Homeward Bound in Beaufort and Charleston

We sailed up the AICW to Beaufort in about four hours and were anchored for the night by 5:30PM. Our only real plan for the coming week was dinner in Charleston at the home a dear friend of John’s who is also a retired Harrier pilot. We arrived in Beaufort on Saturday. Our dinner in Charleston was scheduled for Thursday. Consequently, we decided to swing on the hook in Beaufort for three nights before moving on to Charleston.

To our delight, Ruthie and Larry on Back Dock were close by in Hilton Head. We found each other on Facebook! Ruthie and Larry were in Hilton Head for a month and had a car. They drove over to Beaufort for Mother’s Day lunch with us. What fun!

The winds were predicted to be 25-30 knots on Wednesday and Thursday, so we moved up the AICW to Charleston on Tuesday. I think the bridge operator for the swing bridge at the end of Elliot's Cut may be a troll! That's all I will say about that. John drove Island Chariot gracefully into our slip inside the City Marina Mega Dock, a much more pleasant experience than we had last fall! Of course, we planned to arrive at slack tide, which is the key to arriving in Charleston with style and grace.

Dick Rowe and the Donna Marie were already docked on the outside of the Mega Dock about 1,000 feet from our slip (hence the term Mega Dock). What a treat to see him again! Dick planned to stay for two more nights before moving on to Beaufort, NC, merely a day’s drive up the coast for the 90-foot Hargrave yacht. For two evenings we had the pleasure of visiting with Dick on his yacht. Our conversations took me back to the joyful times I had with my grandfather while I attended the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. He was about Dick’s age at that time.

Although we were in the charming city of Charleston, we did not leave the City Marina other than to have dinner with the Whittles at their nearby home. John and Fred had not seen each other in years and reminisced about their friends and times in VMA-231 during Desert Storm. One of their squadron-mates had been shot down and imprisoned by the Iraqis. That man was now a Colonel and slated to take command of Marine Air Group-14 later in May. John wanted to be home in time to attend the event, which would drive our aggressive schedule for moving northward.

A few glasses of wine and a few hours later, Fred delivered us back to the City Marina. We intended to leave for Georgetown at 7AM. John and I decided that next time a special dinner with friends would be better planned for an evening when we are not moving Island Chariot the next day!