Wednesday
I did not get much sleep last night so I managed to get down for the free breakfast about 8.45 am. I put my dirty washing though the washer while I popped across to the Food Lion to get a couple more items I needed. I got back with two minutes left on the timer and I quickly transferred it to the dryer.
I went upstairs and worked on my blog while the clothes were drying. I booked my activities for the following two days through the desk clerk so she printed out my tickets for me. I felt a bit tired so, once I had collected my clothes, l lay down for a while. Of course, I fell asleep and managed to sleep past the shuttle time so I did not get into Savannah as I had planned, such is life. I pottered around in my room and completed my blog as much as I could. I transferred photos from my IPad to my laptop so I could use some in the blog.
I went to bed reasonably early with the hope that I would get a good night's sleep. I took a dose of cough medicine I really need to break my cough!!
Thursday
I was up in time to go and fetch some cereal and a tea bag for breakfast but took it to my room to eat, and no I did not eat the tea bag! I had a very relaxing morning but did manage to iron some of my washing from yesterday. I then changed and made sure I was downstairs well before the time for the shuttle, lol!
The shuttle dropped us at the Hyatt Regency and I immediately made my way down to River Street. Wow, what a different world from the one I left a few yards away! 
The streets are mostly cobbled and I have never seen this before in the US, I have however seen many places like this in the U.K.! There were lots of cafes, restaurants and souvenir shops all squashed in higgledy-piggledy! It just reminded me so much of the some places I have been 
England, mostly in the north and small villages. Stepping down to River Street really felt like taking that proverbial step back on time! I also found "Bobs your uncle" and "Fannies your Aunt"!
I wandered along and finally found where to check in for my dolphin boat tour. It was very warm and I decided I would sit in the back of the boat where it is sheltered. I was a bit early, better than being late! Finally we boarded and the boat was quite full with a wide range of ages
We went up river to turn round and then headed down river. We passed a park with a statue of the Waving Girl, this is after Florence Martus who took it upon herself to be the unofficial greeter of all ships that entered and left Savannah between 1887 and 1931. She also talked to many of the sailors and heard stories of their travels. 
There is also a statue of the Olympic flame from when the games were in Atlanta, some athletes actually stayed in Savannah. 
We passed a couple of cargo ships as well as a gas station for ships!! 
We then met a container ship moving up river with a pilot barge. The pilot barge then moved behind the ship and a rope was dropped so the pilot barge could steer the ship round some sharp bends further upstream.
We also saw a Bald Eagle sitting in a tree and later it took off!!
The river is 300 miles long and for most of its length is the order between Georgia and South Carolina. 
Originally it was only 8 feet deep but it was dredged to a depth of 42 feet at low tide, at high tide the depth is 50 feet+. This means it can accommodate the large vessels, although as it is such a tricky river, Cruise ships are not presently allowed to berth there as has been suggested. 
It is the second busiest container port in the US and is geographically well suited to distributing its cargo to 50% of the US.
We saw a small pod of dolphins on our way to the area where there is usually a large pod and we were not disappointed. We did see a young dolphin, about one week old, with its mother. many of the dolphins, Atlantic Bottle Nose, swam very close the the boat. Many of the dolphins swim in small groups, an example of their social nature.
There were many sightings and then everyone was asked to move towards the rear of the boat and our pilot built up speed to create a large wave, finally some of the dolphins joined in and surfed the wave!
After all this fun we made our way back to the dock, stopping to look at another small pod of dolphins who were swimming around by the grassy edge of the river. We saw again the golden dome of City Hall, it is 14 caret gold, and finally berthed.
I made my way towards the Cotton Exchange, a restaurant, and had a plate of shrimps with french fries and coleslaw, the shrimps were very tasty! On my way back towards the Hyatt Regency I passed Vic's Coffee Shop and stopped in for a coffee, I decided to treat myself to a special coffee but had to laugh, it was the first time I have ever had an "Irish Coffee" (with different ingredients) in a takeaway cup, OMG!!!!!!
I climbed back up to today's world to head back to the hotel for the shuttle and the scenes were chaotic, apparently there was an event on there and cars were just left everywhere! The lady driving the horse drawn carriage has her stopping bay but could not use it, she was finally able to get through and go out at the other end. The shuttle arrived and he also struggled but finally we were able to drive out! A good day today, the weather was warm and the evening was clear and pleasant. My cold is improving, I just have to get rid of my hacking cough now!
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