May 13-16, 2014 Georgetown, SC

Since we arrived early in the day on Tuesday, squared away the boat and headed into town for lunch. Georgetown is a small town on a short river off of the Wacamaw River. There is a steel mill, paper mill and a large tourist business. We ate at Thomas Café, where the locals eat and "everybody knows your name". We were the only "strangers" in the place. Ger had his "Shrimp and Grits" again and Judie had her best burger of the trip. Here is a little info on the city and clock tower.

 

 

After lunch we headed to the "Rice Museum". We never realized the amount of rice grown in this part of the South. In 1850, 40% of the Worlds rice was shipped from Georgetown! There were 150 plantations on the River going north and close to 500 in the county. It all went away with the end of slavery after the war, but did much for Georgetown prior to that. The water management technology came mostly from the slaves who raised rice in their native Angola, Africa. Machine Milling was added by the local folks. Could not take photo's except for these of the recovered boat used to hall rice and supplies to and from the plantations.


Note small model inside salvaged boat.

We then headed to the Maritime Museum for more history lessons. Ship-building was also a local business as there was much Cyprus, Oak and Old Pine in the area, and Georgetown was a popular Atlantic port as the water runs deep from bank to bank in the river.

The ship Henrietta being loaded.

Lumber strapped to the deck during shipment

Next it was our typical carriage tour - this time pilled by a Jeep. Georgetown houses are not as large as Savannah, nor as fancy as Charleston, but represent the smaller towns in SC.

The house below was built for VP Aaron Burr's daughter.

Indigo was a big crop before rice. Most of the product was shipped to England to dye military uniforms - thus we have "Navy Blue". There is still and Indigo Society that meets in this building and is a service organization to Georgetown.

Next day, Wednesday, Ger sent some Fed-X packages to AZ Dept. of Motor Vehicles and to the Honda dealer in Daytona trying to wrap up the on-going saga of buying a car out of state and while traveling. Then a bicycle run to the hardware and grocery stores. After lunch at The Old Fish Store (She crab soup was great) we toured the County Museum (again no pictures) and furthered our knowledge of rice, boats, and people. This is really a fascinating little community and if any of you get close - it is worth at least a day of exploring.

 

We decided to spend another day here - weather was turning bad and no need to cruise in thunderstorms. Judie did some laundry, Ger hit the grocery store, we cleaned house a little, and hit Wild Fish for lunch and a few cocktails. Received over 2" of rain and it continued well into the evening.

May 12-13, 2014 Charleston to Georgetown

Charleston to Georgetown. Celebrate your successes - and we did this day. We were away from the dock at 7:25 with no assistance from the local dockhands - they don't come to work until 8:30! Judie was great on the lines and Ger patient on the controls. Judie took some sunrise photo's as we left and got this beautiful glow!

 

This was a warm day as the wind turned to the SSE behind us and temps rose to the upper 80's. We had the tide for and against us all morning as we passed many smaller inlets to the Ocean. Judie was sitting on the bow in late afternoon when she saw a large turtle surface just off the starboard bow.

Lower level is flood protection -  just storage.

What were they thinking?

Hurricanes are hell!

Is this really 5 stories high?

Look close to see the seagulls - the 6-8 foot deep channel at low tide is so small that we grind up food for them. All boats we saw had birds follow them in this stretch of the ICW.

 

 

We were against the tide all afternoon, and stopped after 49 miles to anchor in the South Santee River just west of the ICW. Wind was blowing 15-20 mph at this time and there was little shelter for the trees that are few and far between. Anchor continues to do a fabulous job and the wind finally let up about sunset. We had a great supper of steak, baked potato and salad (needed to start the generator to bake the potatoes).

 

Next day was a gentle morning breeze as we watched local crab men check their pots while we ate breakfast. A little fog made for a peaceful and beautiful start for the day.

 

Passed a car-ferry that seems not to get too much use. Looks like some folks park and go across to another vehicle.

Our second encounter with tugs and barges - they know to stay clear of me!

 

We arrived in Georgetown at Harborwalk Marina after a quick 17 mile day - two and a half hours. Fuelled up and emptied the holding tank. We went 277 miles since last fill up; burned 1.84 gallons per hour; got 3.45 miles per gallon; and this includes the fuel for the generator. Anybody want to trade fuel bills?



May 9-11, 2014 Charleston SC

Charleston, SC: As we arrived early in the day - about 10:30; we quickly squared the boat away, had some lunch, took quick showers and headed to the Visitor's Center. We caught a 2:30 shuttle bus tour and began to get re-acquainted with Charleston. (Last stop of towns that we have visited in the past).

Charleston is a great mix of different architecture for houses and lots and lots of churches. One style of home we particularly like is a home built "sideways" on a narrow lot. As the pictures show, it is built 1 room wide and porches down the side with an external stair to upper floors. These homes caught the breeze as it traveled between houses and each room had front and back windows for good ventilation. The single door indicated privacy, as this was a single family home. Another good thing is that people were taxed by the width of  their house and this saved money.

One room wide.

Private entrances.

The university of Charleston is located right downtown. Mostly a non-vehicle accessible campus but Ger really liked this passing view of the main "street".

 

 

There are lots of Churches in Charleston and thought we would share a few.

 

And many neat houses....

Did Obama move south?

Look at the labor that went into this 200 years ago!

We now see brick clad houses..

The salmon house on Battery Street (overlooks Ft. Sumter). Real estate taxes are reported to be $80,000 per year!



Rope detail around the door indicates a seafaring man lived here.

The lion is actually a decorative cap over structural plate and cables used to support the house after an earthquake. "1/4 turn per month and the house would be straight in 3 years!"  Listen up California.

 

After the tour we walked down the street, and across from the main fire station, had some good down-home cooking at "Justine's Kitchen". Judie had fried chicken and Gerry had fried oysters with okra and cold slaw. Then a cab back to the marina and some rest. Our boat is so far away in the picture below - can't be seen.

 

 

 



Saturday we visited the Downtown Market; four blocks long and full of local merchants and their works. We did some early Christmas Shopping before grabbing lunch at the Charleston Crab House where we enjoyed King and Queen Crab claws, Shrimp, mussels, sausage, potatoes and corn - along with soft drinks. Then walked to the Harris-Teeter grocery store for some much needed shopping before calling the marina for a ride back.

 

 

Happy Mothers Day (as applicable) to all those reading this; hope the rest did not forget! We slept in a little before heading to town for brunch at "Another Broken Egg". The last time we were here, this was a French restaurant with wonderful she-crab soup. After breakfast, we took a quiet stroll to the waterfront and headed back to the boat. Judie did LOTS of laundry while Ger tried to  blogg and got totally frustrated with the wifi service, which is why we are so far behind. He was not happy and Judie knew it; Sorry!

Neat window

Most carriages are pulled by mules in Charleston

Kids love to play in water on hot and muggy days.

People migrating to the park to read, rest, and celebrate the day. good to see the high usage of a beautiful place.

Lots of detail in this wood roofing/siding.