Salt Life

 I really do have salt water running through my veins.  There is no where that I feel more comfortable than in a sailboat on salt water.  It smells good, it feels good.  The salt water spray, sun on my skin, wind blowing.  Amazing. 

The kid had a long weekend, so we loaded up and headed to the coast.   Arriving Friday evening, we settled in and waited for Saturday morning to roll around.   The wife woke up with a headache, so the kid and I reluctantly headed out the door without her. 

We drove out to the Isle of Palms Marina to set the sailboat up and go for a sail.  This was the first time that we had launched from the marina so it was a new experience but everything worked out great.  We paid the launch and slip fee and were able to not only launch the boat every day, but we trailered the boat and left it at the marina.  Super convenient. 

 The downside was that we were pretty far from the Charleston Harbor, it would be a full day trip to get there and back.  Not out of the question, but I don't think the wife and kid want to be out there that long.  One day maybe. 

We launched the boat and headed up the Intercoastal Waterway.  Lots of other boats around, sailing yachts, fishing boats, the Dewees Island Ferry.  We had to motor the first 15 minutes before raising the sails because we were heading straight into the wind.  After getting under sail we tacked up into the opening of Dewees Inlet and closer to the private island.  All of a  sudden we started seeing dolphins.  They seemed to be swimming and feeding all over the inlet. 

We tacked back and forth a couple of times before heading back the the marina.   The ride back was amazing.  Running from the wind which was blowing about 15 mph at this point, we picked up some speed and were skimming across the water.  The kid was having a blast, which was a very successful breakthrough. 

 On Sunday, we headed to the Patriot's Point memrial/battleship tour.  We had promised to take the kid there.  My advice, if you are thinking about visiting is, don't.   We ended up walking around for about 5 hrs, looking at the inside of ships.... painfully boring.  Spare yourself the agony and spend the money on some crab legs.   (don't get me wrong, I respect the armed forces and the men and women who have died and who still fight for our freedom.  But, I can think of better ways to show my respect that to walk around looking at bunks, galleys and heads...) 

The day was saved when we finally headed back to the marina and hoisted the sails.  With the wife aboard this time, we again headed out to Dewees Inlet to look for more dolphins.  We were rewarded and sat in amazement, watching the sleek creatures surface withing 10 feet of the boat. 

 Monday, we were back on the water.   The wind whipped up to 25+mph, so we didn't even raise the sails, just motored around a little bit before packing up and heading towards our mountain home. 

 On the way out, we stopped at the beach to play around and ended up saving a bunch of starfish which were trapped in quickly draining tide pools.  We also found a sand dollar, some horseshoe crabs and sea urchins. 

I cannot wait to get back.  We need to find a little bit more affordable lodging though.  That would be awesome!