Quiet night in Safe Harbor. Got fuel in the am, bought 12 gallons for about a quarter tank. We called Billy’s ride share for a ride to explore Southport. Billy asked us what we wanted to do there. “Explore a bit and buy some warm clothes,” we said. “I don’t mean to be nosy,” he said, “but I think I should take you to town first, then if you don’t find what you need, I can take you to Walmart and wait for you to shop so you won’t have to carry stuff around all day.” We were to meet the driver at the marina restaurant.
Rich was the driver, a very personable guy who has a motor boat in Myrtle Beach. He is planning to travel on it after he fixes the starboard engine. He has been in Southport for over 10 years and feels it is changing too quickly. The “politicians have gotten greedy” after the movie Safe Haven was filmed here and they have approved too many new houses. The population of Southport was about 4000 in the winter, swelling to 10000 in the summer which now goes through Columbus Day. They have approved over 5000 new homes and the roads can barely handle it. There is construction everywhere.
Rich also told us about the hurricane that took out many of the marinas in Southport. His old boat was found up in the marsh, still tied to a piece of dock. At one marina, only 6 pilings were left. That marina apparently had dredged their channel but also dredged around their pilings. There is a lawsuit in progress where the marina was trying to sue the boat owners for the damage done to the marina. They had instructed the owners to not pull their boats before the storm and then blamed the boats for the damage. Owners are fighting back. All the marinas, including ours, have been rebuilt and are again full of boats.
Rich delivered us to the consignment shop in town which we were excited about, but it was closed for Thanksgiving. We walked around town and had lunch at the famous Olivers there. I could not resist the scallop po boy with bang bang sauce. We had passed Olivers on the waterway yesterday. I wish I had taken a time lapse of the harbor during our meal, so much going on. And along the waterfront, people can just sit in swing benches and watch the action.
We walked to find the oldest tree in Keziah park. The tree lives , the trunk is quite impressive. I love a town that has a brochure dedicated to trees, a walking tree tour of Southport. Featured were magnolia, red cedar and of course, live oak.
We also passed an old tower dedicated to pilots. Not the flying kind but the boat pilots who watched on the tower for ships entering the inlet and would rush to meet them to guide them safely into the channel. The tower has been replaced by electronic signals but the pilots still aid in inlet navigation. Passed more trees.
After our tour, we decided to walk the three miles to Walmart. We wanted some hand warmers, scarf and face mask in case we venture outside Friday when it will be a little colder in the morning and night sailing. Google maps planned a walking tour for us that was interesting. It took us by the local hospital which still seems independent and in really good condition. Then we passed through a brand new neighborhood with beautiful homes, lots of decorating and good home signs here. One I liked said “May your home be too small to hold all of your friends.” one house had a sign that said “please sit on our porch” We thought about it, they had nice rocking chairs. David captured these.
Then we walked through a neighborhood just being built. Crazy amount of construction. This brought us to the rear of the Walmart, a super Walmart that seemed like it held a whole container ship’s worth of goods. We found what we needed and about that time, Billy from Billy’s ride share called to check on us. He was in the area and picked us up pretty quickly. Safely back in Safe Harbor.
