North of Charleston

Isle of Palms beach

Our next stop after Charleston was Isle of Palms.  It is a tourist town that seems to make its living off of renting beach houses to out-of-towners.  It seemed like 3 out of every 4 businesses on the island was a rental agency.

We stopped there because of the close proximity of the marina to the beach.  We weren't disappointed.  They have a beautiful beach which was not too crowded while we were there.

Busy boat ramp!

We like the marina as well.  It was full of activity.  I think everyone in the state of South Carolina that had a boat on a trailer brought it there to launch!  The two days we spent there, there was a constant stream of boats being launched or recovered from sunrise to sunset!  Most of the time there were multiple boats being launched at the same time!  And we had a front row seat to watch all the action.

Morgan Creek Grill

To add to the activity, we were also docked right next to a very popular restaurant, the Morgan Creek Grill.  We ate lunch there one day.  The food is good and you have a great view of the ICW so you can eat while you watch all the yachts going by.

They also provided live music both nights we were there, so we got free entertainment without leaving our boat!

Guess his anchor didn't hold either!

Our next night after Isle of Palms was supposed to be at anchor.  We chose a creek right off the ICW near a beached shrimp boat.  However, after about 5 failed attempts to get the anchor to hold, we gave up and went into McClellanville to tie up for the night.

Shrimp boat fleet

We arrived on a Sunday, one day after their Shrimp Festival.  All of the shrimp boats were still dressed up for the occasion, and it was quite a sight to see!

By this time, Marie was exhausted as she is our anchor winch and has to manually pull in the anchor and chain after each attempt.

Fine Dining!

So I decided that I would treat her to dinner, especially since it was Mother's Day.  We had heard much about the only restaurant in town, and so we rode our bikes the mile or so to get to it, only to find it closed for Mother's Day.  So we rode our bikes a couple of more miles out to Highway 17 where we were told there was another restaurant.  But it also was closed!  So finally we found a Subway Restaurant inside a BP Gas station.  But that had no where to sit to eat.  Not even a bar to stand at and eat!  So we took our sandwiches and sat on the curb in the parking lot and ate with ants crawling all around (and on) us!  Happy Mother's Day Marie!

Who is watching who?

One big surprise I got was when I was walking down the dock back to the boat.  Suddenly a dolphin surface right next to me.  At first I was startled, but I noticed he wasn't swimming away.  He was just watching me!  I knelt down and talked to him and he just stayed there!  He was so close I could have touched him!  I realized I was missing a moment and reached into my pocket for my cell phone and took several pictures of him.  Finally he swam away.  It was really cool to be that close to a dolphin in the wild, and by his choice!

Relaxing on the beach

After McClellanville, we were going to anchor one night and then keep heading for the North Carolina border.

Marie went looking on Active Captain for a good anchorage and found one a little further than I had planned to go, but she thought it would be worth the time.  She was right!

We anchored off a sand dune on Thoroughfare Creek.  It was a great beach in a nature preserve.  If you climb to the top of the sand dune, the other side slopes down to a real pretty lagoon!  So you have beach and swimming on both sides!

Do I need to say anything?

We got to try out the outboard motor repair we had done in Beaufort and explored the creek and lagoon.  We made several trips over to the beach and walked some of the trails.

It was so nice, that we decided to stay two nights.  We were rewarded with a beautiful sunset on our second night!

We could have stayed here a week, but we did have a loose schedule so we reluctantly moved on.

No swimming here!

As we headed north once again, we saw our first alligator!  He was swimming across the ICW directly in front of us.  Although the picture makes it look further, he was so close I had to stop the boat to keep from hitting him!  He had to be about 8 feet long!  We would see plenty more before the day was done, but he was by far the biggest.

Waccamaw River

The lowland marshes soon gave way to lush forests which came right down to the water's edge.  I have to say that the Waccamaw River is the prettiest section of the ICW that I have traveled so far!  Aside from the beautiful vegetation, there was also plenty of wildlife to watch.  Osprey were abundant, as were the turtles and alligators competing for space to sun on fallen logs.  Birds could be heard singing from somewhere in the forest and large fish could be seen swimming just beneath the surface!

Four!

We had plenty of time to enjoy the sights because the current was against us almost the whole day.  The faster the current flows in the opposite direction in which we are travelling, the slower we go.  On this day, we were doing just over 5 knots, which is slow!

We had planned to go all the way to the North Carolina border on this day, but we were going so slow that we decided to give up on making it to the border, so Marie got on Active Captain and went looking for a place to stay.

Luvane's Fish Camp

She found the perfect place in Bucksport Marina.  It is right on the ICW and was only 75 cents per foot to stay there!  In boat terms, that's almost free!  Speaking of free, there was no charge for the putt put golf so we played a few rounds, right on the dock!

They also had free courtesy rides so we had the driver (which was the owner's son, Jeffery) take us to his choice of restaurant.  He picked Luvane's Fish Camp and we were not disappointed.  As an added bonus, Jeffery joined us for dinner and entertained us with all the local gossip as well as enough jokes to headline in Vegas!

Swing Bridge

The next morning we continued on, heading for Barefoot Landing Marina in Myrtle Beach.

I had chosen Barefoot Landing Marina (not to be confused with Barefoot Marina which is on the opposite shore), because it was part of a huge outdoor shopping center.  I thought it might be fun to take a day and just walk the shops to see what they had to offer.

Skylift

From Bucksport to Myrtle Beach, the river gets pretty narrow with lots of expensive homes along the water.  It is a worthwhile trip just to look at the homes!

As you get closer to Myrtle Beach, the scenery gives way to buildings targeting the tourist industry, including a skylift that crosses over the ICW!

Some of the many shops at Barefoot Landing

When we arrived at Barefoot Landing Marina, I radioed for directions and the dockmaster told me to pull in behind a Nordic Tug that was docked there.  As I pulled in behind the tug, I saw the name.  It was Peter and Sue on Osprey, the couple we had met in Beaufort a week before!  We had been unable to meet up with them for dinner in Charleston, but here we were, docked right next to each other once again.  So of course, we all had dinner together that night!  We really enjoyed meeting up with them again and hope to run into them on the water in the future!

Nothing better than dinner with friends!

There was so much to see at Barefoot Landing, that we spent the whole day and only shopped in a small fraction of the stores!

To add to all the excitement, we arrived at the start of bike week so motorcycles were everywhere!

This was as far north as we were going to get on this trip.  And so now everything will be southbound towards Brunswick.

Osprey continues north

But first, I have to go back to work for awhile as my clients need my help.  As much as I would like to stay on vacation, I have responsibilities back home.

And so with sadness, we leave Elixir in Myrtle Beach for a month while I catch up at the office.  But then we will be back, with new adventures on the way south!