Beaufort S.C.

"The Low Country
" home of "The Great Santini",
"The Big Chill" and lots of shallow water.

This is the entrance to the Asshpoo/ Coosawaw River cut
 on the intracoastal.
Do you notice anything odd?

Years ago I made this trip in a boat that drew six feet.
I couldn't even think about attempting to do that today.
 The ICW has been forgotten in tough economic times
and has been allowed to degrade
to the point that it has lost it's character and charm.

But as you approach the next town
 you start to think ahead about what is special
 and what you get to see and experience that afternoon or the next day.
The Beaufort, South Carolina area is very important
to the US Marine Corps, with a Marine air station and Parris Island both in the area.
You get some pretty amazing flybys.
What shallow water?

As we pulled into Beaufort
 we saw we were going to share a dock with a Coast Guard cutter.
The USS Diamondback was our dock mate
 for a couple of days.
Ginny and I even got to go on a tour aboard!
 Pretty cool. I want to drive!

The Beaufort waterfront is beautifully done
with mooring fields,
 a riverfront park and promenade and restaurants galore. 

Ginny and I were taken with the town itself,
 slow, easy and local, no big box stores here.
Farm to table dining never left, much less become trendy.
We even went to Sunday breakfast at a very local spot
and while we were telling our waitress that we had come by boat
 and how much we enjoyed their town
 the folks at the next table asked if we were the Taylor's.
Stunned, we turned and said that we were
 and we were greeted by my sister Susan's great nephew and his family!
My sister had alerted them that we were here but really? Really?
Small town, smaller world.
Last night we ran into an old friend and his wife
 from the tomato business and joined them for dinner.
How weird!

Since we are building a low country house in Palmetto,
we took every advantage to look at the architectural details
 in the antebellum homes that abound in this town.

Ginny and have decided that when we return to the world of Netflix
 the first movie on our queue is going to be "The Big Chill"
everywhere you looked there was a scene from that
or "Forrest Gump" or the "Prince of Tides".
Oh, by the way,
the locals did not care much for Miss Barbra Streisand
while she was here filming,
 I knew I liked this place.

Offshore tomorrow to Florida!
 Fernandina Beach here we come!