Rogue ICW Day 14

We left Georgetown Landing around 8:00 this morning and headed northward.  The morning was sunny but began to cloud over after a short time.  The forecast was calling for thunderstorms later in the day, and radar showed a horizontal line heading for the coast in our general area. I had picked a place to stop for the night so the daily plan was put into motion.  We turned north up the Waccamaw River toward Pawleys Island, Litchfield Beach and Myrtle Beach.  The Waccamaw was wide and deep so we had no problems on that stretch of water. We made a few turns and ended up on what was probably a canal, a long canal.  It was fairly narrow compared to the Waccamaw and was lined with cypress trees, like riding through a cypress swamp.  There were many tributaries that fed in to the canal and several nice places that looked like great hurricane holes and anchorages.  Quiet and calm with fairly deep water.  Speaking of water, the water in these canals looked like tea or coffee, a darker brown color and that looked quite interesting in the froth of the wake and prop wash.  Rogue now has what is called a mustache.  The bow is stained a tan color from the dark water.  She is definitely going to need a wash and wax when she gets home. There was quite a bit of traffic on the waterway, and with it being rather narrow, passing another boat was a little tight in spots.  Some captains were more courteous and communicative than others.  It's always nice to tell the boat you are passing what your intentions are so they can not only be aware, but perhaps be of assistance by throttling down or moving to one side or the other to make it easier and quicker. Or if you are being passed just to know what the passer is doing. There were a couple of bridges we had to have opened, and at each one there were at least five or six other boats waiting to pass.  A busy day on the water around here.  Being used to waterways on the eastern shore where you can be 50 yard from shore and still only have six feet of water, navigating through the canals was quite different and something we had to get used to.  The canal itself might be only thirty yards wide, and we were maybe ten yards from each side with cypress treas lining each bank, and the water was anywhere from sixteen to thirty feet deep. It seemed too close for comfort until you just accepted it and went with it.  We kept trying to cheat to one side or the other but there was really no where to go.  We also made it through the rockpile without issue.  There were several boats all traveling together so we all lined up and went down the middle.  It was about mid-tide so some of the outcropings were exposed sticking out into the canal, but at high tide they would be under water, hidden,  just waiting for someone to get close so they could reach out and grab you.  We made it to just north of North Myrtle beach in Little River.  Tomorrow we move on to North Carolina and Wrightsville Beach.

Statistics for today - 60 miles traveled, 7hrs. 16mins. moving, 26mins. stopped, 7hrs 43mins total.  Total distance traveled 946 miles.

Some pictures of the day.

 A three masted steel schooner

 Too close for comfort?

 No Kidding!

Can you say "too much money?"