Madrone made landfall in Charleston, and once there we had three goals:

  1. Tie up to a dock in order to wash the boat
  2. Get vaccinated
  3. Eat some delicious food

For number one, how hard could it be? Well, it turns out that Charleston is a super-popular destination for boats. It also turns out that many boats are headed north out of the hurricane zone, just like we are. And it also turns out that we’re close to a major US holiday – who knew?

The water taxi was a super easy way to get into downtown Charleston

Since we didn’t know exactly when we’d arrive, we didn’t make a reservation. Once we pulled into the entrance channel, we started contacting local marinas – all of them were completely full. Finally, we found an available spot at a marina across the harbor from downtown. The downside was that we had to take a ferry to get to town – but every cloud has a silver lining, and this one was that the marina had a hot tub!

Hurray! Finally able to get our first coronavirus vaccine!

Luckily for us, items 2 and 3 were a lot easier. We made a vaccine appointment for the following morning, showed up at the local pharmacy, and were shot full of our first dose of vaccine (we picked Pfizer).

Enjoying an iced beverage in the warm Charleston afternoon

And we made a reservation at a local restaurant that got good reviews, managed to score an outdoor table, and were able to feast on fried green tomatoes, jambalaya, and southern BBQ shrimp and grits.

Delicious southern food at 82 Queen

It’s great to be back in the US!