Last Leg Home

April 20, 2022

After a three week recharge in Rhode Island (and a bout of respiratory illness), we are ready to begin the last leg of our adventure. It was wonderful to see family and a few friends! We arrived at Lady’s Island Marina (across the Beaufort River from Beaufort South Carolina) to find SkipStone had been well cared for and only needed reprovisioning, and a thorough outside cleaning (including a bottom scrub to remove a layer of fuzzy marine growth). With the boat ready to continue, we were not in a hurry to move on.

We had briefly visited Beaufort (by land) years ago and wanted to spend a little more time getting to know this area. We planned a 2-day stay, which stretched to 3 days as soon as we downshifted into boat-life mode. This is another wonderful laid-back southern town. A (very slow) carriage tour was a nice way to see the antebellum homes and learn about Beaufort’s role in the Civil War (it started here) as well as how the Northern Carpetbaggers profited by flipping properties during reconstruction. Residents of the historic district mansions, fled when the Union Army was approaching and their properties could be purchased, after the war, for payment of back taxes – all you needed was a carpet bag full of money and an eye for real estate speculation to become wealthy.

The town has a waterfront park between the main street (Bay Street) and the river. Between the park and downtown are several restaurants, bars and specialty stores – a nice place to tour and just hang out. (if you go, try the shrimp salad at Plums)

For those planning on taking this ICW trip, Lady’s Island Marina is a very accommodating place to stay. The owner (Tom) and his manager (Aaron) went out of their way to make certain that everything was taken care of while we left the boat and took good care of us while we were there. The marina has bicycles for getting to Beaufort, a loner car for getting to the grocery store, laundry facilities, a good restaurant, a dive bar and an onsite masseuse!

As mentioned in previous posts, staying in marinas adds a social dimension to this type of travel. Sitting in the cockpit one evening, a couple approached and said that they had noticed our Riverside RI hailing port, which was a coincidence since they were from Touisset RI. Well come on aboard! Wayne Lurillo & Julie Miller have been traveling all winter. They transited through the Okeechobee canal to the west coast of Florida and made it all the way to the Dry Tortugas. They keep their Grand Banks 46 (Netop) in the Kickamuit and it didn’t take long to discover that we have several people in common. We will track them on our way north and look forward to reconnecting with them on the way, or at home!

After Netop left, the power cat “Barbara Ann” tied up in front of us with ”Bristol RI” on the transom. It turns out that Barbara & Larry Freedman (and their dog, Mr Wilson) are our summer neighbors at Cove Haven Marina in Barrington. They are on their second ICW trip and had spent the winter on the west coast of Florida, having transited the Okeechobee canal.

Having toured Beaufort, met new friends (and taken notes on their favorite ICW places), cleaned & restocked SkipStone, gotten massages and reset our minds to live-aboard boat mode, we set off at 8 am for the 70 mile trek, up the ICW to Charleston. On our way again and happy to be here!