May 24-28 Charleston, SC

Anchored in Stono River

We Anchored in the Stono River only about 5 miles from Charleston and its City Marina.   The anchorage is nice except for the tidal current s which rip through here.  They reverse too,  so we end up facing 180 degrees opposite of where we were previously that morning when the tides ebb.  At least it provides new scenery.

Anchored in the Stono River, St. Johns marina in background

Elliot Cut in one of it's calmer moments

From the city Marina its about a mile walk into the old, neat section of town. So we got up and got the dinghy down and secured, loaded it up with us and stuff which I cant describe except it was in a backpack.  We had to go through Elliots Cut, a narrow water way leading into a natural creek which leads into Charleston Harbor.




The tidal current through here can be wickedly fast and boats running through here on plane cause wakes that reverberate back and forth between the narrow sea wall.  What would be the chances of running into such conditions together?  Really.   What are the chances?  ;-)

Coming into City Marina.  Yes, BIG yachts in here

So being a little soaked with salt spray isn't such a bad thing.  It dries quickly in the sun.  We arranged to keep our dinghy at the City Marina dinghy dock for 5 days at a fee of  $25.  Once the dingy was tied up and our little sticker indicating we were legally parked properly attached, we trudged off to Charleston the city.

City Marina dinghy dock.  That's us in the center.

Ready for that mile trek into Charleston?

Part of the College of Charleston campus

We ended up walking through a part of College of Charleston and the typical college retail shops and restaurants.  And we did stop and have lunch at some bar/sandwich shop there.





We walked around, spied a Harris Teeter grocery store and bought a few things and started back to the Marina on Calhoun street which was hosting a sort of flea market at one of the parks, Marion Square.  It's one segment of Spoleto, sort of a festival that runs for several days.  We only caught the art exhibits though.  The craft portion of the festival was in a church yard about a block away which we decided to visit the next day.  All in all it was a good 6 mile walk.  Wonderful for some, not so much for others.

Narrow streets and sidewalks

We took the dinghy back to the boat ate a lite diner and watched a few Boston Legal episodes before heading off to bed.

Next day we again took the dinghy in City Marina, and walked around the the Charleston water front and The Battery which is superb park.  Then strolled down Church Street with all its old houses.  I have to give it to Charleston ... everything is so well preserved.

Harris Teeter grocery on Bay street

We stopped at the Harris Teeter market again and lugged a bunch of groceries back to the dinghy and eventually back to the boat.  We bought a plant simply for its dirt but that proved insufficient so along the way we exchanged some plant materiel for some good old dirt at a house which we thought could use a new plant.

Re-potting with real Charleston dirt

Visited the craft portion of the Spoleto which is adjacent to the art exhibits we saw the other day, but located in a Church yard.  I was rather impressive, especially some of the exhibitors who work driftwood.

Headed back to the boat and an early dinner.  Ran the generator for a few hours and made water and we did a load of laundry.  Exciting times!

Its more fun to walk in the middle of the street

We headed back into Charleston again today.  We had been trading text messages with Rob and Catherine and finally met up with them at  Salty Mikes later in the day when we were headed back to the boat.  It's a  bar very near the dinghy dock and close to the Ashley Marina where they had docked their boat.  Wonderful time talking with them.  He's an ex submariner but really tall.  I have to remember to ask him about his past head injuries!

Numerous "interesting" homes

Next day we left a little earlier in order to make the water taxi ride to Patriots Point where the ships were located.  We tied up the dinghy and walked the mile and half to the Water Taxi dock.   But somehow we arrived 30 minutes early because somebody made a slight calculation error reading the schedule.  And no, she wont let me forget it.

Quaint little neighborhoods 

The taxi arrived and took us and few other people to Patriots Point.  It was actually nice to have someone else worry about running the boat for a change.  We purchased our tickets and walked along the dock to the ships.

We toured the destroyer first.  It's almost a dead ringer for the one I was on.  We couldn't get down to the fo'c'sle where I was berthed but there were other berthing areas to see.  And the crews mess ... oh for those over-easy eggs and bacon again!  

The dinning room

Yes, I "knew" once how to operate this old stuff

Even the radar equipment looked familiar.  Gosh am I old!

Water Taxi ride to Patriots Point

We then headed onto the aircraft carrier Yorktown. And it had food!  Hot dogs to be precise.  Mary of course loved it.  Me, ehh .. it was filling.

Familiar ship

Big ship.  Yorktown.

The USS Yorktown (CV-10) is a  mighty huge ship.  We'd been on it before but it was still thrilling to go through the ship again.  After walking through the ship for a few hours we began to tire and of course headed to the gift shop to squander some time before the Water Taxi arrived to take us back across the Harbor. The gift shop was rather large and had quite a variety of trinkets.  So I bought a gaily decorated sleep mask and a eye glass holder, the kind that hang from your neck. 

The sleep mask is simply an experiment so I can sleep past sun up.  So far, not doing well.  I still wake up at sun-up regardless of how cave-like the room is.   But don't assume I stay up.  That would be an over-statement ... :-)  The eye glass holder is part of my continuing effort not have to buy 12 pairs of reading glasses at any Dollar Tree we come across to keep me in eye glasses.   I seem to routinely drop reading glasses into sea.  It's what I do I guess.  If archaeologist one day scour the east coast they will discover a trail of buck store magnifiers from Marathon in the Keys to the Chesapeake.  All mine!

St. Johns Marina.

We moved over to St. Johns marina the next day and tied up to their t-head.  They have a nice pool and restaurant bar there.  Anchoring was free.  St. Johns, which is really nice facility, is not. Oh well.

We did laundry and a few boat chores and then hung around the pool for awhile before heading back to the boat and putting on bar worthy clothes to go eat dinner there.  It was ok.  I mean how bad can a burger and fries be?We did laundry and a few boat chores and then hung around the pool for awhile before heading back to the boat and putting on bar worthy clothes to go eat dinner there.  It was ok.  I mean how bad can a burger and fries be?

The plan for tomorrow is to be heading out Elliots cut to Charleston Harbor and the ocean.  We'll be going into Winyah Bay which is commonly referred to as the Georgetown Inlet.  We anchored there the previous year and its a wonderful spot, large with plenty of depth and very close to the ICW.  Even with some rainy weather we'll be snug as a bug in a rug there.  And the ocean is forecast to have only 2 foot seas so it'll be an enjoyable journey.