Break in Baltimore

On Friday I returned to Baltimore for the weekend, mainly to attend Ben's Enoch Pratt library presentation for his latest book (7 Wonders)

Ben, Tonya, Arya and Asher came in on Saturday and we had a great time touring Baltimore, enjoying the park on top of federal hill

The view of Baltimore from Federal Hill

Ben and Arya

And eating way too much

Ben's presentation was excellent and Molli and I were appropriately proud

The library created a great poster for the event

Jon and Ben

Tlyler got in on the fun

Now I'm at the airport, awaiting a flight back to Charleston. 

Bruce Gregory and his friend George will arrive this afternoon and we'll plan our departure to Miami

Fort Sumter

Thursday morning we toured Fort Sumter.

The fort is on a man made island, created shortly after the war of 1812, when the country realized that they need better defenses for the harbors along the coast. The fort wasn't quite finished when South Carolina seceded from the Union - prompted by the election of Abraham Lincoln - and the one small federal brigade that was stationed in Charleston found themselves isolated on this island fort, surrounded by 4 other forts well staffed with new confederate soldiers. The fort was bombed by all of the surrounding forts and withstood the attack for 2 days untill they finally surrendered and left for NY. 

Over the next year the Union forces launched several attacks to regain the fort but failed, and they finally set up batteries on the surrounding shoreline and over the next 2 years simply bombed the fort into rubble. The Union army also set iup cannons aimed at Charlestoln and began bombing the city, causing considerable damage.

The city was rebuilt, the fort...not so much...some of the structures remain, especially the base of the fort, but it is1/3 as tall as it was, and piles of rubble remain...

it is not at all as nice in any respect as Fort McHenry in Baltimore...curiously, they still fly the confederate flag on this and some of the surrounding forts.

the fort is reached by a ferry which does afford a nice, if cold, ride over

I spent the rest of the day on minor plumbing matters..somehow air is getting into the line, causing occasional bursts and splashes from the faucet, the kind you get after work is done on the water line. I replaced the filtr housing that I installed before the pump, on the theory that it might be leaking and tightened all connections on every hose from the water tank to the sink..but the problem - which is minor - remains...I'm suspecting that the particular type of filter h ousing, which is designed for ousehjold use where the pressure forces air out is the probllem...in my application the pump is after the filter and is sucking air in through a relief valve..I'll try again after I get to miami

Today I fly home to Baltimore and will rerturn on Tuesday to continue the voyage

Touring Charleston

Wednesday was spent touring Charleston. 

After a breakfast at " Fast and French", a small place that serves wonderful croissants and baguettes and delicious cheeses, (I'm hoping Atkins isn't spinning in his grave) we went for a carriage ride around Charleston

The city is small,  and proud of its heritage and is devoted to preservation, so many houses from 200 years ago are still here, well maintained and lived in. Old municipal builtings still stand and appear in good repair. It all makes for great pictures

Our horse and carrieage

The next few images are of the city and federal buildings moslty located near the old market that I showed yesterday

This next image is the original jail designed to actually keepn people for long periods of time. Before that people were jailed till their trial was held and then either released or hung...this new jail was felt to be more progressive!

This is the home of a rice plantation owner. The plantation was in Georgetown but in the summer the plantation owners would escape the malarial swamps (actually the rice paddies) and summer in Charleston...it was hot but there was no malaria (since there were no mosquitos, but they didn't know that

The typical home of the middle class, called a "Charleston Single". It presented a narrow front to the street, with a door that opened onto a porch, and the door to the house was in the middle of the porch. The reason for this design is that taxes were assessed based on the length of the house facing the street, so they put the houses in sideways.

I spent the afternoon on some minor boat tasks..for some reason I had the urge to wash the deck and mop the cabin floor. I then topped off the fuel tank to get ready for the trip to Miami next week. 

In the evening we all went to the Oak Steakhouse which turned out to be a fantastic restaurant, quite, with tables tucked away in corners for privacy, excellent service, awesome stakes and side dishes and a wonderful wine list...and the desserts were awesome...

We slowly walked home and so to bed

This morning I was awakened at dawn by some large boat going by the marina so I just got up and admired the dawn

Today we willl tour Fort Sumter

Tomorrow I fly back to Baltimore and then return to Charleston to meet Bruce Gregory and continue the voyage, either Tuesday or Wednesday

CharlestonP

We arrived at our slip in the Charleston Maritime Marina at 4pm, 10 hours after leaving Georgetown.
I described the harrowing trip out the Georgetown inlet in my previous post and it was much to rough to take any pictures...as I said before, it was all we could to to hold on and steer.
But Hayden did take some great pictures of Priority, one on the Waccamaw rive just before getting to Georgetown and a nice picture out on the ocean south of the inlet. Despite the waves, this was the calm part of the trip! To be honest, on this part of the trip out on the ocean, what with the gentle rocking, the hum of the engines and the sun warming the cockpit..I believe I fell asleep several times. Thank goodness for the autopilot!

This is Priority coming down the Waccamaw river, just above Georgetown

Priority on the high seas...

When we got into our slip, after hosing down the boat to wash off some of the salt (I promise I will wash the boat with soap and water one of these days), we gathered on Island Spirit to celebrate our arrival and the culmination of my single handing the boat from Baltimore to Charleston, including an ocean passage.

raising a glass of Champagne
clockwise from the left: me, Bob, Nina, Radeen, Hayden

The marina is small, with friendly, helpful staff and wonderful views of the Charleston Harbor

Tuesday morning we walked into town (one of the features of this marina is that it is a short walk to the center of Charleston), first stopping for breakfast at a favorite of Haydens (Caviar and Bananas) where they serve their version of bagel and lox (they wouldn't survive in Manhattan) and then down King street, a sort of Newbury street, with hints of Boyleston, and then into the 'Market", where they used to sell slaves, and now sell trinkets and artsy stuff you didn't know you needed

Entrance to the market

A view down the street from  the front of the market

Today I hope to see the Battery, perhaps take a carriage tour of Charleston, and perhaps a ferry over to tour Fort Sumter

Over the Bounding Main

Our goal today was to travel from Georgetown to Charleston, a distance of about 68 miles (about 10-11 hours by boat). The problem is that there are several shallow areas along the ICW in this region and these must be passed at or near high tide. At low tide you'll simply go aground and have to wait for the rising tide to lift you out...which will take several hours. Ifyou get stuck on a falling tide you'll have to wait many hours for the tide to fall and rise again...shooting the entire day.

Someone suggested that perhaps we should go "outside", which means out the Georgetown inlet to the ocean, head south till the Charleston inlet and then back in again...we looked at the charts and even with the extra distance of going in and out the inlets it's still 68 miles (a direct path rather than winding rivers)

So we did

We cast off at 6am - dawn - about 45 minutes before sunrise but enough light to see well.

Leaving Georgetown at dawn

heading out towards the inlet, following Island Spirit

 While in  the inlet we passed two ocean going tugs moving a large barge (they said to Connecticut)

Ocean going tugs. Moon Dance and Chris-Lea (Rich Fieldhouse's boat) getting ready to pass

We were going along pretty good down the inlet, the current was with us at 3 knots, giving us a speed of nearly 9 knots over the ground and we were feeling good till we hit the ocean..then we encountered a 15 knot breeze going the opposite direction of the 3 knot current which set up impressive waves...We were tossed and turned, bucked up and down but the boats just kept going and all I could do was hang on and steer..we couldn't turn around cause we might capsize in these waves...the only thing to do is face them head on...so we did for about 1/2 hour, with waves crashing over the deck, the boat dropping from one wave onto another,  till we passed a jetty that was a wall along one side of the inlet and could turn south  and away from the inlet current..it immediately calmed down

There was still an ocean current (about 1-2 knots) so we were going nearly 7 knots over the ground which is quite good..we were about 3 miles out and had an enjoyable ride down the coast. The wind was in the same direction as the current so there were only the usual ocean swells.

As we neared Charleston a pod of Dolphins came near out boats but they were feeding and weren't interested in us. I tried to get some photos, but they came out poorly

you can almost make out some dolphins near the top of the photo

We arrived at the Charleston inlet at3 pm, 9 hours after setting out but the harbor is so large it took us another hour to get to the marina which is near downtown.

Approaching Charleston, Island Spirit leading the way

A vising aircraft carrier in the harbor

The marina (Charleston Maritime Center) is very nice with very helpful staff (4 people helped me get in and tied up). I hosed down the boat to get some of the salt off and then we all gathered on Hayden and Radeen's boat to celebrate my successful single-handing trip from Baltimore to Charleston. 607 miles, 100 hours of engine time (need to change the oil tomorrow)..all safe and sound and most enjoyable.

My flotilla partners, Hayden and Radeen on Island Spirit and Bob and Nina on Moondance, are great teacher, but in what they did and how they did it and with the advice they were very free with...I learned a lot

But perhaps the most important thing I learned that it is the voyage, and not the destination that is important. They taught me not to rush through the trip, hurrying from one point to another, but to stop and enjoy the towns, the people, the anchorages, everything..great lesson...enjoy and value the voyage!

I'll spend a few days here in Charleston, attending to some tasks on the boat, touring a bit, enjoying some dinners, and then I'll fly home to baltimore for the weekend and for Ben's evening at the Enoch Pratt Library which promises to be great fun, made even better because Ben and Tonya and Arya and Asher will be in baltimore for the weekend as well!

Then I"ll fly back to Charleston onTuesday to continue the trip to Miami. Bruce Gregory (and perhaps a friend of his) will join me and we'll leave either Tuesday evening or Wednesday for a 4 day ocean voyage to Coconut Grove, Miami, where a slip awaits for the winter..

Quiet Day in Georgetown

We decided to stay another day in Georgetown to wait till the storm passed. We had initially planned to  head towards Charleston today, anchor out about 15 miles short of Charleston 9in Dewees creek, and then go in early to Charleston, arriving at the Marina around noon. But when we looked at the tide tables we realized that this plan would bring us to a region of shallow water (just before the Ben Sawyer bridge, for those of you looking at charts) just at low tide which meant we wouldn't get through...you have to pass this region on a rising tide (so if you do get stuck you'll float free in a little while). In addition it is suposed to get down near freezing tonight and it would be tough to anchor out and leave this nice marina with the electic cord running to the heater!

So we decided we'd leave earlly tomorrow morning (with  the clock change it starts to get light around 6am) and with any luck we'll get to Charleston before 6 (sundown is around 6:30). We'll see how it all works out. 

So today was a rest day...really.

I went for a late breakfast at a cafe in town where they made a really good omelet. Then I went for a longish walk (about 1.5 miles) to the Piggly Wiggly supermaket on the edge of town...I didn't need anything, just wanted somewhere to walk to...Rich Fieldhouse joined me, for the same reason. 

When I got back I decided to attack an annoying problem we've been having with the sink...somehow air is getting into the line, causing occasional bursts of water, the sort you get after they've been working on the water lines around your house.

So  I uncovered the compartment under the port settee that houses the water pump and filters and noticed that air bubbles were in the line coming from the filter, but not to the filter...then I noticed bubbles in the filter. So I took it all apart, cleaned everythng, greased the O-ring, reassembled it...still had the bubbles...I assume there is a small crack in the lid of the filter that I can't see, allowing air to get sucked in, but above the water level so nothing leaks out. 

A new filter costs $16 so I'll replace it on one of the trips we will take to Miami this winter. 

At 5pm Radeen invited the flotilla (including Rich of course) over to her boat for appetizers. She had more of the Salmon that she had purchased at Costco...really quite good and it goes well with a bit of wine...I had enough of the Salmon that I'll be passing on dinner this evening. 

No pictures, no sunset...hopefullly more tomorrow.

Rainy Day in Georgetown

We had been pretty lucky with the weather this trip...sunny skies, reasonable winds little rain (once we passed Solomon's on the Chesapeake), which enabled all those great sunset views....until today...
It is cold, rainy, windy, more cold (44 degrees this afternoon)...not fun at all.

Walked around town (well bundled in foul weather gear) and toured the rice museum, where I learned about an industry and way of life built on the cheap labor of slaves. It worked great for the plantation owners till those damn northerners butted in in 1865 and ruined the business. I then toured the Georgetown Maritime museum, where I learned about an industry built on the availability of enormous amounts of trees (like the ones I showed in the pictures taken along the Waccamaw river). Initially the trees were cut and shipped to boat builders in Maine, but then some enterprising folk decided to build the boats closer to the source of the wood. It worked fine and some impressive 3 and 4 masted schooners were built, but then the Maine boatbuilders threatened to start buying their wood elsewhere and the entrepreneurs quickly folded, recognizing the profit in cutting and selling wood was greater than that in building boats. Some of them turned to making paper, and some paper mills exist in Georgetown to this day (you can smell them when the wind is right).

After touring the rest of the town (didn't take long...its a small town) I returned to the boat, attended to some minor tasks, including doing the laundry, and then spent the day reading and relaxing.

The flotilla crew went to dinner at the Old Fish restaurant (formerly Big Tuna) and had a fine meal. I had a whole flounder that is prepared in an unusual way...the fish is scored in a grid pattern, then fried and served whole. The scored lines go to the bone and serve to cut the meat into bite sized portions...awesome!

The flounder, with one square removed for tasting...great!

We are still a little up in the air about what to do tomorrow. The winds are predicted to be high in the morning, moderating later in the day. We may just stay here another day and leave on Monday...we'll decide in the morning.

There are no sunset pictures today...sunset was cancelled due to the rain.