We have been moving. Stopped in Georgetown one night. Had to get the scored/deep fried flounder at the Big Tuna Raw Bar. Left Friday AM for Myrtle Beach. About 2 pm as we motored along the cut towards Myrtle Beach, the Memorial Day crowd began to descend on the ICW: jet skis, pontoon boats, fishing boats, duck boat tubers, water skiers.....

We pulled into Barefoot Marina right across the ICW from Barefoot Landing and decided NOT to leave for Southport, NC on Saturday AM. We'd sit tight and let the crazies work out their frustrations on the water, then head north Monday or Tuesday.

It was "Black Bike Week" in Myrtle Beach. That meant that we heard the screams and roars of motorcycles from noon 'til dawn.

Some bikers decided to rent jet skis so they could scream up and down a ditch (aka the ICW). The rental concession was at the other end of the dock we tied up to. One young (?) lady could not get the hang of driving a jet ski and missed hitting Far Niente by a couple feet before ramming the jet ski into the dock. Now that's entertainment!

We could not take another day of jet ski rentals, so we left at 6:50 am Monday. The first 3 hours were peaceful on the ICW. So peaceful we had to wake up the Little River Swing Bridge tender with a dozen or so VHF calls and a couple phone calls. Once he was awake the bridge opened promptly.

The rest of the day had a variety of Memorial Day boaters out in the ICW. We lost most of them when we headed north on the Cape Fear river.

To get to the ICW from the Cape Fear you have to transit a section known as Snow's Cut and today it was loaded with jet skis, boaters, kayakers, etc. Combine the traffic with some wicked currents and shallow water and you have the makings of some stressful helm time.

We pulled into Joyner's (tight) Marina after 8.5 hours and were just thankful to be out of the wakes of fishing boats, duck boat tubers, and jet skis.

We have decided not to travel anywhere on the water on busy holiday weekends any longer.

Tomorrow those folks will all go to work and we'll head north again. And tomorrow the waterway will be peaceful and relaxed again.