"ICW Trip 2001 Leg 15 Georgetown to Isle of Palms" Isle of Palms Travelogue by grandmaR

Cat Island ferry

We went into the Esterville-Mimm's canal and passed the Cat Island free running ferry.

We get to Isle of Palms, and the wind is really blowing. We come in to the dock and they tell us to come in between two little sailboats on the face dock. Bob lines us up, stops the boat, and the wind blows us sideways banging into the dock with considerable force, fortunately right in the middle of the available space. We tied up by 2 pm after 53.8 miles or a total of 521 nm. We figure this is the halfway point between the Potomac and Miami.

Squashed fender (looking down on the dock)

The wind is blowing us against the pier so hard that the fenders are squished. We can't get off the dock. So we decided to stay here. Max went into town on the bus and picked up a rental car, and he and Lucette are driving back to pick up their own car. We will leave here Friday. We've canceled our reservation at Charleston Maritime Center.

They changed the combination on the bathrooms today and didn't tell us. We are picking up a rental car tomorrow.

Bob coming down the dock early in the a.m.

We picked up a rental car and drove out to the AF base and Bob went to the commissary and put the perishable stuff in a cooler. We also went shopping for belts for the refrigeration compressor. We got various types - ending up with about 4 belts.

Then we went to our son's house, and he cooked stuffed apple pork chops for our daughter-in-law's birthday and we had cake. We got the mail.

The Charlestonian

I got a shower, and paid for 2 more days. I took a picture of the big bread-loaf boat in front of us (it is a golf tournament boat and Bob calls it the Big Mamu), and the Deweese Island ferry and the Deweese Island car ferry which only runs on Thursday - it is a barge pushed by a tug and they take construction equipment to DeWeese Island.

Then we drove over to visit Charlie and Sandy on WINDSTAR at Buzzard's Point.

We went to our son's house - we stopped on the way to have lunch (BBQ). We went to see our grandson practice on the bike race track (pedal bikes). We took them out to dinner afterwards. They wanted to go to a Japanese steak house, but couldn't find it so we had a nice dinner at Red Lobster.

Marina from where the cruise ship was in 2003

When we got back to the marina, they'd moved the boat (Bob complained that they don't know how to tied up a boat). The Big Mamu had left (the real name is THE CHARLESTONIAN), and they had put a boat called WILLOW and a catamaran called DOUBLE PLEASURE in front of us. The guy on DOUBLE PLEASURE was 6'10".

Charleston from the river

Next - across Charleston Harbor to Johns Island