Historic Charleston from the Harbor

The check in at the Charleston Harbor Resort and Marina is supposed to be after 2:00, but I called the Dockmaster yesterday and explained how much we wanted to cram in today. He told us we could arrive anytime between 6am and noon. The tide would be on it's way in, but hopefully the current would settle a little (be close to slack) by the time we arrived. When reading reviews on Aqua Maps there are many warnings about the aggressive currents in this area.

When we arrive in the bay outside the marina, it's amazing to see Charleston from the water. The spectacular bridge lays ahead. There are cruise ships docked, cargo ships docked and boats coming and going. We are close to Fort Sumter where the civil war between the North and the South took place. On our way to Charleston this morning, we gave the kids a little history lesson about the civil war. They have a few questions, but they understand the issues partly because their school educates them on this part of the past and current issues during Black History Month.

When we get our slip assignment from the Dockmaster, for the first time, Gord is going to have to stern into a finger slip which also has another boat in it. There is also the wind and current to contend with. Gord approaches, pivots the boat to stern in and just as we are past midship the bow, caught in the current, heads towards the dock . There's fender there and it stops the bump that may have happened. The dock hand cleats the stern, and it pulls Holy Cow's bow straight. When we are tied up, Gord hops down from the helm and says "Sorry boss, I missed that a little." The dockhand, Jason, says "Missed that? That was better than 80% of the boats that dock in here everyday. You wouldn't believe what we see in here." Apparently, many boats lose control to the current in the spot where we had to pivot to get into our slip. Our neighbour told us he's seen boats making the turn get taken by the current and run right into the boats that are tied at the dock. Groan, we hoped a collision was not in store for us while docked here.

We hadn't told the kids what was on the agenda today. We just told them that today was going to be a fun day. As we pulled in, they saw the aircraft carrier and were super excited. The next 40 minutes were busy as we did another group effort wash down of Holy Cow, got the dogs to shore and ate a quick lunch. Then we were ready to walk down the dock, Brooklyn limps, to the impressive military ship.

When we got our tickets and walked into the USS Yorktown, we made our way to the reception desk. Here we learn that USS Yorktown (CV-10) took a mere 13 months to build and was built almost entirely by woman because so many men were at war. In 1968 the USS Yorktown recovered the crew from the Apollo 8 mission. There is a replica of the capsule on the Yorktown which you can crawl in and watch a short film of the event. We learn that there are four self-guided tours and I wondered how long the kids would stay engaged as we made our way through this massive ship. We start tour one. The kids are fascinated. I could write a four page blog about the things we saw and learned on USS Yorktown. There are laundry facilities, kitchens, a bakery, there are living quarters that differ for each rank of crew members, mess halls that require formal uniform attire, engine rooms, bomb making and loading areas. As we made our way through the USS Yorktown, it's mind blowing that this is all contained in a ship. There seems to be millions of levers, buttons, cranks and wheels, and the kids, specifically Jaxon, turns, twists, pulls every single one of them. The kids took well over 200 pictures of the inside of the ship. For the purposes of the blog there is only 100 or so added. LOL Most pictures are taken through glass windows in the doors of the ship.

I expected the kids, or all of us, to tire of the tours, but we don't. We are onboard for hours. Brooklyn seemed to be managing on her foot okay, but when we arrived on the flight deck, she takes as seat while Gord and Jaxon wander about. Before we leave the USS Yorktown, we crawl into the Apollo 8 capsule and watch the video of the mission and recovery. We are finally ready to head back to our boat, but the USS Laffey battleship is also tied to this dock. The kids wanted to run through this ship too. We didn't take long on this vessel because the kids wanted to swim in the heated pool before dinner.

Brooklyn and Jaxon meet some kids at the pool. When they come back to the boat, they are anxious to eat and head back up. There are a couple of boys this time for Jaxon to play with. After dinner, we headed up to the gas fire pits to make some s'mores. They give away little kits at the resort desk and it's a hit with the kids. It is cool and a little breezy, so we have sweaters on, and I used two towels as a blanket. It doesn't stop the kids from swimming, running around and hopping in and out of the hot tub.

Our original plan was to leave tomorrow, but we decided Charleston Harbor was going to be a two night stay. The next day was warmer and far less windy, so we spent the day by the pool. The kids played with their new friends they met the day before. Gord and I sat and worked by the pool and chatted to Mike and Lisa, the parents of the three kids Jaxon and Brooklyn were playing with. It was a great decision to stay here one more day. This was actually the first real day we put our feet up and relaxed a little. It was great that the kids were able to spend an entire day off the boat playing with other children.

For dinner, the kids wanted to watch a movie and eat on the boat so Gord and I headed up to the restaurant for dinner. The meal was okay, but it was nice to have some adult time. We discussed our plans for the next couple of days.

We decided that before we left here, we'd get a pump out. We called the Dockmaster to make an appointment. We expected to move Holy Cow from our slip over to the fuel dock, but to our surprise, they have a mobile service that comes right to your slip. The crew member explained that with the aggressive currents here, it's less hazardous for them to come to you. We were happy about that. The less we needed to move around in here the better. We explained to him what happened during the pump out in Fort Pierce as a warning, so he approaches the process with caution. Fortunately, there are no eruptions today. Both heads continue to be in working order. When the pump out is done, the engines are started up, we untie and make our to our next destination.