From Myrtle Beach it took us 2 days to get to Georgetown. The days were mostly uneventful, although we continued to experience constant tension because of the continuing threat of shallow water. A neat thing that happened on the first of these two days occurred when we were moving down the Waccamaw River was when we heard a coast guard notice to mariners warning of regulations for the protection of Right Whales off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia. The Waccamaw River is beautiful; it is lined with Cypress Trees on both banks. After 3:00PM we pulled off the intracoastal and anchored on the NW side of Butler Island. There was absolutely no one around, the anchorage was surrounded by marshland. When we called our son Brad to describe the setting he said - “Well, it is either very beautiful or a great place for a horror film!” The Cypress trees are ‘creepy’ looking (check out the photos we have uploaded). The next morning the anchor came up without difficulty and for once without mud! It was a sand bottom. There are many nests for large birds on the tops of the dead Cypress trees - including nests for bald eagles and we did see a bald eagle further down the river.

It only took a 1/2 day to get to Georgetown from our anchorage where we tied up in the Harbor Walk Marina. This marina is right in Georgetown. Georgetown is a very old port, and still has a fleet of active shrimp boats - Bubba Gump is alive and well! The streets are lined with great shops, wonderful restaurants, and one crabby weekend harbormaster. There is a “bakery that carries wonderful frozen high cuisine dishes, wines, and bakery items. We provisioned well for our next leg of the trip. We also ate our fill at a “biker bar” in town.

Merry spent some of her time in Georgetown at the knitting shop and went to a hairdresser that the “southern belles” recommended. Alma, the hairdresser, calls everyone Miss ______, so Miss Merry was questioned, instructed about Charleston, and ampered. The pace is slow and there is always time to chat and gossip.

We shared a “sundowner” with fellow boaters - Ray ( sailboat - Attitude), David, and Margie ( Catamaran -PartnerShip). We shared plans on when to leave as we considered tide, current, wind etc.

One bad thing that happened in Georgetown is that our gallery sink knob shattered - which meant that we were basically without hot water for washing dishes. Wiley ran 2 1/2 miles to a hardware store, only to discover that it was closed because of a “death”. A young Georgetownian shouted to Wiley - as he ran past in his short red running shorts... “You could be shot dead on the street - nobody could do anything about it.” This young man could have been reacting to the fact that it was an African American neighborhood, he was white, - but the other people in the neighborhood seemed friendly. All was well, though we did not get the repair done.
The only other downside in Georgetown is that we failed to take photos. We moved our boat three times while in this marina to take advantage of the best possible position when leaving dock to avoid having the wind or current come at us from the wrong direction. There is always a lot to consider when entering and leaving a harbor and so we often find that some of our most relaxed times on this trip are when we are safely in a harbor for a day or two. Georgetown was delightful.