Georgetown. Last night we walked around town and had dinner at The River Room. We had a nice meal, oysters and shrimp salad and chatted to another couple of boaters on "Harmony" from Solomons who are also heading north. They were talking about a dragging experience on a prior trip to Georgtown. We've all had those memories in certain locations!

This morning just as we were getting ready to let go the heavens opened so we delayed our start. We had a chance to talk to the owner, a Swede, of a large X yacht called Euphoria, he is heading to Portsmouth VA for the start of the ARC in May to take his boat back across the Atlantic. He will be traveling to Portsmouth "outside" as his mast is too tall for the 65' bridges on the ICW. He will be waiting for good weather. He'll probably beat us to Norfolk though!

We travelled up the beautiful, wild Waccamaw River today. The water is tea colored from the rotting vegetation and we are told it is alligator country but non were sighted. We did see a stunning white bird with a bright yellow beak that looked much like a Heron but is a Great Egret. http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/great_egret/id and what looked like a bald eagle perched high in a dead tree but as it was tipping with rain (yes, buckets of rain again!) it was difficult to be certain. The Cypress trees along the waterway are spectacular it was high water for most of the passage so we did not see the nobly knees, the roots, that stick up from the water. The river begins in wide open marshland with trees along the waterside. You can still see the entrance to irrigation canals that led to the rice fields of the many plantations that used to exist in this area. The main crops of rice and indigo ceased to be grown after the Civil War. The river eventually narrows and becomes quite winding and narrow and a bit confusing because there are many branches and islands and oxbows.

If you care to follow our "spot" track and look on the satellite option you will see we are quite close to the ocean. We passed Pawleys Island today which evoked a happy memory of a family vacation. I saw an old photo in Georgetown which was of a ferry that took black workers from the mills and plantations up the Waccamaw to Pawleys Island where they lived, and read that the plantation owners left the swampy, unhealthy rice plantations for Myrtle Beach for the summer months leaving the workers to take care of the fields.

We decided to pull into Osprey Marina for a short day of travel, tomorrow may be stormy but we plan a short day also.

Bangers and mash tonight with onion and mushroom gravy suitable for a cooler evening. It's about 58F. Good sleeping weather!