Myrtle Beach South Carolina....

Welcome to our Blog. Our latest entry always comes up first... 
Click this link if you want to start at the beginning:
FIRST BLOG ENTRY
If you want to start at the beginning of our trip:
START OF TRIP
If you want to see the story of our trip from South Carolina
(where we bought the boat)
 to Lake Ontario Click this link:
  SOUTH CAROLINA

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Well, it looks like we have found a home for the next few weeks...  We are at the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club in a nice slip for the next few weeks...  The cost for a month was the same as a few nights, so we decided that we had to wait out hurricane season anyway, so Myrtle Beach seems like a nice place and the people here are very friendly and the price was right... So... Here we are....

A few days ago we found ourselves in Oriental. NC.  What a horrible place if you have a boat with 7 foot draft!  Shelley took the time to call the Oriental Marina before we arrived to see if we could be accommodated, if we couldn't find somewhere to anchor.  "No Problem" says the man at the marina...  After we nearly got run aground by a shrimp boat on our side of a very narrow channel entrance, we got to what was on the charts, a very small anchorage... Small was an understatement, and then a 34 foot sailboat decided to take the only deep spot, so we had no choice but to go to the marina.  We were told slip 10 could accommodate us nicely so we headed for there. Halfway into the slip we ran hard aground! 7 feet my eye! You would think the people who work there know how deep the water is at their slips wouldn't you?  After we got backed out and off the mud, we were directed to a wall on the other side of the harbor, where we were ASSURED there was enough depth for us...  We got tied up after running aground AGAIN on our way to the wall, then endured the NIGHT FROM HELL!

The winds picked up and we were broadside to the windward side of the dock and after EVERY fender we own was deployed we spend the next 12 hours literally bouncing off the dock.  As night came so did a dozen or more small boats with stinking 2 stroke engines and people shrimping by dragging nets up and down the harbor ALL NIGHT...  Between the stink, the wake from every boat and the ignorant asses on these boats shining spotlights into our bedroom window, we got NO SLEEP!

The next morning we tried to hook up with a rigger who was recommended to us, but they were too busy to help us and the channel to their shop was too shallow anyway, we tried to leave....  During the night the south wind that picked up made the water about a foot lower so we became STUCK in the mud at this wall we were tied to.  We walked the 3 blocks to the marine office to explain our predicament.  The man call Tow Boat USA, whom we belong to with their most expensive package, and were assured someone was on the way to help us...  2 hours later and 3 radio calls later, we were told that they didn't cover towing someone away from a dock!  Screw them!  I got a couple of dock hand to help us and we plowed our way off the dock ourselves and left ORIENTAL SC, with a promise to never return! As we were travelling to Beaufort, we noticed the water from the refrigerator pump was not what it should be.  We opened up the filter to find it full of debris and  few baby shrimp...

A few hours later just before we got to Beaufort NC, we got a call from the rigger who now had time to help us... We declined, and got to Beaufort where we anchored just off the Coast Guard Station in a little bay with easy access to the ocean.  A big storm came through that night and our 2 anchors held just fine!  The next morning we set off for Myrtle Beach. This was a 24 hour crossing.

Yesterday we arrived.  The trip was wonderfully uneventful and we are getting into the routine of overnight passages and found we weren't nearly as tired this time as we have been in previous trips...

Yesterday was also the day that we caught our first real fish!  Two actually.  The first was a 3 lb. Mackerel which we BBQ'd for dinner. DELICIOUS! The second was a 5 lb. Mahi Mahi who we threw back because our good friend Mike G. in Mexico would kill us if we kept one that small...  He says fish that small need to go back and grow....

After we arrived, we rested for a few hours and then got our bikes out and rode about 10 miles on some errands.  We stopped at West Marine and ordered a new cover for our dinghy and bought a few more lures for fishing.  Our old cedar plugs are getting pretty beat up...

Last night we went out for dinner with some good friends from Canada who are in Myrtle Beach on holidays.  Jessica, Deb and Tom drove us for dinner and then to Walmart where we picked up a few things we needed...  One of those things was a 100' piece of cable because CABLE TV is INCLUDED in our fees!  WOW! are we ever spoiled!

We had a good night's sleep and got a few chores done around the boat this morning.  We installed some "port visors" over the ports on our cabin windows.  They make it so we can leave our windows open when it rains and we stay dry...  In 100 degree heat, even when it rains we need good air circulation.

We also did some small repairs on the dinghy and got our laundry done...  This afternoon, it sounds like we will have to spend a few hours at the pool....  In the end, LIFE IS GOOD!