10 – 18 April, 2016 – After spending a relaxing 2 nights in Beaufort, South Carolina and watching the weather the decision was made to stay on the “inside” of the ICW, rather than making another ocean passage to Charleston, South Carolina for a couple of reasons:
- To go back out to the ocean from Beaufort, would mean spending close to 4 hours backtracking southerly to and through the Port Royal Inlet, thus adding 3 or 4 hours to the expected 24 hour passage. This wasn’t really the main reason the decision was made, but rather because….
- The winds and weather were not forecast to be favorable and therefore most likely we would not be able to actually sail and would be pounding into it with the motor going.
So…. what could have been a 24 hour jump resulted into a hopefully more comfortable and enjoyable 3 day/night trip stopping each night in a different marina, first to Dataw Island Marina where we were a bit disappointed to learn that the awesome on-site restaurant was not open on Sundays. Then on to St. John’s Yacht Center which has the most awesome bathrooms of any marina we have visited so far….really worth the visit for that alone. Finally arriving in Charleston on 12 April. 
We selected a marina within easy walking distance to downtown. The wind was forecast to blow very strong from the NE so rather than beating into the wind either inside or outside, we decided to stay put and enjoyed a full week experiencing this lovely city. We decided it was very livable, at least in Spring, but know summer’s heat and humidity would be a totally different experience.
The city and harbor was busy with the Sperry Charleston Race Week where hundreds of boats came to race. Racers had to contend with the big winds and a few events had to even be cancelled. Guess we made the right call to stay put for the week.
Even though we were safely tied up in the marina it offered minimal protection from the strong winds and the boat rocked hard while still tied to the dock. We would get off the boat for a bit of relief and also to do some sightseeing, including touring the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown along with the destroyer USS Laffey and submarine USS Clamagore. After living on the sailboat for almost a year, what used to be perceived as inhumanely small living spaces on military vessels seemed a bit more spacious to us. It is all a matter of perspective.
At the end of the week another decision had to be made – do we go out to the ocean for what would be an over 24 hour passage to Beaufort, North Carolina (pronounced Bo-fort) (not to be confused with Beaufort, South Carolina pronounced Bew-fort).
Again, because of the forecast and because we figured the ocean would still be churning from the 7 days of NE winds we opted to stay inside and continue our way up the ICW.