Beaufort, SC

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We were docked when the battery-operated smoke detector over the bed started chirping at about 6:12 am. Apparently, the new Captain onboard apologized for all the noisy side-thrusting to pass through the swivel bridge to enter Port Royal and dock at the Waterfront Park right in downtown Beaufort. We slept right through all that! It was the dying battery in our smoke detector that sent Clay out for the 6:30 am escorted walk. A cold front had come through and it was in the 50s F here this morning. I stayed in and got the battery replaced. We did not appreciate the Lowcountry Heritage Tour. We found the white woman guide who had no kinship with the Gullah people masquerading and imitating a Gullah woman to be borderline offensive.  Also offensive was the fact that she was constantly selling something, books, maps, Jesus and/or real estate. The tour just didn't sit well with us. We did see low country outside of Beaufort though so it wasn't a complete waste of time. We drove over the McTeer Bridge. It is a pivot bridge and we got stopped coming back over and got to watch how it works. We could see several islands including Parris Island and our destination St. Helena Island. We stopped at Coffin Point, Coffin Point Praise House and the Chapel of Ease. We drove through the complex at Penn Center. We learned that Beaufort was one of the first southern cities to fall to the Union during the Civil War. It was where the first secession documents were signed yet one of the first to fall. It was just abandoned by the wealthy planters. Thus it was spared any damage during the war as it was occupied as a port and center. It was also the earliest experiment in dealing with the aftermath of slavery and the beginning of reconstruction. We learned a lot.

We were back for lunch. The Marine Corps Band was setting up in the park where we are docked. They started a concert for Veterans Day at 1pm. That was a bonus and we had prime seats. After lunch, Clay was going to replay the morning walk for me. He has a horrible sense of direction. I called quits on it. We did some shopping on the main drag and then headed back to the ship. As we crossed the street, we found ourselves between the red and blue horse carriage tour kiosks. Clay wanted to do it, so asked at the blue one with the earliest time. They took 3 women ahead of us and the 2 of us for a final tour today. It was $23 each. ACL charged $30 each and filled every seat on the carriage. We scored. It was a good 50-minute or so tour and we learned a lot again. We got to catch a glimpse of the Big Chill house. We were back in time for cocktail hour.

We are docked here until about 4:30 am tomorrow. We are told we will cruise the ICW to Hilton Head by 8 am or so. We are supposed to anchor off Harbour Town and tender in. Three of the 6 tender runs are priority to those on tours. We did not book a tour. The choices were alligators or dolphins on small boats. The Ship to Shore for tomorrow has a couple of caveats about canceling due to weather. The forecast is stormy with a high of 64. Having ridden in Independence's open tender in Beaufort, NC we are not planning to go ashore at all in Hilton Head at this point. We'll see what happens tomorrow. We depart Hilton Head tomorrow at 8pm for Savannah. Fingers crossed for better weather there as we have Segways booked!

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