Charleston - A Southern Beauty

posted by Ardys

Jax eager to go to shore

We changed our plan for the journey midstream—literally.  We left Cow House Creek planning to continue on the ICW, but by the time we approached our intended anchorage that afternoon, we had decided that we would take advantage of the fabulous weather and go offshore to Charleston.  In preparation, we continued down the Waccamaw River past the next *ICW Cut and dropped our hook for a few hours at the Georgetown Light, the last possible anchorage before the ocean.  We took Jax to the beach so he could run and attend to some urgent business matters before the long night on the ocean.  It was the first time in many days that he’d been allowed to run free and he obviously loved it!  So did we.  And then we had a few hours to rest.

Beach in front of Georgetown Lighthouse

I woke up Carl at 10:30 PM and we shoved off.  The overnight to Charleston was uneventful and fairly warm.  We could have thrown up a sail, but the minimal wind wasn’t coming from the most useful direction so we motored.  We brought our lovely weather with us into the Charleston harbor, and what a beautiful harbor it is! Fort Sumter was on our port side, where the first shots of the Civil War were fired; the historic city of Charleston was straight ahead and the two wide rivers that flank the city on the peninsula.  At one time, 

Blocks and blocks of enormous, gracious old homes

Charleston was an incredibly wealthy city, back when cotton and rice were extremely plentiful and in great demand.  A tour guide told us that some of the (white) people were “so wealthy that they couldn’t spend their money fast enough, so they built huge houses.”  Some of those historic  beauties line the water and could be seen from our sailboat as we came in.

Tours by bus, horse and carriage, boat and on foot.

As always, when we come into a marina, there are some necessaries to attend to:  topping off the diesel and the water tanks, having the waste tank pumped out and off loading our garbage and recyclables. These are not the glamorous tasks of sailboat living, but figured I’d include them for accuracy sake at least this once. The other things to consider while at a marina are grocery shopping, laundry and last but not least—a nice, long, hot shower.  We have a perfectly fine shower on the boat but we’re always being judicious with our water usage, so marina showers feel like a luxury.

Sea wall is wide enough for two ladies wearing hoop skirts to walk side by side.

NORTHERN STAR sandwiched between two large yachts

Our sailboat was small compared to many that shared the Charleston City Marina MegaDock with us.  The entire marina is a series of huge floating docks!   Floating docks makes it easier to tie off and be certain that the lines will remain appropriate, no matter how much the tides rise and fall or the current rushes past.  At high tide, the marina is in an attractive wetland.  At low tide, it’s way out on the mud flats

Late afternoon mud flats leading to City Marina

—somewhat less appealing and more odiferous.  We shared a shuttle downtown with a young woman who is a paid crew on one of the large yachts near our boat.  She and the ships’ Captain (also paid crew) live on the boat full-time and take care of it.  We had noticed it, of course.  It’s a 

A classic wooden sailboat with paid crew of two.

classic wooden sailboat with long, graceful lines, and we privately lamented the work involved to keep it looking pristine, as it certainly did now.  She said “the boss comes to visit his boat a few times a year, whether in Maine, or Charleston or the Bahamas.  We looked around us on the dock and figured that there might be a few who were bemoaning our paltry little sailboat.  Maybe they were thinking, “how do people live on such a small boat?”  

The Citadel was on the bus tour.  First year students are required to walk in the gutters.

 We had a private bus tour since no one else was on our bus.  Our tour guide told us a little “joke” about Charleston, “The Civil War started here, and someday it will end here.”  As a Northerner, I’d never heard a Southerner’s perspective about that 

This soldier died 42 years after the Civil War and yet his rank was the most important fact for his gravestone.

horrific war until visiting my husband’s hometown in the Mississippi Delta several years ago.  That was the first time I heard what I call the “Civil War” referred to as “The War of Northern Aggression.”  The statues of the Southern generals are all oriented to the north, facing the Northern aggressors, even after death.  In spite of Charleston being ravaged by floods, hurricanes (the last in 1989) fires (an 1861 fire burned 1/3 of the city) and being shelled during the War of Northern Aggression, it remains 

Charleston is full of beautiful hand-carved ironwork.  

 remarkable for its’ architecture. I wish more cities would follow Charleston’s example of requiring new construction to “blend in” with the historic buildings that remain.  Charleston was entirely gracious, friendly and I would love to go back to visit again and probably will, when we travel north up the coast next spring.  Tourism is a major industry and they do it very well.

French Quarter of Charleston

*ICW Cut — Intracoastal Waterway manmade canals that have been cut and dredged in order to connect the naturally existing waterways.  Cuts make a continuous north/south inland route possible.