April 12, 2012 Charleston, SC

April 12



Charleston has a great aquarium

We stayed three days at Charleston City Marina, on the Ashley River.  The marina offered a shuttle into town.  We partook in tourist activities which included a carriage ride,a self guided walking tour and shopping.  Ken and John went to view the USS Yorktown and Rita and I enjoyed the South Carolina Aquarium.  The Old City Market, a three block-long brick marketplace built in 1804 is now the home base for hundreds of craftsmen. We enjoyed strolling through the market and passed many homes of grand design and gorgeous churches.  With 180 churches in Charleston it is also known as the City of Steeples.

Rita and I checking out an art gallery.

 

 

Albino Alligator

 

 

 

 

Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon where American Patriots were held prisoner during the Revolutionary War.

 

 

St. Phillip's Anglican Church, once a target of Union artillerymen, is one of 180
 churches in the "Holy City."

Huguenot Church where they opened the wood panels for ventilation.

The USS Yorktown was completed in 1941 and was renamed in 1942 to
commemorate the Yorktown that was lost in the Battle of the Midway in 1942.

The Yorktown known as "The Fighting Lady" is the tenth aircraft carrier to serve in the US Navy.  In the background is the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, which opened in 2005 as the longest cable-stayed bridge in the Western Hemisphere.  Over 2 plus miles long,  the span has 186 foot vertical clearance.

The 888 foot Yorktown displaced 27,100 tons during WW II and carried a crew of 380 officers,

3,088 enlisted men, and an air group of 90 planes.  In the 1950s, she was modified with an

addition of an angled deck for jets, which increased her displacement to 41,000, and then she

was converted to an antisubmarine carrier.  In this capacity, she served in the Vietnam War in

the 1960s and in 1968 recovered the Apollo 8 astronauts, the first men to reach the vicinity of the Moon.

John feeling his oats or should I say kumquats after just getting a slap on the wrist at the Custom Headquarters for

not having his Canadian cruising pass. Glad that Charleston treated our Canadian friends kindly! We were all concerned.

And by the way the kumquats were delicious!

 

This is a replica of the H. L. Hunley which became the first successful combat submarine.  It sank the USS Housatonic on
Feb. 17, 1864. It rammed the spear torpedo into the hull of the Housatonic and sank it within minutes.

H. L. Hunley carried 8 men on a mission that they completed, but never did return.  After being lost at sea for
more than 130 years, the Hunley was located in 1955 and raised on Aug. 8, 2000.