To Charleston

Friday, 19 April – Hilton Head to Dataw Island – 38 mi.

Cloudy, breezy, 72 degrees. We left early in order to be at our next marina before encountering the thunderstorms predicted for this afternoon. Turns out the afternoon was beautifully sunny.  We borrowed bikes from the marina and rode around the island.
Dawtaw Island was a pleasant surprise. It is a planned residential community that surrounds a golf course, reminiscent of Toftrees in State College, PA.  Tremendous, windy thunderstorm hit just as we walked to the Sweet Grass restaurant for dinner. We may have looked like drowned rats, but they welcomed us, and we really enjoyed the food. Free bottle of wine with purchase of two entrees. Can’t beat that!

Saturday, 20 April – Dataw Island to John’s Island – 54 mi.

Cloudy, breezy, 58 degrees. We enjoyed breakfast at the Outpost – a small grocery and coffee shop next to the Sweet Grass restaurant. The trip up the ICW, however, was upwind and upstream through uninteresting and uninhabited territory in unseasonably and unwelcome cold and windy conditions. Did I say it was unpleasant? What happened to global warming? I want it back!  But even a bad day on the water would be better than a good day at work – and I loved my job.
As we got closer to Charleston, we saw a wedding tent on shore. It was spring, but everyone looked cold. We also saw a cruise ship going south from Charleston.
Pretty big boat for the ICW.  We docked at the St. John’s Yacht Harbor marina. We chose it because it was the closest deep water marina to Folly Beach where we expect my daughter and her family from Vermont to vacation for their Spring break this week. And they gave us a $20 discount for being BoatUS members. Nice people, nice showers, nice little bar with interesting signage.

Sunday, 21 April – St Johns Yacht Harbor to Folly Beach
Sunday was sunny for a change, but quite windy.  We spent the day at the marina, since much stronger winds were predicted. And strong they were – up to 30 mph. I added extra lines to secure the boat to the floating dock. The northeast winds blew us toward the dock, so we put all the fenders we had between the boat and the dock.  And the water got pretty rough.  Spent some time fixing a few minor things, ordering parts from the internet, and meeting our neighbors who lived on their boats in the marina. The winds got increasingly worse. Our daughter picked us up and took us to their Folly Beach rental – a beautiful 4BR home, steps to the beach.  We had a delicious dinner at the Taco Boy. 

Monday - Thursday – Folly Beach, South Carolina

It was really nice to spend some time with family - and in such spacious quarters for a change. Plenty of room for the seven of us – Charli and I, Pam and Andy, Sam and Chloe, and Chapin, their white lab.  It was a great location.  We walked to coffee shops and restaurants. We played on the beach across the street, still unspoiled by high rise hotels and condos. And it was only a 15 min. drive to Charleston, with its historic center, shops and restaurants, universities, and the top-notch Medical University of South Carolina. We relaxed and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Who knew that Folly Beach was one of the “10 best things to do in Charleston”?