M/V September Dream

Wednesday, 27 November 2013

Myrtle Beach, SC (2013-11-27)

N33° 40.857', W79° 02.453'

Tonight finds us tied up at Osprey Marina, near Myrtle Beach, SC.  It's very cold outside, below freezing, and we're almost literally sitting on top of our heater...


We spent the weekend at anchor in Wrightsville Beach, NC.  Saturday it was raining, quite hard at times, so we decided to take a down day and just sit and relax.  Sunday the rain clouds cleared, but the wind picked up and blew hard all day.  This caused us to pause, as a couple hours down the ICW was the Cape Fear River, and with a flood tide against the 20+ knot northerly winds we knew the conditions would be quite rough.  We decided to take a second day to wait out the winds.  We were anchored behind a small marsh island, so while we didn't have any wind protection, there was very little fetch upwind of us, so we didn't have to deal with rough water in the anchorage.

A cold day's run on Monday found us at anchor in Calabash Creek with eight other boats.  It was a very nice spot, and we had a peaceful night, even though we were a bit nervous with how crowded the anchorage was.

The weather forecast for yesterday was looking pretty grim, so when most of the other boats left the anchorage in the morning we decided to relocate in the anchorage to ride out the storm.  We tried a couple spots but couldn't find a spot we were happy with, so instead we headed about 4 miles further down the ICW to Little River and picked up a slip at the Lightkeepers Marina.  We took the opportunity to get some laundry done and borrowed the marina car to do some shopping.  When the storm hit with a vengeance last night we were very happy to be tied up in a marina.
 
Today the rain was supposed to stop near noon, so we waited until about 1100 before we headed out, with a short day planned to get us to an anchorage on the headwaters of the Waccamaw River.  As the day went on the temperature dropped, and by the time we were nearing our destination it was getting quite cold.  Just at that time we were coming up on the Osprey Marina, and a quick check revealed that they only charge $1.00/foot.  A quick call on the radio and a left turn and we ended up at the marina for the night, with shore power to run our electric heater for the night.


Tomorrow night we'll anchor out and by Friday we should be in Charleston. 

Here's a few pictures from the last few days.


The Smurfs have a house with a geodesic roof?

Getting passed by a BIG tanker on the Cape Fear River

Think it'll buff out?

The alternative...

Calabash Creek anchorage

A big shrimping boat heading up Calabash Creek

Casino boats

These boats head out past the 3 mile limit to gamble in international waters

Yet another house that can't be mistaken for anyone elses...

Not sure what this is - I think it's something like an airport ILS station...



1 comment:

  1. It's a shame it is so cold. You'll find warmer weather/waters soon. That pink house reminds of a John Mellencamp song... nah, I won't make you suffer through my singing.

    ReplyDelete