Log book: December 2nd

Conditions: 68-55 degrees

Location: Charleston, SC

My sister, Corinne, met Dad and I in Charleston on Wednesday afternoon. Since then we have had a week of eating out, touring the town, and let's face it living the life. My girlfriends came down to visit on Friday so needless to say the trip got crazier from there. Between the rich southern food, the Black Friday shopping, and the bar hopping my wallet was feeling skinny and my waistband was feeling... well otherwise. It was a blast. Especially seeing my sister. It was like having home in Charleston. Thanksgiving doesn't change where ever you go as long as you have a surrogate family to spend it with. However I am ready to leave Charleston. The town is definitely a must see with beautiful gardens, homes, and old architecture, but you do visit feel free to skip the marina. I walked up and down the dock for seven long days without one dockhand, passing in a golf cart, offering me or anyone else a ride. It wasn't simply the long walk. Two days ago we awoke to three loud bangs, all within seconds of each other. Dad, Corinne, and I scrambled up on deck to see the boom laying across the deck (instead of up in the air). The sailboat behind us had attempted to leave the dock and had, very inexpertly, slid passed our boat barely squeaking by. He did not miss the boom however. His shrouds caught on our topping lift, our boom had been swung out to the side of the boat so we could have more space in the cockpit. This caused his sailboat to swing into our own, creating the first loud bang, which then caused our boat to swing into the dock, creating the second loud bang, and eventually the topping lift snapped, creating the third loud bang when the doom hit the deck. Upon seeing us the deck hand said comfortingly that he had "thought that he would squeak by." Clearly that wasn't the case and the kid did nothing to help the other boat avoid our own. When the topping lift snapped it go launched high over the mast and down the other side. It turned out not to be a huge deal, a rigger came later and scaled the mast to fix it. This instance was more of an emotional trigger screaming for Dad and I that it was time to leave Charleston. Corinne's plane will arrive in the morning and upon her departure we will take our leave as well. 

Side Notes: We scrubbed down the entire boat today, well all the important parts. During these times I am glad to be on one of the smaller boats traveling down the ICW or else it would have taken us all day and by the time it was clean we would've had to start all over again. We also stumbled upon a large parade, where a raucous jam band played christmas carols from the bed of a truck and the lead singer used a megaphone. Lastly, Charleston was gorgeous and none of my pictures can ever do it justice.

What we ate: Rabbit loin, fried okra, gumbo, fried chicken, mint juleps, moscow mules