat would not hear of us walking and insisted that we borrow their car, yes they were quite happy to lend their car to two complete strangers, what an amazingly generous gesture which we of course accepted. In our new transport we arrived at the little touristy town on Lanier island in some style and very slowly as this was the first time I had driven a car in nearly a year and I am sure they drove on the other side the last time I tried. The island was very picturesque and had lots of arts and crafts shops along the waterfront which kept Norma busy all afternoon. We did buy Martha a handmade dress which the lady in the shop adjusted for size as we waited. That night after we had safely returned their car and given them an apple pie in thanks we invited John and Pat aboard for Sundowners which turned out to be a very pleasant evening for all, a few beers shared with new friends as the sun goes down is a good way to end a day in my book.

The Lady on Lanier Island adjusts Martha’s new dress.

Shrimp boat working in St Simons inlet

            Up early the following morning it was engine on and into the northerly wind again for another 47 miles up to the Wahoo river and an overnight stay under a full moon on a deserted side river. The trip up was notable for its shallow patches which had me twitching and forced me to slam the boat into reverse several times as the depth gauge dropped into the 0.2’s and below, but we got through the day without touching bottom which is a good thing.

Local bird life floats by our anchorage in the Wahoo River.

Oh Yes that’s shallow

I think I may need my eyes tested as I actually waved back to this cardboard cut out in someone’s front garden as we sailed by.

            After a very pleasant and peaceful night we were again up early and yes you’ve guessed it heading North into the wind for a 45 mile hop up to Savannah. We didn’t actually moor in Savannah as getting into the city by boat is a bit of a mission in itself and so we dropped the hook in Turners creek about five miles outside of the city centre. Again this was a tortuous trip up with very shallow water and we did touch bottom once but only just and she slid off into a very healthy 0.5 meters with a bit of a rev on the engine. The journey involved passing along stretches of the Wahoo River, Johnsons Creek, North Newport River, Bear River, Big Tom Creek, Ogeechee River, Burnside River, Skidaway River, through Hells Pass (very, very, shallow), Crooked River and finally into Turners Creek to anchor in 4 meters below the small boat yard. As we came into the anchorage, passing shrimp boats moored along the dock we were hailed by David a Quaker looking chap aboard a Trimaran who was also on the shrimp boat dock. He got on the radio and advised us on the best spot to drop the hook or hooks as we were advised to anchor fore and aft to avoid the boat swinging in the narrow channel. As it was getting late we jumped into the dinghy and went straight ashore stopping of to thank David on the way. David was full of good advice and so we found a dinghy dock that was free for guests and they welcomed all travellers as guests, directions into Savannah for the next day and most importantly directions to the local watering hole, Cheers, which was on the waterfront right next to the little marina. The bar and dock was best described as rustic but hugely welcoming and buzzing with life both human and insect based as the locals enjoyed their Sunday evening. We met up with Kevin, Chris and Graham fellow Brits aboard the catamaran Sweet Sensation who are doing the great loop all the way north and then masts out for the trip back down to the gulf. We also got chatting to Aileen and her husband who hail from Scotland and Manchester respectively who having lived in Georgia for several years now gave us some top tips on places to go to in Savannah. So thoroughly lubricated it was off to bed and up early the next day to catch the bus into Savannah. We had a great day out in Savannah following the advise of the tourist information lady we took a walking tour of most of the squares in the old city centre before walking along the river front in the afternoon and heading back to the boat before dark. Savannah was lucky enough to have been surrendered without a fight in the civil war and so its architecture has been saved and well worth the saving it is. The city is simply beautiful and each square has its own character, much more so than I can write here so if you want to know more get on the internet. We did stop of at Chippewa Square where the famous bus stop bench scene was filmed for Forest Gump, no bench as that was a prop but we took a picture anyway along with the church tower that the feather floated over at the beginning if you remember the film.

The Forest Gump bench scene was filmed here. Minus the one way sign and plus the bench of course. But if you remember the traffic went the other way

The church tower that Forests feather floated over at the beginning if the film.

River boat on the Savannah river

            The day ended with a bit of a marathon shopping trip in the Publix supermarket by the dock as we are beginning to stock up for the trip back. On that subject we are now all crewed up, Steve is rejoining us, glutton for punishment that he is, and we have a new crew member Adamant from Sweden joining us in Wilmington at the same time. We have also been contacted by Jen who is in the US and has had problems with her planned trip back on another boat as the skipper has walked off. She has crewed aboard Stiletto in Ramsgate in the past, small world. She has still not confirmed but we plan to meet up soon to discuss options. That covers us to the Azores, hopefully with a stop of in Bermuda , where we will pick up Willem for the final trip back to Ireland or the UK mainland depending on wind and waves, so we are all good to go crew wise. All we need now is about two tonnes of foodstuff stowed away and a tonne or so of fuel.

            The final chapter in this epic dialogue is our latest hop up to Beaufort, South Carolina. Again I was up early trying to get the boat ready before waking Norma with an idea of going out to sea and travelling up the outside to Port Royal Inlet. Two things wrong with that plan, 1; the promised easterly wind ended up a very light North Easterly and 2; my thumping about on deck and general cursing as I was literally eaten alive by the No See Ums woke a very grumpy Norma from her beauty sleep. The problem was the stern anchor had got itself well and truly stuck in the mud. I tried bringing it over the bow using the windlass, pulling it over the stern using a cockpit winch all to no avail. Eventually I connected it to the main halyard and with Norma holding the chain away from my varnished rails, winched it straight up which after a lot of sweat finally pulled it out of the river ooze. Covered in mud, eaten alive by insects, pretty well exhausted and still in our PJ’s we started the days journey at 7:30 in the morning with two Krispy Kreme doughnuts each for breakfast, we deserved them. 49 miles of lovely deep water later Norma manoeuvred Spectra right alongside our mooring buoy just outside of the Downtown Marina in Beaufort and I passed a line through the loop settling us in for the next couple of days.

Trying to pull the stern anchor in as the insects bite. Shrimp boats and dock in the background.

Watch this space for the next exciting episode from the adventures of Spectra………