Myrtle Beach to Georgetown, NC

Today:    51 miles, 7.25 hours, ICW St. M 402.9

Total:     590.2 miles, 87 hours

Osprey Marina's Transient Dock

     Clear Skies and cool temperatures greeted us this morning. We were up and away from the dock by 7:40. As we passed Osprey Marina, we saw the brand new transient dock. It is impressive…and long!  We stayed there on our trip north as part of our original cruise.  They were great.  While at The Barefoot Landing Marina, Kitty, of SV TAMUR, spoke with Osprey and asked if they had transportation so that she could pick up a few provisions.  The gal at Osprey stated that Uber could be called, but if Kitty gave her a brief list, she would pick up the groceries for her.  Talk about customer service!

The construction that closes
 the ICW on Fridays

     Thankfully, we didn’t need to leave on Friday.  Apparently, every Friday for the next couple of weeks, the ICW is closed below the Socastee Bridge so that the construction on the new bridge can proceed safely.  When we passed through that area, you can see that they are currently placing the I-beams for the road bead of the bridge.

     Currents were our main concern today.  We were against the current for the first few hours until we were on the Waccamaw River. Once the current was in our favor we were in the upper 8’s and even hit 9.2 mph until the current changed about 5 miles north of Georgetown. One noticeable observation on the Waccamaw was the turtles.  We saw groups of them on logs trying to absorb the available sunlight. Unfortunately, around the same time, clouds had begun to build so the sun was intermittent. The trees that line the river are pretty bare or brown.  Definitely, not as pretty as spring and earlier fall travel on this river.

Banks of the Waccamaw River

Turtles finding warmth in the fall

School bus ferry

Cypress roots

Bank of the Waccamacaw
further downriver

FV CAROLINA GIRLS
heads back home

FV BLACKBEARD

     In the past, we have always docked at Georgetown Marina, which is on the Pee Dee River on the outskirts of town.  Today, we went to Harbor Walk Marina.  It is right in the old town. Apparently, they just opened.  The floating docks, the shed for the fuel dock are all new.  It is a short walk into the quaint old town.  Since it was Sunday, we opted for an early dinner at the Big Tuna since most places in town close by 5 on Sunday!  We enjoyed sitting outside, watching and listening to the thousands of black birds on the island across the way.

The Big Tuna Restaurant's waterfront dining

   Once back, we spoke with some of our dock neighbors.  The couple from Boston had a Shannon motor sailor.  I must admit, it is one of the stranger sailing vessels we have seen. Strange, but according to her owner, she’s comfortable, stable, and with 12+ knots of wind, she is a good sailing vessel.

     The cloud cover made for a less than impressive sunset, but the atmospheric feel in the harbor was wonderful!

     We plan to leave a nautical twilight in the morning. We have a lot of miles to cover with a very challenging, skinny waters in a number of places, so it will be an early night.

~~~ /) ~~  K & P