
Our travel south has been leisurely with a few days of travel broken by longer stays in port. When we arrived in Charleston, we signed up for a 2 week stay, knowing that we wanted to spend Thanksgiving there. It turned out to be a little less than 2 weeks, but we made the most of our time there.

Thanksgiving Repeat
With the assistance of the Maritime Center, the cruisers staying there were able to have a spectacular feast and lots of good company, with over 25 people attending. We even had the loan of a flat screen TV, so that the die-hards among us could participate in the football-watching ritual that accompanies stuffing ourselves. It had been three years since we had gathered here for our first Thanksgiving underway, and where we had met Pat and Fred for the first time. We had crossed a lot of miles in the interim and had a lot of experiences of friends to be thankful for in the intervening years.
With the assistance of the Maritime Center, the cruisers staying there were able to have a spectacular feast and lots of good company, with over 25 people attending. We even had the loan of a flat screen TV, so that the die-hards among us could participate in the football-watching ritual that accompanies stuffing ourselves. It had been three years since we had gathered here for our first Thanksgiving underway, and where we had met Pat and Fred for the first time. We had crossed a lot of miles in the interim and had a lot of experiences of friends to be thankful for in the intervening years.

Enjoying the Charleston Culinary Tour
A Taste Of Charleston
With Charleston a routine stop on our travels up and down the coast, we are always looking for new things to do with each visit. We found it this time in a Culinary Tour, which took us on a 2-1/2 hour walk through a sampling of Charleston’s restaurants fare. We tried grits, BBQ, chocolate, spices and more. We had a charming host and enjoyed all the good food.
With Charleston a routine stop on our travels up and down the coast, we are always looking for new things to do with each visit. We found it this time in a Culinary Tour, which took us on a 2-1/2 hour walk through a sampling of Charleston’s restaurants fare. We tried grits, BBQ, chocolate, spices and more. We had a charming host and enjoyed all the good food.
For the most part, it was a low key visit, with daily walks through the historic district and sampling some of the city’s wares. We took a return trip to Fort Sumter on a breezy day after Thanksgiving, enjoying the ride out and our time there, just wishing we could spend more time at the fort, with so much to see and learn. One night we stumbled on a fundraiser for a local teen shelter, where we enjoyed some appetizers, a drink and a live band on Market Street for a small donation. Tom and Cathie on Interlude happen to arrive that same day and joined us there. We managed to catch up with them again the next day before they headed out for points south, hoping to make St. Mary’s for Thanksgiving. With the rainy days that led up to Thanksgiving, we were happy to stay put and putter about Charleston.
Boat Stuff
Having traveled several hours with our new Garmin 5208 chartplotter, we had a list of features that we didn’t understand or were looking to replicate from our 172C. But the most significant feature that wasn’t working was AIS. In the busy Charleston harbor, there was never a concern that there were no signals out there, so it was a good place to see what was happening. After changing a setting on the chartplotter, Dave was able to get the signals to display on the chartplotter as expected. However, within a few minutes, all the “targets” (i.e. ship signals) were lost and would not re-display until the unit had been off for several hours. He communicated with both Garmin and SmartRadio about the problem, but so far we have not been able to solve it. In the interim, we have been using Fugawi on the computer below as we have in the past. We still have issues with the chartplotter’s heading being derived from the auto-pilot, but we have a few ideas from Garmin that may allow us to solve that. The other items on the list are manageable, so we hope to resolve the 2 big ones so we can retire our 172C.
The only other projects in Charleston were more routine. We changed the oil and the Racor fuel filter. Dave took advantage of the fuel filter change to drain the dark fuel out of the 2nd Racor bowl and install another drain valve like the one he had installed on the other bowl in the spring.
Boat Stuff
Having traveled several hours with our new Garmin 5208 chartplotter, we had a list of features that we didn’t understand or were looking to replicate from our 172C. But the most significant feature that wasn’t working was AIS. In the busy Charleston harbor, there was never a concern that there were no signals out there, so it was a good place to see what was happening. After changing a setting on the chartplotter, Dave was able to get the signals to display on the chartplotter as expected. However, within a few minutes, all the “targets” (i.e. ship signals) were lost and would not re-display until the unit had been off for several hours. He communicated with both Garmin and SmartRadio about the problem, but so far we have not been able to solve it. In the interim, we have been using Fugawi on the computer below as we have in the past. We still have issues with the chartplotter’s heading being derived from the auto-pilot, but we have a few ideas from Garmin that may allow us to solve that. The other items on the list are manageable, so we hope to resolve the 2 big ones so we can retire our 172C.
The only other projects in Charleston were more routine. We changed the oil and the Racor fuel filter. Dave took advantage of the fuel filter change to drain the dark fuel out of the 2nd Racor bowl and install another drain valve like the one he had installed on the other bowl in the spring.

On South
Weather sent us south earlier before our 2 weeks were up in Charleston, so we could take advantage of some calm conditions to make the jump out in the ocean to St. Mary’s
Weather sent us south earlier before our 2 weeks were up in Charleston, so we could take advantage of some calm conditions to make the jump out in the ocean to St. Mary’s