April 7 and 8, 2011; Thursday and Friday

April 6 - A very nice anchorage at Tom Point Creek.  River was smooth and wide all day.  There were 2 other boats anchored out with us.  One boater took their boat all the way from the State of Washington; they came through the Panama Canal which I thought was pretty impressive.

N32 38.783
W80 16.989

April 7 and 8:   We got an earlier start than planned.  It was a beautiful morning and it reminded me of the old saying. "Red sky at night, Sailors delight".  It sure applied this morning.  Last night we had a gorgeous sunset and this morning the water was smooth as glass and no wind or clouds, just sunshine.  Yesterday Keith made a bridle for our anchor and it worked good.  It kept the anchor chain away from boat and took the pressure off the anchor roller by making the chain go straight to the water before angling off.  We had a very pleasant ride to Charleston, SC, where we spent 2 nights at Charleston Maritime Center.  It is a very nice facility but you get a lot of wake, especially at night, from all the heavy cargo ships and cruise ships.  But the price was right, they had good fuel prices, and laundry was free.  Can't beat that.  While we were here Keith changed the oil so we got that out of the way for another 100 hours.  On Friday we took a water taxi to Patriots Point-Naval & Maritime Museum.  We toured the USS Yorktown, an Aircraft Carrier built in 1943 and used in the last part of WW II and Vietnam.   We also toured the USS Clamagore, a diesel-powered submarine that was commissioned a few week before the end of WW II (1945) and spent her 30 years operating out of Key West, Charleston, and New London.  She is the only one of her kind left today.  I really enjoyed the submarine.  We went to dinner in Market Square on Friday; that must be the place to go on a weekend as it looked like the whole town was out.

CO's comments:  Charleston's currents and tides, no matter what marina you stay at, were a little wild.  The marina we stayed at low tide was a bit shallow.  It reminded me of low water on the Mississippi at Bill's Bay Marina.  I have become accustom to operating in water depths only 2 feet below my props.  I never thought that day would never come.   Departing we saw several cargo ships coming in and also leaving the harbor.  All were surrounded by small Coast Guard craft with men manning the forward machine guns.  I stayed well clear. 

N32 47.346
W79 55.479

Forward Torpedo Room

Executive Officers (XO) Quarters-
 if I was in the Navy, this would be my room

USS Clamagore SS-343
Submarine

USS Yorktown CV-10
Flight Deck

USS Yorktown CV-10
"The Fighting Lady"

Cargo Ship incoming and
Cruise Ship outgoing

Huge Cargo-we think it is
carrying cars, etc.

When Keith was in the CORPS he

used to fly in one just like this

Muse (about 65 feet), towing Amuse

(about 30 feet) behind him

doing a slow pass on us - 4-6-2011

Muse gaining on us