We opted for a shorter trip back of 5 days as we had some appointments that we needed to get back to make. We did stop and visit with friends along the way. First stop New Jersey where we had a short visit with sailing friends, George and Deb. It was great seeing them and hopefully we will again this winter.
From New Jersey we traveled to Newport News Va. for a two night stay to visit with Sue and Roger on S/V Dancing Down Wind. We stayed landside since they have two boat kitties and we had India, not conducive to a friendly atmosphere. They have spent the summer traveling around the Chesapeake and points north on their boat. The four of us spent the day touring the Mariners Museum. It is an amazing museum and well worth the visit, if you are at all interested in things naval related. There is a large concentration on the Civil war sea , in particular the one between the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia which took place at Hampton Roads. There is also an unbelievable exhibit of ships models built by August Crabtree. The detail in these models is astonishing. We spent a great evening with Sue and Roger aboard DDW which proved that our sea legs need to get back afloat. Sue and Roger will continue south with no firm plans for where they might spend the winter.
The next morning found us on our way to Mt. Pleasant SC to visit with Bonnie and Peter. We hadn't anticipated seeing them but the planets aligned and we had a wonderful time catching up. They hope to get Q down south this winter.
Our next stop was Savannah Ga. just because we had never been there. We enjoyed a trolley bus tour of the city. What a beautiful place, we were so glad we stopped. The architecture and parks are gorgeous. I could easily spend several days there, our tour only scratched the surface, and while India could ride the trolley she couldn't go in most of the attractions. We did see the house featured in "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" which was interesting. Lots of ghosts supposedly in Savannah.
The next day we headed back to Florida arriving early in the afternoon with the usual downpour coming through Jacksonville. It's always raining when we come through that city!
The one question most asked while we were away was "what are you doing this winter?'" And the answer was and still is "we don't know". Now that we are back in FL the first order of the day will be to solve our chart plotter issues. We need to get that resolved before we can "go" anywhere. We've done some research on replacements and unfortunately none of them are inexpensive. We will have to replace the radar unit along with the chart plotter and possibly the depth sounder. We're hoping we may be able to set the depth sounder up as an independent unit and keep the transducer (the thing that tells us how far away the bottom is). We would still need to purchase a display unit for it. So its gear up time for all things nautical. I pulled out the fabric for the cushions that need repair and have the sewing machine humming. Next up visiting Light Reach on the hard and talking to some marine electronics gurus.
The picture is one of the parks in Savannah, notice the Spanish Moss hanging from the trees.