Updated on December 6, 2016
Impressions from Beaufort SC (November 21-25 2016)
Bu-fort, as they say in South Carolina, was a pleasant surprise. It was small, certainly in comparison to Charleston, but just as quaint, and old, and not nearly so crowded. We stayed at the marina (maybe the lack of a dinghy ride had something to do with the pleasantness) and all the interesting historical and tourist stuff was within easy walking distance.
Here is where we were greeted with an abundance of moss draped, live oak trees (Elena still insists they are not real oak trees despite my protestations.) as well as palm trees along the waterfront.
At the dock, We joined the 104 foot, Trumpy designed yacht Freedom, built in 1926, and recently completely refurbished—a true work of art, which made me extraordinarily anxious as we made the approach to the dock to park in front of her.
This is definitely Pat Conroy territory (Conroy is the author of “The Great Santini” and “Prince of Tides” and several other books related to this area of South Carolina as well as scenes from “Forrest Gump”.
Elena specifically liked the place because before it was Beaufort, the Spanish had named it “Santa Elena”.
While the weather window was open on Wednesday and beyond, Elena did not want to be underway on Thanksgiving, so we stayed an extra couple of days.
On Wednesday, using the vehicle provided by the marina, we made a “victuals” run to the Bi-Lo food store and a logistics run to West Marine for boat stuff.
For our Thanksgiving dinner we had a “Mediterranean” pizza of shrimp, crab, and lobster.
Maintenance conducted: We fixed the stern light. The grounding wire had a loose butt connection. Elena put in a new one, including crimping and heat shrinking the connector.
We worked on fixing a fussy shower and performed a periodic acid cleaning of the Electrosan sewage treatment system.
We topped off on fuel and water on Thanksgiving Day and departed on Friday 25 May for Florida. Magically, the generator started working after being out of commission for almost all the time since we left Deltaville on October 25th and so I can say we have much to be thankful for.
Despite a four hour trip up the Port Royal Sound and the Beaufort River, this is definitely a stop on the return trip.