Myrtle Beach, SC and Southport, NC

We left Thursday 4/26 with an early start as usual, along with Brown Eyed Girl. It was pretty windy but we had a nice trip without any problems.  It was nice because with the currents and tides we were given a little bit of a push and were going faster than our usual and not burning any more fuel.  Arrived in Georgetown at Harbor Walk Marina.  We were able to walk around town and were pleasantly surprised at what a nice town it was.  Unfortunately, we forgot to bring the camera.

Back at the marina we met up with another Looper boat by the name of The Zone, they were on their way to the spring rendezvous in Norfolk, Va.  It was nice to meet both Ross and Laura and we hope to meet up with them again along the way.

We left Friday morning and had a nice cruise along the Wacamaw river, again we forgot to take pictures. We must be getting a bit lazy, promise to do better.  We stopped in Myrtle Beach at Barefoot Marina Resort.  This is a marina that has three big condos along with one of the biggest pools we have ever seen.  The capacity was over 1,500 people.  You could really have one BIG pool party with all of your closest friends.  We enjoyed the pool and the hot tub.  Dinner was had at the one restaurant on site.  It was just ok but we got 50% off.  Ginny and Craig decided to rent a car on Saturday to better explore Myrtle Beach, and they offered to let us tag along. 

At our slip with Brown Eyed Girl.

One of the condo buildings.

So on Saturday we started off our exploration with what else but Wal Mart.  We stocked up and also bought a planter and planted  some rosemary, basal and chives.  It will be nice to have some fresh herbs.  We then headed for North Myrtle Beach, we had been told that they were having a SOS parade.  SOS stands for the Society of Shagers.  The dance the Shag was started in Myrtle Beach and this was one huge celebration with lots of fun sights.  All the parade participants were enjoying themselves.

One for certain little girls.

And one for certain little boys.

We also walked on the beach along with lots of other people, this was one of the busiest beaches we have seen.  

There were lots of these washed up on the beach which might explain why there were few people in the water.

When we returned to the harbor we had cocktails on the dock and meet another nice couple on the boat Irish Rover.  Jack used to work with Linda of Ericka Lyn a fellow Looper we have met along the way.  While we were sitting there a 25 or so foot sail boat with a lone sailor tried to come into the dock but he had a lot of difficulty, mainly because he had a short plastic dinghy on a very short line off of his stern and every time he would try and move his out board motor it would get entangled with the dinghy.  He ended up rapping his line around the propeller at one point but did eventually get it all going.  Sometimes it just makes you wonder.

Dinner was back on board tonight.  We will move on to Southport N.C. in the morning without Brown Eyed Girl since they will return the rental car Monday am.  We hope to meet up again in Southport on Monday.

Sunday we traveled form Myrtle Beach to Southport N.C. it was a 39 mile day and the weather was great.  We did go by the same small sailboat we had seen yesterday and he was now aground.  We tried to provide a wake that might push him off but that didn’t happen.  He had to wait until high tide and at that point float off.   We also had the longest no wake zone we have encountered so far, it went on for miles.  

After docking we walked to town, it was about 10-15 minutes and after sitting for the morning its good to get up and move.  We had a late lunch at a place named Fishy Fishy, food was good, service not so much.  While eating lunch we saw the sailboat that was aground go by.

Shrimp boat ready for action.

And one not so ready.

We have seen lots of dolphins on the Atlantic side but until today none played with us.

Not your typical Towboat US craft.

Mary's maiden name was Potter

River pilot's house built with gold earned running blockades during the CIvil War.

John wants to do a few things around the boat tomorrow and I am hoping to get my hair colored if I can find a shop that is open on Monday.  If not I guess I will be doing it from a box.

Update - the shop was open and Mary got her hair done.  First we rode the bikes to where else, Walmart and did some re-provisioning.  John was looking forward to doing the cooking tonight.  We did a bit more exploring on the bikes, Southport has a very nice visitors center with lots of history about the town.

A couple of more neat old houses.

Here are some shots from the boardwalk out in the salt marsh.

                               

Another sunset.

Tomorrow we are off to Surf City.  A bit of trivia who first recorded Surf City and why were they going there?  See our next blog for the answer.

Mary and John