I'm through with everything here. I want peace. I want to see if somewhere there isn't something left in life of charm and grace. Do you know what I'm talking about?….I'm going back to Charleston, back where I belong.

Rhett Butler.  Gone with the Wind

From the Captain

11/9/13 Price Creek to St. Johns Yacht Harbor, Stono River, Charleston, SC, 23nm
11/9-11/14/13 Charleston, S.C.

After a short half day trip. we reached Charleston and the marina where Phil and Nancy are spending the month of November. They have rented a car, so we have access to Charleston and lots of stores. During the time we were here, we visited Costco, Lowe's, Harris and Teeter supermarket, West Marine, and Whole Foods. We visited a nature preserve and hiked around old rice fields. We strolled around at the huge old Charleston Navy Yard, decommissioned in 1996 and now a public park. And we walked around the old part of downtown Charleston and the Charleston waterfront.

Hidden courtyard in Charleston

I loved the old section of Charleston. Beautifully preserved old houses, mostly masonry now after a series of fires in the 19th century, are set closely on well-treed streets. Columned porches, high windows, grand doorways grace the larger places. Hidden courtyards and gardens are revealed to the viewer peering through closed wrought iron gates. Horsedrawn carriages guide tourists to the noteworthy parts of the area. Phil joked that it must be hard for the horse to stand quietly listening to the same old jokes day after day.

The horses exact their revenge of sorts. The areas where they walk are redolent in odor of horse. Clearly, magnolia season has not started yet. The smell adds an aura of authenticity and history to the quietly magnificent area. On the other hand, the parts of the city where the horses don't walk smell rather sweet--there are roses and flowering trees in bloom, even in November.

The architecture and planning in Charleston are remarkable in other ways. We drove right by a Lowe's store and a Costco store, and I didn't know either was there. There are shopping plazas but no large malls. And the plazas are shaded by trees and don't announce themselves to the passers by with typical large roadside signs. There is a decorum here, a tradition that seems to be carried forward from the stately mansions to the modern consumer outlets. It is strip development with a southern charm.

Another aspect of the city's friendly and manageable feel is that there are no skyscrapers. A visitor focuses on the beauty of the architecture, not the wonder of the engineering. You can see the sky and don't feel closed in when you walk down the streets. The tallest building downtown is an ancient hotel on the waterfront. It has been converted to condominiums, and our friends, Craig and Nancy Roskam from Colchester, have a small apartment on the fifth
floor. We visit and admire the view out over the river. There are only two floors above them.

A well known Burlington figure, restauranteur Jack Hurley, has settled with his family in Charleston. He owned the Daily Planet, Black Rose Cafe, and was responsible early on for the restoration of the Old Dock Restaurant in Essex, NY. Now he has a couple successful hot dog stands (Jack's Cosmic Dogs) and a Mexican restaurant (Mex One) here in Charleston. Naturally, we tried both.

Walking in Charleston's Waterfront Park

We strolled around the waterfront and downtown. Of course, we visited the slave market. This is a long, low narrow building with open sides. Here slaves were penned and chained, bought and sold. Now it is an open market with stalls for craftspeople. Several are selling sweetgrass baskets, finely handcrafted in various sizes, that go back to the slave traditions. I bought a small bag of grilling spices from another vendor. In no place I could see was there mention of the original function of the building or the slaves who, directly or indirectly, were responsible for all this: the rice plantations, the fine mansions, the sense of grace.


Interestingly I'm reading in Michener's historical fiction, Chesapeake, about slavery in the time leading up to the Civil War. Eerily foreshadowing much of the political discourse today, the issue was framed as the government's trying to take away personal liberty (the freedom to own slaves), and trampling on the rights of states (to permit slavery). And the government taking away your so-called property (slaves). In a bizarre twist of logic, the southern view, the Civil War was a fight for freedom

Our plan was to leave Charleston on 11/12, but forecasts call for another cold front, more severe than earlier ones, to pass through on 11/12. Our marina is comfortable, friendly, and not too expensive. We sign on for another couple days.

Weather prediction down here seems better than in Vermont. Perhaps this is due to the presence of ocean shipping here or maybe with the ocean nearby, frontal behavior is easier to predict. I have come to trust what I hear from NOAA. They called for strong north winds 25-35 kts for the 24 hour period starting around midnight 11/12. This will continue on the 13th, and low temperature on that day will be around 30 degrees. No sense traveling under those conditions.

Lunch at the Hominy Grill

We wake up on the 13th after a night of howling winds that sound malevolent in the rigging. Temperature in our refrigerator reads 41 degrees, as it usually reads. Temperature in Luna's cabin is 47 degrees. We are daunted to know we share the same decade of temperature with the milk that goes on our Cheerios. But the sun is out, we put the space heater on. We take hot showers in the marina. The commander lights the oven and makes muffins. The cabin is warmer. The day never really warms up much because of the north wind. Phil and Nancy drive us into town, and we have a nice lunch of shrimp and grits, she-crab soup, peas and rice, and extra cheese grits at the Hominy Grill.

Staying here is good in that we're sheltered from the worst of the weather. We are with friends. We can restock. I even get some projects done on Luna. Change the oil and filter. Clean and pump the holding tank. Trouble shoot a sluggish starter motor. Take the outboard engine to a shop for a tune up. Re-fasten the newly sealed mainsheet traveller and seal around parts of the cabin windows.

But then staying put becomes uncomfortable in the sense that Luna seems no longer a character in our lives here. She has become a motel room. And we find ourselves impatient to return to the slow pace of water travel. The hidden wonders around the next bend. The hours of boredom at the wheel when the mind wanders in the stream of consciousness. The occasional periods of panic and action which keep the senses keen and the mind sharp. In Charleston, we are back on land, back in the car, back to a faster pace.

The winds are scheduled to abate by morning, and slack current tomorrow is at 6:38am. It will be cold, but we're hoping to leave early before the strong tidal current keeps us pinned here for another 6 hours. We will be heading back down the ICW toward Georgia.

Luna in the background at St. John's Yacht Harbor, Charleston