Loop Life with Greg and Reenie

On the morning of May 30th we departed the Jacksonville City dock, and after about an hour on the ICW we finally left Florida, and entered Georgia! A few days ahead of our June 1st goal 😎!

We are now in what is called "Lowcountry". It is a 200 mile stretch of coastal Georgia and South Carolina that is full of geography, culture, history and beauty. The ICW changes to wide flat expansive grasslands, dotted with oak trees covered with spanish moss (If you close your eyes and think of what the south should look like ....this is it). This area is also known for it's "Skinny Water", very shallow with tidal extremes and strong currents. When traveling on the ICW we carefully check weather, tides and currents (We will explain this concept further on our next blog post).

Our first night in Georgia was at Jekyll Island Marina. It is one of the Golden Isles of the Georgia barrier islands. Jekyll Island was originally developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with private vacation homes of wealthy Americans. There were originally 53 millionaire members of the Jekyll Island Club. The original Club building is now a luxury hotel. Jekyll Island became the center of some of the most pivotal events of the 20th century. In 1915 AT&T President, Theodore Vail placed the first transcontinental telephone call. A secret meeting on Jekyll Island in 1907 led to a formation of what was called the Aldrich Plan, the original outline for a system of financial security, called the Federal Reserve. The Island was evacuated during World Was II by order of The United States Government. In 1948 the State of Georgia acquired all of the properties for security and preservation. It is now a popular tourist destination, including a Historic District, bike trails and beautiful isolated beaches.

Kilkenny Marina was our next port. We docked at the Marina for one night, with two other Looper boats. It was great to visit with fellow Loopers...we haven't enjoyed this since Miami. Kilkenny Marina was opposite of Jekyll Island. It is a very rural fish camp with large shrimp boats. There is a great restaurant next door (Marker 107). We had the pleaseure of dining with Gold Loopers aboard Ocean Dancer.

Looper Tip: The restaurant, Marker 107 is open Wednesday-Sunday 🍴

We arrived in the beautiful city of Savannah on Friday June 1st. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city became the British Colonial Capital of the Provence of Georgia. Savannah was a strategic port city in the American Revolution and the Civil War. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important Atlantic seaport. Each year Savannah attracts millions of visitors to it's cobblestone streets, parks and historic buildings. Savannah's downtown area includes the Historic District and 22 beautifully manicured parklike squares. It is one of the largest National Historic Landmark Districts in the United States. We really enjoyed riding our bikes around the Historic District. The parks were in full bloom, with springtime flowers and smells. We enjoyed a sneak peek into the charming southern homes and tasting some gourmet lowcountry cuisine at the wonderful restaurants.

We docked at the Westin Hotel for two nights. It is directly across the river from the historic area of Savannah. We thought it was a great location, with a nice view of the Savannah skyline. There is a free ferry that shuttles guests back and forth across the river. While docked at the Westin Marina we had full use of all the hotel amenities (pool, spa, exercise room, locker room with showers and fresh towels).

Looper Tip: The Westin was a great place to dock in downtown Savannah... more a hotel than Marina but wonderful 😎.

We are very excited to be in Georgia!

Can't stop singing "Georgia on my Mind" a 1930's song written by Hoagy Carmichael.

Three stops in Georgia (underlined in yellow).

Jekyll Island

Kilkenny Marina

Savannah

Pretty Pink Birds dotting the ICW.

Thistle docked at Jekyll Harbor Marina...in the ☔️ rain.

We filled her tanks with diesel.

Jekyll Island.

The historic "cottages" of Jekyll Island.

The picturesque bike path on Jekyll Island.

Shrimp Boats on the ICW.

The New 2018 AGLCA Great Loop Fleet

'T" Shirt ♥️.

Kilkenny Marina.

Pretty clouds in the Georgia "Lowcountry" ⛅️.

Marker 107 Restaurant.

"Skinny Water"... on the ICW @ Hell Gate 😱.

The Horse Flys don't stand a chance 😎.

The Savannah skyline.

The Westin dock.

First Friday of every month there is a firework show and oyster bake.

(We were 🍀 lucky to be there!)

The Savannah Historic District.

Savannah.

More Savannah.

Yummy ... Byrd's cookies 🍪

Lots of rain with thunder and lightning ⛈.

(We are the blue dot.)

Hydrangeas and Magnolias in the Savannah City Parks.

🌸Power.

Thank you Georgia 🍑.

It has been an action packed couple of weeks moving up the Coast of Florida!

The entire time we were dealing with lots of rain, lightning and wind from subtropical storm ALBERTO. Constantly watching weather reports, we only traveled when we anticipated a safe weather window. Our goal was to get out of Florida by June 1st. (Actually, ALBERTO was chasing us out...😱...Maybe we outstayed our Florida welcome?)

May 16-19, Palm Beach

May 20, Stuart

May 21, Fort Pierce

May 22, Cocoa Village

May 23, New Smyrna

May 24, Marineland

May 25-28, Saint Augustine

May 29, Jacksonville

We spent four nights in Palm Beach at the Palm Harbor Marina. A very nice marina and an easy bike ride to everything Palm Beach has to offer. They also gave us two very stylish PHM logo hats. This stop was longer than anticipated due to heavy rain and winds. It also worked out perfectly to have a bow thruster control switch overnighted to the Marina, that Captain Greg was able to successfully install. Palm Beach is know for it's glitzy estates and white sand beaches. Worth Avenue is not to be missed, with its upscale boutiques, galleries and restaurants. A visit to the Breakers nightclub was a Palm Beach highlight!

Our next stop was Stuart Bay Marina. It is about an hour off the ICW. We were greeted by the Marina manager with a nice gift bag and goodies. Stuart is frequently cited as one of the best small towns to visit in the United States. It is also, known as the "Sailfish" capital of the world. It boasts a funky downtown with a riverwalk. It was raining pretty hard so we enjoyed some local music and a nice dinner at the Gafford.

Next was Fort Pierce City Marina. Fort Pierce is know as the sunrise City, a sister City to San Francisco (FYI: We didn't notice much resemblance ?). It was named after Fort Pierce Army post, which was built nearby in 1838, during the Second Seminole War.

On to Cocoa Village Marina. Cocoa Beach is an iconic surf town. Home to some of the biggest names in the industry including Kelly Slater, nine time World Champion. Of all these stops we really

enjoyed Cocoa Village :) It has a nice walking downtown area close to the Marina.

Off the dock to New Smyrna the next day. New Smyrna is also a great beach town. It was ranked number nine on a list of "Best Surf Towns" in Surfer Magazine. It was also recognized by National Geographic in 2012 as "One of the Worlds top 20 Surf Towns". We like the town, but can't get over cars being allowed to drive on the beach?

Marineland was our next port. The town got its start when Marineland Dolphin Adventure opened in 1938 as Marine Studios. A facility designed for Hollywood film makers to create underwater footage. The Marineland Marina was wonderful...not a typical Looper stop. (The Thistle crew highly recommends:)

Then on to the Saint Augustine City Marina. The City of Saint Augustine was founded in 1565 by Spanish explorers. It is the oldest continuously occupied settlement within the continental United States. Henery Flagler (Yes, him again :) a co-founder of the Standard Oil Company, he spent a winter here in 1883. He found the City charming, but the hotels and transportation inadequate. So he connected Saint Augustine by his railroad and built two ornate hotels. One hotel is now the Saint Augustine City Hall and the other hotel is Flagler College. Fort Castillo de San Marcos is in Saint Augustine. It is the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States. Construction stated in 1672 and was completed in 1675. The fort changed control many times and is now a National Moment.

During the Civil War Saint Augustine was mostly under Union control. In late 1963, local African American college students, held a sit-it at the Saint Augustine Woolworths. We found Saint Augustine to be charming and very full of interesting history. Today Saint Augustine is a well known tourist destination.

One more night in Florida (weather permitting). We docked at the Jacksonville Free City dock! It was very remote and lovely (Thistle was the only boat there?)... No TV necessary tonight! We had quite the lightning show thanks to ALBERTO

XO Dreaming of Georgia 🍑

Our Great Loop Adventure "Big Picture".

The Blue line is the Great America Loop.

The Red line is what we have finished.

The Green line is what we have left to complete.

We started at the Statue of Liberty going counter clockwise and will "cross our wake" at the Statue of Liberty (hopefully this summer).

We have been in Florida since November 13, 2017 and

plan to cross into Georgia tomorrow May 30, 2018.

That's a little over six months 🙂... We like boating in Florida!

The yellow line is where we traveled the last couple of weeks.

Palm Beach to Jacksonville.

This part of the ICW typically has narrow navigation channels, with signs of past hurricane damage and almost all of the homes have a screened in area (BUGS🐜).