May 27, 2009

Charleston Maritime Center Marina

Sometimes when I look back at the previous blog in order to begin the next entry, I find myself laughing aloud. I seem to have a predilection for prediction. I envisage such events as we are leaving next week, or we are making a stack pack for the mainsail, and we are headed to this or that location. And here, now, I again find liberation in the realization that life and plan are a dance choreographed to constantly changing rhythms. Better to go with the flow than resist the greater energies at play. So, we are remaining in Charleston yet one more week. We are having a great time here. We are also awaiting a new pump for the autopilot and a new credit card since the other was compromised. We shall see what rhythms await the dancers this week.

I told Chris yesterday that I believe we must have needed a good dose of terra firma when we arrived in Charleston. Life at the dock is like having a condo on the water. If we stay here much longer we will be as mangroves floating above the water on a flood of bent, leggy roots.

The weather in Charleston has added excitement and variety to an otherwise stationary experience on Namaste. This morning it is calm and cloudy. The water across the harbor looks like a wet, gray slicker. Two nights ago we had a torrent of rain and thunderstorms. Last week it blew 30 to 35 knots consistently for 6 days. At one point we saw 41 knots here at the dock. The water in this modest marina was roiling and Namaste was bucking and rocking with the incoming waves. Hence we did not remove the mainsail to get started on the stack pack. We did take some time yesterday to give Namaste a good rub down.

We have been enjoying the annual Charleston arts festival, Piccolo-Spoleto. Marion Park is filled with painters exhibiting their work for the next 10 days. Wragg Park contains craft artists and daily demonstrations in everything from ceramics and basketry to woodcarving. Local businesses have opened their doors to become temporary galleries for these talented South Carolina artists. This week we hope to catch some of the performance art, perhaps a good comedy or a tango production. A walk to Waterside Park to hear a jazz band is not to be missed.

As you can imagine Charleston Harbor is a hub of shipping and boating activity. Across the bay we view a sailboat regatta every weekend. Powerboats zip up and down the channel. Shrimp and fishing boats come and go on their seasonal pursuits. Just south of the marina is a dock for cruise ships and car carriers. To the north lies a dock for container ships. Both the car carriers and the container ships require tugboats to help them turn and negotiate the channel. The tugboats circle the ships in the harbor just outside the marina. We always enjoy watching these small, powerful tugs push the megaton ships through a 180-degree arc and then escort them out the channel or rest them gently aside the dock.

While we have enjoyed being in Charleston we are also beginning to yearn for a good sail and a quiet, pastoral anchorage. One of the things I most love about living on the boat is the ability to move our home from one place to another as we choose. This month we enjoy the life of the city, next week a more pastoral setting. And so it goes until we return to Charlottesville in the fall.

Peace and Love