Tropical Storm Colin and a visit to Savannah

Moon over Charleston

Storm cloud

Blossom on the dock with the big girls

Well our first few days back in the states were eventful! We docked at the City Marina Friday afternoon during slack tide. We’re the penultimate boat on the outside of the Megadock, it must be close to a .5 mile walk to land from here! Our first order of business was to check back into the country. We were on our way to the marina office and then to Customs and Immigrations when we learned that Customs and Immigration actually come to your boat here, you don’t go to them. Well that was very cool because it was really hot and we much preferred clearing in on our own boat. Two officers arrived within an hour and we were done in about 10 minutes. Nice!

SNOB

We planned to stay in on Saturday night but instead ended up eating out at a fabulous restaurant, SNOB (Slightly North Of Broad). A friend recommended that we check out SNOB while in Charleston. I looked on Open Table but they had no reasonable time slots open for a couple of weeks. Late Saturday afternoon I saw the tab still open on my computer and hit “refresh” for the heck of it. Surprise! A 7:15 slot was open. OMG, what a meal! Thank you sooo much, Gail!

Fountainhead -  250+ feet!! She left the other day

On Sunday we visited with Kayleigh, my first cousin once removed. (Yes, I had to look that up – child of a first cousin is…? J) We had a wonderful evening together and a great dinner at Coast Bar & Grill which is located in an alley where you could believe you’re in France with cobblestone streets and ivy covered brick buildings.

Tom Ka Gai, I’m getting my cooking groove back on

By Monday we were in “storm” mode as Tropical Storm Colin started its ascent through the Gulf, to Florida and on to SC. We were pulling in our canvas and cushions when a captain from a large boat on the dock approached. He was quite adamant that we should turn our boat around to face west, implying improbable predictions of our swim step getting crushed off the boat, waves topping our boat deck and more. He planted himself on the dock and wouldn’t let it go. Long story but we finally turned around, if for no other reason than to make him go away (which he promptly did once we had redocked). Then we settled in for the storm which ultimately, was a lot of rain and winds topping at 30ish knots. It wasn’t even enough to wake us up. (Captain gloom and doom came by the next morning with a beer for our trouble J)

Shane & Martin

Sunset in Charleston (photo credit to Shane)

Over the first few days we also solidified our plans for the next 2 weeks or so and decided to stay in Charleston. The weather was looking good and this gave us the time to visit with my Mom. She came down on Wednesday and we enjoyed dinner with Kayleigh and her beau, Shane. It was a fabulous dinner (Kayleigh makes some A-mazing lasagna) and we really enjoyed getting to know Shane.

Sunset in Savannah

2 photos because I love them both

On Thursday, me, Martin and my Mom headed south to Savannah. We’ve all wanted to visit Savannah for years but have never made it down there. What a beautiful city! We stayed in the oldest hotel in the city, The Marshall House. I’m lame and didn’t take a picture, so here’s a stock photo.

The Marshall House

The lobby - wine, cheese and historian in the evening!

Our creepy hallway

AH! What was that??

It’s a gorgeous hotel that served as a hospital during the “war between the states” and is said to be very haunted (a major theme of Savannah – hauntings) We didn’t see any ghosts but we did thoroughly enjoy our stay!

We packed a ton into 3, very hot days. We walked all over the city and did several tours including a trolley tour, a walking ghost tour and a ghost trolley tour J and a narrated cruise on the Savannah River Queen. We visited the Owens-Thomas House, Davenport House Museum, Mercer Williams Museum House (made famous by the book, Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil), and the Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum.

One of the beautiful squares

Fountain at Forsyth Park

Mercer Williams House

Scott, our walking ghost tour host, those eyes!

The cemetery is beautiful

Savannah River Queen

Hot afternoon on the river

Savannah River Front

The Waving Girl of Savannah, Florence Martus

Dredging the river, cruise ships will come here one day

Tug central

Taking fire from Old Fort Jackson!

What’s that? A Nordy in Savannah! (there were two 55s but I didn’t snap the pic quickly enough)

And talk about food! We ate lunch at Zunzi’s Take Out and Moon River Brewery (haunted), dinner at Vic’s and the historic The Olde Pink House (also haunted so they say) and drinks on the rooftop of The Bohemian (twice!). And of course, we had ice cream from Leopold’s (home of the original Tutti Fruitti).

Free ice pops and stickers that say “Shit Yeah” while waiting in line at Zunzi’s

We all had the Conquistador sandwich, voted “best sandwich in the south” and “one of the best 3 sandwiches in America” by the Travel Channel. Yup, it really was that good!

Moon River Brewery. The upper floors aren’t used – too many bad things happen up there (!)

They warn you…

But the beer is very good

This is a rather large freighter coming down the river just outside Vic’s

The Olde Pink House

Leopold’s Ice Cream

That’s the normal line at Leopald’s. Yes, we waited. Yes, it was worth it.

So yeah, we basically ate and walked our way through Savannah! It’s a stunningly beautiful city with Spanish moss dripping from old Live Oaks, blooming magnolia trees, steeped in history (though much of it tragic) and a true feeling of southern hospitality.

Mom enjoying the view from the fly bridge

We returned to Blossom yesterday. We had a fabulous grilled dinner on the boat and met new neighbors across the dock later that evening. TC and Brenda invited us over to tour their truly phenomenal boat, one of the most amazing trawlers I’ve ever had the joy to visit. She's a custom build out of Brazil, perfectly planned out to most minute detail.

We were sad to say goodbye to Mom today, as she headed back to Myrtle Beach. Martin and I are settling in again before our next adventure which we’ll write about next week!

Boat Business: We haven't been on Blossom for a few days but Martin has a list. More on BB the next blog...

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This is our blog about cruising. I rarely post about current events, and don't consider it an appropriate venue for political commentary. However, it feels disingenuous to ignore the tragedy that has occurred in Orlando. Our hearts break for the senseless loss of life and for those many people who have lost their precious loved ones. Wishing for so much more love and so much less hate and violence.