Ok, you are going to find the section on Beaufort a little
different than our usual entry. We were asked to send in some material for the
Waterway Guide so, rather than writing two sections that say the same thing, I
am using the Waterway Guide writing style for the Blog. Don’t worry, we are
back my regular old fashioned style in the section that follows.
Beaufort
Along the Intracoastal there are a number of places where
every cruiser will want to stop at least once, and more than likely a dozen or
more times. Beaufort, SC is one of those places. Why does Beaufort command such
dedication among cruisers? There are several reasons, the first of which has to
be its location. Sited on a wide sweeping curve in the beautiful Beaufort
River, Beaufort is 67 ICW miles from Charleston and has a number of excellent
anchorages – and a public dinghy dock – in the area.
A second reason for Beaufort’s popularity has to be its city
plan. The Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park is right on the water. There,
locals, tourists and cruisers alike enjoy the outdoors. Kids of all ages enjoy
throwing a Frisbee, playing ball, fishing from the dock or just relaxing while
watching the sunset in one of the porch swings on the water’s edge. Pets, too,
find the opportunity to stretch their legs refreshing.
Bordering the park, on Bay Street, is one of the other
reasons so many cruisers visit the city – the restaurants. Several have a
veranda or porch that overlooks the park and the waterfront for alfresco
dining. Moreover, several of these restaurants have some of the best food along
the waterway. Whether you are interested in an afternoon snack of fries and
beer or more substantial (and healthful) fare for lunch or dinner it is
available. Seafood, of course, is always on the menu. But neither can you miss
with good old fashioned down home low country cooking. Or combine both with
shrimp and grits. Mmmm you can get hungry just thinking about it. And in case
the food isn’t enough to attract you, on most weekends there is live music
available.
Also bordering the park is a number of different kinds of
shops and stores. There are several gift shops for tourists (or cruisers) to
buy a memento of their visit to Beaufort, of course, but there are also a
number of art galleries. In fact, Beaufort is well known for its art scene,
having been named a "Top 25 Small City Arts Destination" by American
Style Magazine. There are also antique
stores, book stores and clothing boutiques along the way. Okay, so maybe most cruisers
aren’t in the market for antique furniture. Still, it is fun, educational and –
depending on your age – somewhat nostalgic to see possessions that have
survived until today.
After eating at the restaurants and shopping to your heart’s
content at the stores and shops, what else would you want to do but explore the
history of Beaufort, and, as you might imagine, the second oldest city in South
Carolina has quite a bit of history. The area has hosted French, Spanish and
English explorers as far back as 1514 in what some believe was the second
landing on the North American continent by Europeans (after Ponce de Leon a
year earlier). You can explore the city and its environs by water on a tour
boat, a kayak or even by a beautiful vintage yacht. If you want to stay on
land, there are guided tours you can take on foot, by van and even by horse and
buggy. And if you get there at the right
time, many of the town’s historic houses also offer tours.
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| Beaufort can get a little bit foggy. Not good when you are preparing to leave. |
For the more practical-minded, Beaufort is the home of
Beaufort Memorial, which is the largest hospital
between Savannah, GA and Charleston, SC
and capable of handling any of your medical needs. In addition, there
are five grocery stores in town, though you will need a car to get to any of
them. Not to worry, though, many of the local marinas offer a courtesy car for
short shopping runs. The
Downtown Marina of Beaufort, for example, is located right next to the park and
offers convenient access to the park itself and to a number of restaurants,
shops and the historic district. And if you are just passing through and don’t
have the time to spend exploring the town, there are marinas on both ends of
town that offer dockage at $1 per foot.
In short, every cruiser has his or her own set of
reasons for making Beaufort a must-stop on the way along the Waterway. Whether
it is for the location, the food, or the shopping, you will find Beaufort a
wonderful stop.
Herb River
The next night we stayed at an anchorage on the Herb River. There
are a few homes along the Herb and not much more. We didn’t consider it a
destination anchorage, just an overnight. Anyway, we stayed primarily because
some friends of ours, Vic and GiGi aboard Salty
Turtle were going there. We didn’t intend to spend time with them, but I
always like it when someone we know has tried out a particular anchorage –
especially when it is expected to be very windy. When we arrived, Salty Turtle was already there, so we
decided to go around the bend to a more protected site. That site was already
occupied by two catamarans so we headed back and anchored about 200 yards
behind the Turtle (I know it was 200
yards because I have a laser range finder for just such a purpose). Anyway, the
current in the Herb River was substantial and the wind was blowing at 25
gusting to 30 MPH. Nevertheless, the anchor held and all was good with the
world.
Fort Frederica
Our next stop was the Frederica River. About 2-3 miles off
the ICW, the Frederica River has an anchorage and a dinghy dock for those of us
who want to visit Fort Frederica by water. The nights we were there, the
current was ripping through the anchorage, moving at 3 knots at least. The
current, of course, changed directions every few hours (it is a tidal current).
The wind was also blowing. These two factors had the rather unusual effect of
pulling very hard on the anchor when the wind and current were both in the same
direction and putting almost no pressure on the anchor when they were in
opposite directions. As you might expect, I checked on the ground tackle
several times during the night.
Fort Federica itself is one of those national monuments of
which very few people have ever heard. According to the National Park Service, Georgia's fate was decided in 1742 when
Spanish and British forces clashed on St. Simons Island. Fort Frederica's
troops defeated the Spanish, ensuring Georgia's future as a British colony.
Today, the archeological remnants of Frederica are protected as a National
Monument. As I am sure everyone knows, the Battle of Bloody Marsh, near Ft. Frederica,
took place during the “War of Jenkins’ Ear,” which, as far as I know, is the
only war named after a body part. In case you were wondering, according to
Wikipedia, “Its unusual name … refers to an ear severed from Robert
Jenkins, captain of a British merchant ship. The severed ear was subsequently
exhibited before Parliament. The tale of
the ear's separation from Jenkins, following the boarding of his vessel by
Spanish coast guards in 1731, provided the impetus to war against the Spanish
Empire …”
 |
| Apparently at Fort Frederica, they were planning on catching some SERIOUS fish! |
The site itself consists of the remnants of the fort and the
remains foundations of several houses that were laid out in a town near the
fort. The foundations were very interesting as they showed the size and number
of rooms most of the houses had. On the first floor, few of the houses we saw
had more than two rooms, presumably a bedroom and a parlor. And they were
small. I think most of the houses were about the size of one good sized room in
modern homes.
I need to point out one other thing. It was cold. It was so cold that to go ashore
and see the monument, I actually broke down and wore jeans. Yes, jeans! And Socks. And a sweat shirt. I am telling you, it was cold.
Fernandina Beach
We stayed two nights in Frederica, then we were off to
Fernandina Beach, our first stop in Florida. We stayed at anchor in the Bell
River about ½ of a mile away from the city proper. When we arrived, it was
still chilly. But by the next afternoon, it was downright warm! Hurray!!
 |
| Outside of Fernandina, on the Georgia side of the border, there is a sub base. And look what you can see from the ICW. |
We also went to the local museum where we received a guided
tour from a docent. I gotta tell you that I am beginning to think that many of
the docents for small town museums are more interested in spreading their
particular view of history (and sometimes politics) than they are the view that
might be acceptable to serious historians. At any rate, it was interesting to
learn more about the interaction among the French, Spanish, English, Seminole
Indiana and Americans in southern Georgia and northern Florida.
After the museum, our friends Lee Ann and Jerry came down
from Brunswick Georgia, where they keep their boat Bella. You may remember that Jerry as a former orthopedic surgeon
was my unpaid consultant when during my recent unpleasantness. Lee Ann used to
be a hospice nurse so she and Ann also hit it off. Anyway, we had a great lunch
at a kind of seafood shack after which they took us (by car!) to the grocery
store. Thanks guys, we really appreciate it!
St. Augustine
After Fernandina we
headed to St. Augustine, which is a day’s cruise to the south. It is also one
of my favorite cities in Florida – and maybe along the entire Waterway. There
is always a lot to do. Yes, Ann got her National Park passport stamped at the
Castillo de San Marcos – an almost intact Spanish fort from the seventeenth
century. (I reported on it last time we were through and am not going to do it
here.) We also went through the Old Town. In Saint Augustine, Old Town is a
touristy shopping district where almost all of the shops are housed in
centuries-old buildings that had been individual homes in days long past. They
have all sorts of oddities available – including alligator jerky – and we like
going there.
This weekend, it
turns out, they were having a “Pirate Gathering” in Saint Augustine. We had to
go because … well … we just had to. There were a bunch of people dressed as
pirates, several tents set up to sell pirate-like things (some less pirate-like
than others) and a band that played Irish (and a few old English) folk songs while
dressed as pirates. Oh well. It seemed like everyone was having a good time.
While in Saint
Augustine, we again saw our friends Gigi and Vic aboard Salty Turtle. It seems we are a-l-m-o-s-t on the same schedule, but
we haven’t been able to hook up and spend some quality time with them. We are
both going to the Bahamas so even if we don’t link up before that, we’ll
definitely see them in the Bahamas!
We also linked up
with Sharon and Andy from Finally Fun.
They are ground-dwellers now and live on the west coast of Florida around
Tampa, but they were visiting Sharon’s mom, Fran, in Jacksonville. So, the
three of them traveled down to Saint Augustine for dinner. This is the first
time in a long time that Ann and I have eaten dinner out. We usually have a “lupper”
(explained in a previous blog entry), or have lunch and are not hungry enough
for dinner. This time though we did it right. We met Sharon, Andy and Fran at
Gini’s Martini Bar, then went to Harry’s Restaurant for dinner. The food was
great, the drinks were excellent, but the company was what made the evening.
And that brings us
to today. Later this morning we are on our way to Fort Matanzas, another
National Monument so Ann can get her passport stamped – and, oh yeah, so we can
learn something about the Spanish massacre of 200 French Huguenots in the
sixteenth century. The, for the first time in nine days we will be at a marina.
I will write more about that after we get there.
Ann’s Notes: Michael sure knows how to sum up our
travels. I am very proud of Traveling
Soul and her ability to stay away from a marina for nine days. We did have
to stop at the dock in St. Augustine to fill up our water tanks. We only hold
200 gallons. That may seem like a lot of water, but it is not for a boat this big with all the normal
uses of water. I have become a water-Nazi. Yes … we still take showers and I do
the dishes, but with a very close eye on the water tanks. Once we get to some
cleaner water, we will turn on the water maker. It only makes 7 gallons per
hour and only when the generator is on, but hey, 7 gallons is better than no
gallons…right?
Michael has been a
really good sport, dealing with my National Parks Passport stamp/sticker
mission.
Our National Parks
are a real treasure, I never realized how much land has been put aside and
preserved for us to go exploring.
I have had a chance
to practice and hone my anchoring skills and my dinghy lowering and raising
skills. We have actually found a much better and safer way to get the dinghy up
and down, just by moving the wench over a few more feet over the swim platform.
Took us a while … but we got together.
All the above
mentioned places we visited were fun. There is so much to see and do that you
can`t do it all in just a few hours of visiting … guess we will just have to go
back a few more times.
I want to thank our
friends Lee Ann and Jerry for coming down from Brunswick to spend the afternoon
with us and take us to the grocery store. They are true cruising friends.
Also Sharon and
Andy and Sharon`s delightful mom Fran for joining us for drinks and dinner in
St. Augustine. We always have such a fun time with Sharon and Andy.
I truly love this
adventure and all the people that we have met … Life Is Good …
Wildlife
Count…
Sunday 3 Nov 2013
·
Dolphins
7 single
Monday 4 Nov 2013
·
Noisy
shrimp eating stuff that grows on the bottom of our boat..at night very noisy
·
Playing
dolphin 1 at our bow
·
1 set
of 2 dolphins
·
1
single dolphin
·
Many, many
sea gulls following our wake from the stern, flying very close to the boat all
day
Tuesday 5 Nov 2013
·
One white
egret sitting on a stump for two plus hours just waiting for the tide to change
so he/she could catch some dinner
Wednesday 6 Nov
2013
·
2
single Dolphins
·
1 set
of 2 Dolphins
Friday 8 Nov 2013
·
Dolphins
5 sets of 2
·
Dolphins
4 single
Quotes From The
Waterway
·
Let me
set this up for you…almost all boats…sailing or motor boats have their names on
the stern of the boat so people know where your home port is. Most of the time
the printing is large enough to read with a pair of binoculars. We always try
to hail a boat when we want to pass them on the ICW so they and we can slow
down and not have a lot a wake to bounce around in. So up ahead of us we hear
on the radio, one boat wanting to announce and ask permission to pass … “Sailing
vessel without a name on your stern”… not sure “no-name” even had his radio on.
Thank you for
reading…
Traveling Soul…OUT
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