Monday, November 5 (Still in Beaufort):

            Yesterday turned out to be a really nice day here considering our dramatic entrance into this marina the day before!   Royal Landing Marina has a little restaurant, and we went there for dinner Saturday night and sat out under the stars surrounded by trees with Spanish moss hanging all about.  Bob ordered a crab cake sandwich, I got a burger, which was really good, and we sat there and listened to the band that was playing country/folk music.  It was a great way to unwind from the day’s events, but the beer also helped! 

            The tides here are really something!  Most of the marinas in these parts have floating docks, which are attached to a main pier by a ramp that rises up and down with the tide.  With a tidal range here of about 8’ to 10’, the ramp can get kind of steep at low tide.  I am going to try to insert a picture here of the piling next to our boat showing all the shellfish-like critters that attach themselves to the piling and grow there – also a picture of the ramp.  Trust me on this – you don’t want to have too much to drink and then negotiate your way back to your boat.  Hey don’t get me wrong – we didn’t do that!  No – I’m serious!

Critters growing on the pilings 

Looking up the ramp to the main pier

Looking down the ramp

            Sunday morning, after breakfast, we sat down and planned the next week’s itinerary.   Now, Bob assured me (and his sister – so I have a witness) before we left home that we would not have to go out in the ocean on our way down to Florida.  So just when I am starting to feel more confident, and that I might survive this trip and actually look back on fond memories (yada yada yada), Bob informs me that WE HAVE TO GO OUT IN THE OCEAN!  THIS IS NOT PART OF MY AGENDA!  I thought I got part of an agenda here – I guess I was WRONG.  Yes, folks, at St. Andrew Sound in Georgia we have to stick our little noses out into the ocean.   And the Waterway Guide says, “Do not go out there if it is rough! Go at slack tide, etc., etc., etc!”  Put down the scary novel you all are reading, and read page 364 of the Waterway Guide if you really want to stay awake at night.  And I never exaggerate – never!  But you all knew that, right?  YIKES!  Well, more on that later…

            So after that informative bit of news, we decide to take the marina’s courtesy car and drive into Beaufort.  The people here are so nice and have told us that since no one else has requested the car (it’s actually a Ford F-150) we can keep it for as long as we want.  It’s a very short drive (five minutes) and we park at the waterfront.  As we are trying to figure out how to pay the parking kiosk, someone yells, “Free on Sunday!”  Well, that’s a plus, and the lady that has informed us of that is running the carriage ride stand, so we check that out and consider signing up for a carriage ride through the historic district after lunch.  Actually, the whole place is a historic district.  The dockmaster from the marina has recommended a restaurant called Plum for lunch, so we go there and get a table on the porch.  Bob has a turkey wrap, and I order a spinach salad – both delicious.  It is a warm, sunny, not a cloud in the sky day.  After lunch we opt for the carriage ride, which turned out to be a great choice.  Beaufort is rich in history spanning a period of over 300 years.   Our horse, Jake, clipped clopped along for over an hour while our guide gave us one of the most informative talks I have ever listened to with a story about every one of the houses, the people who lived in them, and other historic buildings and churches, and historic events.  I would highly recommend this activity to anyone who visits this lovely town.

            After the fun stuff, we went grocery shopping, then back to the boat.  We have plans to leave in the morning and head for Thunderbolt, so it’s shrimp and rice for dinner, some TV and cards, then hit the sack.  But then the thunderstorms start…

            Sometime during the night I wake up and hear the wind howling.  In the morning, it is foggy, the wind is whipping up, and the boat is rocking around in the slip.  We make the decision not to go anywhere and stay here another day – besides, if you stay here a third day, it’s free.  So Bob is happy about that!  We may have to stay here a couple more days, and we have to time our passage through Field’s Cut at high tide, so we may have to rework our itinerary for the week.  One good bit of news – we finalized our reservation at Cocoa Village Marina in Florida where we plan to leave the boat when we return home for the Christmas holiday, and Bob told them to expect us about November 20.  Yikes!  It’s hard to imagine we will be at our first “final” destination in two weeks. 

            That’s it for now – we are going to have lunch and then decide how to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening.  Right now, the wind is calming down just a bit, the sun finally came out, and it may turn out to be nice after all.  I’ll admit that when I woke up this morning to rain, wind, and fog, I thought it would be a good idea to check out the real estate ads here.