Heritage Plantation Marina to Myrtle Beach Yacht Club, Little River, SC (docked)
July 9, 2022
What a long, really hot day on the water. We traveled over 40 miles and waited (albeit briefly) for three swing bridges to open. There was also an interesting moment when a faux paddle steamer made a u-turn right in front of us.
The Waccamaw River section of the ICW is pretty at this time of the year. There are all kinds of trees and flowers that grow in the water, so it’s like traveling through the woods. Because I have a very active imagination, I like to pretend that John and I have gone back in time and are exploring this river as new settlers. This only works on the sections that aren’t filled with speedboats whizzing by us…
There were three swing bridges today. You can see how the riverscape changes as we move towards the Myrtle Beach area – the Socastee Swing Bridge has lots of trees and is in a relatively narrow section of the river. A small powerboat goes past us as we wait for the opening, but it’s at a pretty respectful speed.
We had been following behind the Barefoot Queen – a faux paddle steamer – for a few miles. As we approached the Barefoot Landing Swing Bridge, we assumed that it was slowing down to await the bridge opening. We were somewhat surprised when it made a sudden turn into a marina on the other side of the ICW. We are guessing that their VHF radio was not working.
There’s a definite change in the riverscape at this point along the ICW – there’s far fewer trees and far more boats. This section is really “touristy.”
The final swing bridge has a wonderful name: Captain Archie Neil “Poo” McLauchlin Swing Bridge. It’s only 7 feet above the waterline when it’s closed, so it has to open a lot. This section is busy with all kinds of boat traffic and lots of stores, restaurants, and houses on both sides of the river.
The Myrtle Beach Yacht Club is one of three marinas wedged into a small basin just off the ICW. The basin is crammed with boats but it’s a safe place for the night and we can run our air conditioner (plus the narrow nature of the ICW here makes it difficult to find an anchorage).
We’ll be crossing into North Carolina tomorrow and plan to go as far as Southport, which is one of our favorite vacation spots. We’ve spent so much time on land there in the past, it will be interesting to see it from the water.
Life on Lailia 