Day 294 – Myrtle Beach to Southport Marina, Southport, NC - April 25, 2012

Bonnie dropped Neal off at the marina this morning so that he could travel with us to Southport.  She will meet us in Southport later this afternoon.  Today’s travel takes us through a section of the intercoastal called “The Rock Pile”.  The guidebook warns us to watch for rock ledges along the edge of the channel, some of which are marked, but many which are only visible at low tide.  Since we are following our usual plan of traveling near high tide most of the rock ledges will be under water.  The water here is so brown with tannins that I don’t know how we would ever see a rock ledge though it.  We will just need to pay attention to the marks and stick to the center of the channel.

We also crossed a number of inlets today.  Because the intercoastal is so close to the ocean along this stretch, there can be significant shoaling at the inlets.  Again, we are careful to pay attention to the marks and we have no issues.  Fred enjoys having someone else on board who likes to drive (I will drive when necessary, but I don’t drive all that much) so Neal gets plenty of time at the helm.

We passed under one of the more interesting “bridges” we’ve seen.  It is actually not a bridge but gondola cars on a cable that take golfers and their clubs over the ICW.  We suspect they built using this technology so they would clear the 65 foot requirement for new bridges over the ICW – this was probably less expensive than building a 65 foot tall bridge that only golf carts would use.

We had on and off rain for most of the day today, so I got to play the role of windshield wiper – this involves unzipping the front window, sticking my arm through and using a squeegee to wipe off the rain spots.  The rain stopped by the early afternoon making docking more pleasant (especially for me since I’m the one who tends the fenders and lines).  All in all it was a great day and we were glad to be able to share a tiny piece of this adventure with Neal.  
 
            Miles: 43.0      Bridges: 12      Locks: 0

a warning sign in "The Rock Pile"

even at high tide, some of the rock ledges are visible

more rock ledges along The Rock Pile

Once Around heading through the Little River Swing Bridge

goats on Bird Island

the Sunset Beach Bridge

one of the inlets we crossed today - lots of wave action just outside
the inlet