After about four days of VERY calm seas, we arrived in Savannah, Georgia. This is our first port of entry on our trip. In order to enter a port, a ‘pilot’ arrives by tug and literally ‘leaps’ aboard our moving freighter and then pilots the ship to the dock. Two tugs actually accompany us and end up ‘pushing’ the freighter over to its final destination. It is an amazing feat to watch…especially the pilot’s ‘leap’ to the Rickmers Shanghai.

The ride up the river took us right past historic Tybee Island and Fort Pulaski, dating back to its utilization as protection in the Revolutionary War.

The historic homes of Savannah are charming and clearly captivate your attention with their distinctive curb appeal. Here’s a peak of a few ‘charmers’ from the trolley car ride which took us all through the area:

We were thrilled to have Virgil and Linda Mann meet us and spend some time together…..probably the last Lima folk we will see for awhile! Thank you, so good to see you!!!
Here are some of the highlights we saw, including Savannah’s famous statue of The Waving Girl, which sits on her riverside greeting the sailors!

We were very blessed to also attend Mass at the very beautiful Cathedral of St. John the Baptist!

Off to our next port which will be Philadelphia! When traveling at sea there is no satellite….so none of life’s luxuries such as cell phone or ability to post a blog or e-mail is available, of course. If there ever would be an emergency, the ship has their own satellite communication system available.

Hey, take a look out our port hole as we await the port agent’s announcement of when we will depart. This is a container ship headed to sea. I have gleaned the difference between a cargo and a container freighter. We are traveling on a cargo freighter. A cargo freighter carries its own cranes and VERY interesting shipments from all over the world. It may also carry containers. Here is a picture of Bud with Nick. Nick is a civil engineer and works for a nuclear plant in Augusta, Georgia. He was in port carefully overseeing the arrival of the steel to be utilized in the nuclear plant. He will be leaving for his next assignment in Australia soon.

Here’s Nick….Hey, gals……pay attention ….26 year old SINGLE civil engineer ….on the road to success!!