Week 37

 

Week 37

Mar 23-29 2026

Monday

We left Savannah GA this morning and cruised 25 nautical miles to Hilton Head Island. We took a little detour and left the ICW and went out into the North Atlantic ocean so everyone could get a feel for the ocean swells. It was pretty and not very rough and we saw lots of dolphins. It was gentle today and a really nice ride. We saw several pods of dolphins but none came to play with us. That was disappointing. Upon arrival at Harbour town yacht basin the wind kicked up and it took two tries to do stern in docking.

After docking, at Hilton head south Carolina, we went to the boardwalk for lunch and to visit the light house. We climbed the 144 steps to the top.

There was a small beach here by the marina. Alaina has been waiting to go to the beach!! Ed stayed on the boat, he hates sand. The rest of us spent a couple of hours at the beach.

After dinner we went for a walk around the whole marina, but the noseeums were out pretty bad. We cut our walk short. Ed got about 20 bites.

We played games and did some laundry.

We wear Alaina out. She crashes and goes to bed so fast. She has been so good and easy for a young 5 year old to spend time on a boat. We are now in our 17th state.

Tuesday

We went for a nice walk this morning. There's a lot of little ponds. Ed saw an alligator, but by the time we got to him he had dropped down into the water. It's totally overcast and quite chilly, so the gators are down in the water instead of sunning on the bank. Despite the wind and storm We left the marina for a 25 nautical mile cruise to Beaufort, South Carolina. We crossed port royal sound. It was pretty sporty with 4-6 foot waves at times.

After docking we set out to explore. We went to an old armory and read about the history. Beaufort is the second oldest city in S.C. There's a lot of civil war history here with some beautiful antebellum houses. We walked all through the old town and main street. We saw one of the few houses that still have the slave quarters on the property. Now they just rent them out.

Wednesday

We went for a walk this morning before leaving.

We cruised 40 nautical miles to an anchorage. We saw more dolphins today.

We got the dingy down so they could all go for a ride. Alaina has been wanting to ride the dinghy since seeing it on a video call when we rode it on lake Michigan with Milani and Elise. See the video.

We had a theme night of Hawaiian haystacks while watching Lilo and Stitch.

We had our institute class tonight.

Thursday

Everyone took a last dingy ride. The noseeums are crazy bad here. We pulled up anchor and cruised for 3 hours to Charleston, SC. The marina is huge and very nice. They offer a courtesy van ride to the city. We went on a horse drawn carriage ride. Charleston is so full of history. A few things of note: King street goes all the way north to Boston, Ma. Two homes sold recently for the highest price in tye city so far at 20 and 1/2 million dollars. Building started in the later 1600s. The first church in America was built here. For a long time all religious denominations were welcomed except the catholic church, giving it the nickname of the holy city. Charleston is the #1 wedding destination in the country. There were many buildings built through the different eras. There's bolts in the sides of buildings to help stabilize after an earthquake. There was a great fire that swept through Charleston. In the early years, Charles Town ( Charleston) was the richest city in the colonies through rice, cotton, indigo and a few other items.

We went to Henry's for dinner. It's the oldest restaurant in Charleston.

Friday

We went to tour the old exchange and Provost dungeon. About the same time as the Boston tea party there was another tea party in Charleston. They didn't dump the tea in the water though. They put it in the dungeon and 3 years later auctioned it off to finance the patriots cause. The sign said this building is the most historic building in South Carolina.

Charles town was under British rule for most of the revolutionary war. After the war it was named Charleston.

Charleston was one of the largest slave trading cities in the country.

We then went to patriots point to see the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier and the Vietnam experience display. It's always amazing to see an aircraft carrier.

We went to market street where for 3 or 4 blocks vendors are set up to sell their wares. In the old days, it was the place to buy and sell slaves.

We can't believe our week is up and the kids go home tomorrow. It's been such a joy. They've been perfect easy guests. Alaina is the easiest child. She's happy doing anything and being dragged all over the place. She loves eating in restaurants and will try anything and loves most everything. It's just been a pleasure to have them.

Saturday

We went to tour the historical society south Carolina museum. The building is the first fire proof building in the United States. There was 350 years worth of history there with some hands on things for Alaina to do.

We met Ken and Darlene Larsen for lunch. They'll be joining us on the boat tomorrow.

Then it was back to the boat to gather all the bags and send the Tandrians off to the airport. It was sad to see them go. Alaina said she loved it and wanted to stay.

Ed and I spent the next 3 hours cleaning and organizing to show the boat to a couple who is looking for a loop boat. They seemed to like it, and will let us know on Monday their decision.

We met Ken and Darlene for dinner.

Sunday

We welcomed Ken and Darlene on the boat this morning and immediately left the marina.

We had dolphins come swim with us several times. Darlene was very excited about that.

It was very windy and chilly today. We all rode down in the salon today. We tried to go to a small fish camp marina, but they never answered the phone, it was super shallow and windy. We decided to keep going for another hour or so and anchor for the evening.

Right after we anchored, we saw a big alligator swimming across the river behind the boat. It was very windy all day and evening at the anchorage.

See ya next week....