[/caption]Today we continue our waterway tour of South Carolina's Grand Strand. We follow the canal-like cut through Myrtle Beach with its ubiquitous golf courses, condos and upscale homes that line the ICW. The Waterway Hills Golf Club shuttles golfers across the ICW in gondolas...a skiing approach to golf.
[caption id="attachment_1855" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Bird's eye view of the ICW from the golf gondola "]
[/caption]Traffic on the waterway is light today, which enhances the journey. A sunny morning gives way to increasing clouds and windy conditions in the afternoon as a weak, dry cold front is approaching the coast from the west. Despite the cloud cover, the temperature rises into the mid-seventies.
Once through the Socastee swing bridge, the ICW follows the meandering Waccamaw River. At its headwaters, the Waccamaw is quite narrow, requiring attention to navigational detail. Ever so gradually, the River widens as it cuts a path through marshland and cypress swamps.
[caption id="attachment_1857" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Cutter Loose at anchor under cloudy skies in the oxbow at Butler Island"]
[/caption]At 2:30 PM, the anchor is down at Butler Island, an oxbow bend in the Waccamaw. Our journey today has taken us 36 miles from Barefoot Marina in North Myrtle Beach. Our destination for tomorrow is the town of Georgetown, SC, located about 5 miles to the south.
The cold front has passed and tonight, the wind is blowing 15 knots from the northwest and whistling through the rigging. There are two knots of tidal current in our anchorage. The stage is set for an all night battle to determine whether the bow of Cutter Loose will ride to wind or current.
No comments:
Post a Comment