After last nights rain this morning dawned bright and clear. We were able to get underway by about 8:00 and the water was fairly smooth and very little traffic.
The traffic picked up as we got into the Myrtle Beach area. We also saw probably 12 different golf course along the way and if you look at the gondola pictures close, you can see they are outfitted to carry golf bags.
We made a stop along the way and purchased diesel at the lowest price we have seen so far on the trip. Including the Boat US discount, diesel costs $3.38 per gallon. Last night in Georgetown at the Harborwalk Marina their diesel was $4.15 per gallon.
The ICW was a broad river to start the day and progressively got narrower as we went along. The character of the waterway has changed from the low country grass areas to tree lined with many trees in the water when it is near high tide.
After last night’s heavy rain we saw quite a few floating branches and mangrove type branches floating in the water. Not to dissimilar to the floating debris that happens around home after heavy rains. Most of the floating debris was gone by the time we had gone about 25 miles.
The last 1/3 of the trip was in the Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach area. Lots of homes with the ones on the south end the less expensive type with larger homes toward the North side of Myrtle Beach. The recession hit this area about as hard as most other areas. Many, many subdivisions where there are a handful of homes and they are scattered thru the development with huge open areas between the homes. This is for the medium and high priced homes. Many high priced homes on the North side of Myrtle Beach. One subdivision had quite a few homes with all the homes having a “Spanish” character to it yet each home was different. Not sure how that were able to get all of the buyers to agree with the style type.
The marina we are staying in is the Barefoot Landing Marina which is a long dock on the East side of the ICW. It is open for business but has changed ownership once already this year and will change to new owners again the 1st of May. The large yacht basin across the ICW also has a new owner because it had been in bankruptcy.
Right next to our marina is a shopping center with 102 stores. There are a number of restaurants in the shopping center. Next to it are several more restaurants including a “Greg Norman Australian Grill”. We went to a restaurant tonight, The Flying Fish, that had Happy Hour from 4 to 7 and the drinks and food on the Happy Hour Menu were 1/2 price. Nice way to have dinner for two for less than $30.
We will be back on the water tomorrow because there is rain and thunderstorms headed this way for Sunday thru Tuesday and we may not be able to move for several days.