Isle of Hope sail to Charleston

We set off from the Isle of Hope marina surrounded by dolphins coming right up behind the boat and went down the I.C.W and headed for the Atlantic on our way out we saw two fighter jets.

Isle of Hope marina

We soon got out of the channel and what we thought was the sea but it was still only about six metres deep three miles offshore.

We decided to get the fishing rods out to see if we could catch anything but on the first bite we got was on my line and my reeling wasn’t fast enough and it got away, unfortunately we didn’t get anymore catches after that.

Me fishing

But Dad and Jo did see a loggerhead turtle whilst we were on our journey and it was about a metre long but i missed it.

We also managed to get the sails up which is quite rare for around here as there isn’t much wind and mostly motoring along the rivers and canals.

We approached an inlet which looked like it had appropriate shelter of where we could anchor off for the night. It was just off Spit island.

When we got there it was just in time to watch the sunset.

The sunset

We all enjoyed our night eating our tea outside under all the stars and the full moon and in almost silence apart from the noise of the water and the occasionally pesky insect.

In the morning we decided to go up the I.C.W for the rest of our journey we kept our eyes out for otters because they are meant to live around the area of Charleston but we never saw any and we were disappointed, but we did see lots more dolphins and a lot of pelicans.

We then had to wait for the Elliot cut swing bridge to open so we dropped the anchor and waited for a little while but it was soon open and we were approaching Charleston.

From first views it looked very nice and when we were coming in to the marina there was boats everywhere.

We moored up along the mega dock (which every time you walk down it seems to get longer each time!)

Once we settled down we went and found the nearest restaurant as we were all starving and not long after we had eaten we were back to the boat and fast asleep in bed.

 

Alex Penney

Isle of Hope Marina

Today Jo and I set off for our shopping trip we had previously seen that there was a big mall near to where we were staying so we decided that there would be a good place to head to.

When we got there it was around dinner time so we stopped of before our shopping begun to get some dinner we both had a wrap from the food court and set off ready to shop.

We headed straight for Macy’s because Jo had seen they had some nice suits to buy on the internet.

We wondered into the huge shop not knowing where to start as we walked around a few of the corners we found the right section and as well as there being lots of suits to choose from there were a lot of suits in the petite section for Jo.

After we spent a while looking through some of the suits the pile had grown quite a lot and it was getting hard to carry so that  is when Jo started to try on, from the first lot we didn’t find any which were right, so straight back out again to choose some more to try on that time we were successful and we found 4 and later on picked up an additional one making 5 one for everyday of the week.

Next job was to find tops to wear this one also took some time and lots of trying on until we found a few that we liked.

We looked for some shoes to match but didn’t find any appropriate ones they were all summer shoes which wouldn’t be quite right in English weather.

We then decided that we didn’t want to carry all of Jo’s new clothes around with us whilst doing the rest of our shopping so took them back to the car to then go back to Macy’s. This time it was for me because i had seen they had a choice of jeans. I saw some very nice Levi jeans which was very confusing with the sizing but after trying them on i got the right ones.

We were a bit exhausted after all of that shopping so we stopped for a smoothie which we both enjoyed.

We then did a last look around for some shoes but yet again they were mostly sandals and open toed so no luck there.

When we got back to the marina we were surprised at the time because we didn’t think we had been that long and dad was amazed at how much Jo had got.

Meanwhile whilst we were out shopping dad stayed on the boat just tidying up.

Afterwards as we still had the hire car we thought we would make use out of it and would go out for tea at a nice grill that we had seen a little up the road from where we was at the marina.

It turned out to be extremely nice for appetizers dad had blackened tuna bites and Jo and I shared the peel and eat shrimps which are caught locally, the main course was just as good we all chose of the specials as they all sounded so nice, I had tilapia, dad had flounder and Jo had seafood pasta but she got given so much they gave us a box to take it home in and we planned on having it for our dinner tomorrow along with some of the dough balls which they gave us to start with.

Isle of Hope Marina

Today is Sean’s last day in America as he flies home today.

Jo has hired a car and is driving him down to Orlando airport from here which is going to take most of the day.

Dad and I are now giving the boat a good clean because it is surprising how dirty it can get and very quickly too.

We have done the laundry and just getting everything tidied away before Jo gets back.

As we have the hire car i think we might be driving to a nice restaurant tonight for some tea.

 

Alex Penney

Savannah

We all got up early and set off to catch the bus. We knew that it would take us into the centre and that would be where all the main attractions were.

When we got there we were at the bottom of River street which is one of the main streets in Savannah which runs along side of the water.

SS Savannah

Boy playing the ukulele

We noticed throughout the day that there were a lot of signs up and around Savannah discouraging panhandling.

We saw a very nice restaurant called Huey’s so we all went in for some brunch.

  Where Dad and Sean had egg Benedict which Sean had never had before but really enjoyed it, Jo and I had Pain Perdue which i found really nice especially with lots of syrup on. After having a few more coffees and lemonades we set off on a walk down Bull street which is where most of the squares are situated and it has been voted one of the top ten walking streets in America.

It was very picturesque with lots of monuments of people who had died in wars mainly fighting against us surrounded by very nice houses.

  But the best square of all that is situated in Savannah is that which featured in Forest Gump.

But unfortunately they had taken the bench away and put it into a museum but they hadn’t  replaced it so we had to improvise and just sit on the wall.

We then went up to the city market which used to be the place where slaves were bought and sold but now it is full of bars, restaurants and shops, we spotted a very nice sweet shop so we went inside to have a look around also to cool off as it was very hot and we all tried the ice cream which was delicious.

We then headed back to River street which was quite busy at that time because there was a protest happening about Obama.

There was a free bus, tram and ferry service in Savannah so we decided that we would go along River street on the streetcar as they call it here.

Dotty the tram

We looked around a few of the shops which have really funny t-shirts for sale. We then saw a restaurant called the shrimp factory which sounded like the perfect place to eat considering the local speciality is shrimp. Jo and I had shrimp and scallop tortellini, Dad had half a pound of shrimp and Sean stuck with a chicken sandwich which turned out to be a chicken burger.

We went for a walk along the the river and we saw a statue of something so we went to look what it was and it turned out to be the Olympic flame it was there because Savannah hosted the sailing section of the Olympics in 1996.

Olympic flame

We then continued our shopping but still not buying anything we then went for one last drink in a bar which ended up being more than one because we got trapped inside as a big storm  had occurred outside.

When it was just a bit of drizzle we went and got a taxi back because we had missed the last bus back to the Isle of Hope as they weren’t very frequent anyway.

When we got back we watched a few more Simpsons episodes with some snacks and drinks and then decided to go to bed.

 

Alex Penney

Jekyll Island to Isle of Hope Marina

We set off in the morning back down the I.C.W where we had entered Jekyll island but this time we were going out down the channel and in to the Atlantic.

As we headed out there was slight spots of rain coming down this was then followed by a huge squall which reduced visibility so we were all on the look out for the channel marker buoys as we had to avoid a big reef which was near to the channel.

When all of that was out of the way and the weather had cleared up it was already time for the night watches to begin.

Whilst Dad and I were on watch we reached speeds of 7.3 knots  whilst under sail.

Then we arrived at the tricky bit. It was still dark but we needed to go up the channel to get to where we were going. But hardly any of the channel markers had any lights on so Dad and Jo had the job of having to navigate through all of that only to find when we reached the bridge it was not open until the morning so we had to drop the anchor and wait till it was time to lift the bridge.

We eventually reached the Isle of Hope marina which is very nice.

We settled down and all had some breakfast before going off in the courtesy car to go and get some food shopping. However the map they had given us was all the wrong way and was very detailed but eventually we found Wal-mart and inside was a subway so we all had a sub for our dinner which we all enjoyed then we worked our way around the huge Wal-mart getting everything we needed including a Simpsons DVD which when we got back to the boat we all enjoyed watching.

At Wal-mart we also bought some of the enormous steaks that they had and Sean and I had never tried them before and we had heard they were very nice so we enjoyed eating them.

After sailing everybody was tired so we had an early night.

 

Alex Penney

Cumberland Island to Jekyll Island

We had an early start for our sail to Jekyll island it was a very hot day with not a lot of wind however, the tide was with us as we headed up the I.C.W where again we saw the huge houses along the side all with their own motor boats and jetties.

Along the way we passed a submarine base and we were carefully watched by a small boat as we went past.

Submarine

After that we started to approach the end of Cumberland island and we were all quite disappointed that we didn’t see much wildlife when we was there and then Sean noticed that there was a wild horse stood on the beach.

Wild horse on the beach

We weren’t keen on the next kind of wildlife that came to visit us. There were lots of large flies that kept coming on to the boat not only were they extremely annoying they could bite too.

We then arrived at Jekyll island marina where we got moored up and checked in. We organized to use the courtesy car they had so we could pick up some shopping.

Along the way we had a de-tour to go and see they famous Jekyll Island Club and all of the holiday cottages that surrounded it.

Jekyll Island Club Hotel

We also walked around all of the holiday cottages that were there, which were owned by many of Americas rich like the Rockefellers and many other wealthy families at that time.

 

When we got back we were all very hot so we decided to go to the pool which looked so nice, the rest of our afternoon was spent cooling off there.

Next to the pool was a restaurant called Seajay’s which seemed to be okay from the outside so we decided we would go in there for some tea. But when we got our food we knew straight away it had all come out of a packet it was very obvious as it was so bad. All of the sauces where in pre-packaged pots, they gave us mash potato which was clearly out of a box and coleslaw which was out of a tub. Even though the local speciality was shrimps we could tell that the ones we had received were from a frozen packet and the same with the meat.  It was the worst food any of us had had whilst being in America. When we said something to the waitress she didn’t seem surprised at all and gave us it at half price which was alright as it was over priced as well!

When we got back to the boat we were all disappointed with our meal but we were cheered up by a lady called Lynn who we met. She was passing and said how she was thinking of buying a catamaran so we showed her round and she really liked Invincible. Afterwards she brought her dog along Charley and she showed us the Charley show which was very amusing as he could do a wide variety of tricks, she next invited us to go and look to see if she had caught anything in her crab pots which she had caught a few crabs, but we didn’t think they were that big to eat but she seemed pleased with them.

As the night was drawing in we all sat on the back of the boat and played dominos which was enjoyed mostly by me as i won!

 

Alex Penney

Sail from Fernandina beach to Cumberland Island

In the morning Jo and I had one last quick shop around Fernandina beach and picked up a few t-shirts before we set off sail to go to Cumberland island.

Fernandina Beach main street

On our way we saw what we think is a Bubba Gump shrimp boat.

The sail to Cumberland island was not very far and in no time at all we were there moored up on the dock and going for a look around on the island where apparently there was supposed to be loads and loads of wildlife to see but unfortunately we did not see a lot all we saw were some very small tree frogs.

But we did manage to get to the beach just before it started to rain.

What we did see of the island was very nice but we got absolutely drenched by the down pour of rain on the way back and typically just as we got back to the boat it had stopped.

We spent the night on anchor looking at the beautiful island and listening to all of the creatures we could hear and looking at all of the magnificent stars we could see.

 

Alex Penney