Nov 6 - Georgetown SC

Just arrived in Georgetown and we have internet so I'll post what I have up until yesterday.


Nov 3 – Wrightsville Beach to Southport - Mile 309
It was pouring with rain today but we decided to leave anyway. We left around 9:00 so that we would have a high tide going through Carolina Beach Inlet where it can be pretty shallow. We didn’t have any problems with the reported shallow areas and we went through Snow’s Cut and then down the Cape Fear River. We arrived in Southport in 1:00 and it was really raining hard! We read that there was a dock you could tie up at by a restaurant if you ate at the restaurant, but that the restaurant would be closed for the season. We found the dock and tied up, only to find the restaurant was still open. They were going to be closed at suppertime so we had a great lunch there. It was a fun little spot and a big hang out for the boaters going down the ICW. It continued to be a pretty wet day, although the rain tapered off a bit and we were able to go for a bit of a walk before supper.

Nov 4 – Southport to Barefoot Landing SC– Mile 354.4
We expected to be staying put today as it was supposed to be another really rainy day, but when we woke up the rain had stopped so we decided to keep moving. It was a fairly uneventful day although at one point Kristen can up into the cockpit and looked back at the dinghy and said "what happened to the dinghy?" Dave and I both looked back to see that one end of the dinghy was no longer supported by the ropes that connect it to the davits. A pin had pulled out of one of the pulleys so it was sort of dangling. Dave was able to drop it into the water so we just pulled it along behind. Today we went through one of the last floating pontoon bridges in the US. It looks like a fixed bridge that is under construction will soon replace it. The are many new bridges being built and lots of new homes. The area around Myrtle Beach has really developed since we were here 15 years ago. We couldn’t get a spot at Barefoot Landing, but were able to stay at a nice marina across from Barefoot Landing. After we got settled we dinghied over to the shops at Barefoot Landing. It is a complex of little shops surrounding a man made lake, selling lots of things you don’t need when you live on a boat, but it was fun to look around. We went out for supper at Joe’s Crab Shack. After supper we went back to the boat to for a bit to hear what we could of the election results, and then the girls and I went up to the hot tub for a bit. We all stayed up in varying degrees of late to hear the election results, but Dave was the only one who lasted long enough to hear Obama’s victory speech. While there were parties all over the US when Obama won, it was pretty quite in the Barefoot Landing Resort marina – we suspected that there were a few people around us disappointed in the result.

Nov 5 – Barefoot Landing to Thoroughfare Creek – Mile 389
It was a little chilly in the morning. I took Rudder for a long walk to try to find a newspaper to get more details on the election. We had a leisurely morning to let the kids wake up slowly after their late night. The hot tub opened at 9:00 and we decided to go for a soak before leaving, so we didn’t actually leave until around 10:30. It continued to be a kind of chilly and overcast day as we carried on with our journey. We traveled through miles and miles of cypress swamp, which sounds kind of eerie but was a nice change from all the over-the-top real estate development we have seen, particularly yesterday. We pulled off the ICW at mile 389 and headed a little way up Thoroughfare Creek to a beautiful, peaceful anchorage. There are beautiful trees covered with spanish moss and vines. Many of the leaves are changing color and the leaves on the vines are bright red, winding their way up the trees. After we got anchored, we put the motor on the dinghy and went exploring a little waterside development off Thoroughfare Creek. I don’t think it took off the way the developers hoped, and instead there were just a few homes and cottages on each of the canals. We explored up as far as a little lake. It was all very peaceful and serene except for the moment when Annie saw the snake in the river! We took the dinghy back near the boat and landed on a high sandy bank and went for a walk across to the lake we had been on in the dinghy. We saw lots and lots of animal tracks. There were deer tracks everywhere and we also raccoon and squirrel tracks. There were some tracks that were about 3-4 inches across and had 4 distinct claw marks, but we weren’t sure what made them – maybe a bear or a bobcat. It was wonderful to be in this great anchorage with not another boat in sight.