Meanwhile, back home in Minnesota ...

Windchill tonight less than -3 F.  Snow about 10 inches and still fallling.

Lydia Drive, Roseville MN

Our car, in Minnesota

Heading south again

Motoring down The Ditch (aka the ICW)

Sunset - First night of Chanukah
anchored on the South Edisto River,
between Charleston and Beaufort, SC

Charleston Pictures

The Angel Oak @ Charleston - treemendous

The Ilona @ Folly Beach, near Charleston

Charleston City Marina - view from the Ashley River

at the Charleston City Marina gas station

cleat up your leash here 

slow down past the gas pumps

Ihana has left Charleston, bound for Beaufort

We are leaving Charleston but with some regret.  There is still so much to do and see here. 
But we had better get going before our roots settle in.

IF we are in range of an AIS pickup station, you can follow our progress at:
   http://marinetraffic.com/ais/shipdetails.aspx?mmsi=367522380 

50 degrees in the morning, then 70s & sun today. Fog at first? 
Exciting to be anchoring out tomorrow night about 40 miles south. Then Beaufort, SC. We will be moving south again. Next longer destination: St Augustine, FL, in about two weeks. ["Bound For", which is not necessarily the same as "Going To".]
 Again, internet access and phone access may vary.

Wonderful dinner on board with Ken Roetzel last night. Then it was time for wine tasting at the marina wine store. Then family services at K K Beth Elohim. Then back to study the charts. 

Sheets are clean, laundry is caught up. Water tank filled. Diesel tank and jerry cans filled. Waste holding tank pumped out. Boat washed again. Engine maintenance up-to-date.  Food and provisions restocked. We pulled the electrical shore power cord and the dock lines, and got moving south again.

Velcro Beach

Vero Beach (Florida), as well as several other cities here in the Southeast USA, have gotten the nickname "Velcro Beach" because many cruisers stop there, and like it so much that they stick around and don't leave.  

Charleston is a lot like that too. We are having a hard time leaving - the city is so great, and our marina is within a mile (walk or bike or free shuttle van or free trolley or rides with friends' cars) of just about everything.  We have met maybe about a half dozen other boats that have come here and are still here, and are planning on spending the winter right here. We keep finding more things to do, places to see, and just hanging out. 

I have finally (almost) caught up on boat improvements and maintenance that I have been accumulating and putting off for the past few months. We now have a locking, non-backflowing marine toilet. New sail slides in the mainsail mast-track. New antifreeze in the fresh water side of the diesel engine. More cruising guides and chartbooks. More navigation software for the MacBook and iPhones. Shopping for spare parts at West Marine. A semi-infinite (!) number of great restaurants - good seafood and not too expensive; although the best is still Ilona's cooking right here on our boat.

We are planning (hoping) to leave here on Saturday - weather, tides, currents, and attitudes permitting.  Hope to make it down the coast to Beaufort, Hilton Head, Savannah, and finally NE Florida by mid-December-ish.  Stay tuned.

There must be some way out of here (said the joker to the thief) ...

Life in Charleston

We've been having a great time here for the past few days.  Biking most days - temperatures in the low 70s, mostly sunny, no rain.  Yesterday we biked all over town, including a visit to the Fort Sumter National Historical Park (not the fort - yet). Today we rode out to the Magnolia Plantation with our friend Ken (his car), toured the historic plantation mansion**, and hiked through the gorgeous gardens and swamp (alligators!). 

I've been catching up on boat repair (slowly, almost enjoyably) - changed the engine's fresh water antifreeze, will replace broken sail track slides, will convert the marine head to a locking pump system that prevents backflow, and a lot more small things that are on my list.  

Ilona has been busy plotting our next move south - using ActiveCaptain.com - and the Doyles' Managing the Waterway ICW Cruising Guide and their excellent new ICW Anchoring Guide.  We will possibly anchor off an island that has a monkey colony, Beaufort and Hilton Head (on South Carolina islands), and then on to Savannah, Georgia.  Only a little over 100 miles all the way to Georgia from here, all on the inside ICW, with lots of marinas and anchorages (and shoals), and it is finally warm enough that we don't have to hurry up and rush to get south.  Bob - inertia.  Ilona - not so much.

Coming up is helping Ken put the sails up on his (bigger) boat on Wednesday, a dinner party at the Charleston Yacht Club on Thursday, wine tasting at the local wine store on Friday (possibly followed by Kabbalat Shabbat at the local Reform Synagogue, after this "early Kiddish"), downtown Farmer's Market on the weekend, menorah lighting on Sunday afternoon in the town square, the Charleston Aquarium, and more biking and walking around town. Everything is within a mile or two from the marina, so we can walk or bike anywhere in Charleston.

Someday we have to think about heading south again, but there is so much to do here and it is nice to not have to rush off somewhere again.

** I was going to say that the big plantation house outside of Charleston might be called the Charles Mansion, but that's even too bad for me to say ...

Cooper River Bridge, Charleston SC

Magnolia Plantation, Charleston SC

Pineapple Fountain, Charleston SC
[wading permitted and encouraged]

tall ship in Charleston Harbor, SC