Tuesday May 3rd, Charleston SC
On our way in to Charleston we heard "Savage Son" hail the City Marina so we knew that they were in the area and that we'd have to look them up. We arrived at the pier head at 11 a.m. and made our way across the harbor and up the Ashley River to the Marina. The wind had piped up to about 25 by then and the current was ripping, so getting ourselves tied up was a challenge but with some help we made it without incident.
A homeland security agent walked by Steve as he was tying up "Fine Lion" so our check-in was fast and easy. After a trip to the office to check in we returned to the boat to arrange things for "coastal" operation. Later in the afternoon we tracked down the "Savages" and spent a few hours with them catching up. Eventually we all went in to Salty Mike's for a dinner of bar food....easy but maybe not the best choice.
May 4th
After the first good night's sleep in about a week, we were up late for coffee. Kathy organized our dirty laundry for washing and I ran a few errands before heading up to meet everyone for breakfast. The laundry is in the same building so it is very convenient. The restaurant here has the best low country breakfasts in town....we all ate so much that we could barely get back to the boats with the our clean clothes.
At 11 we caught the van to West Marine to pick up a few things and then did some shopping at the grocery store next door before heading back to the boat. Kathy, Kim and Bev walked into town in the afternoon to shop...while I washed the boat and filled our tank with water. I worked on the computer for a while and boiled some shrimp to cool for dinner.
The ladies returned a little later that expected but had a good time and undoubtedly needed some time away.
May 5th...
In the morning while working on the computer, Kathy discovered that our cell phone service was changing from Verizon to ATT and that if we didn't take some fast action we were going to be without service on May 13. Luckily, our brother-in-law D P was able to spend some time running around in Michigan to overnight a phone to us here in Charleston. We had to return the new phone they had sent us in Michigan before they would give us a new one. Anyway.... after hours on the phone, Kathy got things settled and we trust that everything will turn out for the best.
During all this, I made a return trip to the grocery store to pick up more shrimp and a few other items forgotten yesterday. We had a light lunch and then walked to town with Bob and Bev for some sightseeing and a little shopping. At 4:00 we met Steve and Kim at Pearlz ...our favorite oyster bar, and spent a few hours there working through, oysters, steamed mussels, wedges of lettuce smothered with blue cheese, shooters, soft shelled crab, a tasty dessert consisting of cinnamon, nuts, ice-cream and hard sweet cake of some kind. It was an afternoon that we'd been looking forward to for a long time and we made the most of it... We spend at least an afternoon there twice a year and since the staff doesn't seem to every change they all remember us and go out of their way to make sure that we have a great time.
On their way Steve and Kim stopped at a kitchen store and noticed that their adjoining teaching kitchen was offering a class tomorrow on "Shrimp and Grits" so on our way home we returned and Steve and I signed up. It should be a blast. I've been researching the dish.... which is famous here in the low country, but have yet to perfect the taste and texture...
We made a few more stops and finally called the marina van to pick us up for the trip back. It was in the 50's by then and way colder than we are used to ...