Cruisin' the Skidaway and Wilmington Rivers

Gene, one of Isle of Hope's liveaboards, wanted to run his boat.  It's not good to just let them sit, unused.  He invited Pam, Megan, Sammy, and me to join him.  It was a great day, mostly sunny and very warm.   A great day to be on the water.  The plan was to head north up the Skidaway River, hang a right on the Wilmington and head out into the ocean.   From there we'd head north around Tybee Island and then up the Savannah River to Savannah to check out the tall ships.  

I brought my camera along, of course.  If I didn't, we'd see Elvis playing with the marina mink or something.  Besides, I enjoy photographing stuff.  It makes me more observant.

Check out all the oysters on the river bank behind the Egret.

For some reason, I always think of the Air Force as having our military's airplanes.  Not so, of course.  Here is a Navy jet landing at the Army's airfield.

Big houses aren't limited to Connecticut.

We saw many dolphins.

Many snowbirds are still on the move. 

I think this Ericson was local and just out for a daysail on the Wilmington.

An ex-resort, now condominiums.

All that's left of a fort built during the Spanish American war to protect the Wilmington River.

Wassaw Island.  Nice beaches, right on the ocean.  We'll have to come back with the dogs.

The inlet is very shallow, only four feet in spots at low tide.  We arrived about an hour after low tide.  You can see the ocean waves breaking on the other side of the sand bar in the pic above. 

You can see standing waves breaking on the shoals.  No thanks.  With one of the boat's engines running hotter than it should, we decided that discretion was the better part of valor. We turned around and headed back up the Wilmington.

C'mon, you have to admit that this looks like fun.   For ten or fifteen minutes anyway.

This boat looks... top heavy.   I wonder if all the guys were up there to check out the bikini babe on the bow.

Laser fun on the Skidaway River.

Megan learning the liveaboard/cruising lifestyle.  I think she's thinking that this hardly sucks at all.

Gene nails a horsefly, and Sammy photographs this momentous occasion.

We often see these boats taking kids out on the river.  I'm thinking they're from the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography. 

Some Osprey are still nesting.

Not Eagles though.  This nest was empty.

The lady on the right has a fish on the line.

Pretty boat anchored on the Skidaway.

Zoom Zoom.

Another Osprey nest, properly built in its designated box.

Egret.

Egret landing.

We had a great time.  Thanks for inviting us, Gene.  Thanks too to Sammy for being our tour guide.