South Carolina

After the rain Monday night the sun came out on Tuesday April 4th and we ventured over to the historic town of Beaufort. Beaufort is located on Port Royal Island, in the heart of the Sea Islands and low country and is known for its antebellum mansions. The marina has a courtesy car that we were able to use and our first stop was the vistor's center where they gave us some history of the town and a map of where to find some of the historic homes. These homes are residences and not open to the public but well documented so you can walk or drive by. We did a little driving tour of the area, then walked along the main street and the waterfront park. It's so nice having a courtesy car again and we are enjoying all of the southern hospitality!
The Lady's Island Marina has only a couple of transient docks and with this being "looper" and "liner" (people moving boats from south to north) season they are booked up fast. The majority of the docks in this marina are "dockaminimums" therefore they are not rented out. Besides having a courtesy car, they are located less than a mile from the grocery store, pharmacies and there is also a wonderful restaurant on site. The marina also has a large work shop with numerous tools if you need to work on any projects.

While watching the morning news on Wednesday the weatherman kept referring to this being a "weather alert day". The rains were suppose to start in the afternoon along with thunderstorms. We secured a few more lines as they also issued tornado watches that were eventually upgraded to tornado warnings. We weathered the storm fine watching the sky light up and the boat got another non-salt rinse from the rain. We tried hard to remember where we were the last time it rained that hard and we think it was back in Michigan. We really have had exceptional weather on this trip.

Our initial plan was to leave the marina Thursday morning, but after the rain came the winds. They were talking about 20-30 mph with gusts 45-50. That's a no go in our book so we took the car and went for a drive to Hunting Island State Park. The only problem with that is it was closed due to Hurricane Matthew, they are trying to get it reopened by memorial day weekend. With a continued watch of the weather we thought there might be a chance to leave on Friday. Not happening...winds were still 25 mph and gusting to at least 30. I finished up some art projects and Mark worked on our itinerary. We met up with Steve and Theresa from Santuary, Don and Joan from Panacea and Tom and Tracey from Bucket List in Beaufort Friday night to do the "art walk". They have many art galleries with many beautiful paintings, sketches and wood work which were all open for the evening along with serving appetizers and beverages.

The new plan was to get up EARLY Saturday morning and get away from the dock by first light as the winds were forcasted to be 10 mph. Because so many boats had been "stuck" at marinas due to the winds this was also the plan of about 15 other boats as we formed a flotilla heading north to Charleston. We landed at St. John's Yacht Harbor, 64 miles on the ICW and through some narrow channels that had plenty of water during high tide. These waters would not be navigable for some boats during low tide, so once again timing is everything. St. John's had also been damaged during the hurricane but they are back up and running with floating docks (about 6 ft. tide), upstairs lounge and patio area and newly remodeled restrooms and showers. There are several looper boats here so I contacted Kim Russo (director of the AGLCA) to see if she had availabilty to meet up with us as this is her home turf. As luck had it she was available Sunday night and headed over for "boater's loungetails". Prior to her arrival we headed over to Charleston, which is about 7 miles away, with Panacea and met up with Sanctuary to take a carriage ride through the city. The tour lasts about an hour but the city has some weird ordinances. There are a limited number of carriages allowed on the streets at one time and there is a random draw that tells the tour guide which area of the city they are allowed to do the tour. With this setup you never know which area you will see. We then enjoyed a nice lunch at Henry's House which claims to be the oldest bar in Charleston and haunted as well.

Homes along Beaufort's historic distract

 

Cuthbert House (c .1810) now an Inn

 

John Joyner Smith House (c. 1813, remodeled c. 1850)

has a faux entrance on the south side as seen in this picture

 

Many of the trees are cabled even if the limbs

are in the way

 

Sunrise as we left Beaufort

 

Due to the shallow water and tides, the boat

docks are hundreds of feet from the houses

Getting ready to board our carriage

in Charleston with Don, Joan, Theresa and Steve

 

Approaching the tourism center to

find out what route our guide can use

 

Old City Jail, operational from 1802 - 1939,

one of Charleston's most popular ghost tours

 

These homes have porches on the side of the

house to allow the breezes to naturally cool

 

 

The John Cordes Prioleau House, remodeled in the

Victorian style in the 1890's

 

Charleston is nicknamed "The Holy City"

due to the number of churches located here

 

Henry's House, some say you will see

a ghost when you have a picture taken

on the stairs

 

The oldest bar in Charleston, serving since 1930

 

Looper group at St. John's Yacht Harbor

 

"No More Flies for me, I'm stuffed"

 

"Another Day Comes to an End"

 

"Hummingbird in Flight"