JACKSONVILLE, FL TO CHARLESTON, SC
JUNE 18 – 20, 2017
We departed
the Marina at Ortega Landing (30-16.632 N; 81-42.732 W) at 0945 hrs. The timing was set for the opening of the
Main St Bridge at 1200 hrs. There was a
strong Ebb Tide so we made good time after passing under the bridge. By 1500 hrs, the tide had turned against us
and was flooding in. It took us two hrs
to negotiate the last six miles. At
1745, we set the main and jib and started the trip to Charleston, SC: 197
nm. The Wx was very good with winds out
of the SE at 10-15 kts. As the wind
veered into the SSE-S, we poled out the genoa and continue sailing. We arrived off the Charleston Sea buoy at
0700 hrs on June 20th and dropped anchor in Charleston Harbor at
1143 hrs in 18 ft water depth with 130 ft chain out: 32-46.464 N; 79-56.814 W.
Charleston
is one of those lovely old well preserved historical cities. Dedicated to tourism, it is loved to
death. What is striking when walking about
the historical district is the number of homeless destitute individuals found
in in the entrances to empty store fronts?
It is out of sync with the opulence and materialism being display all
around them. It is not possible, for me,
to just walk by them and pretend they are not there. I ask myself, How did it happen? What events in life caused them to give up
everything? How did they fall through the Safety Net? Does it exist? Is help available? Do they want it? Is there an underlying addiction for which
our society doesn’t have adequate solutions unless money is involved. I am saddened and confused by what I see but
I walk on by and, in a few minutes, they are forgotten.
Charleston
is just a stop on our way north. We have
had torrential rain but the Sun is out and it is time to go; next stop
Southport, NC: 130 miles.
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