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​Ticket To Ride

The Low Country

4/27/2019

6 Comments

 
Georgetown April 23-24
​Myrtle Beach April 25-26
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Fort Sumter, Charleston, SC
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Buckhall on the ICW between Charleston and Georgetown
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Barge swing bridge on ICW
We had a beautiful morning leaving Charleston enroute for Georgetown.  No wind, no waves and the sun was shining.  We slowly passed a cruise ship headed for downtown and then Fort Sumter.  We planned our cruise around the rising tide and had good depth heading up the ICW to Georgetown.  We arrived around 2pm and after tying up and washing the boat and doing some laundry, we headed out for our walk.  Georgetown is even more quaint than Beaufort.  Tom thinks it's Mayberry!
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Georgetown, aka Mayberry ;)
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Store front on Front Street
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One of many local eateries
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They even had an old movie theater!
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The Old Fish or as the locals call it...Big Tuna!
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Southern style home complete with rocking chairs on the front porch
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Georgetown Clock Tower
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Georgetown is the home of the South Carolina Maritime Museum
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Georgetown Harbor Walk
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Taking a stroll on the Harbor Walk after dinner
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Families enjoying the Harbor Walk in Georgetown
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To my surprise I found boiled peanuts in the deli section at the grocery store. I haven't seen them since Alabama. I also found the pork hocks right next to the collard greens in the produce section!
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This was a really cool paddle display at the River Room
Myrtle Beach/Little River - Myrtle Beach Yacht Club
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This is my navigating office while underway. Got my guidebooks, notes and binoculars ;)
​We untied the lines at 6:35am Thursday morning and had a beautiful, but long cruise up the Waccamaw River.  The rivers edges were full of trees and vegetation.  We thought we were back in the midwest on the river system.  You don't realized how much you miss the green until you see it again.
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Back to green banks and the Grand Banks isn't bad either!
​Our cruise included 13 bridges, but only three had to open.  The number of bridges rivaled a day on the Florida ICW!  We had nice depth until we met a barge heading south.  We called him and he requested that we hold our position until the river widened.  We did.  Upon his approach we then tried to share the middle of the channel.....kinda hard to do with a barge.  We were pushed starboard and our depth went to 3.5 feet.  Thankfully it was short lived and sprang back up to 6 feet and we finished the pass.
The next obstacle was "Rock Pile".  We'd heard about this 3 plus mile stretch by Myrtle Beach from John and Karen Swarthout our friends from Legacy Harbour.  We went through on a rising tide and couldn't see the rock ledges lining both sides of the very narrow channel.  We didn't meet any large vessels and our passage thru went just fine.
We arrived at Myrtle Beach at about 1:15pm, tied up and had some lunch and went walking.  Tom washed the boat and we settled in.  We are here for two nights and looking forward to checking out the area.
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Lighthouse at the entrance of Myrtle Beach Yacht Club
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A tiki pontoon! Looks like the one the Piltz', Moes, Distads and Slightams were going to go in on at one time :)
More later~
6 Comments
Curtis Gard
4/27/2019 06:32:51 am

We will be starting the Great Loop this Fall and seeing your picture of the guidebooks reminded me that I need to start getting guide books. Which ones are you using and the ones your feel are a must have? BTW, we are from Iowa

Reply
Sue
4/27/2019 01:44:53 pm

Hi Curtis~
Nice to hear from a future Looper!
Tom thinks that I have every guide book made and I probably do but each one offers a little something different and you can reference each for different things. For the river system we used Quimby's and it was excellent. For the rest of the trip we been using: Waterway guides, Skipper Bob's and ICW & Atlantic Coast Mile by MIle Planning Guide (love this one). I get on line and use both Active Captain and Waterwayguide.com. I can email you a complete list if you want. Good luck planning and let us know if you have any further questions. Best-Sue

Reply
Curtis Gard
4/28/2019 06:58:07 am

Yes, if you have time, I would like a list of the guides you are using and which ones you really find helpful. Also, I enjoy reading this each update on this blog. Thanks

Reply
Sue
4/29/2019 05:00:22 pm

OK Curtis - here goes....
Quimby's - For the River System

Skipper Bob's:
Cruising the New York Canal System
Trent Severn Waterway, Georgian Bay and North Channel
Crusing From Chicago to Mobile
Cruising the Gulf Coast

Waterway Guides:
Southern
Atlantic ICW
Northern
Chesapeake Bay
Great Lakes Vol 1 & 2

ICW & Atlantic Coast Mile by Mile and Planning Guide - my favorite
100 Great Stops On America's Great Loop
Great Loop Navigational Notes and Waypoints - Captain Alan Lloyd
Intracoastal Waterway Chartbook - Norfolk, Virginia to Miami, Florida

You can order Skipper Bob's and Waterway Guides on the AGLCA site. The rest can be ordered online.
I hope this helps!
Again, let us know if you have any questions!
Sue

Reply
Kevin
4/29/2019 05:43:47 am

Here all this time, I though Tom WAS the big Tuna.....

Reply
Sue
4/29/2019 04:44:27 pm

He STILL IS the BIG TUNA!!! :)

Reply



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    Tom & Sue Slightam

    Read along  as we circumnavigate the eastern half of the United States and southern Canada on the Great Loop on our boat BELLA, a Cruiser 460 Express.  

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