12/7/14
Beaufort SC
Posted by Bill

Lots to post about today…

Yesterday I checked the weather further south at around 5 AM and after looking at the wind forecasts, which were in the 25-30 knot range for Sunday through Monday, I gave second thoughts to shoving off. The tide schedules were not lining up too well for the really bad shoal areas in the Georgia ICW as well, and we are paid up with the marina until Wednesday. The weather forecast showed much better weather starting next Thursday when a high pressure system is moving in, so we thought “why be miserable at anchor and underway with the winds and cooler temps when we can stay tied to our dock and enjoy more of Beaufort”. It turned out to be a really good decision!

Yesterday we relaxed and enjoyed a calm sunny day for the most part with temps in the 70s. Then we went to the Christmas boat parade in downtown Beaufort (more on that below), followed by dinner at the Old Bull Tavern. The waterfront was packed with people for the parade and I figured that we would never get in at Old Bull given it is one of the most popular restaurants in the area, it was a Saturday night, and the boat parade was a block away. We walked in and asked if it was remotely possible to get a table and as luck would have it, someone just cancelled, so we took their reservation! The food was awesome and the atmosphere was casual and unique. Great place!! We drank a couple of those Sazerac drinks we discovered in Charleston…they are ass kickers. A worker at the marina was kind enough to give us a ride to the waterfront but we were unable to get a cab back, so we walked the 4.3 miles back to the marina. Luck was with us again because the weather forecast called for an 80% chance of rain after 7 PM and it stopped just as we left the restaurant. We got back to the boat about half way through the first quarter of the OSU/Wisconsin game (another benefit of staying at the dock…cable hookup and power for our TVs), and damned if OSU didn’t kick some badger ass! What a great day!!!!

The wind picked up sometime in the wee hours and around 6 AM I got up to see what the wind instrumentation was picking up…winds up to 32 knots…is wasn’t supposed to be that bad until tonight. It is creating a pretty good chop on the river and we are doing a bit of rocking, but I am really glad that we didn’t leave. This morning it is blowing 18-30 knots, mostly above 20, and the high today is supposed to be 59. If we were anchored we would be stuck on the boat and bundled up, especially at night as the lows are going to be in the low 40s. At the dock we have enough shore power to run our air conditioner/heat pump. Did I say I am REALLY glad that we didn’t leave?

So back to the parade. Several boats in the parade were out of our marina and we watched them get ready and congregate just off our dock, and also listened to them on the marine radio.

There was a great crowd along the waterfront in downtown Beaufort waiting for the parade to start.

And a beautiful sunset.

The parade started with some caroling kayakers.

Then some paddle boarders.

Followed by the boats. These pics didn’t turn out as good as I hoped, but you get the idea.

The weather was warm and the event was great fun. We have never seen a Christmas boat parade before. Not very easy to see in the north during Christmas.