Bev and I have visited Charleston a few times in the past however, we never got around to visiting Fort Sumter which stands on guard at the harbour entrance. Along with the crew of 2 Outrageous we decided to make the time to visit the remains of this historic fort which is maintained by the US Parks Syatem. Instead of paying $21 each for the ferry we were allowed to take the dinghy out to the island and spend as much time as we wanted touring the area and it truly is an impressive vantage point. It is easy to see why the Fort was such a strategic part of the Atlantic defence system. The first shot of the civil war was fired here on the fort by Conferderate soldiers and after only 34 hours of bombardment the Union Army surrendered the fort to avoid further injury and destruction. The Conferates then withstood 22 months of bombardment and blockades but never surrendered the fort which by then was nearly reduced to a pile of rubble.

Once we had completed our history class for the day we toured along the beaches of the island and went ashore for a stroll through the dunes. This is a beautiful park area where the locals arrive by boat, loaded with kids, dogs and fishing gear to spend the day. Once our tour was complete we returned to the boats to soak up the last sunlight of the day. We sat back and enjoyed a sundowner while being entertained by The Harbour. We laughed at the goofy Pelicans diving for fish, we were entertained by the dolphins circling the boats and impressed by the Osprey circling overhead; all this in front of the ever changing back drop of the harbour. I am not a city person but if I ever had to live in a city this place would be hard to beat.

The alarm was set for 6:20 on Saturday morning so we hit the sack early on Friday night, on the agenda is a 205 mile jump up the coast to Morehead City. This will be our first overnighter alone and will include a night time crossing of Fryingpan Shoals.

Today's picture is of an interpreter at Fort Sumter who demonstrated how to load and fire a musket. He swore that contrary to popular belief, he is not a Civil War Veteran.