Southport to North Myrtle Beach

ICW 315 to 355

We’ve seen osprey, pelicans, egrets, cormorants, herons, and the always present seagulls this morning. Bob has decided the birds of North Carolina want to buy our boat from the number of deposits they’re putting on it.

If anyone at home is thinking we are doing nothing but laying back, enjoying the sunshine, and cruising along – it’s time for a reality check.

The ICW keeps us on our toes. Shoaling, watching for flotsam (floating logs and dead heads), timing the bridge openings, avoiding gill nets, crab pots, and the wake of passing motor boats requires being constantly alert.

Just before noon Bob and Lynn in “Second Spree” ran out of diesel mid-channel just ahead of us and had to drop anchor. Fortunately they had 10 more gallons on board. We offered to stay, but they said go on.

We did – and just around the corner ran into a problem of our own. Going aground seems to be our fate. We were approaching a shoaling area that Bob had identified from doing his homework reading the ICW Guide. He had penciled it in on the chart. Once again, the description of how to avoid it was vague. We went from 15 feet of water to 4.7 feet in seconds (our draft is 5’1”). Bob, who is becoming quite good at powering off shoals, was able to get us back into the deep water. I am sure we have no more barnacles left on the bottom! Every few miles in this stretch of the ICW we see a red and white Tow.Boat US sign with their phone number in large numbers. I can understand why!!

Today we are transiting the “Rock Pile,” a long narrow trench cut into coquina rock. The ICW Guides says, “Boaters should exercise extreme caution since boats routinely go aground on the rocks along both sides of the channel. Many call this the most worrisome segment of the whole ICW trip. Call ahead to see if any barge or tug is passing through the area before entering this stretch.”

Always compliant, Bob called ahead and got no response. We were 5 miles into the “Rock Pile” when a tug pushing a loaded barge came on the VHF announcing he had entered the south end heading north. Our recent experiences going aground, compounded with our knowledge of the "Rock Pile," put us on "red alert."

We met the tug at the Barefoot Landing Swing Bridge. The bridge tender instructed us to hang back and let the barge pass through first. Then he changed his mind, opened the bridge, and said, "Sailboat, power through ahead of the barge." At that point the barge Captain came on and said, “I can’t slow her down.” The bridge tender came back with, “I don’t direct traffic, use your own judgment.” The Captain replied, “Sailboat -- come through under full power if you think you can make it.” It was a tense 5 minutes as we throttled to full power with a tug and barge approaching the bridge at 5 knots from the south. We made it through ahead of the barge and are safely docked at Barefoot Landing Marina south of the bridge.

Bill and Valerie from “Calypso”, an East Bank from Yarmouth, Maine were docked two boats ahead of us at the marina. We had another small world experience talking with them on the dock. Bill said, “Does Kevin work at Great Island Boat Yard?” to which I replied, “Yes.” He continued, “He did a great job painting my boat when he was at another marina. He’ll remember me. I damaged a section of the bow after he finished. When he repaired it, you would never know it was damaged. He is amazing.” They also have a summer house on Long Island just north of the Basin and a car dealership in Cooks Corners.

Barefoot Landing is part of a huge outdoor shopping mall. We finished the day by doing a little Christmas shopping and going out to dinner.