The cable stayed Arthur Ravenel bridge at Charleston from the canal as we near Charleston Bay.
We were awhile moving into our condo in Sarasota. Takes longer than moving out, it seems. We flew back to Charleston, spent an extra day there and then spent the next day on a slow drive to Brookgreen Gardens. We spent the afternoon there, checked into a nearby hotel and spent much of the next day there as well. Then we drove on to the boat at Little River.
Star Gazer (left) on the megadock at Charleston City Marina
A park along the river on the way to Beaufort SC.
We scheduled a bunch of yearly medical & dental appointments in mid October in Sarasota, so we still will have to temporarily return to Sarasota for that. In the meantime we decided to proceed on down the ICW or open ocean, depending on weather, to Brunswick Landing Marina just before the Florida border. Our insurance is considerably cheaper because we agree to keep Star Gazer out of Florida from June 1 through November 1 each year. That is when hurricanes are most likely to strike, and they strike most in Florida and the southern gulf states. So we’ll again leave the boat, take the 5 hour drive from Brunswick to Sarasota for the appointments and be back to Brunswick to go south in the boat on November 1.
Typical ICW home with long pier on the way to Beaufort
On our way to Brunswick we stopped at
- Harborwalk Marina in downtown Georgetown on the 24th,
- Charleston City Marina on the 25th,
- Downtown Marina at Beaufort SC on the 28th, and
- Morningstar Marina at Savannah on the 29th.
Paris Island as we leave Beaufort. We skirt its southern tip, to left.
With only one night in Georgetown and Beaufort we managed to eat at our favorite restaurants, both Italian and both a short walk from the marina. We had just celebrated Sue’s birthday in downtown Charleston the day after we flew into its airport a few days ago, so this time we had a down day there along with another one downtown.
On the way to Savannah a very long dredging pipeline starts. We should have gone to its left, but we picked right. We barely made it through at other end.
In Savannah we walked River St, took a “trolley” tour toured two museum homes again, the Owen Thomas and Andrew Low houses. We also visited their maritime museum. It rates near the one at Annapolis for well done ship models. It only has models of ships that were closely related to Savannah, but this encompasses a wide variety in both early and recent history. In early times Savannah was a major US seaports and presently it is the 4th busiest US container port. Of all the southern coastal cities I think Savannah is still our favorite.
Jack & Sue 