Thursday/Friday/Saturday

Thursday

Weather looks a little better and improvement is promised. It is still blowing a bit and raining but we are off , most of the  ICW travellers are off too everybody heads south. 

Only did 23 miles it was cold and wet, full waterproofs were needed just like sailing in the UK ! Got a berth at a restaurant / bar , watched American football whilst eating a hamburger. I might just be getting into the culture.

Friday 

46 miles is the plan today, ocean isle marina. Places to drop anchor are few and far between on this section.

Turned out that ocean isle marina is for motor boats and people fishing, so we pushed on to one of the few anchorages. As we arrived the sun came out and it looked a beautiful place to stop, unfortunately we went the wrong side of a red marker. In our defence half of it had dropped of and there was no red visible but we should of known that shape being triangular meant it was red. We didn't come to a sudden stop , bottom must have been muddy, luckily the engine is pretty powerful and we reversed our way out of it. Would have been nasty to get stuck there as the tide still had 2 or 3 feet to fall. Another attempt the correct side of the red marker gave pretty shallow water so decided to continue up river to a marina.

 The Myrtle Yacht Club sounds like an expensive place to stop, I thought we were going to face some hefty charges however for 51 dollars we got a bargain as it include electric and a car for an hour! The car was supposed to be to pick up supplies , as it was close to the time when the marina office closes the guy said drop the keys through the letter box. So we had a car for the night! Off to myrtle beach, worth seeing , fine beach and board walk, otherwise is was an American Blackpool. We are just inside South Carolina  , the state laws must change as there are lots of firework supermarkets, and casinos I guess firework sales and casinos are illegal in north Caroline.

 Saturday

Latest start yet , must have been 8.30 before we pulled away from the mooring. 

The tidal currents along the ICW are a mystery to me. Around myrtle beach where the ICW is fed from inlet from the sea and across marshland the tidal current turns this way and that, one moment you can be zooming along at 8 knots then you pass an inlet and you are going 4. Totally unpredictable. Having said that today we have had adverse tides most of the way , we entered the Waccamaw river and had 1.5 knots against us all the way.

Do you fancy a new house with ICW frontage ? Not me.

 For our anchorage tonight we picked a beautiful spot, sand beach up an inlet very quiet and remote. So we thought! It's Saturday night and one after the other boats appeared and parked themselves on the sand. Boats with delightful names like 'Hey Baby' and ' Pink Panty Pull Down'.  I have to say 'Pink Panty Pull Down' had a super stereo system, it would put most club stereos to shame, very loud no distortion , I could feel the bass on my chest. Couldn't hear what Vince was saying though , as we ate our steak for supper. I swear I could see standing waves on the water. Unfortunately their taste in music wasn't great , american rock that hadn't gone anywhere since The Eagles. Mercifully they left as the light faded, another lesson in American culture.

Our anchorage, just after sunset.and after disco left!