CODA BAHAMAS BOUND 2024-2025 (42)

 CODA : Georgia on my mind

Thunderbolt Marine, Thunderbolt, Georgia 

Marc-  We had planned for a later morning start in order to pass some shallow areas with mid-tide or higher.  I had not anticipated the thick fog this morning and how long it took to thin out.  Coda's anchor did not come up until 11:00 and then we had second thoughts when we ran into a fog bank approaching the Cooper River.  Fortunately the Fog Bank did not last long and by noon we were in the clear.  

Somewhere in this 07:00 photo is a 40 foot Beneteau sloop 

that we anchored 100 feet away from last night.

By 11:30 we could see the Hilton Head Lighthouse through the haze.

It was nothing but blue sky a few leftover clouds when we arrived in Georgia.  This is the free dock in downtown Savannah.  It is normally a busy place at night with bars and restaurants nearby.  

Not the quiet spot we ended up in at the nearby town of Thunderbolt.  Thunderbolt Marine is a megayacht repair facility,  also a marina, right on the ICW.  The place is very welcoming and even has a loaner car.  We took the car over to visit Savannah 15 minutes away.  Savannah was its busy self on the commercial streets.  We enjoyed walking through the many parks never more than a block apart.  The whole waterfront area is a sort of bricked over park with shops, bars and restaurants.

This view from the top tier level of Savannah is where you fine the beautiful parks, homes and the main commercial part of the city.  The cobblestone street is 15 feet below is a middle level.  The lowest level is the waterfront street aptly named River Street.  

River Street.

The dock side of River Street.

James Oglethorpe, the British planner and founder of Savannah. 

• Oglethorpe founded Savannah in 1733 as a refuge for English debtors and a place for the poor to improve their lives.  He laid out the city's grid of public squares and wide streets.  Savannah is considered America's first planned city.  I have been here before when our daughter Stephanie had done a few weeks here at the Savannah School of Art and Design and Sue and I had come down to visit.  The old City is still vibrant and a nice place to visit.
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• We returned to Thunderbolt for dinner on Coda and a walk around the shipyard project boats.  There are several sailboats here with 100 foot masts.  There are the megayachts over in another section.  It is a lot to take in.  Yet this facility treats the boaters stopping by with small boats very well whether they buy 10 gallons of fuel or 1000 gallons (or whether they are staying one night or 10 nights).

Lou- No more Krispy Kreme donuts at Thunderbolt marina! 

Dad says a sweet guy used to come up to the boats and ask people what kind of donuts they wanted. Then he'd go off and get them for free!

Sadly, this wonderful man passed away and has not been replaced.

This place is interesting! It feels like a normal marina-- nothing fancy, just the basics; chill, regular people. Except! There's also the biggest private boats I've ever seen! The only one I can think of that compares is Steven Spielberg's yacht that we saw (and almost crashed into because of a transmission issue) in New York a few years ago.

After we docked here, Dad borrowed a little red marina car and we drove off to Savanna. "We have half an hour!" Dad announced. "They need the car back at 5." 

What can we really see in 30 minutes? I thought. 

As it turns out, with Dad as a tour guide, a lot!

Dad power-walked me along the water (so many cute shops! and cool cobblestone streets!), through park after park (there's one about every other block! so many big old trees!), and past a SCAD library that used to be a grocery store. By the end of our whirlwind tour, I felt I'd seen it all!

Tomorrow we go through a gnarly passage called Hell Gate! There's very little water there, so Dad's calculating what time to leave tomorrow based on the tides.

Then, we hope to get to Crescent River anchorage.

Bye for now!