Southbound ’17 – Travel Day 19: North Myrtle Beach, SC to Georgetown, SC

Just a perfect day.  Except for the fact that it was 38 degrees at our 7:52 am departure time.  I checked our home in upstate New York this morning and it was two degrees warmer there.  Please help me make sense of that.  No bother though – it was otherwise a spectacularly beautiful day to be on the water and it did eventually warm up to t-shirt-running-from-the-bridge weather.

After departing our free dock in North Myrtle Beach and passing a sailboat that had left the docks about a half hour earlier we had the waterway to ourselves for the next few hours.  This is a beautiful and varied leg of the trip south on the ICW with many parts where it really feels worthy of its nickname, “the ditch.”  There are miles-long stretches where the scenery alternates between pure nature and then just the opposite with every color and shade of McMansions lining the shore.

People often ask what music we listen to underway and I can tell you it varies daily.  As we were motoring along, essentially through the woods for much of the day, the Avett Brothers somehow felt appropriate, so we cranked ’em up loud.  There are lots of twists and turns in all directions along this route with occasional, small marinas seemingly in the middle of nowhere and lots of homes with boats on lifts. We passed a few fellow travelers as we got further along and even though you only have a moment of contact when making passing arrangements and waving out the pilothouse door, there is the connection of a shared adventure.

One of the highlights of this leg is the Waccamaw River which was glassy calm as we passed through.  Easily one of the most beautiful parts of the trip so far. We’ve been hearing one of those boats, the sailing vessel Destination Unknown, on the radio for a handful of days.  We passed them on the Waccamaw and they ended up tying up next to us at the fantastic Harborwalk Marina in Georgetown.  Great to chat with her owner who is living a thirty-year dream and sailing to Key West from Rhode Island having left his home port just a day after us.  Nice meeting you D.U.!

Georgetown is a neat place.  A small and beautiful downtown and the marina is really terrific.  Not huge, but just right with beautiful docks and southern hospitality.  Thanks to Harborwalk’s Chris and Joe for taking such good care of us and yes, having treats for Jasper.

As we move towards Charleston on the next leg we have to time out the tide for a particularly evil problem area of the trip but we think we have the timing figured out well enough to get us to our next destination in daylight.  Stay tuned…