We awoke on Easter Sunday before dawn to prepare to set sail with the sun. It was a perfectly calm morning and we were greeted by an absolutely glorious sunrise. It was nothing as glorious as the Son-rise, but it was a wonderful site to witness.

We only had about 35 miles to go, but the weather forecast called for a calm morning with deteriorating conditions in the afternoon. We wanted to get to the marina and tie up early. If the weather cooperated, we wanted to take a spin around the harbor before docking, but only if the weather was good.

The ride was uneventful except for seeing a fair number of dolphins who refused to play in our wake. When we got to Charleston at around 10:30, the weather was perfect. Light winds. Almost no waves. No rain. We took advantage of the good weather to go to Fort Sumter at the mouth of the harbor.

Unfortunately, one is not allowed to dock a private vessel at Ft. Sumter. After a few cannon shots across our bow, we gave up attempting to dock (just kidding). We did pass by and get some pictures. The last time we saw Ft. Sumter was aboard a cruise ship, NCL’s Majesty, many years ago at the beginning of one our favorite cruises on our favorite cruise ship. It was much cooler to see it from our own vessel.

We then sailed up river to see the USS Yorktown. I had visited Patriot’s Point several years ago while on a business trip, but it was really cool to see it from the water. As we were gawking, a large container ship came up the channel to dock. Charleston has a busy harbor and one has to keep one’s head on a swivel.

Getting hungry, we made our way to our marina, the Harborage at Ashley Marina. We needed fuel, so we radioed ahead. Unfortunately, they had transients at their fuel dock, so they advised us to stop at the City Marina for fuel. We sidled up to their long dock and took on fuel. Easy enough.

We headed back to the Harborage for our slip. Our assigned slip was on the inside facing down river. When we got there, it had a bit of a narrow entry and the current was pushing pretty hard. It took me three tries to get lined up correctly before we could get into our slip. Thankfully the dockhand was very patient and didn’t even make me feel like a dunce. I’m sure she’s seen it all.

I washed down the boat as Wendy made us a delicious Easter brunch of ham, potatoes, and carrots. We ate and watched the Easter service at our home church so we could worship from afar.

After worship, we went to check out the town. Not content with our spin on the outside of Ft. Sumter, we grabbed a Lyft to get on the 4:00 PM ferry – the last one of the day. The ferry rise was uneventful except for the questionable docking of the ferry captain. I felt like going up to the bridge and helping, but I’m sure my kindness would not have been appreciated.

Our time in Ft. Sumter was wonderful, but too short. Because of the ferry schedule, people only get about an hour to tour the place. It’s not enough! We listened to a short history by a park ranger who did a really great job giving a succinct history. As a side note, I’ve noticed that the histories as told by park rangers at the sites we have visited are all really well done. It would be easy to put on a very modern lens when telling the story like that of Ft. Sumter and the Civil War, but she told it with fairness and consideration for the time. Kudos to the National Park Service for their professionalism.

After the history, they lowered the flag with the help of some other tourists. We saw them put the flag up that morning from Our Dash and watched them lower it from inside. We walked around and soaked up as much as we could before it was time to get back on the ferry. I spoke to the park ranger on the way out and lamented the paltry time allotted to appreciate the historic fort. She said that they get two complaints: (1) there isn’t enough time, and (2) it’s boring and takes too much time. Apparently an hour is the break-even point on the aggregate attention spans of tourists to the site.

We returned to Charleston and took a walk from the ferry terminal to Battery Park enjoying the sites along the way. After a quick Lyft ride home, we ate some leftovers and called it a night. Easter 2022 is one to remember!