05/21/21 – Harbor Walk Marina in Georgetown, SC, to Barefoot Marina, in Myrtle Beach, SC

Day 253

We enjoyed beautiful, perfectly clear skies, with a light breeze kicking up when we left Harbor Walk Marina at 7:30 am on Friday, 05/21/21. We were now officially cruising on the Waccamaw River, according to our electronic charts. The Waccamaw is one of the prettiest rivers we’ve encountered on this journey, and this day’s glorious cruising weather only magnified that. We rounded a bend and spotted Blue Yonder up ahead of us again on the AICW. Turns out that they anchored nearby us last night in the Sampit River, where Harbor Walk Marina is located, in Georgetown. I didn’t even realize it until that morning, even though Steve said they waved at us last night when we were out walking. D’OH! I completely missed that. They do cruise a bit slower than us, so we knew we’d pass them again shortly. I was hoping they would also stop in Myrtle Beach, where we were going, so I could invite them for dinner or docktails, but as it turned-out, they did not.

Along the beautiful Waccamaw River, SC, on a gorgeous weather day.

And just like that – to quote Forest Gump – we went from palm trees to bald cypress trees along the river banks. After passing through the Samworth Wildlife Management Area to our northwest, we started to see more widely-spaced, stately waterfront homes, each with their own private dock. There is most certainly some big money on the Waccamaw!

Very few palm trees through here, but lots of bald cypress!

One of our traveling companions that day – Treble in Paradise.

We passed Heritage Marina on the Waccamaw, which is a pretty little marina, but totally exposed to passing boat-wakes – no protection at all. We cruised past Pawley’s Island, Woodville Acres, and Annieville, SC, all to our east.

As we passed Brookgreen Gardens to our southeast, heading into the Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge, we noticed taller marsh grasses growing along the banks of the AICW, which became more plentiful the further north we progressed. I researched online and found these grasses (which are obviously very prolific) are called Spartina Grass, or cord grass. I love its sage-blue coloring that gleams in the sunlight. Along with the Spartina grass, we were beginning to see lily pads once again.

As the Waccamaw River narrowed as we moved northward, the scenery on both sides looked just like swampland. Cypress, hardwoods, and pine trees, all draped with Spanish Moss (of course) secluded small canals that meandered from the river back into the dark overgrowth. I wished we could’ve anchored somewhere, dropped Digney and explored those canals, but there was no safe place for us to anchor in this part of the river.

One of several enticing creeks that meanders off of the Waccamaw River and back into the “swamp land”.

I sure wished we could’ve taken our dinghy back into one of these creeks!

These folks had the right idea – taking their kayaks back into the shallow swampy areas. Gotta love their little red marker flags – LOL!

We passed the Wacca Wache Marina, where some big event was obviously taking place, judging from the crowd. To seem so far out in the middle of nowhere, the Waccamaw River is surprisingly busy! But I could understand the attraction as it is such a beautiful river. We passed numerous osprey nests constructed on just about any vertical protrusion from the water; all with ospreys sitting atop them. It is obviously nesting season!

That’s an osprey nest in the top of that bald cypress in the foreground. Osprey nests are everywhere on the Waccamaw!

As we got closer to Southport, SC, we observed more damages suffered by Hurricane Isaias, which hit this area last year. At Enterprise Landing, we split off of the lovely Waccamaw River into an arrow-straight, man-made portion of the AICW, which heads northeast toward the Atlantic Ocean, while the Waccamaw continues to wind inland toward the northwest.

We have no idea if this was ruins leftover from Hurricane Isais, but it was one of many abandoned boats we saw that day. 🙁

We had to wait at the Socatee swing bridge for about 10 minutes for it to open. Legacy passed through between motor vessels Exhale and Treble in Paradise. (We had spoken with Treble in Paradise earlier and learned their plans are to cruise up to Maine, since Canada has locked us all out). As we got closer to the Myrtle Beach area, as always, the waterfront homes grew more numerous and more grand. Because of all the docks associated with these homes, we were forced to reduce our speed as we went through a very long no-wake zone. We passed the swanky Grande Dunes Marina, situated next to the fancy Marina Inn at Grande Dunes, which is quite obviously the place to be in the Myrtle Beach area. The waterfront homes in Grande Dunes are over the top!

Following Exhale through the Socatee swing-bridge on the Waccamaw.

One of MANY houses with private docks that caused the super-long no-wake zone along the ICW as we approached Myrtle Beach, SC.

I told Steve I thought I could live in this house quite happily. (Must’ve been all the potted plants…)

Look at all that Spartina grass growing right there on the sides of the ICW.

Following Exhale under the Grande Dunes Bridge.

Grande Dunes, outside of Myrtle Beach, SC.

One of many over-the-top, waterfront houses in Grande Dunes.

Steve timed things so that we entered into Barefoot Marina exactly at slack tide, which means little to no current when trying to dock. Score! The ironic thing was that, when we called ahead on the phone to the harbor master for tie-up instructions (so I’d know which side of the boat to place the lines and fenders), he advised us we’d be tying up to a wall “facing into the current”. Except, since it was slack tide, there was no current, so we still didn’t know which side of the boat to ready….(?) As it turned out, we had to wait for about thirty minutes to tie up on Barefoot Marina’s wall, as five boats all arrived at the marina simultaneously! But that gave me time to observe which side of the boat to ready, so the wait was a good thing. We finally got tied and hooked up about 2:30 that afternoon. Motor vessel Exhale came in right before us and Treble In Paradise arrived right behind us.