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| Left St. James before sunrise today to catch some current to take us south further down the ICW. We continue to marvel at the beautiful homes along the waterway. Their long piers show you how shallow it is along the shorelines so we follow the day marks and stay where the channel is deepest. The birds are happy for all these perches especially all of these pelicans. They always bask facing the wind so their feathers are not ruffled up and today had the warm sun on their backs. (Click on the picture to enlarge). |
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| It seems that things always get busy at the bridges. Here you see wind and current against us, docks along both shores, marinas, restaurants, boat ramps, oncoming boat traffic and even a wide barge being pushed by a tug coming toward us. It keeps us thinking about how to best get our boat to the other side of the bridge safely. This was even a high 65' bridge that did not need to open to let us pass which made it an easier situation. |
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| As we passed by Little River Inlet we saw the Coast Guard putting in the piling for a new day mark. Day marks are the red and green numbered signs on tall wooden pilings along the channel - red on right (starboard) returning so green markers are kept on the left or port side. We have passed many day marks but this is the first time we saw one being put in. |
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| The "Rockpiles" is the name for about twenty miles of the ICW between Mile Markers 347-365 because both sides of the narrow channel are covered with hard rocks just like in this photo. Commerical vessels like tugs and barges also travel this route. You would rather not meet them in the Rockpiles since there is not always enough room to move over and let the barge go by. Well, we did hear on the radio a barge was northbound toward us. With the wind and current against us, our forward speed was slowed but we were close to getting past some rocks where we could move to the right side. The tugboat captain radioed that he would hold back and we should power through. It was pretty exciting for a few minutes but all turned out well. Meeting a large barge in the Rockpiles was another first! |
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| After passing through another swing bridge we arrived at Myrtle Beach's Barefoot Landing Marina which is part of an entertainment center with shops and restaurants. The next place we could anchor for the night was 25 miles ahead and with 15 kt winds and strong currents against us, we would arrive close to dark which did not seem like a good idea. So here we are. Three marina stops for three nights in a row is a first for us. We usually stay at a marina once a week or so. We will have to anchor out for lots of nights to come to get back in our normal routine. Captain Jay is on the dock at Barefoot Landing where we are tied up with other visiting boats. |
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| Since we are here and the boat is safely tied up at the dock, we had a nice long walk and had dinner out. We also found some large yellow/gold trumpet shaped flowers by my shoulder in the photo. We had not seen these before -another first. We will continue through more Rockpiles tomorrow and will be happy to have less "firsts" than today. |
