Charleston in the Rain

    Our plans were not firm so we had a staff meeting on Brunelle around 9:30 this morning. The weather will be factor for today and possibly for our departure tomorrow.  We will have to check the sites later today for updates so we will know better as to tomorrow’s plans.

     John, Betty, Pete and I caught the 10 AM shuttle. Dan and Martha will catch the 11 and meet up with us.  We decided to check out the Charleston Market Place.  Since Pete had a conference call at 11, we left him at the Customs House and wandered down East Bay Street.  In the kitchen store, John asked for a recommendation for lunch.  She suggested the Fleet Reserve, which we had already sampled last trip, so she said her favorite was Slightly North of Broad (SNOB), but you need reservations.  Since it was only 3 doors down, we stopped in and were able to get reservations for 11:45.

    Since we had some time to kill, we continued our walk south.  Dan and Martha spotted us from the shuttle and joined us.  Shortly after, the rains came. I went to get Pete while Martha did manage to spend time in the kitchen store, while we waited for our reservation.    

   We had a wonderful lunch at Slightly North Of Broad.  I can understand how they have won so many awards. The food, presentation, service and ambiance, were impressive and price were reasonable.

     We held a staff meeting and based on the current radar, decided to forgo today’s excursion to Fort Sumter. If we head out tomorrow to Bald Head Island, we will leave later tomorrow afternoon.  We will still be able to make the morning excursion.  Hopefully, tomorrow’s forecast will be better that today’s

   We still had time to walk up to Harris Teeter’s for provisioning.  I know, it seems that is all we do, but honestly, we need fruits, veggies, bread, juice and other perishables.  I had my list and we were done in 20 minutes.  We actually waited for the marina shuttle.

    We no sooner unpacked the items when the heavens open up again.  Yep, we made the right decision not to head out to Fort Sumter this afternoon. The shrimp were defrosted, cooked, and peeled, the fruit cleaned and sliced, the dilly beans and the brochette made and the drinks chilled. Another feast was had aboard Andiamo.  After dinner we walked to the end of the dock to check out the large wooden sail boat that was recently confiscated by the federal marshals.  As we reached the end of the dock we heard screeching of tires and the crunch of metal.  Pete and Dan actually saw the car as it took the turn improperly and flipped over on the road that runs along the shore.  Thankfully, no one was hurt.  We also had a chance to talk to our neighbors on Catspaw, from Wickford, RI and on Faux Castle of Block Island, RI.  On the opposite end of the dock we had a chance to speak to one of the officers from the Coastal Cruise Ship American Independence. Before we headed back to the boats, Martha was able to herald the setting sun. We think the practices are helping.

     It might have been a rainy day that caused a change of plans. but it is the first time in 6 months that we had to do an immediate change of plans to do weather.  Kudos to our Cruise Dictator and all of us for doing our homework and planning that we were prepared. We were in a good place to handle inclement weather and if we can’t do everything we wish this time though, perhaps there will be a next time. We have been so very fortunate to have seen and done as much as we have over the past six months, I won’t complain.

~  ~ (\_~ ~ ~     Kathy and Pete