Doing the Charleston

The Charleston City Marina contrasts sharply with Georgetown's shabby Harborwalk Marina. This is truly a "megayacht" marina with facilities capable of handling the largest cruisers. We never considered Live Now diminutive, but she pales in comparison with the yachtasoris's that surround her. Uniformed dock hands driving golf carts and floating concrete docks wide enough to land a small airplane create an upscale resort-like environment. While not really our style, there are surprisingly few convenient marina options and its location and courtesy van make access to beautiful Charleston easy. Although the marina covers 40 acres and our assigned dock is over 3000' long, the practice here is to squeeze as many boats in as possible. Live Now's 47+ foot length seemed to grow as we attempted to parallel park between two boats barely separated by our boat length. Nevertheless, we muscled our way in. It wasn't pretty but like someone once said about dancing and singing dogs, it's not that they do it well, it's that they can do it all that's remarkable.

Charleston is one of our favorite cities. The wrought iron balconies, gardens, great restaurants, courtyards and terraces are reminiscent of the New Orleans' French Quarter without the calculated, conspicuous decadence (Charleston is more gentile. I think you have to call a 900 number here for decadence). In cold, clear weather we strolled the narrow live oak lined streets, ate Sunday brunch at the famous Magnolia Restaurant and visited the several block long Old City Market featuring the usual tourist offerings, as well as, the unique 'sweet grass baskets' woven by the descendants of West African Slaves. We also took the opportunity to tour Ft. Sumter National Park located in Charleston Harbor, tour the Nathaniel Russell House and to reprovision. Fog set in Monday morning confounding our departure plans so we took the opportunity to play tourist once again and visit one of the plantations nearby.

The city bus runs out to three plantations in the Charleston area. Based on the promotional literature we had picked Drayton Hall, only to have our minds changed by the vigorous recommendations of the bus driver and the only other passenger. So, off to the Middleton Place plantation, the last stop on the bus line. Middleton proved worthy of their recommendations. A carriage ride through the estate, tour of the big house (a small remnant of the original destroyed by nefarious Yankees and ungrateful former slaves during the Civil War), and the grounds gave you a sense of the wealth and power this family wheeled. The Middleton's owned about 20 estates, hundreds of slaves and were signers of the Declaration of Independence, ambassadors, state governors, and led South Carolina out of the Union in 1861. A reconstruction of a freedman's house on the grounds features an in depth presentation on the life of slaves owned by the Middleton's and provides records of their births, marriages and activities based on the records kept by the family. While the tour emphasizes the accomplishments of the family and the beauty and grandeur of the plantation life for whites, we found at least an acknowledgement of the evils of slavery. Middleton offers an African American tour that explores slavery in greater detail, however, we arrived too late to take part. Visiting Charleston and the plantations emit mixed feelings. The beauty of the architecture and gardens conflict sharply with the knowledge that that beauty was the product of 200 years of slavery and discrimination.

We ended our day with dinner at Hyman's, the best seafood restaurant in town. Hyman, came to our table, introduced himself and recommended menu items. When he found that we were sailing from Rhode Island to the Bahamas, he expressed amazement and brought his restaurant manager grandson over to hear our story. His grandson also has aspirations to sail the world.

Wednesday morning we headed to town to visit the Old Slave Mart Museum. This small museum includes a 1930's recording of a man born into slavery recounting his experiences, details of the slave trade, slave culture and the Black struggle for freedom prior to the Civil War (there were over 200 slave revolts prior to 1860!).

With an apparent 30-40 hour weather window, we plan to head down the coast to Hilton Head Island or Savannah Wednesday around 2:00 PM. Friday's forecast calls for 30 knot winds and we hope to be safely moored in protected waters by Thursday afternoon.