We had two stops in South Carolina where we had free dockage, the first at Harbourgate, in North Myrtle Beach. This is a small marina connected to a condominium, where we were directly on the ICW, on their fuel dock. It was cold and misty, and in their parking lot there was a group preparing their float for the Christmas Parade that was to be held that night. I hope they had some people brave enough to be an audience.

The next stop was Osprey Marina, in South Myrtle Beach. This stretch of the waterway is lovely, with lots of Spanish moss draped from tall cypress trees. They have a beautiful facility cut into the swamp of the waterway and protected from wind and traffic. They also had a small herd of goats, which Niya thought were very, VERY exciting.

12-9-13 We left Osprey Marina in fog. . . It doesn’t look terrible, and we had about a quarter of a mile of visibility, but when you looked straight ahead it was like the end of the world. There was nothing. Very unnerving.

When we finally got clear skies it only lasted about ten miles, and just before we got to Georgetown, South Carolina we were socked in again.

We went in to Georgetown Harbor, always a favorite of ours.

It’s a charming town, with a couple of good restaurants. They had a disastrous fire in the early fall this year and lost 9 buildings along the historic waterfront. They are still cleaning up the debris.

We had a lovely dinner at the River Room with Hans’s friend Kenny, who lives nearby. They were fire department buddies in the “old days,” and had much to reminisce about and catch up on.

Unfortunately when we left the next morning we were pinned by wind into the dock, and we wiped out the power pole we’d been plugged into over night with the broad sweep of our bow. We e-mailed the Dock Master about it, as he wasn’t in yet and we wanted to leave. We now have a bill for $478. That was an expensive overnight stay. . .