Back home in Beaufort!

Have I mentioned Charleston is beautiful? Touring this old pre-civil war mansion was a highlight. Lots of good restaurants, a nice anchorage, stately restored homes, friendly people...we'll definitely come back.


(Here's a sunset for you- somewhere between Charleston and Beaufort)

For now, however, we knew we needed to come back to Beaufort, because this is where the new motors are... and that work can start just as soon as the rest of the parts arrive. Funny how quickly a place can feel like "home". When challenge #2 came up (in the form of weak and not charging batteries), we knew the prudent decision would be to settle down in a familiar place for awhile- and get our "systems" up to par.
The plan was to return to our little creek, anchor, and live life like we usually do. The wrinkle was, it is HOT (have I whined about that enough already?). We talked about a marina (Ted's against tying up to a dock). We called Lady's Island Marina to talk about prices (Ted's still not sure about marinas). We drove by the marina real slow (the nice people on the dock waved and smiled at us). Ted decided to stop and talk to them.... and we ended up signing a month contract!
SO it's like we have a home! (I am so excited.) (Ted's still not sure he likes this idea.)


We thought we may just leave the boat here and go to a hotel for awhile to cool off... but wait!
We're surrounded by four other retired firefighters and their spouses... one of which was quick to offer us the use of a little window unit air conditioner. The other of which invited us to walk to breakfast this a.m. Another neighbor just offered us the use of his Toyota pick-up. The dockmaster and his wife are cruisers that have experience sailing all over the world- very cool people. Community! Something I was sorely missing. (not to mention they have cable t.v., so Mr. Cook won't have to miss any more World Cup games!) God is so good!


The air conditioner makes all the difference in the world, too- it's still 102 degrees in the cockpit...but we climb down into the port hull and we're cool and comfy. I call it "the vault". We'll come out of our hole when the sun goes down. Kind of like gophers.


To add to all these blessings... we had visitors from home today... :) The Richardsons are camping out on Hunting Island, and on their way they stopped to see us. It was so good to see old friends- hopefully we'll get to spend more time with them in a few days, as they head west (I'll take photo documentation then- left my camera on the boat for today's visit....which is ok w/camera shy Laurie, I'm sure! :/)

So this is where we are! We'll head home in early July for a couple of weeks, to greet our next granddaughter (and attend family reunion)- Morning Glory will be safe and sound till we get back, and in the meantime I'll sew, Ted will work on new motors, and we'll learn to love the low country of South Carolina! Sounds like a plan to me!