Exploring Charleston

Charleston, South Carolina - 12 kilometres walked

Our first full day in Charleston. We both had high hopes for this city and were not disappointed. After finding a space on the dinghy dock we started walking east along a residential street. The ground was wet and looked to have been recently flooded, which we learned is a regular occurrence here in this low-lying city. The combination of rain, wind and King tides (which are the exceptionally large tidal differences that happen when the sun, moon, and Earth are aligned) can jack the tides by several feet, creating coastal flooding. The remnants of flooding didn’t last long and soon we were walking through an area with beautiful houses, many converted to student housing as several buildings of the College of Charleson were also in this area. We were struck by the vegetation and how different it was from towns just a hundred miles further north. It was also a perfect day for walking – overcast, humid, and pleasantly warm.

 

We soon reached King Street and I was surprised to find the Southern US version of the Champs-Elysees. Ana’s eyes lit up when she saw the Louis Vuitton store and kept firing as we passed many more high-end fashion shops with a mix of other less stratospheric shops to balance things out. Although Ana rarely buys anything at these shops (luxury brands don’t do “deals”), she sure likes looking. While she’s doing that I just stand on the street and watch the people going by. Folks here were quite well dressed, but not overly so, and the quantity of tourists didn’t overwhelm the streets at all. The presence of students jogging, business folks walking to meetings, shopkeepers putting up Christmas decorations, and residents walking their dogs gave it a feeling of a very functional city and not just a tourist attraction. And yes, there were plenty of beautiful people there too, and judging by what some of the students were wearing and eating, we suspected they were endowed with healthy trust funds.

 

Around noon we found a cute little French restaurant called Gaulart & Maliclet and enjoyed a slow and spectacular lunch – open faced ham and cheese baguette melt with cucumber gazpacho, fresh fruit, and a glass of house red. I took a photo of Ana, as this particular moment for me felt very unlike anything we’ve experienced yet on this trip. Everything was perfect – a horse drawn carriage passing down the street, the spires of a white tower in the background, the shade from an umbrella casting a slight shadow on the ground, ideal temperature, delicious food, and – it must be said – not being at work on a Wednesday. We ate slow, talked slow, moved slow, and relished the moment.

 

After this we walked. We walked a forested garden pathway. We browsed a huge central knick knack market in the Latin Quarter with vendors selling elaborately weaved baskets, stainless-steel jewelry, custom candy, postcards, masquerade ball masks with horns and fangs. We walked the expansive jetty at the east end of the island, looking over the marshes with cranes stabbing at little fish. We passed the historical site Ryan’s Mart – a slave trading complex –  and read the placard telling its awful history. We peeked through locked iron gates at old money mansions, driveways lined with luxury vehicles. By the time we returned to the marina, our brains were sizzling pleasantly with sensory overload, attempting to process all we’d seen, smelled, felt, and heard. The last stop before returning to the boat was to find Hope’s End – a boat nearly identical to ours, the owners of which I’d connected with online and we’d been in communication for weeks as we both worked our way southward. We did find them and had a short chat with John and Becca, who are lovely folks and we hope to meet them and compare boat notes in the next couple of days.

 

Our original plan to meet with Adrian and Sara during the day hadn’t worked out, but they invited us to dinner at the Marina Variety Store Restaurant. We met them at 6 and had an amazing time over a fantastic seafood dinner, drinks, and even a tequila shot to wrap things up! After dinner we all dinghy’d over to their boat (a beautiful SeaRay 420 they recently purchased) for a nightcap and continue our conversation. Sadly, Sara was leaving the next day, but Adrian was staying around for a few days so we would definitely be hanging out more.

By the time we returned to SeaLight the wind had kicked up, and before long it was howling a scary gale, swinging the boat from side to side, whistling through the rigging. I fell asleep effortlessly but Ana stayed awake for a long time, terrified the anchor was going to rip out and the boat would be blown into the shallows. But the anchor held fast.