In Savannah at Thunderbolt Marina

As we left Queen Bess Creek and proceeded up the ICW in the morning hours, we encountered the typical change in scenery. We were greeted by a flock of pelicans who just did not want to move out of the ICW...

and further up the waterway several beautiful homes came into view. This one just dripped in southern plantation style... my-oh-my... ain't that nice!

We were able to get to the Thunderbolt Marina...

 by mid-morning so were able to get a number of things done in preparation for "company" coming. The boat was washed and arrangements made for a rental car. Several companies have will come pick you up at your marina and take you back when you are done.

We had a 24 hour rental with Budget and were able to use 23 hours and 58 minutes of that time. Grocery shopping, West Marine, Walgreen's, Home Depot, and dinner all got crossed off the list. Conveniently located down the street from the marina was a "joint" called Tubby's whose decor is much like our Tides Tavern at home.

On Friday our friends Jim and Linda came to see us...

 along with friends Doug and Debby.

They were staying at Hilton Head which is about an hour away. They had all ventured down to Georgia to go to the practice round of the Masters Golf Tournament at Augusta and to do a little golfing themselves at HH. After a docktail session at the marina we went back to Tubby's for dinner.

We particularly enjoyed some of the glass art decor having done some stained glass work in a past life.

On Saturday as we were out for a walk, we received a phone call from Chris and Alyse.

These are the guys that we trained with for several days last May in Anacortes. They were on a boat at our dock for the night as they were helping a couple from Charleston move their boat from Florida to South Carolina. It was another case of the small world thing showing up.

When taking their class one of the things they emphasize is to NOT roll up your lines in a tight circle as you often see dockside.

While they may look "ship shape", it can put a "memory" into the line and then not coil up well when you need to stow them or throw them. Because some other friends from home... Randy and Karen... were coming later in the day, we coiled them for the very first time on our trip. While I did not need to point that out to Alyse, I did mention that this was our first "line coiling" offense. We got off with a verbal warning this time.

Randy and Karen arrived later as planned for a three day stay. What fun to see all of our friends from home.

On Saturday after a slow start we drove to the nearby Bonaventure Cemetery.

This is the one made famous in the book and the movie called Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil. There are a number of notables buried there including Johnny Mercer of music fame. There are a number of Revolutionary War dead there as well as Civil War veterans. The southern Civil War graves are marked with an iron cross that has CSA stenciled on them... Confederate States of America. It ain't over yet folks!

Sunday was fortunately a rainy day. Why fortunately??? Well, Jim,Linda, Doug, and Debby moved from Hilton Head to Savannah for the night.... and to be able to watch the end of the Master's Golf Tournament on TV. We all congregated in their room at the Marriott and spent the afternoon watching golf. The rain was a blessing to us non-golfers as we did not have an option of being outside anyway. We did have a great time together and a few laughs.

 At least the view from their room was good.

and there was an exciting finish to the tournament as well.


On Monday we all met up again for a short while and did the tram tour of Savannah.

It is a terrific town to visit with a systematic system of parks and plazas throughout the town. Of course, at this time of year it is all green and quite beautiful. Among many other things its history goes back to 1733 when James Oglethorpe brought settlers there. More recently it was the birth place of Juliette Gordon Low who founded the Girl Scouts.

After the tour ended we got off the trolley near Paula Deen's restaurant. While half of us went in search of Paula, the other half went in search of the World of Beer.

On the way to WOB Randy and I thought we found the Paula Deen store before Karen and Debi. I guess she has more than one in the area.

Once here the dilemma is selecting one to drink.  There is this huge cooler full...                                                      

 and this one and many on tap as well. Who says that there is not heaven on earth?                                        

Here we were reacquainted with a craft beer made in Kentucky that is aged for 6 weeks in old whiskey barrels. WOW, what a finish! But if you sit on that bar stool long enough you must enter the next world.

That night we went back to the boat for dinner and a movie. We came across a DVD of Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil so decided to watch that. And we did.... right up to the last 5minutes of the show. The DVD was scratched so we did not get to see the finish! Randy and Karen took it back the next day for an exchange but we were on our way north by then. It will be awhile before we see the ending of that movie!

It was really fun to see our friends from home and really appreciate their coming down to see us.

Nautical Word For The Day: [from seatalk.info]

Occulting:

1. Describing the characteristics of a lighted aid to navigation where the light is showing for a longer duration than the dark period.

From Great Loop Jargon:

2. Having just visited Savannah, Bonaventure Cemetery, and watched most of Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil, I believe it is a term associated with voodoo, witchcraft, and the evil spirits. It is possible that it could even extend to "Dammit Dolls".