June 12th... Charleston, SC

Dave and Kristi decided that they would start the trip for home this afternoon instead of trying to do it all on Saturday. We had bagels for breakfast and then went for a drive around the suburbs looking for a Napa Store and a Walmart. The Napa store was not problem but without a map... didn't find a Walmart which was probably a good thing.

We did stop for lunch and then returned to the boat to get their stuff and some of ours that was heading back to our storage unit in Crystal.

I had purchased and bronze fitting that connects the heat exchanger to a hose that discharges sea water to the exhaust system. Ours was leaking in Georgetown and I found parts to cobble it together, but it needed changing. Kathy got our dirty clothes ready for the laundry and headed out as I was showering after an hour on top of the engine.

After returning with clean clothes.... we put things away and then walked over to "Fine Lion" for drinks and snacks to discuss current weather forecasts for our trip to Cape Lookout tomorrow. Everything seemed fine... little wind but no raging gales. There is always the possibility of thunderstorms but we'll be so far from land most of the time that they pose little threat.



June 11th... Charleston, SC

In the morning we called the Marina for a slip and after coffee and breakfast, we weighed anchor and made our way in. Docking was without incident... which is not always the case with the currents here in the Ashley River.

After getting settled and checking in, we drove out to West Marine and finally picked up the part that we ordered last week.

It was really hot...mid 90's and so our walking tour of the Battery area became a car tour. We drove all over Charleston stopping once at a park to view Fort Sumter in the haze and yet another walk through the Market. Kristei wanted t-shirts for grand kids and Kathy was looking a some neat leather purses for the girls... unfortunately the ones she had seen yesterday were gone and those left were in weird colors.

We had a late lunch at the Noisy Oyster, Dave and Kristie both had fried oyster Po'Boys that turned out to be wonderful. My fried clams were great and Kathy had a seafood fettacinni that was tasty as well. Then we headed to Harris Teeters to buy some shrimp for dinner. We ordered 4 pounds and when they were handed over, we feared we had purchased too much.

Nothing much more happened that day... it was too hot to move. Occasionally I turned the hose on myself to cool down a little. We peeled, marninated and than skewered the shrimp and as the sun lowered... put them on the grill for a few minutes.

For the last week or so there has been a small, not too nice, sailboat in the marina with 5 deaf college boys aboard. They have had some engine problems and the marina mechanics have been trying to get them fixed up and on their way. They spend most of their time reading books in the shade. Anyway, with way too many shrimp cooked, I rolled up the first five skewers off the grill in tin foil and wandered over to their boat around the corner and handed them to one of the boys and walked away.

After polishing off our shrimp and a caprese salad we poured a glass of wine and walked the mega-dock. As we passed the deaf boys, one of the mechanics who had been working with them stopped me to offer their thanks and to mention what a nice gesture we had made.

Back on the boat we watched a lightning storm approach the city....before retiring for the day.





June 10th... Charleston.SC

Dave and Kristie weren't scheduled to arrive until about 1pm so we took the 11 o:clock van to West Marine to pick up an order and to check out the new grocery store that was opening today next door. We ended not getting part, as it hadn't been unloaded yet, but we did pick up a few things before heading to the new Harris Teeters for more shopping.

We returned to the boat, put things away and then waited for Dave to call. We met them in the marina parking lot and wandered over to "Fine Lion" to see if they wanted to go into town. We wandered the market downtown and then made our way over to "Pearlz" for a late lunch and to show Dave and Kristie a real oyster bar.

As usual, we ate too much. There were oysters on the half shell, mussles steamed in white wine, butter and garlic, tuna tartare, and crab pizza. Late in the afternoon, we returned to the marina, bid good by to Steve and Kim, loaded Dave and Kristie's stuff into the dinghy and made our way out to "Sapphire."

After catching up on life in Michigan, I made a conch salad and much later, had it for dinner. We made them watch an episode of "Gary the Explorer" before going to bed.