This morning, we would be on a rising tide, so it wasn't as critical as to when we left. So we left about 9:30. The worst spot today for depths would be Watts Cut and we made it through there fine. Dave was looking ahead at the rest of the route about 1:00 and discovered that the last bascule bridge (draw bridge) that we had to go through right before Charleston closes at 3:30 everyday because of the high volume of traffic. And it will open on demand after 6:30 IF there is a bridge tender there. So we thought we better high tail it to be sure we made it on time. We actually got there about 2:45 for the 3:00 opening.
After the Elliot Cut with the bascule bride, we entered the Ashley River along with all kinds of water traffic. The historic part of Charleston is on an island with the Ashley River on the west side and the Cooper River on the east side. We were headed to the Charleston Maritime Center Marina on the east side. So we had to round the southern tip of the island and head north along the east side.
We saw what looked like two different sailing classes. One group were in boats that were about 20 feet with 2 sails and 3 people on board. It looked like 2 students and an instructor. The other group was closer to shore. They were in small sailing dinghies with one sail. That's where you really learn to sail. What an opportunity these kids have.
When we rounded the island, there was much more traffic. There were tour boats, ferries, cargo ships, cruise ships and other personal sailboats and power boats. We are back to civilization!
You could also see Ft Sumter, an aircraft carrier that is part of a museum, cargo ships from Singapore and Norway, and a double masted schooner at the end of our pier.
Once we were safely at our dock, we showered and went on a "walk about". We headed for the historic district. There were many restaurants to chose from. We decided on a brewery/smokehouse. We are enjoying sampling BBQ across the south. We enjoyed their brews and shared a BBQ sampler platter. Then we walked around about a 6 block radius and stopped at a tavern for a while and an Irish Pub. At the pub, we met two guys probably in their early 30's that were locals. One had what I would think of as a South Carolina accent, that slow drawl. We enjoyed talking with them and exchanging Ole and Lena jokes for some of their southern jokes. We ended up staying out way past our bedtime.
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| shoreline of Charleston |
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| sharing the waters with the cruise ship |
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| Schooner at our marina |
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| USS Yorktown air craft carrier museum |
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| cargo ship from Singapore |
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| our boat is the second from the right, longest cable-stayed bridge beyond the marina |
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