mile 403-357
From Winyah Bay, we entered the PeeDee River which flows into the Wackamaw River past the little town of Georgetown, SC. The landscape quickly changes to swamp land with beautiful marsh with green grass and Cypress trees laden with Spanish Moss. It is beautiful and so different. It looked like the perfect place for a gator and indeed, David spotted one.
Our early start gave us some peaceful hours before the weekend traffic on the waterway started to pick up. At first we saw bass fishermen, hiding quietly in the little guts. We saw lots of large fish jump, but none caught.
As we got closer to Myrtle Beach, there were more boat ramps and more recreational boaters moving at high speeds, some heavily loaded. Other boats were just out riding, blaring loud music. Homes lined the canal, many still bearing Trump flags. Boats flew them as well.
Soon, there were little sandy beaches at the swamp edge which attracted picnickers . Children and adults were swimming and playing at the water’s edge. Parents likely had an eye out for alligators. Boats were rafted up at some sections.
We were wary of the Sockastee Swing Bridge where we got hung up in the current, awaiting an opening last year. This year, the current was against us there and they opened quickly.
We saw some jet skis and someone riding a motorized surfboard but no one sprayed us.
We arrived at Grand Dunes Marina in the early afternoon. We wished to go further but had already booked and been charged for the marina. The dockhands was friendly but inexperienced. We were to go in a fingerslip but when we reminded him or our depth, they put us on a T head on dock C in the south basin. We decided to make a turn in the basin and point ourselves out before docking. When we made the turn, we kicked up mud. We were worried about depth at the dock too with 1.4 under our keel with low tide 2 hours away. We tied up and kept an eye on the depth. It did not drop much more.
An alligator cruised through the anchorage several times.
Once we knew we were ok, we headed to the pool at the inn. They had told us we could go last year. The far gate was open and we went in easily. The pool was nice and we went from pool to hot tub several times. It was very relaxing.