We arose early Monday morning in our Beaufort, SC marina slip, anticipating a full day on the water for our journey to Charleston, SC. To our great surprise, the current was tearing into our slip at over 4 knots, which made it impossible for us to back out of the slip and move on our way. With several strong men helping to get us turned around and get out of the slip to no avail, we finally resigned ourselves to the idea that we would be a spending a few more hours in Beaufort, SC. Luckily there were no other boats within "striking" distance, because we ended up cross-wise in the slip, held snugly against the dock without a prayer of moving away until the current subsided. Accepting our fate, we decided to go downtown for breakfast and see the little town that we hadn't been able to see the night before. A leisurely breakfast later, we then decided to take a horse-drawn buggy ride on a tour of the town of Beaufort. Very shortly into our carriage ride, as we were enjoying the narration by our driver, we felt a wobbling, weaving and a sudden JOLT as one of the 4 wheels fell off the carriage. Fortunately, nobody was hurt, the horse was calm and unaffected, and it added a new realm of excitement to our already eventful morning. After receiving a refund for the carriage ride, we went back to the marina and were able to depart easily from our slip for an anchorage and then on to Charleston.
We left Beaufort, SC with a very good feeling...beautiful, well-cared for small town, super-friendly people who obviously take much pride in making their town appealing and welcoming. If not for the mishaps of the morning, we wouldn't have had the time to get acquainted with the area. Thus, lemons to sparkling lemonade. What a treat!
Our journey to Charleston was a good one - very short, as we had stopped for the night at an anchorage close to Charleston - and we found the Maritime Center Marina to be the cream of the crop! It was located in Charleston Harbor, well protected from the wake of large container ships entering nearby. The rates were very good, shower spotlessly clean, and the biggest bonus - FREE WASHERS AND DRYERS in a laundry room with a view of the harbor. What more could we ask for?! (I know this seems very small to those of you who have the convenience of a laundry room at your fingertips, but REALLY, do you all have a view of a big, beautiful body of water in one of the most historic cities in the U.S.?!) I did laundry while Jim took a $25 taxi ride to purchase engine oil. We spent the afternoon exploring Charleston...more metropolitan-feeling than Savannah, and actually attempted another horse-drawn carriage ride. It was fun, but not as exciting as the one in Beaufort. We had a great dinner at an Irish pub, then returned to the boat for a fun evening of changing the engine oil.
Yesterday the highlight of our day was traveling down the Waccamaw River, by far the most scenic and beautiful stretch of our trip up the East Coast ICW. The banks of the river were green and lush, a cypress swamp with beautiful cypress trees adorned with Spanish moss giving us passage. Our anchorage last night was spectacular! We dropped anchor in Prince Creek, which was isolated but just a smaller version of the cypress-lined banks of the bigger river. We were hoping to see alligators, but none appeared. We half-expected to hear dueling banjos and broken whiskey stills but were lulled instead by the peaceful waters and singing birds. Ahhh!
As I write this, we are passing through Myrtle Beach, SC on our way to the Lightkeepers Marina in N. Myrtle Beach where we will reconnect with Mark, Vicki & Daisy on Blue Willow and celebrate our reunion with a Bahamian lobster dinner and many laughs and fun ahead.
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