Charleston #1

Our destination after all the anchoring was Charleston, SC. 

A couple we met at Jekll Island recommended eating Shrimp and Grits at Hominy Grill.  I started out with one of my favorite drinks, a Bloody Mary.  To my surprise, instead of a celery stick, it came with a pickled okra!  Very Southern and good!

This is my favorite dish - Shrimp and Grits!  In the background of this photo is the appetizer they brought to each table, boiled peanuts.  I enjoy them, Ed doesn't like them.  It's an acquired taste, I believe.

After our delicious lunch, we walked to a wonderful bead store, Beads on Canon.  I had a great time browsing and picked up a few beads to play with.  This was a great bead store with 2 floors worth of beads!  We missed it the first time we were in Charleston.  I wasn't going to miss it again.  As it turned out, it was just a block away from the restaurant!  Ed had no way of getting out of it this time!  Actually, he's a great companion on these excursions when we are sightseeing.  The ladies in the shop couldn't believe how patient he was!  They gave him a piece of chocolate for his effort!
I'll post what I make after they're done. 

After our shopping expedition, we were met by our friends Bill and Lisa.  I emailed Bill when we knew we were heading into Charleston and invited him and Lisa to come down and join us here like they did when we headed South.  We weren't sure if they could make it, though, because of Lisa's work.  To our delight, Lisa just happened to have taken this particular week off, and they were looking for something to do. They decided to come down to Charleston!  The only difference from the previous trip was that this time they'd both leave to go home, whereas on the first trip, Bill stayed on the boat with us and Lisa drove home alone.

We did a bit of walking around Charleston. 

 This was a beautiful, old church.  We didn't go inside, though.

I loved the alleyways and roadways with the brick pavements!

For dinner that night we went to a restaurant that we went to on that first trip, Amen Street.  It was just as good as I remembered it!

 

 

                                                          
This is the coolest bridge!  Only saw it from afar on our first time to Charleston.  We got to go on it on this trip!

The four of us went to the Boone Hall Plantation.  What a beautiful place.  Alot was learned from this tour.  The docents had the talent to make their talk fun and educational.

This is the 4th rendition of the main house.  The original one was not this formal.  After the movie, Gone with the Wind, people expected Southern plantations to look just like Tara, so the newer house took on that look.   The present owner so wants people to see how the people lived years ago that she lets tours be given of the first floor.  When she is in town, she lives on the second floor.  Her brother is the manager of the whole place.

This is the front path to the mansion.  We were told that this is the most photographed!

The Stables

This beauty was my favorite!  He stood by the fence and took in all the pets he could get!

 

 There were several absolutely amazing horses on the grounds!  These horses are well taken of for polo games!

These were the homes of the skilled slaves.

A very large Oak Tree over 200 years old with lots of Spanish Moss.  I was happy to learn that the Moss was not a parasite to the tree.  They lived in harmony.

Bill and Lisa

You Know Who!

We were waiting to get into the tour of the mansion.

Some of the outside gardens around the plantation.
 

 We took a train ride around what was left of the 700 or so acres of property.

Wild Turkeys we saw along our ride.

More of Charleston next..........

Dahu River

Our next leg of the journey was to the Dawho River to anchor another night.  We got there, but found that it was not a favorable place to anchor.   It was too deep for us and not well protected from the winds.  So we traveled further north and found another spot about an hour or so away.  This wasn't an easy place to find just that right point to anchor, but we managed.  By this time we were concerned about finding any anchoring area!

The weather through all of this was cold, so we enjoyed a nice hot lunch:

Can of Campbell's beef soup - hmm, hmm good!

We were rewarded after this challenging anchoring with an absolutely beautiful sunset!

Charleston next.........we're back..........!

Factory Creek, SC, just outside of Beaufort, SC

After our unexpected and spontaneous stay at the Isle of Hope Marina, we traveled North all day.  

I was amazed at how big this boat was and by the load that was on it!

Salacia on the move

Dolce Vita also on the move.  Salacia is bigger and we could not keep up with them.

Again, we saw the Pinta and the Mina!

axxx

                                                       

Before sunset we anchored in Factory Creek, SC.  This is located just outside of Beaufort, SC.  It turned out that Salacia and Dolce Vita anchored very close to each other.  We had Jim and Louise over for dinner that night.  We grilled our last steaks.  Louise brought over the most delicious salad with her homemade salad dressing!  We had a yummy and delightful meal together!

Next.........Off to the Dahu River then....oops......not a good anchorage........

Isle of Hope, SC

We were on our way to Isle of Hope Marina just to get fuel, water and a pumpout. 

Luminescents in the water - Could have been Portuguese Man-of-war

 

On our way to the marina.

  




 Some very beautiful scenery around the marina.

Our surprise?     As we were getting gas in the boat, someone was calling my name........it was our friend, Louise!  Her and her husband, Jim, were docked there.  Our plans then changed, we took a slip so we could be with them.  We haven't seen them since January, first in Oleta State Park, and then in Bimini!  We borrowed the courtesy car from the marina and went to dinner. It was such an unexpected treat to see them again!

Louise and Jim's boat, Salacia

 

 Both of us stayed over that night and left the next day.  I was so glad we stopped at this marina!

 

My friend, Valerie, asked me to make her a pair of blue earrings.  These are the earrings I made.

 

 

Next on our journey..........Anchoring in Factory Creek, near Beaufort, SC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Georgia

As you can see, I have some catching up to do.  Guess it's because we are at the end of our excursion, our blogging has slowed way down.  I will continue, though!

For the remainder of our trip, I will mostly post photos and captions.  Photos tell the best stories anyway!

We went to Jekyll Island, GA.  (no there's no Mr. Hyde!)  

Our marina:

Restaurant at the marina

     The pool

The back.

A beautiful sunset!

A manatee behind our boat eating algae from the bottom of the dock.

Little Bit who lived on the boat across from us and would jump on our boat to say "hi" to us.

Jekyll Island had the best bike trails on any of the islands we visited!  We were able to go to the other end easily using these trails.

Ed on his bike.  This was the largest house owned at one time by Mr. Jekyll.  This is where famous and wealthy people would go to vacation in years back.  Rockefeller, for one, had a house close by.

Me on a bike!  What one can do when one puts their heart and soul into it!  Those "I can't do it" words were creeping in, but, I was determined!

A Sea Turtle Center

Charlie - a loggerhead turtle

This and the turtle below were just rescued the day before.  They were suffering from dehydration as of this picture.  They were taking blood samples and doing other tests to determine what else may be wrong.

Lunch Time

Went into a beach shopping area and there was a store called Life Is Good.  Since Ed signs off on his blog - Life is Good - we had to go in and he bought himself a Life is Good hat.

Continue on to Isle of Hope.........we were in for huge surprise.......!