from North Carolina into the real South: Charleston!

We are in the lovely Harborage at Ashley Marina in Charleston, having enjoyed free laundry facilities and a free round-trip to the grocery store in their courtesy van. Heaven! We had a few long, long days to get here. Departing from the St. James Plantation Marina, we encountered three ocean inlets, 2 swing bridges and one "rock pile". The rock piles was INTENSE. We had been on the water for at least 7 hours when we made the decision to press on toward the Barefoot Landing where we had reservations. The rock pile is a land cut that is populated with serious rocks which jut up from the bottom if ever you should leave the narrow channel of the middle. Rocks and sailboats do not mix. With intense concentration, we both made it through and arrived and tied up by about 4pm, just whipped. Exhausted. We went for beer and burgers, and cast off again early the next day. We thought that one 45 mile day was enough. I guess not. With wind and current primarily against us, we managed just about 5 knots for another about 9 hours to get to Georgetown, SC. It is something out of Forrest Gump. If my picture loads up, you'll see the shrimping boats tied up in Georgetown harbor. Once again, just stay on board, early to bed, early to rise, and another 30 miles to go. But that 30 turned into 45 again, as we finally caught a good current at the end of the next day and bashed it out to within 20 miles of Charleston. This part of the ICW afforded few anchorages, and they were mostly 10 ro 12 miles in between. SO, we decided to press on once again. The next morning we were wary of the weather report which indicated SW winds 15 to 20 mph, gusting to 30. Of course, this is exactly the direction we were trying to travel. Rain was also in the forecast. Dicey. We decided to make a run for it at 6:45 am, and lucked out! The current was actually with us, pushing us in to Charleston harbor. The Atlantic comes right in where the ICW spills you out, so we had a few big waves and some reasonable wind to deal with, but came into our lovely marina here by 11:30 am. What a relief! Last night we were treated to the company of Wayne's sister Lois and her husband John, who took us around to see the sights and to enjoy dinner at the most touristy place possible, Hyram's. We wanted to go there to do the real tourist thing. Even got a T-shirt for 4 bucks. Today, having done all the chores, we are about to walk to the intriguing French Quarter and flea market, just for fun. We will have a captain's meeting later today to decide when to cast off again. For now, my picture won't load up as the wifi is slow, but that would be the only small thing marring our stay at this boater-friendly marina in Charleston.