Laying Low in the Low Country
06 May 2020 | Charleston, SC
Stacey Meadows
Delfina is on the move! With great ocean sailing weather, we sailed from St. Augustine to Brunswick, GA and anchored in St. Simon's Sound. The Golden Ray, a 600 foot cargo ship that ran aground and spilled 4,000 cars into the Sound has been on its side since September 2019. It remains in the channel, and is being dismantled piece by piece.
Despite our desire to visit Savannah, the weather was great for overnight sailing, and so we pushed on to Charleston in variable winds, and dropped anchor near the South Channel Range at 02:00. A slip was waiting for us at the Charleston City Marina, and we pulled in just after noon. We walked to town in sweltering heat and it was truly surreal to see the deserted streetscape. The last time we were here in November, 2019, the streets were bustling with tourists. Most businesses are still closed as a result of COVID-19. A few restaurants just began offering outdoor, with socially distanced tables, hand sanitizer and wait staff wearing gloves and masks. This will be the new normal. We stopped for refreshing cocktails at Sipango, which offered drink specials for Cinco de Mayo. People seemed to be venturing out tentatively.
We headed down King St. to check out the expanded version of our favorite restaurant, 167 Raw. It was offering a take out menu and Jack remembered us from our last visit in November, 2019 when we were on our way south. Our dinner was fabulous-the best homemade taco chips ever with ceviche, ahi tuna tacos, a carnitas taco for Christoph and a Caribbean fish sandwich. We brought it all back to the boat and feasted.
With strong winds expected off shore, we are likely going to continue toward Georgetown on the ICW. There are bridges for which we require low tide and shallows for which we require high tide, which is why we prefer to go outside whenever we can. In the meantime, we are taking advantage of being in a marina to wash down the boat and charge up all our devices.