On Saturday, Brian and I joined some friends for a boating excursion to Morris Island where Aquapalooza was taking place. Morris Island is an uninhabited island located at the end of Folly Beach. Back when Charleston was first settled, a lighthouse was constructed on the island, however, due to hurricanes and beach erosion, the lighthouse is now completely surrounded by water. You can still see it from the edge of Folly Beach. The history of the lighthouse and the island is quite interesting, and in more recent years, there has been a effort to protect and save the lighthouse. You can read more about it here: www.savethelight.org.
Aquapalooza was actually on the other side of the island, the side sticking out into the harbour. Most weekends when the weather is nice boaters will make the trip out to the island, but this weekend there was a barge with a live band performing out in the water next to the island. A larger number of small motor boats and a few small sailboats made the trip. It was exciting because it was my first time out to Morris Island. It is also close to shark breeding grounds, and I am pretty sure that I saw one (just its tail) thrashing about in the water on the other side of the inlet. I also found two sharks teeth on the beach. And there were dolphins everywhere. It was a great day and I especially loved hanging out with friends in such a beautiful setting.
After all of the swimming and sun, our friends dropped us off at the marina and Brian and I proceeded to take a shower and a nice long nap. What else are Saturdays for? Once we had rested, we topped off the day with a date to a little Italian restaurant, which we hadn’t visted in several years (since it had first opened). The restaurant is called Pane e Vino and has a sweet little outdoor patio and bar. We ordered a few apetizers; the highlights were a tomato soup over bread (zuppa de pane) and pecorino with black truffles (tartufo). European cheeses are pretty much unbeatable if you ask me. The soup and cheese reminded me of my time in Florence, Italy, and how much I’d love to go back for a visit. 
