Hilton Head, Beaufort, Charleston, SC

Bike riding at Hilton Head turned out to be a blast.  After riding a few miles on a bike path, we found our way down to the beach.  We had seen signs that led us to believe there were bike trails there.  It was way better than that!  The sand packs so hard from the tide changes that you can actually ride on the hardened sand for miles.  We felt like a couple of little kids and thought how much fun it would be to have our two grandkids bike with us.  Maybe next year!

Shelter Cove Marina, Hilton Head, SC

The house of the day along the ICW in South Carolina

We slept well that night, and Monday set out for Beaufort, South Carolina.  As folks down here will tell you, it is pronounced Bewfert, not Bofert.  Although they are spelled the same, the latter pronunciation is reserved for Beaufort, North Carolina.  Anyway, we stayed at the City Marina, which was a block from downtown.

We are starting to run into more Loopers again.  I guess after you leave the expanse of Florida and start working your way up the ICW, you just cross paths more often.  In Beaufort we ran into a boat named Jackets II, crewed by Stephen and Charlotte.  We recognized each other from the Norfolk Rendezvous’ a year ago, when we were just getting started and they were wannabees.  They bought a beautiful Krogen Express 52 and left their home in Jacksonville three days prior to meeting us in Beaufort.  We had dinner together and enjoyed answering their many questions about the Loop.  The Admiral and I have been getting a little sad about how short of a time we have left till we cross our wakes, and honestly talking to Jackets II, energized us and cheered us up a bunch, just remembering all the fun we have had.

Tuesday we were off early as we had a long day planned to get to Charleston, SC.  We had to deal with the tide range and time things to avoid some particularly skinny water in this stretch.  Although we and all the other Loopers we talked to did fine, Jackets II saw a sailboat run aground in Fenwick Cut.  He apparently got some bad info and favored the red bouy, which was the opposite of what we had been told.

The Charleston skyline beyond the bridge

By the time we got to Charleston City Marina we were beat.  Through most of Georgia and South Carolina, we have been taking short hops.  It made this one (66 miles) seem really long, although a few months back in the river system we would have thought nothing of it!  Tired as we might be, the fun wasn’t over yet.  A very stiff wind and fast current made docking there quite interesting, especially since they directed my 50 foot boat in between Boreas and Erica Lynn, who were exactly 61 feet apart.  I put it in between them fine, but it took three men and a boy to get it tied off due to the wind pushing us off the dock and the current trying to carry us back into Boreas.  After all was said and done, the dockhand (pointing to Erica Lynn in front of me) says, “Gee, I guess we could pull this boat forward some.”  There was an unused thirty feet of dock there!  Although the idea of tossing him in the river occurred to me, I decided to just flop down and have a beer…

Charleston is a great town and a wonderful Loop stop.  Whatever you like, history, food, architecture, art, golf or shopping, there is plenty of it here. 

Before we could enjoy it though, we first had to install the new icemaker we ordered from Savannah to be here in Charleston when we arrived.  Fred from Boreas and My First Mate and I spent the morning on Wednesday doing just that.  The old one apparently didn’t like running for extended periods of time on 75 volts (when the inverter had malfunctioned).  The compressor had been making some very weird groaning noises and stalactites formed from the ice tray…not a good thing.  Since ice is an essential ingredient in cocktails…well...you see how this became our first priority while in Charleston!

Once the ice emergency was behind us, we took a carriage ride around the historical area downtown on Wednesday late afternoon, followed by dinner at Hyman’s Seafood with Fred, Julaine and their friends Tom and Barb.  Hyman’s has been here for about a hundred or so years and serves exceptionally fresh seafood at reasonable prices.

Downtown area of Charleston

The Cathedral

This was originally actually a cotton plantation owner's summer home!

Thursday the crews of Boreas and Once Around took a tour of Fort Sumter.  It was here in 1861 the first shots of the Civil War were fired as General Beauregard of the Confederacy sought to oust the Northern troops who occupied the fort.  After 34 hours of bombardment, Major Robert Anderson, the Northern Commander, surrendered without a casualty on either side, and was allowed to return with his troops to New York.  Thus began the war that would eventually claim the lives of over six hundred thousand Americans on both sides.  The National Park Ranger put that in perspective for us when she explained that was roughly two percent of the nation’s population at the time.  It would be as if five million Americans were killed in a war today.  A sobering thought.

Approaching Fort Sumter

Back in Charleston Thursday afternoon, the Admiral wanted some “retail therapy”, and we enjoyed the shops and art galleries of Charleston.  She did some real damage in one store where she found what she thinks will be the dress she wears at our daughter’s wedding in September.  I gave it a two-thumbs-up as soon as I saw it on her!  Besides, how could I argue when…I kid you not… the background music in the store at the moment she stepped out of the dressing room played “Just The Way You Look Tonight”. 

We are planning on heading out of Charleston in the morning, bound for McClellanville, SC, then on to Georgetown, SC.  But right now, I think I’ll go check out some of that new ice…