Blue Moon Sails Away: On Up the ICW

From Cumberland Island we made steady progress up the very windy ICW through some gorgeous areas of the lowlands of Georgia. This is a frequently shallow stretch of the waterway so we had to play the tide tables in order to keep Blue Moon afloat. It took some learning but we never touched bottom and saw a lot of wildlife including 7 billion yellow flies. Could have been a few fewer but it seemed like we killed at least half that many in our time through the marshes. I'm not sure exactly what the difference is in this part of the Atlantic Coastline, but Georgia has the strongest tides with the greatest change in water depth of any place else on the ICW. Eight feet was not uncommon and that meant the water was almost constantly flowing in one direction or the other. Some days there was no slack tide at all. I can see why many cruisers go the outside route, braving the open ocean than deal with currents and shallows. Since this trip was about seeing things we've never seen before, I'm glad we made the effort and learned the skills needed to successfully anchor and tie up to slips. We'll see if we do it again in the Fall! Our last stop in Georgia was the Isle of Hope. This is a old town outside of Savannah and well worth the stop. They have loaner cars for getting around town and resupplying. That alone made it a great stop but the folks there are also some of the friendliest we've met. Another great part of the trip so far was joining with buddy boat, Obsession with Janice and David aboard. We have a lot of fun together and they have made this trip before so they have been a fountain of good information. So for, so great!

One of the many, many bends in the river and creek system making up
the ICW route through Georgia.

Mile after mile of marsh grasses line the waterway. Too bad it is
also the breeding ground for biting flies!

The full moon was so beautiful but it also meant lower low tides.

Sorry about the sideways but I didn't realize I couldn't adjust it. This is the
piling beside our boat at high tide. You'll see a huge difference with the low tide
picture.

Eight feet of tide drop later....

We walked all over the scenic and historic town of Isle of Hope. I never could
find an explanation for the town's name but it had to be a good story. All
along the waterfront the Spanish moss hung everywhere including on all
the power lines.

The palmetto only needs a little bit of dirt to take root. This was the fork of a very
large, very old oak tree.

The oaks are massive, planted in the late 1700s. Rather than risk the
health of these grand trees, the city opted to leave this road as one lane
rather than expand the roadway.

Most of the houses along the waterfront is IofH are on the National Register
of Historic homes. All were private residences and the care of the owners
to maintain their heritage and history was obvious. Some of the homes had
been in the same family for over 200 years.

This house had a new brick fence made to match the original one that
only had remnants left.

This was the original Catholic church in town, Our Lady Star of the Ocean.
It was also the site of the first Benedictine monastery in Georgia.

Isle of Hope Marina office.

The crews of Obsession and Blue Moon.

David M and David P as we sit on our our balcony overlooking
the Savannah River.

One view looking up the river.

The 4 of us on the balcony. The couple on the next balcony was in
Savannah to celebrate her birthday.

This is a war memorial listing all the Savannah service members who had
lost their lives in wars.

Being one of the oldest major seaports in the original 13 Colonies,
Savannah has a lot of history. The old waterfront buildings were mostly
shops and restaurants. We had to stop and visit a few of them for
happy hour, of course!