Friday, March 6
After two days of continuous rain, we have decided to extend our stay here by two days. The weather patterns continue to come across the Gulf and end up in the Carolinas. We have kind of a long run down to Beaufort, SC and had planned on anchoring out to split it up. However, a couple of cool nights forecast for this weekend nixed that idea. Funny, it will be almost as warm at home as here as this cold front passes through!
Luckily, our new spot here on the Mega dock is available for the weekend. One thing we didn’t mention about this dock area is that everything here is floating. The bathrooms, showers and laundry on one floating dock, several marina offices, an electrical repairman and the mechanics–all out here floating. The dock space covers 40 acres. We’d like to see how they will move it further out into the river. There are a few solid concrete structures; the tour boat is on one. We think these were possibly part of the original dock system.
We did walk over to “Marina Variety Store and Restaurant” for Joe’s birthday. Odd you say? Well, having walked over there to see what they had at the “variety store,” I was made to feel foolish by the surly hostess who said it obviously was only a restaurant. She a could not, or would not, explain the name. Silly me. This restaurant has been written up in magazines and recommended by cruisers. We had tried to go there on two other occasions but found it closed. The bar downstairs, Salty Mike’s, has not been open while we’ve been here. It was, the closest and least wet place to go for Joe’s Birthday on March 4th. We did call ahead to make sure they were open. It was fabulous! Joe got to have Jambalaya, which is almost always made with shrimp (he’s allergic). The waitress said they could do it with chicken and that the shrimp is not cooked in it but added at the end–safe. The bowl of jambalaya that came could have served 4, it was delicious. He also had a huge piece of chocolate cake and a few beers. All in all a very nice dinner, much better than my Birthday dinner of Domino’s pizza (also a rainy day).
Standing on the dock, in the sunshine, we learned from a dock neighbor that several boats winter here as the marina offers a very good price from December – March. It is close to downtown, beautiful and with the shuttle service, very convenient. However, we do want to make it to Florida…..some day 🤔
This cruise ship just came in. We were told it is an American cruise line and they do the ICW. We were thinking we would not have wanted to meet it in the narrow ditch just North of here but Charleston is the end of the cruise. They will spend the night here and head back to Beaufort SC in the morning. Apparently, it’s home port is Fernandina Beach, just north of Jacksonville. They do take runs to NY in the summer, but travel out in the Ocean. The boat made an excellent wind block for us! FYI – It’s approximately $4,000 for an 8 day cruise from Charleston to Amelia Island. Same as what we spend 😏😉😯
Had an excellent afternoon doing another walkabout in the City. A beautiful, sunny day! Our first visit was the Old City Jail. Eerie looking. While standing there a horse and buggy tour group arrived and we heard a bit of the spiel about this spooky looking building. It operated from 1802, when it was built, until 1939. It did not have electricity or running water. It had limited single cells so most criminals and the insane were housed together. Pirates, criminals, Civil war prisoners and the insane were all placed here in horrific conditions. Many died from natural causes or diseases at the jail not from being hanged for their offense. The ground floor held the “gentlemen prisoners”, those arrested for public drunkeness or petty crimes. The second floor held minor criminals like prostitutes and the third floor held the hardened criminals such as thieves and murderers.
The most famous inmate of this jail was Lavinia Fisher, the first woman in the US to be hanged as a serial killer. She and her husband were said to have murdered wealthy guests at their Inn. Her soul is said to haunt the building. While her husband pleaded for forgiveness during his final moments. Lavinia, used her last minute to mock the crowd that came out to see her hang. Rumor has it, she taunted them by saying, “If you have a message you want to send to hell, give it to me, and I’ll carry it!”
You can take a haunted tour of the jail at night. Looking at it and reading a bit of it’s history tells me I don’t want to do this!
We spent several more hours walking. Down King street with the fancier shops–thank goodness we are are no longer procurers of goods. More wonderous churches and cemeteries. We stopped in at 82 Queen Street where we had our wedding dinner in a small gazebo in the courtyard. They were dog friendly on the patio, but were full. We also stopped next store at the Inn where we stayed for our wedding night. Hmmmm, the hot tub in the courtyard is gone! We do recall being in that hot tub and being busted by the staff in the wee hours of the morning!!! So, the only place we did not see yet is the Cannonboro B&B where we stayed the days leading up to our wedding and where Joe presented me with a beautiful pearl necklace. Our destination wedding was truly memorable!!
Now, after much sight seeing, we were parched. We spent a few hours in the sunshine at the Blind Tiger Pub, voted best bar and best patio in Charleston! The alehouse dates back to 1803. The courtyard was huge with very large u-shaped couches. We ordered some beers and sat back in the sunshine. Group number one on the couches was a wedding party–girls only. They looked beat. Some yawning going on. They needed a pick me up but weren’t getting it with their teeny mimosas! After they left, a group of four sat down. This group was celebrating a birthday. Low and behold, one was a boat Captain from Palm Beach. The same marina, Old Port Cove, where our boating adventure began on Bayliner Bob. He was next moving a 115′ boat, Endless Summer, North to Rhode Island.
Our favorite couch-mate, and our new self adopted “daughter”, was Courtney. She was in Charlotte for business and came to Charleston to visit her grandmother. She is from Dallas, but her grandmother had an island beach house here where she spent a lot of time as a child. Courtney and Coconut bonded. So, Courtney was not allowed to visit grandma. Grandma is in an assisted living situation and anyone that had been in an international airport within 14 days was not allowed to visit. The place is under lockdown. This is the first coronavirus issue that has touched us. Although I was a bit worried about my brother Kevin, who was on a cruise a few weeks back. We had a wonderful time talking with this young woman. She had a lot of interesting stories about Charleston, her life and she acted interested in our life choices. She suggested we adopt her; she wants to do what we do….. We thinks Miss Courtney may want to keep her own life. Her restaurant choices are all top end, her clothing also reflected the King street stores and she two children–a deal killer for us!
Last visitor, after Courtney had to leave to join her co-workers (she invited us and even called to expand her reservation to include us and our emotional support service dog), was a rumpled, Columbo-like lawyer. He wore a sport coat and chukka boots. Like a lot of lawyers, he just couldn’t seem to stay retired. He tried and then went back to being a Public Defender here in Charleston. He was interesting in that he recently married a woman he said he had been in love with for 30 years. They had both been married to other people when he told her he adored her but wasn’t going to stay celibate for her! He was 1 1/2 hours early to the bar for a retirement party for the Clerk of Court. Funny, she arrived just as we were leaving. We believe Bob and the Clerk would be in fine form for the party! What a great bar!!!
Another fine day in Charleston.
Snug in our Tug 