Charleston- we still love it!

In this photo from the archives, you can see how small the basin is

The Charleston Maritime Center is our affordable choice for being close to downtown Charleston; close as in an easy walk of a few blocks. And if you’ve got two good knees it’s really easy!

The downside to the marina is the small basin is exposed to the east. The three-boat face dock sits parallel to the opening roughly 150ft away. Planning is important to even thinking about a good stay here and an accurate forecast is helpful. We’d hoped to spend three nights but as usual hedged our bets and only paid for two. By day two the forecast clearly warranted due consideration at NNE 10-25 with gusts to 30. No, not going to be pleasant with that stuff blowing into the tiny basin, pushing us and our not-very-beefy fenders into the dock. Even boat wakes can be deadly here. Two huge swells came rolling in, the culprit long gone and we bounced and pressed against the dock hard enough to produce a smack then crunching sound that lasted for 15 seconds. We both got into inspection mode, flashlights and all, but found no cracks or evidence of any damage. Even the huge container ships slide by slow enough to not cause a wake like that.

We enjoyed lunch at A.W. Shucks (get it?) in the heart of downtown. I bravely opted for their special: Steamed Banks Oysters which required such effort that I was glad we’d also ordered She Crab Soup for easy eating. The oysters are harvested locally and they are prehistoric relics, growing in clumps, each oyster rather long and skinny. Tasty, but as you might expect, not much to eat in each.

Bucket of steamed banks oysters.

They steam ’em, you shuck ’em. I got good with practice

We required a post office, which was an easy walk, only it wasn’t open yet! Talk about cost cutting. This huge P.O. in the heart of downtown Charleston opens at 11:30. It also contains a postal museum so I forgave the late opening.