Winter in Charleston

Mar 8 thru Mar 11

—Blogpost written by Bob

Friday, March 8

The sky was overcast and it was 57 degrees outside in the morning, on its way to 68 degrees by the afternoon.  A warming trend is working its way into the low country.  Overcast skies are great for outdoor photography--so, I thought that I would take some photographs around the marina today before the clouds dissipate.

We park our bikes on the pier next to our boat
when not is use.  These have added a whole
new dimension to our winter in Charleston.

Bikes stored on the bow of another
sailboat under custom covers.

The prettiest exterior teak in the marina.  The
person who did this finish really knows
what they are doing.  They had to
use a stain to get the shades of 
the different pieces of teak 
this consistently dark.

A pair of winches on an Amel 55.

Dorade vents on a classic sailboat. (You
can see ICW channel markers
in the background.)

Dual stainless steel anchors on the
bow of an Oyster 65.

I saw a couple jellyfish in the marina in 
the morning--this is probably what 
plugged up my raw water 
intake earlier this week.

Overall, boats in Charleston are not up to the quality and maintenance standards typical in Annapolis.  However, there are a few exceptions and most of them seem to be from Newport RI and are here for the winter.

Saturday, March 9

Finally, the weather got warmer again--it was 67 degrees at 8:30 AM and headed for 78 degrees by the afternoon.  Maggie is on her way home, driving a rental car from Sarasota FL.  My big job for the day was to clean up the boat and then start preparation for bottom paint on the dinghy.  I got the boat all cleaned up and then waited for Maggie to arrive.  She arrived shortly after 3 PM.  

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While I was waiting for Maggie I worked on our plan traveling back to Baltimore.  I had to spend more time in some places so that the tide schedule was acceptable.  Specifically, the high tide had to be a time of day that was good for our traveling through some of the bad ocean inlets in North Carolina.  Also, I wanted to go up the Cape Fear River on a rising tide, as opposed to going against the flow which can be as great as 3 knots at times.

We went out for an early dinner (5 PM) at Mellow Mushroom in Avondale (across the Ashley River) and had pizza--the pizza was better than the Mellow Mushroom in Charleston for some reason.

The reflection of the sunset from the
water inland of the marina
on March 9.

Sunday, March 10

Well, I didn't turn my watch forward for daylight savings time last night and I automatically woke up an hour earlier than normal.  Besides my unchanged internal alarm clock, the position of the sun (or more likely, hungry cat bellies) had something to do with it too.

It remained relatively warm overnight (low 60's) and I didn't hear the heater come on at all.  When I woke up it was already 69 degrees outside, headed to a high of 85 degrees for the day.  The sky was clear and the sun was shining brightly with a 12-knot southerly breeze.  It seemed like a beautiful day awaited us.


We got a lot done today!  We emptied the solids container for composting toilet, scraped and painted the dinghy bottom, and went out for lunch at East Bay Deli in Avondale.

In this photo, the first bottom coat on the dinghy
is almost done.  It was completed later in
the day.  There is one more coat
to go before we leave in
about 3 weeks.

Lola plays outside by the
mast as we work.

By 4 PM the outside temperature was in the 80's and our work for the day was done--we moved inside in the boat's cool air conditioned cabin for happy hour.

Monday, March 11

It was relatively warm outside during the night and we woke to a brief rain shower and an overcast sky.  The morning rain shower quickly cleared up but the overcast sky remained for most of the day.  Sporadic light rain showers and infrequent periods of sunshine were the order of the day.

Our first objective for the day was to refill one of our propane tanks while we still had the rental car.  We got the tank refilled at the True Value Hardware store in Mount Pleasant and they didn't even look at the tank's recertification date that I worked to make more legible.

Our second objective for the day was to celebrate my birthday by having lunch at Leon's, the very hip oyster and chicken restaurant which has become one of my favorite restaurants.  However, we changed our mind at the last minute and went to Poe's Tavern on Sullivan's Island.

The sandwiches on the lunch menu at Poe's Tavern
were named after Poe's many short stories
like The Black Cat, The Gold Bug, etc.

We ate lunch while seated on the front porch,
protected from a light rain shower that
was occurring at the time.

One of the many Poe paintings
that hang on the walls
in the tavern.

So, we really only got one of our day's objectives done today--there's always tomorrow.  Stay tuned for more of our Charleston winter adventure...


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