Coastal Companion

Your ultimate guide to the coast

Wild Ways Tours by Amelia River Cruises

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Amelia River Cruises has set the dates for its next series of Wild Ways Tours offering tourists and locals, alike, the unique experience that has earned a nomination as Best of the Best in Boat Cruises by WJXT. Votes are now being recorded for a wide range of Jacksonville and surrounding area businesses by category.
A link to voting can be found on the company’s home page at www.ameliarivercruises.com.

To celebrate this nomination, Captain/historian Kevin McCarthy of Amelia River Cruises and international zoologist/columnist Dr. Pat Foster-Turley are conducting a new series of Wild Ways boat tours this spring in and around Cumberland Sound. Each tour will visit different places and tell different tales of local history and wildlife here and around the world.

All tours will be about three hours long depending on wildlife and wild happenings that are encountered along the way. Tours are scheduled for 10:30 AM on Tuesday March 31st and Tuesday April 28, and at 6 PM on Saturday, May 16th as part of the Wild Amelia Nature Festival. Tours will embark from the Fernandina Beach downtown marina at the foot of Centre Street and cost $38 per person plus tax.

Soft drinks are provided but people are encouraged to bring their own snacks and other drinks if they wish. For more information and to make reservations, call Amelia River Cruises at 904-261-9972.

Those interested in scheduling their own chartered Wild Ways Tour can call the office or visit us on the web at www.ameliarivercruises.com.

Savannah Music Festival 2009

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The city of  Savannah has spring fever.  First it’s St Patrick’s Day and the city is taken over by a green, then the city follows up with a classy music festival unlike any other. The Savannah festival is unique, it offers up a buffet of music. There is truly something for everyone, and you really can’t imagine a more appropriate city for such a festival.

The Savannah Festival kicks of on March 19th  and continues thru April 5th, 2009. It’s difficult to give you any guidance as to choice of music. Just take a look at their extensive program and read the information on the festival website, it’s enough to keep you busy for a while.  Click here to visit Savannah Music Festival.

The video below gives you a pretty good idea as well. And if you didn’t know, the festival also made it as the weekly pick for Coastal Companion’s weekly show, the Georgia edition.

First Fridays on Broad – whimsical Frogs and Spring feeling in Charleston

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The Broad Street Merchants Association will continue hosting “First Fridays on Broad” on Friday, April 3rd, from 5pm – 8pm. Come out and celebrate “April Showers” by enjoying fine art and refreshments in the boutiques, fine art galleries, and bodegas on Gallery Row – Historic Broad Street. COCO VIVO will be featuring works titled “Perceptions” by husband and wife, Ron and Monique Parry. The Parrys are featured artists in the American Art Collector magazine in April. Hamlet Fine Art Gallery will feature new art works by mother, Stephanie Shuler Hamlet and daughters, Melinda Lewin and Kellie Jacobs, with a fresh new look to their beautiful gallery and Charleston Courtyard. Be sure to stop by and get your picture taken with one of Beau Smith’s whimsical frogs. John Carroll Doyle Print Gallery will feature beautiful open air textured giclees by Doyle of beautiful spring landscapes. “Clients tell us this is one of their favorite monthly events,” said Angela Stump, director of the John Carroll Doyle Print Gallery. “Customers can relax while receiving individual and personalized attention as they browse the vast array of fine art, sculpture, jewelry, gifts, pottery, home accessories, and unique fashions on “Gallery Row.”

Each doorway on Gallery Row offers you something special to treasure, be it a painting, a gift, or simply a wonderful memory. As you stroll from one gallery to another, enjoy the Southern charms of colorful flower boxes, enchanting hidden courtyards and gardens, and pristinely preserved architecture.
Participating merchants include: Ellis-Nicholson Gallery, Hamlet Fine Art, Edward Dare Gallery, COCO VIVO, Mary Martin Fine Art, UTOPIA, John Carroll Doyle Print Gallery, Atmah Ja’s, Spencer Galleries, Ella Walton Richardson Fine Art, Martin Gallery, Jake’s, Blind Tiger and the Oak Steak House.

For information please contact Charlestongalleryrow.com

NASA’s Shuttle Discovery Launches to Fully Power Space Station

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Space shuttle Discovery and its seven-member crew lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 7:43 p.m. EDT Sunday to deliver the final set of power-generating solar array wings and a new crew member to the International Space Station.

Discovery’s STS-119 flight is carrying the space station’s fourth and final set of solar array wings, completing the station’s truss, or backbone. The arrays will provide the electricity to fully power science experiments and support the station’s expanded crew of six in May. The 13-day mission will feature three spacewalks to help install the S6 truss segment to the starboard, or right, side of the station and deploy its solar arrays. The flight also will replace a failed unit for a system that converts urine to potable water.

Shortly before launch, Commander Lee Archambault thanked the teams that helped make the launch possible.

“It’s truly an honor to be part of this team representing NASA, the nation and the international partners,” Archambault said. “See you in a couple of weeks.”

Archambault is joined on STS-119 by Pilot Tony Antonelli and Mission Specialists Joseph Acaba, Steve Swanson, Richard Arnold, John Phillips and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata. Wakata will replace space station crew member Sandra Magnus, who has been aboard the station for more than four months. He will return to Earth during the next station shuttle mission, STS-127, targeted to launch in June 2009.

Former science teachers Acaba and Arnold are now fully-trained NASA astronauts. They are making their first journey to orbit on the mission and will to step outside the station to conduct critical spacewalking tasks.