What's That Sound?

Periodically, we hear a sound from the sailboat that takes us a while to figure out the cause. This time it is the crackling sound coming from under the boat that we have heard the past 2 nights. Whenever we hear a strange sound our first thought is that there is a problem, so the past 2 days we have been looking under floor boards, bending our ear to locate the sound and worrying that something is wrong. So we mentioned it to our friend Linda, and she knew the culprits- shrimp! Apparently, the shrimp are either eating or just swimming by, but they make the noise.

Today was the history day with Joe going to Fort Sumter and I to a walking tour of old Charlestown, the original 8 block section that was the original walled city. We both learned about Charleston history from the revolution through the civil war into the 1900's. What a fun and busy city- great museums, elegant stores, churches, and 250+ year old homes. Joe just told me that Charleston just was awarded the designation of the politest city in the US. The old restored homes in the historic part of the city sell for $4-5,000,000 and these are not even on the water. There are no high risers and very strict housing preservation codes.

This afternoon Linda and I went provisioning- a long walk to the grocery store to buy food for the next several days. The marina shuttle van picked us up after we finished shopping, arranged by just a phone call to the marina. I don't know if all the northern supermarkets have this, but those in the south, provide a courtesy card for travelers, so we get all the savings and discounts available to local shoppers. We wouldn't have known this without learning it from another boater.

This evening we all went to Jestine's, a local Southern style cooking restaurant. The family that owns the restaurant had a housekeeper named Jestine for years. Many of the recipes are hers. She died in 1997 at the age of 112. The menu has a short story of Jestine and the lady's room has a picture of Jestine on the door. I had pecan crusted boneless chicken breasts, macaroni and cheese, and fried okra; Joe-bourbon flavored porkchops, potatoes and beans. Dessert was coconut cream pie and chocolate cake. Delicious!

Joy