![\"Chaaleston\"](\"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Chaaleston.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nAfter leaving Savannah we made our way up to Charleston, South Carolina.\u00a0 We sailed past Fort Sumter – where the first shots of the Civil War rang out – as we made our way up the Ashley River to anchor in front of Battery Park.\u00a0 The visitor center had a decidedly Southern bent on the whole affair.<\/p>\n
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Charleston is a beautiful city steeped in history and you are reminded of its past around every corner.\u00a0 Every other building in the city center is historic and many have significance from the American Revolution, War of 1812\u00a0or Civil War (still known to some down South as the “War of Northern Aggression” we were told….uh, okay….).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n We spent a few days exploring the historical bounty (house where Washington slept, dungeon where British kept American rebels, old slave market, WW II aircraft carrier and submarine,\u00a0 Fort Sumter) and then it was time to head up North again.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>Next stop was Beaufort, North Carolina (pronounced Bow-fort, not to be confused with Beaufort, SC which is pronounced Byoo-fort).\u00a0 Our auto pilot had failed on the way to Charleston and we were going “offshore” (into the Atlantic) for our next leg, so we were in for a 24-hour sail of hand steering.\u00a0 Unfortunately for us, we encountered a large thunderstorm parked right off of Cape Fear.\u00a0 (This experience is described in the blog post “Weather You Like It Or Not”.)<\/p>\n<\/a>When we got to Beaufort, we were fairly exhausted and decided to stay in that quaint little town for a couple of days.\u00a0 They had a fantastic maritime museum that housed artifacts from the recently salvaged Queen Anne’s Revenge, Blackbeard’s ship which he purposefully sank on the bank leading into Beaufort.<\/p>\n<\/a>We also took our dinghy out to the Cape Lookout lighthouse, and learned about lightships (ships anchored semi-permanently off the coast to help keep ships from becoming a statistic in the Graveyard of the Atlantic) as well as the beginning of the U.S. lifesaving services.<\/p>\n<\/a>Leaving Beaufort, we headed up the ICW on the inside of the Outer Banks (avoiding rounding Cape Hatteras) and planned to go toward Manteo, North Carolina (which is near Kitty Hawk).\u00a0 We motored up the Alligator – Pungo River along a narrow swath of water, bordered by trees and wildlife and the water was so calm we could see our boat’s reflection as we meandered along.<\/p>\n<\/a>We stayed at a couple of really beautiful anchorages and enjoyed the peaceful setting as the only\u00a0boat around.\u00a0\u00a0As we were watching the weather we became concerned that the low pressure system, which had turned into a tropical depression would turn into a tropical storm or hurricane.\u00a0 So we diverted our path and headed up to the Great Dismal Swamp.\u00a0 It was a good decision because Hurricane Arthur blew past the Outer Banks and hit both Beaufort and Kitty Hawk.\u00a0 We were safely\u00a0tied to a dock\u00a0between the two locks of the Great Dismal Swamp when\u00a0Arthur passed by, and celebrated the Fourth of July with fireworks in a nearby park and spent some time getting to know Robert, the lockmaster and water steward of the swamp.\u00a0 The swamp itself used to be in property owned by George Washington, and he himself surveyed much of it.\u00a0 The morning after Arthur, we went through the North lock of the Great Dismal Swamp (Dante got to “pull the plug” to lock us down into the Elizabeth River) and we headed toward Norfolk.\u00a0 (By the way, I challenge you West Coasters to pronounce the name of this city without sounding like a filthy-mouthed Puritan.)<\/p>\n