“32:47N 079:55W”

Charleston, South Carolina.

Arrived back in the US last Sunday 5^th September. Stayed overnight in New York in a Howard Johnson hotel In Queens .  Not a  wonderful hotel but the bed was big and comfortable, the shower was hot, but the tv only seemed to have one channel.  Not sure we were in a high class place – the receptionist was behind armoured glass, plus the room numbers were hand written on paper and stuck on the doors with cellotape.  Anyway we survived the night, and took their shuttle bus back to the airport the following morning for our flight down to Charleston.

While we have been back in the UK, the boat had been 10 miles up the Wando river in the Charleston City Boatyard, out of the water.  We arrived back on the boat on Labour day so no one around but we did have the access code to get in.

The boat went back in the water on Wednesday 7^th, sails on Thursday 8^th then down the Wando river to Charleston Harbour Marina for a few days.  While we were at the boatyard we did have the use of their courtesy car so we were able to go to the local super market and stock up.

Our plans now are to leave here and head north not out at sea but along the Intracoastal Waterway, which runs from Chesapeake Bay to Florida. So we will mainly be a motor boat.  There are places to anchor along the way, plus marinas and towns to visit.  It also involves bridges which we can go through i.e. lifting or swing bridges, or fixed with a clearance of 65 feet. Karma Daze is 63 feet so we should be OK!

We have already managed to fall foul of Customs and Border Control.  We checked in when we arrived in Charleston in June, but didn’t when we came to this marina, so we were visited by the men in black uniforms.  They were very nice and explained all the regulations and issued us with a Violation Notice, but didn’t fine us!  They also said there was no record of the boat entering Charleston in June....

Anyway we now know we have to check in at every port/town etc. So we will be extra careful doing this now.