We arrived at the Downtown Marina in Beaufort SC on Saturday, August 31. I wanted to walk around because we were in the historic district. We found so many cute shops and restaurants and old homes. John spotted a gelato shop but I convinced him that we needed to eat first…..there’s a story here. We ate a fine meal and walked through the huge home neighborhood. The houses are on the right but this shows the tree lined river road with the marshland.
We saw a large church surrounded by a seven foot brick wall that looked very old. The first church building was built in 1713 and later became St. Helena’s Anglican Church. Being very impressed with such an old church and that was used in the Revolutionary War by the British to hold horses and in the Civil War as a hospital, we were even MORE impressed when we saw an open gate into the cemetery. The sun was starting to go down and the grounds were beautiful. British soldiers were buried next to American patriots.
I took so many pictures but the one that reminded us of home was a tombstone of a Confederate officer who was wounded on Santa Rosa Island, FL. He survived the injury and returned to Beaufort after the war. We got a chuckle out of his nickname.
The next morning, John asked me where I wanted to go to church. I immediately said, St. Helena because I want to see the inside of that church! (Maybe not the best rationale for choosing where to worship God). I remember there was a service at 9:15 so we walked to the church and saw people leaving. I was wrong about the service time. A priest, Father Todd introduced himself and invited us across the street to hear some of their missionaries to China then later to join the church service. Upon entering, several people introduced themselves and when one lady found out we were in a boat, offered to help find us a marina to haul out the boat for Dorian. We also met the grounds keeper and I was asking him about the officer who was wounded on Santa Rosa Island. He said that when General Anderson returned from the war,his profitable business failed and he died penniless with no headstone to mark his grave. A Union officer who knew that he was a good man actually purchased the headstone.
The inside of the church was beautiful with a surround balcony and huge pipe organ. It was full of people young and old. Everyone, even teenagers, shook our hand, looked us in the eye and sincerely welcomed us. It was the friendliest church I’ve ever been in for sure. The sweet lady who said she’d help us find a haul out texted 3 places to call and invited us to lunch the next day. Wow, so blessed to find such a church that really shows love.
Meanwhile, back at the boat, the AC started to fail us. On Monday, we had checked into several haul out places but based on our proximity to the hurricane projection, we decided to leave Happy Ours in the marina. Now our neighbors decided to ride out the storm. This girl is never going to do that on purpose so a broken AC was a great reason to go to a hotel on Monday.
Here’s a picture of John after he tied up the boat.
There was a 93 year old man living on his boat. When the dock master said they were cutting power on Tuesday, he exclaimed, “No, please because my boat leaks and I need the sup pumps.” The marina guys boarded his boat, found that it was an internal leak, cut off his water and found him a place to stay during the storm. Now I was worried about all his stuff flying off so I took a before and after pictures.
Here are the after pictures……I could hardly believe it.
The only thing I see different is that the lamp is knocked over. Crazy huh? Well I took all my valuables from the INSIDE of the boat to the hotel. That included my instruments, Vitamix and my pressure cooker! I certainly enjoyed my guitar and ukulele at the hotel and learned a new appropriate song, In the Eye of the Storm.
In the eye of the storm, You remain in control
And in the middle of the war, You guard my soul
You alone are the anchor, when my sails are torn
Your love surrounds me in the eye of the storm
When the solid ground is falling out from underneath my feet
Between the black skies, and my red eyes, I can barely see
When I realize I’ve been sold out by my friends and my family
I can feel the rain reminding me
In the eye of the storm, You remain in control
In the middle of the war, You guard my soul
You alone are the anchor, when my sails are torn
Your love surrounds me in the eye of the storm
Mmm, when my hopes and dreams are far from me, and I’m runnin’ out of faith
I see the future I picture slowly fade away
And when the tears of pain and heartache are pouring down my face
I find my peace in Jesus’ name
In the eye of the storm (yeah, yeah)
You remain in control (yes you do, Lord)
In the middle of the war, You guard my soul
You alone are the anchor, when my sails are torn
Your love surrounds me (Your love surrounds me)
In the eye of the storm (in the eye of the storm)
When the test comes in and the doctor says I’ve only got a few months left
It’s like a bitter pill I’m swallowing; I can barely take a breath
And when addiction steals my baby girl, and there’s nothing I can do
My only hope is to trust You
I trust You, Lord
In the eye of the storm (yeah, yeah) You remain in control
In the middle of the war (middle of the war), You guard my soul (yeah!)
You alone are the anchor (ooh), when my sails are torn
Your love surrounds me In the eye of the storm.
~~~~~~~~
While waiting on this storm, we drove around and decided to eat at the Fish Camp. Notice it was low tide and how high the docks are around the shrimp boats. Remember the tide change 9 ft two times a day!
I took pictures of the inside of the boat, just in case, for insurance purposes. People ask me how I cook and where do we put extra people. So here’s some interior pictures. The couch is a sleeper sofa along with a small second berth that pulls out to a full bed although we use it for storage. Happy Ours is a good home away from home.
The galley and the 2nd berth.
The bathroom and the master bedroom.
Do you see the antique telephone? My dad decorated it for me and my sister’s room when we were teenagers. We had a 15 minute limit for phone calls. When the boat is underway, it sometimes continues to ring….no joke. The first time it happened I thought God was telling me that my dad needed me so maybe you think it’s crazy but I picked up the receiver and said, “Hello.” Now when it rings from the vibrations of the engines I figure it’s good to just talk to God a bit.
Well Hurricane Dorian came though and we only had about 50 mph winds in Beaufort. The boat was fine. Tomorrow when businesses reopen, John will look for parts to fix the AC and we will leave for Charleston if the marinas made it through Dorian. Beaufort was a wonderful place for us as it was inland a bit. Many places were hit so much harder and as I write this, Dorian is hitting North Carolina. My heart goes out to the Bahamas. Thank you for checking on us!
I proofed this and realized that I forgot the gelato story. We’ve been several times after the initial “wait until after dinner,” but with no luck; once it was too crowded, once we walked in and they asked us to leave because it was after closing the they forgot to lock the doors, then twice because it was boarded up. So hopefully John will get lucky tomorrow.