.

March 30, 2013 Day 323

Charleston Harbor Resort and Marina
Charleston, SC
Total miles to date: 5357.2


We left our anchorage at 8:45 this morning under a partly cloudy sky and entered the Stono River which took us most of the way to Charleston. We only had 22 miles to travel today so we started seeing more homes lining the waterway with long docks extending out to the shore.  We entered Elliott Cut at 10:50 which is very narrow at the southern end and is lined with homes, with no room for docks. 

The Charleston Harbor

Passing by homes along the Battery

More lovely homes along the Battery (as we walked by them)

Another one!

We could see the Charleston Harbor come into view and of course the traffic picked up considerably!  We crossed the Ashley River, went past the famous Battery seawall, and entered the Cooper River.  There were many sailboats in a regatta that we detoured around. We also saw motor yachts, container ships and other large commercial vessels.

There are several marinas from which to choose, but we decided to stay at the Charleston Harbor Resort and Marina on the east side of the river. It is next to Patriot’s Point which is home to the aircraft carrier Yorktown, a submarine and a destroyer.  This marina provides free trolley service to the historic district and a water taxi is also available, so we didn’t mind being “across the river”.

We arrived around noon and after lunch took the trolley into the heart of Charleston. We spent quite a while walking through the market area. Although we admired the sweetgrass baskets being woven by local women, the price was not in the budget.

Sweetgrass baskets made by local women and sold in the market



Carriage rides are a popular way to see the historic city.
We have taken this ride on earlier visits to Charleston.

We walked down Bay Street to the Battery (where we passed by earlier in our boat).  The stately antebellum homes are beautiful. Since this is Easter weekend and spring break for many students, the sidewalks, restaurants, and shops were full of visitors. The weather was very pleasant – the sun came out and jackets were optional!  We walked back along the river with its parks and fountains and decided to take the water taxi back to our marina.

We had a fun day but were tired from all the activity. We ate dinner on the flybridge where we had a great view of many boaters still out on the river. We will continue our sightseeing tomorrow on this side of the river at Patriots Point.