Charleston City Marina is a nice facility with free WiFi. Unfortunately the no-see-ums were terrible on the dock! Some people call them gnats. Hopefully they don't last too long.
While we were checking in with the marina, we met Dave and Kathy on Orion. We had heard them on the radio during our crossing, it was nice to put faces with the voices. We were all tired from our crossing and decided going out to dinner was a good idea. It was nice getting to know Dave and Kathy over dinner at Salty Mike's. It was an early evening because we all needed to catch up on some sleep.
4/26/09 We had a good night's sleep. I took advantage of the laundry room and washed two loads of clothes while Wayne washed the salt off the boat. We called our friends Bill and Bettie Sue on Teamwork who live in Folly Beach. They were surprised that we were in SC so soon. They thought there might be an opportunity to go deep sea fishing on Tuesday and invited us to go along. They suggested that we move over to Folly Beach on Monday and we agreed.
To the best of my knowledge, the Abacos does not have a Mexican Restaurant and I really wanted a burrito. We got a little exercise by walking downtown to Yo Burrito which was recommended by the folks in the marina office. It was really good and a nice walk. Even though Steve and Jen were tired they joined us for dinner. We had not seen them since early November. We enjoyed a nice dinner and a quick trip to the grocery store before calling it a night.
4/27/09 After fueling up and paying our bill, we left the marina and headed for Folly Beach. Going to Folly Beach is actually heading in the wrong direction since we came in at Charleston, but we had heard so much about it that we had to go. We managed to get off the dock and through the Wappoo Creek Swing Bridge during slack tide which makes it much easier. There are several ways to get to Folly Beach, we opted for the easiest and most charted, which is down the Stono River to the Folly River. The Folly River tends to shoal so local knowledge is needed the first time you go through the inlets and in some of the tighter spots. Bill, Bettie Sue, Vicky, their friend and Dixon, Vicky's son, came out to meet us in Vicky's boat to show us the way. Bill joined us on Born to Cruise for the ride down the Folly River. We made it in with no problems and anchored near the Folly Beach Bridge. If you have ever been to Folly Beach you have crossed over the bridge, if you looked to your right that is where we were. There is a public boat ramp there so there was a lot of activity. The anchor stuck and held firm so it was a very comfortable and convenient spot to be.
Bill and Bettie Sue invited us over for dinner. We took the dinghy to Vicky's dock and she drove us over to Bill and Bettie Sue's and joined us for dinner. We had a wonderful dinner of fresh Mahi Mahi and an enjoyable evening getting to know Vicky who is a very dear friend of Bill and Bettie Sue. Bill and Bettie Sue have a beautiful home that was designed so they would have a garage for their boat and a place to keep their treasures. The house suits them perfectly! It overlooks the Folly River and has a small dock that is accessible by small boats at high tide. They keep their boats out of the water and use the boat ramp to launch them.
The evening ended early so we could get a good night's sleep to prepare for our fishing trip.
4/28/09 Bill called at 5:30 AM to tell us the weather was not cooperating and fishing would have to be postponed until another day. Cruisers always have a plan B to allow for all types of weather, our plan B was to go to their secret shark tooth finding spot. Bill said they would pick us up at 2:30.
It was time to explore Folly Beach. We took the dinghy to the boat ramp and tied up. We explored town and looked at the beach. The tide was high so we took the dinghy over to Bill and Bettie Sue's. Bettie Sue gave us some fish and she then offered us a sandwich made of the left over fish from last night. Boy was it good! We went back to the boat to get ready for our shark tooth expedition.
Bill & Bettie Sue picked us up at 2:30, as promised. We rode for quite a while in the boat they call "junior" because it is smaller than Teamwork. We anchored the boat and unloaded the bicycles they brought with them. We had to walk the bikes quite a way before the sand was firm enough to ride. It was a nice ride almost 2 miles down the beach to their secret spot. We spent almost 3 hours picking up shark teeth, petrified clams, petrified wood and a few pieces of pirate glass. Wayne even found a piece of a cannon ball. Wayne and I found over 30 shark teeth or pieces of shark teeth ranging in size from a ¼ of an inch to almost 3 inches long! It was a lot of fun and we both hope we can go back there again. We slept well after a busy day.
4/29/09 Steve and Jen would be able to come for dinner tonight. I needed a few things from the grocery store so we walked over to the Red and White in Folly Beach. It reminded me of the stores in the Bahamas and was about the same size. They have what I needed at a price cheaper than in the Bahamas, so it was ok. We stopped for lunch at Taco Boy, it was ok, but nothing extra.
At high tide we dinghied over to Bill and Bettie Sue's so they could help us identify our treasures from the day before. I am still amazed that the shark teeth are millions of years old! The pirate glass I sound was only a couple of hundred years old. They had found more teeth than we had but they are experts with years of experience. They said the weather looked right for a fishing trip on Thursday, but we decided that with the tides we needed to start heading north. We would take them up on their offer for the fishing trip another time. They were going to check out the channel at low tide to see how much it had changed since last year. Wayne decided to ride with them to see what it looked like. After Wayne's trip to see the channel we decided to go back up the Stono instead of venturing into the ocean. The ocean trip would only save us about a half mile.
Steve and Jen came over for dinner. Wayne picked them up at the boat ramp and they took a short dinghy ride around exploring the area. We had a nice dinner of shrimp and fish. After dinner we enjoyed a beautiful sunset and each of us tried to blow the conch horn. Steve is really quite good with the conch horn. We were sad when the evening had to end, but they had a 45 minute drive and both of them had to work the next day. We needed the rest as well because it was time to head north and we would be leaving Folly Beach in the morning.
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