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.

Hampton Roads Reminds me of "the Movies"

posted by Ardys

Fishing pier in front of Fort Monroe.  Looking across the water at Norfolk.  

The Chesapeake was behind us at last, the Atlantic beneath us and the pathway to the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) was to starboard, through Hampton Road, Norfolk and then on south.  We motored out of the Atlantic and entered our planned anchorage in a rather protected U-shaped area of water just north of Norfolk, called Phoebus.  The historic naval fort, Fort Monroe lay on one side of us on a peninsula and a very busy, long, low bridge that terminated at a tiny island out on the water lay on the other side.  Oddly, all the cars on the bridge simply disappeared when they reached the island but somehow other cars kept coming away from that tiny island!  If you’ve never seen the entrance to an underwater tunnel from the water before, that is exactly what it looks like.  Alice in Wonderland Through the Looking Glass came to mind.

Dinghy dock by the "DeadRise Restaurant" at Marina.  

Blustery and overcast while anchoring, we figured we’d made it off the open water just in time.  The term, “hunkering down for the night” comes to mind when I think of that anchorage, AFTER of course, bringing Jax to land, which was achieved by finding a tiny dinghy dock at the foot of the DeadRise Restaurant.  Sadly, they would not allow us to sit and have a drink on their deserted deck over the water with a dog in tow.  First time I’ve been refused when I’ve asked about outdoor seating.  "We’re not in Kansas Annapolis anymore." 

Sequel to "The Birds?"

An aside here—On the dinghy ride back to the boat, we were struck by how huge the gulls were here, and how they all sat facing the same direction (toward us) the entire length of the marina wall (~200 yards) until we exited the marina.   Other birds on the wall were more skittish and flew away as we approached, but not the gulls.  They were like solemn, humorless sentries on the wall.  Took me back to a particular drive-in movie theatre in my childhood—“The Birds.”  The birds were entirely too unafraid of us, and just watching...... watching.  Creepy.

Moat encircles Fort Monroe.  Military families still use the fort for housing. 

On Sunday morning, the three of us enjoyed a long leisurely walk along the boardwalk in front of the Fort, and throughout the Fort, reading all the plaques which describe the historically significant events that took place on that piece of earth.  I remember learning absolutely nothing about Fort Monroe from my American History studies in high school and college.  Nada.  Was I there that day?  The site on which Fort Monroe sits was the landing site of the first Africans brought to Virginia in 1619, stolen from a Portuguese slave trader ship.  The fort is also significant in African American history because the Fort was the only Southern fort that was held by the North during the Civil War.  It became known as the “Freedom Fort” because any African Americans that made it to the fort were free.  Two of the few units comprised entirely of black soldiers was mustered at Fort Monroe.  If you haven’t seen the movie, “Glory,” I highly recommend it.

President Lindon stayed at the Fort for a few days during the Civil War.   A young Lieutenant Robert E. Lee was involved in designing the fort. and the Confederacy’s president, Jefferson Davis was imprisoned there through the end of the Civil War.  Fort Monroe is very large in comparison to the other two forts that we visited this year—Fort McHenry in Baltimore known for being the place where Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star Spangled Banner” during the War of 1812.  (He watched the bombardment of the Fort by the British warships from the deck of a ship in the bay and it was unknown until sunrise whether the Fort was still held by the Americans.)  The other fort was Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine, FL the first fort built on this continent (1572) along with the first town of white inhabitants on this continent.  

That night, we went to the DeadRise, a restaurant above the Marina office.  (By the way, a DeadRise is a type of boat, very pointy and narrow at the bow, with a wide flat back end and a little pilot house on the front end.  Favored by oystermen).  I found my favorite quote from this journey thus far engraved on a wall in the DeadRise.  “The cure for everything is saltwater—sweat, tears and the sea.”  Ah, yes.