Charleston

So feeling somewhat re-integrated into land living from our time in Ft Lauderdale and with finally getting an okay weather window to move on, we did so. It was a 2 day jaunt up to Charleston, South Carolina. Needing to put EcstaSea up for the summer out of the Caribbean hurricane season, we decided on Charleston as we have our family there. Richard's mom,  2 sisters and families all live in the Charleston and Sullivan's Island area. And after a challenging winter with the crossing and adjusting to the Caribbean, we were more than ready to fall into the loving embrace of family. We spent several weeks in a marina right next to downtown Charleston as we explored the possibilities available for Esea's haul out and summer storage. We love the southern charm of Charleston with it's easy way of being, not to mention it's fantastic restaurants.

And since most of the family had never seen EcstaSea, it was great fun to introduce her to them.

Richard, his sister Judy and husband Paul, with his Mom sharing around the table in the Salon…..

Sister Vicki and partner, Pam when they came to visit us in port…..

We happened by chance (hmmm, is there such a thing?) to find out that Kevin Costner and his band Modern West were going to play a concert here in Charleston in a few days. Our special and dear friend Larry Cobb is the drummer in the band and so we gave him a call. We had spent a week or so with the band a few years ago when they and we were all in Monte Carlo at the same time. So we know and love all of the band members and always have had great fun with them. And generous as always they gave us and the family front row seats to the concert.

Kevin Costner rolling his sleeves up at the beginning of the concert….

 Kevin pouring champagne and toasting the audience  at the end of a fantastic concert….

We had a life raft on the boat that had expired so we bought a new one for the Atlantic crossing. But we carried the old one with us also. But after arriving without the need of either, we decided to deploy the old one in Judy and Paul's  swimming pool. We thought it would be good to see how it worked and to salvage anything useful out of it before discarding it. So it was a fun day in the pool seeing what we "NEVER" want to see again---a life raft deployed!!

We found a great boatyard up river in which to haul Esea out and store her on the hard for the summer. So all is well and we spent some extra time enjoying our wonderful family at their beachfront home on Sullivan's Island.

We also celebrated our wedding anniversary by going to dinner at our favorite restaurant, Magnolia's.

Now it's time to journey on to our desert sanctuary in Tucson. We are ready to come home…..

Moving on up !

After some more dancing and playtime in the BVI, it was time to move on out of the Caribbean. Because of the summer hurricane season here we have decided to sail EcstaSea up to the east coast of the US and leave her in Charleston for the summer. Our seasons will now be reversed with us on the boat in the winter and in Tucson in the summer. And because of that we are somewhat confused and are not sure what time of year it is….

It was a six day sail north up past the Dominican Republic, Cuba and the Bahamas. We took the inside passage up the Bahama Channel hoping to have calmer seas. The first 3 days were challenging once again with the second 3 days calm and serene. It seems to us that on the sea, it is either the worst or the best of times and we are always thankful that Yemaya gives us the best at the end to entice us to keep coming back.
EcstaSea has not seen American waters since we bought her and took her to the Med in 2008. And it feels quite odd and different for us to be back too. In fact, we had forgotten about the strict US security. So we were taken by surprise when just off the coast of Florida at daybreak a helicopter and a very fast power boat stopped,boarded, and searched us. It was the US Customs and Border Patrol with very big guns. Okay….here we are in the good ole US of A.

The coastline of Europe never looked like this coast of Miami, Florida...

We landed in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida for a few days to rest up. The marinas in Ft Lauderdale are inland and up a river lined with big expensive mansions. It was all new to us and quite the sensory overload at first after being on the open seas for so long.

The inland marina actually turned out to be just a tie up along the bank of the river right in the downtown area.

It was quite a busy waterway and once we go used to the hustle and bustle of it all, it became great entertainment for us. All day long and especially in the early evening, everyone in their boats cruised along the river just for the fun of it. We sat in our cockpit and watched the parade with our happy hour drinks.
Water taxis all day long...

Gondolas aren't only in Venice….

And we even saw Jerry Garcia walking his little chihuahua along the river walk. So FYI, Jerry is not dead after all….

Cruising (crackers) ….

And this warning sign for the Manatees posted on the bridge in front of Esea….

And of course, great walks to the Starbucks for our much missed great Sumatra coffee….

We ended up being thankful for so much to do in Ft Lauderdale as we got pinned down here for a week due to bad weather out on the open sea. It also gave us time for the re-entry period that we always need when we come back to the States. But finally after much rest and entertainment it, was time to move on up to Charleston, South Carolina.