After saying our goodbyes to our friends in Savannah, we set our sights on our next stop. We had planned on jumping straight to Charleston but some locals and fellow cruisers recommended that we make a stop in Beaufort, SC. Justin and I were ready for a leisurely motor up the ICW since our passage to Savannah, a few weeks earlier, was quite rolly. We conferred with other cruisers and researched our route on The Waterway Guide. Since the ICW is prone to shoaling, or moving shallow areas, it had recently been dredged. They recommended downloading a track that was made by Bob423 to ensure that we would be in the deepest parts of the channel. We were cautiously optimistic that it would work. We had our autopilot to follow the route in our chart plotter and it worked beautifully. It took us about 8.5 hours to go around 40nm and safely into our slip at Lady’s Island Marina. We decided to park Nymeria in a slip about a mile from the historic downtown as the City marina was full, it was too hot for a mooring ball, and we were still a little spooked about anchoring.
Beaufort was chartered in 1711 and is the 2nd oldest city in South Carolina, behind Charleston. It is known as the “Queen of the Carolina Sea Islands” with its antebellum architecture and entire downtown designated as a historic district. Like in Savannah, we just wandered the area in awe of beautifully preserved homes and the huge oak trees covered in Spanish moss. The downtown area had a very lively boardwalk for dining and plenty of little shops to keep you busy for an afternoon. We did have to uber to Shellring Ale Works and Rotten Little Bastard Distillery as they were too far for us to walk or bike to.
Beaufort definitely has some “must see” locations around town. We found the Tidalholm Mansion that was used for The Big Chill and The Great Santini films. Each day we had to cross over the Woods Memorial Bridge that was used in Forrest Gump. We also sought out the Robert Smalls house after hearing of his remarkable story from a bartender at Hemingway’s. According to the National Park Service, Robert Smalls was born in 1839 and enslaved by a local planter in Beaufort, South Carolina. By the time he was 23 years old, Smalls had won freedom for himself and his family, and was a famous war hero. By 25 years of age, he had returned to Beaufort and bought his former slave master’s house for the amount of unpaid taxes after it was abandoned during the Civil War. He became a prominent leader in the community during the Reconstruction era, including service in both the state and national legislature. I just love his story. What an inspiration!
While in Beaufort we had the pleasure of watching 2 named storms form in the Atlantic, Bret and Cindy. While Bret decided to take a southerly route, Cindy looked, for a time, like it was heading for the Carolina Coast. We began to assess our location and determined that we were in a great spot well away from the coast and protected on most sides from big winds. As the storm began to curve further north and also fizzle out, we started our plans to make it to Charleston and be there to celebrate July 4th. Skål!
My race needs no special defense, for the past history of them in this country proves them to be equal of any people anywhere. All they need is an equal chance in the battle of life.
Representative Robert Smalls
