July 5, 2016
We like getting underway early in the morning for several
reasons. First, the water is generally
calmer even if there is current, because the wind seems to settle down after
the sun goes down and doesn’t kick back up until after sunrise. Second, there are few boats on the waterway
for a while aside from the early morning fishermen. Third, we have more of a cushion to travel a
good distance and still get settled for the night with plenty of daylight left.
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| Sunrise near McClellanville, SC |
At McClellanville, there was very little current but we had
had a pretty stiff wind during the afternoon and evening. The breeze had been great for sitting out on
the back deck, but it did make grilling our supper a little bit of a challenge. Fortunately, the wind had died down during the
night as usual, so our departure was very easy.
The tide was down lower than when we had come in, but we still had 9 -12
ft of water all of the water out.
When we started this trip, we figured it would take 10-14
days to go the nearly 700 statute miles from New Smyrna Beach, FL, to New Bern,
NC. Since our trip so far had gone so
well, we were looking to making it to New Bern in 9 days -- and possibly 8 if we continued to have
such good cruising conditions!
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| The Pontoon bridge at mm 411 is normally open |
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| This floating road can be maneuvered into place when needed |
From McClellanville north, the AICW is mostly canals until
you get to Winyah Bay. There the water
widens out, so we started to see more recreational boaters out on the
water. The bay eventually narrows back
down and splits off into several rivers, the Waccamaw River being the one the
AICW continues on.
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| Wacca Wachi Marina and boat landing on the Waccamaw River |
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| Memorial to the "Original Swamp Kracker" |
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| Ospreys nesting |
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| Cool boat anchored across from Wacca Wachi Marina |
We ran with the tide most of the morning, so we reached the
first of our possible stops, Osprey Marina, around 11:30 am, having traveled
about 56 miles. Since it was too early
to stop, Rob called ahead to Barefoot Landing, which was about 25 miles
ahead. The Socastee Swing Bridge, with
11 ft vertical clearance, isn’t too far from Osprey Marina, so once we got
through it without having a long wait and the tide continued to run in our
favor, Rob figured that we would get to Barefoot Landing by 2:30 pm.
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| We saw lots of jetskis on the Waccamaw River |
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| The railroad bridge near the Hwy 501 bridge is kept in the open position unless a train needs to cross |
Since that still seemed too early to stop, Rob
looked ahead and saw that the Little River Swing Bridge, with 7 ft vertical
clearance, was only about an hour further.
There were several marinas not too far on the other side, so if we
stayed in one of those, this would leave just about 185 miles left to go and no
bridges to worry about for the first 62 miles of that.
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| Waterfront homes on the AICW near Myrtle Beach |
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| Fancy home and dock, Myrtle Beach, SC |
We use Active Captain connected with Garmin Blue Charts to
look at marina information, including maximum length accommodated, dockage rates,
and reviews. The reviews not only give
an idea about service and amenities but also about the ease of getting in and
out. We ended up choosing Myrtle Beach
Yacht Club Marina, because they are an Active Captain 1st Choice,
had the best rating with the most reviews, and offered a discount rate of $1/ft
for BoatUS members. Lightkeepers Marina
also has a 5-star rating, good reviews, and offers a discount, but several
reviews noted that they have limited transient dockage and can be hard to
contact.
Myrtle Beach Yacht Club’s only disadvantage for us was that
there is limited T dock space, so we had to pull into a slip. When docking at an unfamiliar marina, a face
dock or T dock is nice because it is generally easier to get in and out even if
the weather conditions aren’t perfect. Pulling
into a slip can be a lot trickier if there is much current or wind, and for
some reason, maneuvering space always appears smaller to me the first time I
have to dock our boat in a new marina.
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| Myrtle Beach Yacht Club Marina (the boats further back are in the other 2 marinas which are in the same basin) |
Entry into the yacht basin was clearly marked but was a bit
of a challenge due to the current and wind pushing us from the stern, the
number of small boats on the AICW, and the curviness of the entry due to
shoaling on either side. We had
following a BoatUS tow for several miles, and it stopped a few hundred feet
from the entry to change to a side tow of the small run-about boat it had been
towing. I slowed to pass it, made sure
that there were no boats getting ready to pass us from behind, and adjusted our
speed further to wait for a good opening between oncoming boats. Since the current and wind were pushing us a
fair amount, I knew I needed power to get through the entry at the angle I
wanted rather than letting the conditions push me into an unfavorable position. We were glad to make it through without any
trouble, 2.7 ft being the lowest reading on the depth gauge, which is set for
depth below our keel, so actual depth was about 6.7 ft minimum.
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| It was near low tide when we arrived at the marina |
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| The same dock a few hours later as high tide approaches. You can see by the water level marks on the sea wall that there is still at least a couple of feet to go. |
Now we just had to wind through the crowded marinas –there
were 3 in the basin so it looked like one big marina – find our slip and get
the boat into it. We had looked at the
satellite view of the basin on Google (Earth or Maps), so we weren’t completely
blind going in. The dockmaster had explained
how to get to the slip and was there to wave us in as we got close. She also had an extra dockhand to help catch
lines since we had told her that we wanted to back in so that getting out in
the morning would be easier. The wind
was somewhat blocked by the other boats in the marina and there was really
plenty of room to maneuver, so we were in and secured in no time at all. It’s always a relief to be able to say that!
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| Lorelei IV safe in her slip for the night |
The marina facilities and grounds are very nice. There was a pool right by the marina office,
so we took the opportunity to cool off and relax after we were checked in and
Sasha had the opportunity to potty. We
met sisters and their families from Connecticut and North Carolina who were on
vacation visiting another sister who had a condo at the marina. Of course, when they were ready to leave the
pool, the younger of their 2 middle school aged boys kept finding excuses to
get back in the water. We also met an
older couple who wrote for the Waterway Guide, visiting marinas, anchorages,
and other facilities in their region to verify and update information. We use the Waterway Guides to keep up with
upcoming bridges as we are cruising and to look up other information if the
need arises, so it was neat to meet some of the people responsible to putting
it together.
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| The pool was inviting after our day of cruising |
The marina is very pet friendly and welcomes pets in the
marina office, keeping a box of Milkbones on hand. There is large bowl of water right outside of
the office with a hose nearby if it needs to be refilled. There are a couple of large grassy fields
that can be used for exercise of well-behaved pets, one of which is through a
gate at the end of the parking lot. This
area isn’t completely fenced in – it is open to the busy street on the
northwest side – but it is large enough that you can stay far away from any
traffic. Sasha had fun playing with a
couple of Labs there and chasing her Frisbee of course.
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| Sasha at the pet mooring, resting after a Frisbee session |
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