We lingered over breakfast on Friday morning waiting for the tide to rise enough for our passage through the shallow Isle of Palms area. Even though the channel is well marked there have been numerous reports of groundings this fall and we didn't want to be another statistic. Just as we approached the 2 mile shoaling stretch a small trawler passed us and gave us depth readings as he proceeded us through the area. Since we were on the second half of the rising tide all went well and in no time we were safely through and proceeded on to The Charleston Marina.

Usually we anchor off the marina but the tidal currents are strong and we knew we would be leaving Dagny unattended while visiting Debbie so, we elected to go into the marina. As it turned out it was a good move, we were able to run our central heat on shore power as nighttime lows dipped to 5 c. The Charleston City Marina is home to the 1600' long Mega Dock; they had us moor on the outside of the dock where Dagny was dwarfed by several boats over 90' . To give you an idea of how over the top some yachts are, the aft area of one upper deck carried 3 motorcycles, 2 seadoos a couple of kayaks and the tender had 2 250hp outboards. It's always fun to wander the docks and admire the wide variety of boats from various ports of call.

Debbie had invited us for dinner at her new house and like any transient boater understands the priorities when arriving ashore. So with a full bag of dirty clothes we headed of to her house for a tour of her new home, a nice relaxing dinner and, of course, an evening of laundry. Her new home is beautiful, a well laid out single story house in a new development that has all the amenities.We made a date to take Debbie for lunch Saturday followed by a leisurely walk around the historic city center but as always, there were chores to get done to prepare for the next leg. Once the oil change was done, groceries bought and propane tanks filled we were off. Like most visits it was too short but we're certainly glad we stopped and I think Abby was happy to see us too. However, it's time to get moving towards warmer weather but hope to be able to stop in the spring, weather permitting of course.

Today's picture is of one of our docks mates returning from an evening cruise. Bev and I are a little concerned that our invitation got lost in the mail.