July 13—North Myrtle Beach, SC to Dewees Creek, SC on the ICW

Aurora looked lonely at Barefoot Marina’s dock all by herself, but we enjoyed excellent service and the amenities there, especially air conditioning.  On his walk, Fritz picked up some fleas from their grassy area, so after that he walked in the mulch and we asked one of the locals to let the Harbor Master about the problem.  Just another reason why bringing a dog along can be a real hassle.  We followed up with his second flea treatment for the month just in case. 

One of the advantages of traveling during the summer months is that the ICW is not congested with boats, in fact we only met three sailboats during our 90 miles, and a couple of large yachts.   But people in canoes, on wave runners, and wake boards crisscrossed the meandering tea-colored Waccamaw River keeping us company on that twenty-eight-mile leg of the trip.  The skies were filled with fluffy white clouds, shores with moss-draped cypress trees, wildflowers nestled in stumps and mile markers adorned with furry osprey nests.  I no sooner got the camera turned off, and there was another photo op too good to pass up.   The water painted a brown cypress mustache on Aurora, which given the time and calm water can easily be erased by the captain.      

Originally our plan was to go past Georgetown to mile marker 448 Price Creek on the ICW, but then we realized that to anchor in that spot would put us too far from the bridge in Charleston in the morning and unable to get through it by 7:00a.m.  It would be closed from 7-9am, and then the tide would be very low, making some spots on the shallow side for our 5½ foot draft.  Having high tide to our advantage and still daylight we continued on to Dewees Creek mile marker 554 and dropped the anchor in a shell bottom.  The holding was good in light winds, and when a brief shower came through around 12:45a.m. the Delta held Aurora and her contents securely.

We are anticipating a relaxed day in Charleston tomorrow before heading off shore on Sunday.

Waterway Guidebooks:  Our second purchase of navigation tools was Dozier’s Waterway Guidebooks, also divided into regions, which give aerial photos with marked routes, listing for all marinas, distances, bridge and tide tables, detailed mile-by-mile navigational data, maps of favorite ports, hundreds of anchorages and “goin”  ashore information