Wednesday November 13: Blown Away in Beaufort, SC

So I read my email this morning and find a picture from Wendy - snow on the ground at Lejeune! She indicated we got out of there just in time .... well, almost anyway :-) It was in the 30's here last night.

The weather has been so nice for travel .... until today. When we arrived at the marina yesterday, we asked to be assigned a dock at which we could easily leave this morning. The dockmaster gave us a strange look and asked had we heard the weather report? There were 40 knot winds due in this evening. Not what we were seeing on weather.com.

Mmmm ... we were skeptical. You know how the weather guys lie, right? So we took a slip, not on the outside of the outermost dock but on the inside of the outermost dock. This should be fine and we can be out first thing in the morning.

Well, that was a bad idea! Not only did the winds show up but they produced the most wave action EVER. The boat was in motion all night long - and I don't mean a mild rocking. The winds were clocked at 48 mph last night here at the marina. I think the highest we've been in since hurricane Irene in Aug of 2011. I swear the waves on the river beyond the dock were 2 feet - and washing over the dock! Long night ....

Regardless it was a pleasant day yesterday after we arrived. We used the loaner car to take a tour of the Beaufort area and its gorgeous old homes which face the waterfront.

The downtown area of Beaufort is very similar to New Bern actually with many small shops, antique stores and art stores. I was surprised to see the number of folks just out walking around. On a Tuesday afternoon.

We ended our trip out with a stop at Lowe's for a new kitchen faucet. Our old faucet had apparently clogged up and couldn't be cleared. We find small white hard pebbly type deposits which normally we can flush out but this time the faucet just wouldn't come clean.

Our hot water was down to a trickle at the kitchen sink. (Mmmm .. maybe this would mean I don't have to do the dishes??)

So this morning, we had time to swap out the faucet. Fortunately for Steve, I can easily sit on the footstool and lay back under the sink - access to all of the lines easily. Job done with just minor hitches :-)
 

We of course did not leave as planned - the winds were just too high as we needed to cross the Port Royal Sound - not a good place to be with high winds. We're not crazy.

Instead we rented a car to drive to Savannah, GA so we could pick up parts we had ordered and sent to the marina we intended to be at tonight at Isle of Palms - just south of Savannah.

Got our parts and headed back.

As we drove through Savannah, it wasn't easy to spot the cargo ship traveling down the river. It was like a giant moving building!

As we crossed the bridge over the Savannah River as we returned to the boat, there was another cargo carrier coming up the river. It is truly amazing how HUGE this ship is - it seems to dwarf the downtown building of Savannah.

Tomorrow? Work day for sure. Install the new battery charger (which we picked up today) as well as the exhaust vent loop which will prevent the water from backing into the engine. What a pleasure it will be to be self sufficient and trusting of our engine again!!