You can monitor my trip at the link: Second Winds Progress Live
We are moving on down
the Waterway. Our original plan was to
stay in Windmill Harbor for three days but our schedule calls for us to travel
a total of 120 over the
upcoming three days and that would mean that we would
need to average 40 miles each day. Early
in the trip that would have been no problem but with strong currents
potentially in our face, Sweet Pea
and I would struggle making that schedule. So, we decided to leave a day early
and knock off at least 25 miles of the trip today.
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| Another beautiful home in Savannah |
Before we I could
leave, however, we needed to return our rental car. Dwight left a bit after 7:00 to assure that
he could get to the Enterprise shop by the time they opened. They were a bit disorganized so he had to
hire a taxi to get him back to the boat.
While he was gone, I topped off my water tank, bought a tank of fuel and
prepared for an immediate launch as soon as he arrived back.
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| The home where a celebration for Jefferson Davis was held when he returned after the war |
The guys at the marina
were ready to lock us out of the harbor as soon as we got to the gate. They are really efficient and helpful. We
were out in the Waterway by a few minutes after 9:00.
The ride today was
really easy. Our leader had prepared us
for a few difficult
passages but they all turned out to be a piece of cake. The water was flat with absolutely no wind. The one place that was a potential problem was where the ICW crosses the Savannah River. The tide was flowing out to sea, an ebb tide, so the water leaving the Savannah was quite strong. We were, however, able to crab across at about 2.5 knots and since the river was only about a quarter of a mile wide, we both made it quite easily.
We had one bascule
bridge that we needed to pass through but that also went really smoothly. I called the bridge tender on the radio and
he immediately raised the bridge allowing us to pass without stopping.
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| A water sculpture in Windmill Marina |
Our destination was the
Savannah Bend Marina in the town of Thunderbolt. The town was named by a local Indian tribe
who claimed that lightning had struck a rock causing a fresh water spring to
erupt. We had called ahead for reservations so the efficient dock hand was
ready and waiting as we arrived. The
current was flowing through the marina but their slips were wide open and our
entry was really easy.
Thunderbolt is only a
short distance from Savannah so we decided to contact Uber for a ride into the
city. Yesterday, our tour took us
through the historic residential district of the town but I was interested in
spending some time on the waterfront.
Our guide had warned us that it was quite a touristy area and he was
correct,
however, we discovered a good restaurant and enjoyed a nice meal. We wandered through some of the shops and
along the street where the old warehouses had been turned to all sorts of
interesting establishments. River
Street, along which all if the shops are located runs right along the river so
as we sat eating on the balcony of the restaurant, we watched tug boats travel
along the river a stone’s throw from the street.
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| Another great egrit |
We climbed up to the
main street on steps that had a sigh that warned us to be careful because they
were antique. From there we went to one
of the squares a block back from the waterfront district where they had closed
the street making it a park with more shops on either side. I found a nice sweet shop and was seduced by
a cup of praline ice cream.
We called upon Uber to
return us to our boat in time for me to do a bit of reading before I faded into
sleepy oblivion.
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