Charleston - April 26

We had planned to leave Charleston today but unfortunately our transmission is not yet repaired. We thought it would be done much sooner than this and are rather upset it is not yet back. We are ready to start traveling again and watching Bob and Margaret leave is hard.

Yesterday while Darrell was waiting for the refrigerator to arrive, Beth, along with Bob and Margaret, went on a cruise of the harbor. It was a very good tour, lasting 3 hours, and was very informative.

We got some history about Charleston, including that when it was originally built, Charleston was a walled city. 22% of the present day Charleston peninsula is built on landfill and it sits on one of the largest fault lines in the United States. They are not fond of Abraham Lincoln or General Sherman and there are no streets, monuments or anything else named after them.

Atlantic Bottleneck dolphin live around here and we were lucky enough to encounter a large pod. There were about 10-12 in a group, and we stayed around them for quite awhile. There were many pictures taken, but Beth was never able to get more than a few at a time.

There is a small, bare island with a cross on it. It was put there by a local church and they sometimes hold services there.

We got close to Ft. Sumter, but did not stop there.

We stopped at a small island for about 45 minutes and we were able to get off and look around. Beth found a very large shark tooth and was hoping for more, but no luck.

The crew pulled up a crab pot they had set and we were able to see several blue crabs they had trapped. Their claws are really blue. The males have all blue claws while the female claws are also blue, but have red tips (fingernail polish).

We cruised by Sullivan Island, which is in the middle of the harbor. There are many newer homes on it and we were told that because of hurricanes, there is only 1 company through which they can obtain insurance. Lloyds of London is the only company which will insure them.

By the time we got back to the marina the refrigerator had arrived. Bob helped Darrell load it on the boat. It was a tight squeeze. The 4 of us bought some food at a local deli and had their farewell dinner together.