Charleston, SC

We arrived in Charleston, SC yesterday afternoon. We are on the outside T dock behind a 100+ HUGE motor yacht. We are staying at the Charleston City Marina, which is on the Ashley River. We didn't do much more than check in at the marina office since Bill is really under the weather. He has an awful cough and being in the cold just hasn't helped. Most of the sailboats that we have seen have an enclosed cockpit meaning that they have canvas all around the cockpit to protect from the wind and cold. While we have been wearing two or three sweatshirts, hats, scarves, gloves, foul weather gear, we have motored past others in jeans and a t-shirt since they are "inside." I have always loved the fact that we don't have canvas around the cockpit because I love the sun and wind and heat. But these few weeks have made us both start to think....

There are two Selenes on the dock (the 48 we have seen along the way and a 43). They are such beautiful boats! We did meet another guy on an IP485 who is a few boats down in the marina. He has been here in Charleston for a few weeks working on teak. His final destination is also the Bahamas. We have found that most of the people we have met are either cruising to Florida or to the Bahamas. Bill and I will take off for the Exumas after the New Year. Looking forward to it!

So Charleston looks like it is going to be a lot of fun once Bill is feeling better. The marina has a courtesy shuttle that goes downtown if we don't want to walk the mile and a half or so (as well as to West Marina - score!) The harbor is beautiful, although yesterday once we went under the Ben Sawyer Swing bridge and into the harbor we had 30 knots of wind on the nose and there were whitecaps on the water.

The marina was also nice enough to accept our mail. I received my wallet (which I left in Norfolk and was forwarded by Tidewater Marina [complete with the cash that was in it and everything]), tons of magazines, cookies from my grandmother, Thanksgiving cards, etc. I love getting our mail! I also got a copy of the latest issue of Living Aboard Magazine. Earlier this summer I submitted an article about blogging while cruising (what else?!) and it was published - complete with pictures of Bill and me and sv Mary Elizabeth. I even got paid. Ha! Living Aboard used to be available at Barnes and Noble and West Marine for non-subscribers, although I am not sure if it still is. When the Living Aboard Magazine website is updated with the Nov/Dec issue, I'll post a link to the article.

So that's really all that's going on. We are looking forward to staying put for a few days and giving Mary Elizabeth a rest. She has been so good to us.