BEAUFORT to CHARLESTON / Wednesday to Sunday, March 23-27 (Days 61-65)

Admiral's Log:     7:15 am, Wed., 3/23/16
                         Temp:   52
                         Winds:   7 mph
                         Speed:   10.2 knots

We had a bit of a mishap leaving Beaufort. Mike clipped the sailboat in front of us. We turned around but the captain said everything looked ok. I did see a quarter size nick out of our paint, but Mike says he can fix that pretty easily.

Home of the Mega Dock

We were assigned a spot on the outside of the "Mega" Dock at Charleston City Marina. The Mega Dock is 1530 feet, nearly 1/3 of a mile! That may not sound like much, but if you have to haul laundry it is a long walk. Luckily I ordered my handy Versacart. It's like an umbrella stroller laundry basket. The other ladies were quite jealous, haha. One even got her iPad out to order one! 

The City Marina is not really close to downtown Charleston, but they have a shuttle that leaves on the hour and picks up until 6pm.  We were late for the shuttle so took Uber to Basil Thai. It was wonderful. Mike said it was the best he's had in a long time. 


Thursday, Mike said we had to wash the boat. The pollen was terrible. While we were washing, a beautiful 135 foot sailboat docked in front of us. We learned later the captain and owner was 90 years old! He did have a crew of four, but still pretty impressive.

Mike had a club sandwich and I had grilled cheese for lunch at Kitchen 208. Then we went on a 2 hour walking tour of downtown Charleston. It's such a beautiful town, with so much history.  It has English, French, Spanish, Indian and Gullah influences. And lots of wonderful restaurants! 

Rainbow Row

3 Red Dots signifies a Liquor Store

The original French Quarter

Wings spread means a Federal Eagle

Wings closed means Confederate Eagle

We stayed in, and fixed an Indian dish for dinner.


Friday, Katy and her boyfriend Daniel, drove over from Auburn to spend a couple of days with us before we cruised too far away. They brought me an early Birthday present. Daniel made a sort of window box, which Katy planted herbs; basil, rosemary, oregano and mint. 

Our courtesy van driver told us of a local spot for lunch called the Dixie Supply Cafe. Katy was not to sure about it when we got there. It was a hole in the wall, but great food. Mike had a shrimp BLT with a fried green tomato. I got tomato pie, kind of a cheese quiche topped with roasted tomato slices. I had never heard of it before, but seemed to be a low country specialty. When in Rome...it was awesome. We saw photos on the wall where it had been on the Food Network's, "Diners, Dives and Drive-Ins" in 2011. Just goes to show looks can be deceiving. 

Man weaving a Sea Grass Basket, a skill handed down by generations of the Gullah people.

We walked over to the City Market. It's a four block outdoor market. Pretty much arts and crafts; including many Gullah Sea Grass Baskets. They are not cheap; our guide showed us a good sized basket can go for over 700$! She said that's over 40 hours of work at $15 and hour. No wonder! They are beautiful, so intricate and smell good too. I bought a drawing of the Charleston Lighthouse for my collection. 

Steve Colbert's Family home, they are big supporters in the Charleston area.

We definitely got in our 10,000 steps. From the market we walked to  White Point Gardens and the Battery area, passing a lot of the old homes so the kids could see them. We ate at the Variety Store Restaurant by our marina for dinner. 

Saturday, was not a good start to the day, 80% chance of rain. Daniel's dad and step mother drove over from Columbia. We took a ferry to Fort Sumter, more cool history.

 We then drove to Magnolia Plantation and Gardens. One of residents was related to the Grimke sisters; which inspired the recent book "The Invention of Wings". We all went to The Hominy Grill for dinner. It had good reviews, but we did not think it was anything special.

Newlywed photos

Sunday, it rained again, all day! The kids left around noon and I caught up on laundry. Otherwise we just read and watched several old movies. We fixed pasta for dinner. 

Garbage bag rain coats