Just a Few Random Photos and Thoughts From the Second Half of Our Trip

We're in the land of real tidal extremes in southern South Carolina and Georgia.  Here, a daymark sticking waaay up, easy to see at low tide.

And 6 hours and 30 miles later, if the tide was much higher this daymark would be submerged!

Not one but two bald eagles sharing this tree.  (sorry for the pixelation, this is an extreme blowup on my iPhone) 

I absolutely love the beach in winter -- at Isle of Palms, just a little north of Charleston, SC.

Looking forward to a beautiful night at anchor in the marshes.

Big tidal range means strong current.  You can see it at the base of this daymark.  The current is flowing left-to-right.  You see the water piling up on the left (upcurrent) side of the pole, and swirling on the right (downcurrent) side of the pole.  Unfortunately for us, we were traveling against the current this day.

The sign on the shack with the dock says "Fresh Shrimp." And considering that the boats tied up to either side of it are local shrimpers who tie up there to sell their wares, I'd say there's a good chance that this place is an example of truth in advertising. 

The Georgia marshes are so beautiful and unspoiled.  Here's s/v Seneca motoring along at high tide.  Georgia has no sand beaches on the mainland, just on the barrier islands.  Here on the mainland, just marshy ICW frontage.

And glorious sunsets!

The lighthouse at St Simon's Island.  Last time we saw this was in the summer during our delivery up from Miami, as we were coming in from the sea.  This is the view from the ICW out toward the Atlantic.

We visited the Georgia Sea Turtle Rescue on Jekyll Island.  Amazing place.  These two little guys are recovering from too-close encounters with automobiles.

This marina had a cool liveaboard community.  They'd get together every evening on the dock to play music and watch the sunset ... and their prime place was directly outside our cockpit!  Fantastic!  Here, the gentleman known to the others as "Doc" for his biology degree shows me the workings of his reproduction antique French "button box." (Really, though I understand music theory and used to play guitar, since an accident damaged the nerves in my left pinky and ring finger, the only musical instrument I play is the iPod.)

My SIL adores Myrtle Beach so we planned a stop to see what appealed to her so much.  We went for a walk on the boardwalk on a November day, trying to imagine this place packed with summer tourists.

View from the boardwalk out to sea.

We spent a few hours walking around Brookline Gardens.  I'm fascinated by the texture of the trees and the Spanish Moss that drapes them.  The walk is decorated with strands of holiday lights.  Echoing the drape of the moss, the lights are hung in strands that sway in the breeze.  I still can't wrap my mind around Xmas decorations with sand and palm trees instead of snow and pines, but the effect of the hanging lights was beautiful, sensitive, and artistic.

This channel marker is seriously off station!  (Cuz really, you don't need the marker to tell you not to bring your boat too close here or you'll run aground.) 

Sea turtle surgery.  A (boat propeller?) took a big hunk of shell off this guy's back, the turtle rescue center put it back with special glue and something that looked a lot like radiator clamps and zip ties.