Oops, again, I have been remiss in posting, so here’s our update……

Left the dock at Isle of Hope in Savannah, GA about 9:00 Sunday (6/30) morning and arrived at Shelter Cove Marina in Hilton Head, SC about 1:00. The atmosphere here is very different – we are about three boats away from the boardwalk.  The boardwalk runs between the marina/boats and high-rise condos and has numerous shops, bars, coffee shops and restaurants. Lots of activity – with competing live music everywhere. We had lunch at a Mexican restaurant and drinks, overlooking our boat, in the evening, at a different restaurant.  Great fun. On Monday (7/1) we spent the day on boat chores and laundry in anticipation of my sister arriving this evening. Yay! Michael picked up Sandy (my sister) and Bella Rose (her 5 month-old Doxi-poo) from the airport this evening and we all had dinner on board.

Tuesday (7/2/19) morning 3 humans and 3 canines set sail for Beaufort, SC. It was an easy fun journey and we arrived at Lady’s Island Marina in Beaufort about 11:30. It was so hot and muggy – over 100 degrees – we mostly stayed inside in the air conditioning.

Wednesday (7/3/19) we (3 people and 3 dogs) took advantage of the marina courtesy car. A problem they didn’t tell us about – no a/c – really not good! Anyway, we took our “hot” car and went in search of Michael’s family home. He is a descendant of Daniel Hingston Bythewood, a sea captain from England who settled in Beaufort and built a house for his bride, Elizabeth Taylor, in 1836. The house, at 711 Prince Street, is still there. We walked by and found one of the owners (Nancy) was in the front yard gardening in the 100-degree weather. She graciously invited us inside for a look around. What a treat, we were thrilled!  Later in the day an old friend from San Diego, Bruce Harmer, stopped by the boat and we shared lots of great old stories.  Bruce moved to Beaufort about five years ago and he really showed us the flavor of the beautiful city. He became our tour guide, chauffeur, handy man, chef and entertainer…

Happy 4^th!  Bruce took us to Beaufort Yacht Club where we met lots of his wonderful friends, had a few drinks, dinner and ice cream from food trucks, and listened to live music. A beautiful time with some great people at a beautiful Yacht Club!

On Friday (7/5/19) Bruce took us on a tour of the beach and lighthouse with a detour for lunch at Johnson’s (no Dick’s allowed) Creek Restaurant – all was fabulous! We were going to go to the Yacht Club again, but we were hit with an extremely violent thunderstorm. It was incredibly scary – being on a boat, on the water, with glass windows all around so you could actually see what was happening. Yikes! The lightning and thunder came at the same time – which, I think, means you are at “ground zero”. We actually went out a couple of times to make sure the boat wasn’t on fire. Did I mention it was really, really, scary? No photos – too scared.

Saturday (7/6/19) Bruce picked us up and took us on a tour of the historic district which was incredibly beautiful then a nature walk through town which, also, was incredibly beautiful. We bought fresh shrimp at a local shrimp shop and stopped by Publix for fixings for “low country boil” which we will cook with Bruce at his house.

Sunday (7/7/19) Relaxed on the boat most of the day, then Bruce picked us up and took us to his friend’s house for a pool party. Oreon and Ann put on quite a spread and we met more of Bruce’s wonderful friends. Such Southern Hospitality!

Our new refrigerator arrived on Monday (7/8/19) and with the help of my sister, Sandy and Bruce we got the old one off the boat and the new one on and installed. Bruce and Mike loaded the old one in his SUV and took it to the dump. Later in the evening we went to Bruce’s home for the famous “low country boil” which was delicious. We were joined by his neighbors Ginny and Richard. After dinner Bruce played the guitar and sang for us. It was another delightful evening.

On Tuesday (7/9/19) Sandy and I took the “hot” car to re-provision the boat in anticipation of leaving Beaufort tomorrow. We had Bruce over for dinner to thank him for all he did – we definitely would not have enjoyed the beautiful city of Beaufort without BRUCE! He will probably be glad to see us go so he can get some rest and get back to his life, but we will miss him tremendously. It was great re-connecting again. Thanks again Bruce!

Our next stop – Charleston…..