fav places

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Charleston- we still love it!

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

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.

Bucket of steamed banks oysters.

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

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.

This grand post office once served as a courthouse

This grand post office once served as a courthouse

Circular colonial postmark displayed in the museum

Circular colonial postmark displayed in the museum

Interesting background on Post Office boxes- relatively unchanged for years

Interesting background on Post Office boxes- relatively unchanged for years

NOTE: We obtained several copies of Multihull Sailor at the Annapolis Sailboat Show- happy to send one out if anyone wants one

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Another Manteo Visit

In keeping with our typical M.O. of having a backup plan in place, if we hadn’t snagged a spot at the free dock we planned to secure a berth at Atlantic Yacht Basin across the way. Looking at all the boats along their 1,700ft of face dock and knowing boats also went into the back basin, I think that backup plan may have back fired! At any rate, we were well positioned to head over for diesel – our first fill-up since leaving CT.

Fancy meeting her here! Too nice a boat to keep in the cold northern climes

Fancy meeting her here! Too nice a boat to keep in the cold northern climes

 

You will see all types of boats on the ICW- especially in calm conditions

You will see all types of boats on the ICW- especially in calm conditions

We decided to try a new anchorage that night; one that would place us near the Albemarle Sound and give us a short sail into Manteo. The wind was forecast to be SW to W around 15kts give or take which would be fine for our SE trip to Manteo.  Most boats were staying on the ICW, crossing the Albemarle to the Alligator River; no sailing for them. Our 27nm day took 4 1/3 hours; 2 ¼ sailing well at 6.5kts.

The Elizabeth II heads to Edenton from Manteo, NC

The Elizabeth II heads to Edenton from Manteo, NC

 

That night and for the next handful of days the wind was to be out of the West to North; perfect for getting protection in Manteo’s tiny harbor. We’ve spent many a night in Manteo with moderate to strong winds out of the NE to East. That just sucks because the harbor is exposed to the east and the waves just come in like they were invited!  Four locals occupied much of the small anchorage but we snagged a great spot in 7ft close to the lighthouse museum. Not the Manteo Waterfront Marina, not the free docks, just plain ole swinging at anchor.  The holding is great here and with the right wind direction, there’d be no fetch to make us the star in a bucking bronco show. A quick walk through the downtown area showed a bustling Manteo with more visitors than we saw a year ago. Sandy hardly made her mark here and the disastrous effects of Irene are no longer visible.

I got all excited when Russ created an adjustable planning chart showing the forecast for the coming week, using sticky-notes for the places we wanted to be each day. Wasn’t so much the chart, although it was very clever and very useful, but it showed we could stay the weekend in Manteo, spend two nights in Ocracoke and meet up with the ICW near Oriental; all trips with nearly ideal conditions. We planned to rent a car on Sunday to tour the OBX and more of Roanoke Island. Wow! Lady luck is sitting pretty on our tramps wearing her Plan A bonnet.????????????????

Not only that, but guess who pulled in to the marina? None other than Harmony II herself. You can bet we stopped by to share Sanderling’s greetings and say how we’d been leap-frogging them the past few days. They’d be spending the night at the home of a high school friend of Judy’s; a sweet treat given the temps overnight would drop to 45 degrees.

That evening lady luck fell off the tramps thanks to a weather event arriving the following Thursday-Saturday. This meant a plan re-think and with our adjustable trip planner we moved the sticky notes around until the puzzle worked again. Given our strong desire for warmth, our decision to move faster rather than slower will come as no surprise. Ah, Plan A felt good while it lasted.

We contented ourselves with taking care of the necessaries, including a Red Box rental; a so-so semi-horror movie starring an older, pudgier Val Kilmer. Our dining out treat was a delicious lunch at Avenue Waterfront; my Lavender Lemonade tasted soooooo good. They do their own infusing using lavender grown in their herb garden.

The Manteo weather tower flies the red flag for days

The Manteo weather tower flies the red flag for days

The Manteo weather tower is very unique in that it’s figured to be the only one still existing with the original lights attached. As weather conditions change, so does the flag flown at the top. For much of our stay, the red triangle flag was waving indicating small-craft warnings. By Friday at 4pm the wind was calming down for the night and I wondered if the flag would be changed; we’d never actually seen it happen. Sure enough the red flag was lowered and replaced by a white one for fair weather. Sweet.

No surrender- just wonderful fair weather arriving

No surrender- just wonderful fair weather arriving