April 30, 2010 - Day 15

No overnight happenings to speak of but we had more fog this morning. In fact, at 0600 when I got up, I could only see the mast of the other sailboat sticking above the fog. We decided to have coffee and a regular breakfast while we waited for the fog to lift. The fog cleared out enough to hoist the anchor and get underway about 0815.

We continued our scenic tour of the Waccamaw until the ICW branched off into the cut toward Myrtle Beach and the Little River. The cut is narrower and littered with “blue collar pieces of heaven” and overstated opulence. Bridge operators at Socastee, Barefoot Landing and Little River did their best to slow us down by making us wait 10 to 15 minutes for each opening. These are tired old swing bridges and have all been replaced by nearby high rise bridges. I’m sure the justifications for building the new bridges included getting rid of these decrepit swing bridges. Why are they still in existence?

As we are departing Myrtle Beach we hear chatter on the VHF regarding the number of boats in the Calabash Creek anchorage. This was to be our destination but it was already crowded so we opted to stay at the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club.


The tide was low and water depths into the harbor basin were very skinny. Darn near heart stopping at one point. Even at the dock we were very close to sitting on the bottom. We refueled and prepped the boat for the next day and then hit the showers.

We were both a little tired so instead of fixing dinner, we decided to go to the Officer’s Club Restaurant. We were presently surprised. The atmosphere and food were great. We both had excellent meals. We had crab stuffed mushrooms, steak, and shrimp scampi,. We even decided to have desert and enjoyed a “Brownie Tower” with coffee. After the fabulous meal we walked a bit and then headed back to the boat near 2200.


It was a quiet evening dockside.

Location: Myrtle Beach Yacht Club, SC - MM 346 (N of Myrtle Beach, SC)
Distance Traveled: 43 mi