Heading north on the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) in early spring, we had hoped for warmer weather at each destination. After all, the plan for slowing down our cruise of the East Coast is to stay behind the cold temperatures all the way home. But Mother Nature rarely cooperates, and we find ourselves reaching for our winter jackets when we left Beaufort, South Carolina, in mid-March. Surely (we said to ourselves) it should be much warmer in Charleston, South Carolina, our next scheduled major stop, but that wasn’t the case at all.

As we exit the narrow ICW channel at the eastern tip of Wapoo Creek, the wide-open but very busy Charles­ton Harbor greets us with a forest of navigation marks and a maze of moving freighters, small ships, tour boats and yachts of all kinds and sizes. We pick up the Channel Range and found our way to the Charles­ton City Marina, a very popular marina, home to some of the most prestigious yachts in the world, including those owned by celebrities like Tiger Woods and Bill Murray. We took a space on the outside of its face dock, squeezing in between two luxurious 100-plus-footers results in some white knuckles as the 2-knot river current took control for a few heart-stopping seconds. We aggressively used full power of our boat throttles to save us from an embarrassing (and expensive) landing. We tied up at the biggest megadock we’ve ever seen. We counted 1500 steps from one end of the dock to the other, great for our fitbit steps and allowing us to have extra desserts for dinners.

We had high expectations when we set our sights on Charleston for a few days visit. A place doesn’t win the title of South’s Best City three years in a row without a gift for hospitality and plenty of charm. The city brims with both, that’s evident, but what’s interesting is that even though Charleston has hundreds of years of history, it’s a city that is constantly reinventing itself. It’s American history rivals Boston and Philadelphia but it evolved into a smaller and more charming historical city than the comparable cities in the northeast.

Often, when someone pictures Charleston SC in their mind, they immediately paint a picture of Battery Street, with its grand historic mansions overlooking the majestic Charleston Harbor. And it’s no surprise to discover that these stately historic homes date back to the early 1800s. Each of these magnificent houses reflects a bygone era in design and architecture, and each has a unique beginning and a captivating story of Charleston’s past era.

While Charleston is celebrated for its elegant row houses, cobblestone streets, and treasure trove of historic sites, the Holy City (history of religious tolerance & abundant places of worship) is far from frozen in the past. A vibrant community for over three centuries, Charleston hums with the energy of a cosmopolitan coastal enclave—one with an undeniable and irrepressible Southern accent.

There is no shortage of things to see and do in Charleston. Other than being a treasure trove of American history, it is host to numerous festivals, cultural events, and sporting events. In fact while we were here, the whole city was going wild cheering for the College of Charleston men’s basketball team playing in the March Madness tournament. Every restaurant and bars we walked by had a big screen TV showing the game.

Since we’ve been to Charleston before and have visited Fort Sumter, built after the War of 1812, where the first shots of the Civil War were fired in 1861, we decided to skip the iconic fort and did a bit of self-guided tour ourselves first. We walked to the City Market and Claudia was in heaven shopping from a smorgasbord of local arts and crafts merchants buying scarfs, jewelry and more.

We walked around The Battery, a waterfront promenade with man made sea walls, famous for its beautiful antebellum homes, we grabbed lunch then took a one-hour guided tour of the Charleston historic district. Our guide was informative and good-natured as he pointed out key historic homes, mansions, gardens, churches and parks along our 30-block route. We learn a lot, even though we had walked these streets the day before.

Charleston’s southern food legacy is second to none, and the city boasts a fine reputation for high-end cuisine with endless options. We found that it was actually difficult to decide where to eat with so many choices. We ended up going to the restaurant SNOB (Slightly North of Broad) and had the best soft shell crabs and pork belly ever. We also tried out the incredible brisket at the famous Lewis’ Barbecue. Afterwards we headed out to Forte Jazz Club, the premiere jazz & blues venue in Charleston, for the night. Friday night was the R&B night, hosted by the Charles Grant band performing R&B classics as they took us on a trip through time and weave together a tapestry of the most iconic and most loved songs performed by the best vocal groups on the planet. Great names like the Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, and Bill Withers brought us to a place and time when songs had deep meaning and musical brilliance. The great lyrics, melodies and harmonies left us breathless as we strolled down memory lane and danced in our own seats.

Our last day we did the usual boat chores and fueled up to get ready for departure as we slowly head towards the great state of North Carolina. To make things easier, we’ll need to leave at 7:45 AM due to slack tide to get to our next anchorage about 40 nautical miles north.