Tybee Island

Today, Tuesday, we drove to Tybee Island.  It rained most of the time so we didn't spend much time outside the truck, unfortunately.  And, we found out that the museum is closed on Tuesday's.

This is the Tybee Island Lighthouse, Georgia's oldest and tallest lighthouse.  It has been guiding mariners safe entrance into the Savannah River for over 270 years.

Back in 1998 when we were here, most of us (Collettes, Leones, and Judy and I) climbed up the stairs to the top.  One of us did not, but I won't mention Nora's name!

It was a much nicer day that day and there was actually a wedding going on the grounds below the lighthouse.

The water was quite rough but there were people out there anyway.

Judy thought this shark might finish her off!!

Between Savannah and Tybee Island are several waterways.  This one had fishing boats.

Check out the docks - a long way from shore to the end of the dock!!

Of course, by the time we got back to the CG, the rain has stopped and the sun came out!!  Go figure...

Tomorrow we leave for NJ - plan to get there on Friday.  Will update more then.

Savannah

On Monday we took the trolley around Savannah.

There are 15 stops around the city and you can get off and get back on at anytime.  

First stop was at the Museum where we learned about Juliet Low.  This year is the 100th anniversary of Girl Scouts (1912 - 2012):

Next stop was the Juliet Low House and we took a tour of the house.  

Judy bought postcards and took pictures of the house and rooms (for all you Girl Scouts!):

  

And the Gift Shop has a lot of my (our) money now!!  Anyway, it was fun.

Savannah has 22 squares throughout the city – small parks with statues of famous/interesting people, etc.  We got off at this one that has an interesting fountain.

This tree is over 250 years old:

One of Savannah's favorite stories involves the life of Florence Martus (1868 - 1943), who was known well by Savannahians and sailors of the sea as the Waving Girl. The daughter of a sergeant stationed at Fort Pulaski, Florence later moved to a cottage along the river near the entrance of the harbor with her brother George, the Cockspur Island Lighthouse keeper.

As the story goes, life at the remote cottage was lonely for Florence whose closest companion was her devoted collie. At an early age, she developed a close affinity with the passing ships and welcomed each one with a wave of her handkerchief. Sailors began returning her greeting by waving back or with a blast of the ship's horn. Eventually Florence started greeting the ships arriving in the dark by waving a lantern.

Florence Martus continued her waving tradition for 44 years and it is estimated that she welcomed more than 50,000 ships during her lifetime. There is a lot of unsubstantiated speculation about Florence having fallen in love with a sailor who never returned to Savannah. The facts, however, about why she started and continued the waving traditionfor so many years remain a mystery.

In any event, Florence Martus grew into a Savannah legend, known far and wide. On September 27, 1943, the SS Florence Martus, a Liberty ship, was christened in her honor.

Toward the end of our tour, we were in the downtown area and decided to get off and eat an early dinner at the Moon River Brewing Company. 

Very good food and beer!  

Saw this sign for Lady Chablis. She was in the movie "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.  Apparently she is still performing.

All in all, it was a good day with very little rain to discourage us!!

Leaving the Timeshare

We are now in Hattiesburg, SC, about 10 miles north of Savannah.

Our campsite:

Most of the time we have neighbors with pets - usually cats or dogs.  But not this camper!!!

On the way here we saw this highway sign (Judy's Dad was Clyde!)

This is the bridge that separates Georgia and South Carolina.

It was one of the steepest bridges that we have crossed!

Last Friday we went to the Clearwater Marine Acquarium.  We drove thru Clearwater and saw one of the tour boats:

Things have changed quite a bit since we were last there.  The movie "Winter" made this place extremely popular. 'Winter' is the dolphin that the the acquarium got several years ago off the beach.  It had gotten snagged in a crab trap rope and they rescued it.  They had to remove its tail and an artificial one was made as a replacement.  

They were working with another dolphin here:

We actually saw and held one of the tails when we were there back in 2009.  Here is Emma holding it.

When we were there, each of the kids got to be with Winter.

Here is Emma:

Kelsi:

Morgan:

And Gehrig:

On Friday we toured the acquarium.

This is Winter without her tail:

And, this is the houseboat that was used in the movie. 

After the acquarium we went out to dinner – where else but JD’s.  Judy had her two favorites – grouper and crab cake and I had all you can eat cod, along with the “Endless Salad” that they serve that is delicious.

After dinner, we packed up and left the timeshare and went back to the RV.  Since it was cloudy and rainy, we decided to leave the timeshare early and go back to the RV.  We wanted to leave fairly early Saturday morning anyway because decided to drive all the way to Savannah, about 360 miles.

Weather was great traveling north but we heard about the tropical storm that was moving in.  Glad we got out of there when we did because by Sunday there was some flooding and wind – even a tornado at Pass-a-Grille where we were on Thursday!

We got here late Saturday afternoon and spent Sunday relaxing and getting ready to visit Savannah again 14 years later!

Timeshare Week

We did go to the ballgame Monday night.  $12 for any seat in the stadium and 'all you can eat.'  We sat right behind the Dunnedin Blue Jay dugout.

Judy had Boston Market and I had pizza.  Later on in the game we had ice cream sandwiches.

It was a beautiful night for the game – nice breeze to keep you comfortable.  Not a very large crowd as you can see.  Lots of scoring and our team won.

Wednesday we drove up to Tarpon Springs which is a popular place to get sponges.  Back in 1998 we took a boat ride and watched as a diver went down and harvested some sponges to show us how it’s done.  The docks have many boats that go out into the gulf for weeks at a time.  It is a very big industry here – all the shops along the wharf have some sort of sponge for sale.

Tarpon Springs is a Greek community so in addition to the shops, there are 3 or 4 bakeries selling their specialties.  Of course, that was part of the reason we came up here!

More pictures on the beach refurbishing project.  We drove up to Clearwater (about 15 miles north of Indian Rocks Beach) and found where they are now working.  Here are some pictures - this is the equipment they are using to blow the sand to the beach.  If you click on the picture, I think you can see the barge with the sand on the left.

Some kind of vacuum moves the sand from the barge thru a huge pipe to the shore and then down the shore to where it is blown onto the beach.  this is the pipeline.

Here is the sand and water coming out of the pipe. 

And this is the equipment being used to spread the sand around.

This is the area that they are moving the sand to.

Pictures just don't do it justice.  I guess you have to be there to see it!

We were on the beach again last night and Judy went to look at a turtle nest: 

There are several of these up and down the beach.  The eggs will hatch in the fall and the little ones will scurry down the beach to the water.  We experienced it in 1998.

I did some writing in the sand.

The SeaBreeze restaurant is interesting in that, when we lived here, it was a Shells restaurant and was very popular.  

They brought peanuts in the shell to your table and when you ate them, you just threw the shells on the floor.  I guess it was an accident looking for a place to happen because a few years later, we heard that they had closed due to a lawsuit from someone who had slipped on the shells.  Then it became a CiCi’s of all things!!  And now it has changed hands again.  We didn't eat there.

Today we drove down to Pass A Grille Beach to look for some shells.  We used to be able go on this beach and find a lot of different shells that we couldn’t find up here.  However, the last few years this area has been blocked off and no swimming signs are in place due to the currents.  But today, it looks like they have changed the beach so that it is accessible again even though they still have the no swimming signs.  We didn’t wear our swim suits so couldn’t go out.

The pelicans were out - sunbathing!

Judy took a picture of this sign for Belinda and Barb Collette.  

Seems they spent some time there one night, but we doubt that they even remember it!!

We stopped at the CVS Drug Store on Gulf Blvd in Indian Rocks Beach on the way back to do some shopping.  For those that are not aware, this used to be an Eckerd Drug Store – we got to talking with the cashier and it came up that we lived here back in 1998 and had worked for Eckerd Drug.  He suggested that we go behind the store and look at a sign back there!!

This tree is also in the parking lot at the CVS Store.

 And another spectacular sunset:

Tomorrow is our last day here (already) and Saturday we leave the timeshare, pick up the RV and head for Savannah, GA.