November 7, 2022 – Charleston, SC

The weather was beautiful today. We tendered from the ship to Patriot Point where the USS Yorktown is. We had a bus tour of downtown Charleston for 1 1/2 hours. After Charleston the buses headed out to Boones Hall Plantation. It is a tourist attraction on the site of actual southern indigo, rice, and cotton Plantation. The manor house was rebuilt in the 1930’s. We arrived and were first taken on a tour of the grounds seated on a trailer pulled by a tractor. Back at the manor we had a tour of the house. We had a “gullah” lunch of chicken, collard greens, and Mac & cheese. Gullah is the language the slaves used. While we ate a man told us all about gullah.
We were back on the ship by 3pm heading for the Bahamas. At 5pm, the captain gave us an update. We are going to be going close to the Florida Coast and heading over to the Bahamas when we get just north of Miami. He is hoping to avoid the worst winds of Tropical Storm Nicole.

I reserved 2 more trips with Vantage today. I’ll be back on board the Ocean Explorer next May for a cruise around Ireland. In September 2024, I’ll be doing their Duoro Valley tour.

(9am on 11/8) It has been moderately rocky on the boat all night. A few people made it to breakfast. I’ll keep you up to date as things change.