It was hard to leave St. James Plantation Marina as we were all having so much fun. I did capture a nice video of what I think is a great blue heron on the dock next to our boat.
As you head south of Southport, NC you pass several Atlantic Ocean inlets. Lockwood Lockwoods Folly inlet is pictured below and we could see the ocean waves as we motored past.
The ICW can be very shallow around these inlets as the strong currents deposit sand and silt creating shoals and shallows that you must stay clear of. I use an iPad app called Aqua Map and pay for the premium service called Aqua Map Master that displays the recent Army Corp of Engineers colorful sounding charts of these tricky locations. The sounding charts are color coded and red is the shallowest with blue being the deepest. Below you can see what it looks like to pick a safe path through the shallows.
Shallotte Inlet was next and it too has a colorful sounding chart
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When we got to Little River inlet we passed a commercial boat that has been wasting away on the shore for some time. I’m always amazed that it is still there when I come up in the Spring or down each Fall.
Along with navigating your way through the shallows you must request several bridge openings. This bridge used to be called the “Captain Poo” swing bridge. I hailed the bridge tender on the VHF and he responded with “Little River” swing bridge. I personally enjoyed hailing “Capt. Poo, Capt. Poo!” over the new name.
Our day underway was overcast and for a brief period it rained. Boating in the rain is not much fun unless you have a warm pilothouse. We were warm and dry while underway and for that I was happy.
There were many beautiful sights to see along the route to Myrtle Beach.
Myrtle Beach Light house 
MV Island Time 
Holden Beach Home 
Lu Lu’s Restaurant 
We passed this sexy sailboat
This beautiful home appears to have an infinity pool.
We had made reservations at Osprey Marina and we were pushing hard to make it there before dark. As we went through the Socastee swing bridge the sun was getting low.
We were now in the Waccamaw River swamp and it can be beautiful as fog and mist light up in the setting sun.
We arrived at Osprey Marina while the sun was still up. We turned down the entrance channel and snapped a few photos of some interesting boats.
One particular catamaran had an etched window that was different.
Soon we were tied up and checked in for the night. I soon discovered that there was no WiFi! NO WIFI!!! Time to put on a movie to entertain the crew. Tonight’s movie …
Gone with the Wind (All 4 hours of it)
Tomorrow we are bound for Charleston, SC
MV Simple Life 