Day 254
Even though the morning of Saturday, 05/22/21, started out foggy, that fog finally lifted enough for Legacy to leave her tie-up at Barefoot Marina, in Myrtle Beach, SC, at 8:45 am. As we cruised along the mirror-smooth AICW, with only a few wisps of fog here and there, the waterway narrowed quite a bit as we traveled northward. With tall trees leaning out over us on both sides of the water, this portion reminded me of the pictures I’ve seen of the Dismal Swamp (which we won’t be traveling because of shallow depths and reports of prop-damaging debris hiding in its dark brown, tannin-stained waters.)
As the morning wore on, the weather cleared nicely to sunny skies and a light breeze, as we cruised through Little River, SC, and across the state line into North Carolina. As with almost every other waterway we’ve traveled so far, we saw more lovely, waterfront homes, with piers that protrude way out into the water over the marshes. We passed the impressive Big M Casino ship in Little River, SC. Every small town needs its own floating casino… (Or not.) North of Little River, the AICW begins to widen again, as we cruised north of Bird Island, NC, south of Sunset Beach, and then north of Ocean Isle Beach, NC, where we noticed Legacy was starting to fight a little current.
The AICW runs just west of the Atlantic Ocean through here, with only a thin strip of beach between it and the big water. We could smell the ocean on that stretch! We cruised south of Shallotte and South Brunswick, NC, then north of Holden Beach. Next it was south of Sunset Harbor and just north of Oak Island, NC. The waterway north of Holden Beach is extremely busy on the weekends! In fact, this particular instance reminded me little of the 2020 Trump boat parade we’d experienced back on Kentucky Lake last summer… (okay maybe not that wild, but busy none the less!)
We saw more hurricane-damaged docks and piers, the closer we got to Southport. Not only is the ICW in this part of North Carolina very narrow, it’s also shallow. We were seeing average depths beneath our keel of only 6-9 feet. We cruised north of Caswell Beach and Fort Caswell, before reaching the town of Southport, which was dead-centered by 2020’s Hurricane Isaias, and is north of Bald Head Island and Bald Head Island Natural Area. At Southport, the AICW becomes the famous Cape Fear River for several miles until the AICW splits back off toward the east, at Carolina Beach State Park. Our marina for that night, Deep Point Marina, is located right on the Cape Fear River.
Legacy arrived at Deep Point Marina a little after 2:00 pm. We were assigned our own slip, rather than a wall-tie, into which we enjoyed a quick and easy stern entry, with quick tie-up and power connection. The bad news was that our slip was on the opposite side of the marina from the restroom facilities, which meant we had quite the hike from and to our boat, but we were only there for one night, so we sucked it up.
In no time, we discovered this “protected from wakes” marina was not totally wake-free, since the Bald Head Island Ferry has a departure and arrival station right there INSIDE the marina! Two large ferry boats leave for or return from Bald Head Island every 30 minutes. Each time a ferry left or arrived, Legacy got waked by said ferry, and we also got to hear the ferry’s loud horn blow each time it departed or arrived. YIPPEE… Those ferries ran all day long from 6:00 am through 10:00 pm… UGH! It’s funny how – in the description of the Deep Point Marina – they don’t really explain the whole ferry situation, so you don’t get the whole story until AFTER you’ve arrived and settled into your slip…
On a lighter note, I delighted in the array of wildflowers planted inside Deep Point Marina! Alysum, blanket flowers, verbena, phlox, and cone flowers abounded, and right next to the gate into the pool and restrooms, there’s a giant, thick tower of Jasmine (in full bloom during our visit, thank you very much) that uses a young Mexican palm tree as its trellis. It’s fragrance was intoxicating!
Position: N 33° 55.819, W 77° 59.763
Distance traveled: 47 SM
Total distance traveled: 3429 SM
Total marina nights: 231
Total nights at anchor: 22
Locks today: 0
Locks Total: 27