Aquarium and Fort Sumter

We spent our morning at the South Carolina Aquarium. Since we were fairly early arrivals on a school day, there weren't many other guests, meaning we got pretty dedicated attention from the aquarium staff. Right at the beginning they had a ray pool that you could stick two fingers in to pet the backs of the rays as they swam by. It was the immediate highlight for me as I bonded with a few rays. The attendant explained that it was because in an hour they'd let guests feed them some fish and they were hoping I was starting early, but I know it was my natural charm.

When we went inside, we chatted with a lady holding a snake 🐍 (Laura wasn't super into it, but I gave her some rubs), and then hit 🐢 THE TURTLE ROOM 🐢 They had 16 turtles that were being rehabilitated, and we got to see about half of those. My favorite was watching a hungry boy chowing down on some lettuce, but they were all pretty darn cute.

Laura was excited to see a scuba diver in the giant tank with the sharks and giant fishies.

After the aquarium we sauntered over to
167 Raw Oyster bar for lunch. We shared a fantastic crab dip, lobster tostada, and tuna burger. The meal was accompanied by a martini for me and bubbles for Laura to pair the food, of course.

Following a power nap, we meandered back over towards the aquarium to catch the boat that took us over to Fort Sumter. It was a pleasant 30 minute ride over in the sunshine to the island. Shortly after embarking, we saw some dolphins playing near the edge of the port. The fort itself was a shadow of its former self after being bombarded -- the flagpole atop the fort had a red line about halfway up to mark the 3rd story that the fort used to reach. Since it was the last group of the day, we got to participate in the flag lowering ceremony. We wandered a bit around the fort reading the plaques, gazing upon the many cannons and mortars, before ending with a spectacular lecture given by one of the rangers recounting the history of the fort and its history through the civil war.

After seeing seeing the dolphins again on our way back we went back to the hotel to change into workout clothes and made a quick appearance at the gym. I scurried back to the room to shower before 6 so we wouldn't miss the complementary wine and cheese hour.

We sipped our wine by a fire pit and enjoyed the cool weather until it was time for dinner at Zero George (the Hotel's restaurant)... which was divine.Read more