Hello all,
We've had some terrific days for traveling: warm temps, bright sunshine, little wind. We moved on from Savannah, with a couple of nights at anchor followed by a marina. Most of the time we travel on quiet channels, but a big freighter surprised us coming out from what seemed like behind trees. Think a massive city block suddenly moving into your path.
After Savannah (I'll add the pict of us and Liz and Steve at Wormsloe), we came to Beaufort, where we had a 'day-visit'... stopping at their daydock and touring the city via our bikes. Our strongest Beaufort memory is trying to find the Visitor Center, only after we got different directions from 4 different people. It became Nan's obcession to find the place, and like a scavenger hunt. By the time we'd found it, we had seen most of the town, including beautiful homes with gardens in bloom. We also visited a historic and active Episcopal Church, which resembled a New England Congregational Church. We enjoyed the docent's hospitality and information. We did have lunch (great gumbo and muffaletas, plus ice cream) in a great little shop.
We see 'working boats' every day: tending to their crab pots. Some are like the boat pictured, others simple rugged runabouts. Many of them have all these birds hovering around, hoping for handouts.
Some days in the past week we have seen several boats traveling the ICW. Many times we travel in a line, but other times a more powerful boat will want to pass. Some are polite and slow down to reduce their wakes, others zoom by and leave us rocking. URRR.
We arrived at Charleston SC on Thursday after a long day of traveling: about 60 miles. When you can only do 7-8 mph, that's a full day! We are at Charleston Maritime Center, which is slightly up the Cooper River and across from Patriots Point. Charleston is a major commercial harbor, with huge container ships passing just outside our marina. (See the pict of the tug turning the massive ship just outside our breakwater!
That evening, we walked through the old downtown some. On Friday we took the water taxi across the river to visit the aircraft carrior Yorktowne, plus a sub at Patriot Park. The aircraft carrior is massive, to say the least! You'll see Jack standing by the plane flown by James Stockdale, a native of Jack's hometown of Abingdon IL, and a Medal of Honor recipient. There are 6 self-guided tours within the Yorktowne, some of which go literally down into the bowels of the carrier, as well as up to the flight deck and the bridge. Facinating! That took most of the day, and we were again worn out. On Saturday, we slowed down a bit. We walked to (close-by) the Fort Sumter Museum where we found great information not only about Sumter but about the conditions of slavery and factors related to secession and the Civil War. Then we rode our bikes down to the Battery, to the Visitor Center (it's become our joke :), and saw a great Charleston interpretive film. We grocery shopped in preparation to leave today, but gusty winds to 35-40 mph kept us at the marina. This morning we worshiped at Bethel UMC, about a mile from here and 10 min by bikes. The church had a powerful organ (which dominated everything) and a great music ministry. This morning there was an organ and bass trombone duet, women's 3 part choir, plus an infant baptism, and a good message. Tonight we made pizza here at the boat with Liz and Steve and tried to make a plan, despite the rocking-and-rolling winds. Many of you know how shy Dinah is: see her with her new best friend: Steve!
Our hope is to move on tomorrow, but the winds continue to bounce us around tonight. We will have to cross Charleston Harbor, which is 'big water,' in order to get to the northbound ICW, which is more sheltered. But the ICW winds through marshes, so are not wind-protected much. We will err on the side of caution, since we will want a secure anchorage tomo night (or whatever night we end up going).
Yes, we're still having a great time and we look forward to every day's new adventure.
Another full moon, shining on us and on you. Reminding us of God's presence everywhere.
Blessings.
nan and jack
Sharrell and I have a photo of the Beaufort mermaid. And, we drove right up to the Visitor Center the day we were there -- anything to avoid the traffic jam that was ahead of us trying to get to the mansion side of town. We stayed in the mermaid area and totally enjoyed our afternoon, less the traffic and crowds.
ReplyDeleteI have truly enjoyed your trip so far. Thanks for keeping us informed.