Morehead City, NC to Dewees Island, SC

This has been an exciting week on the waterway. We departed Morehead City Monday morning, it was sunny and beautiful. When we entered Camp Lejeune we're notified that the Firing Range will be active in an hour, the area was busy with radio traffic and military patrol boats. We met up with tugboat called Mi-T-Mo and followed him through 3 timed bridges to arrive at Wrightsville Beach before sun down. The weather was warm and sunny so we decided to stay an extra day at Wrightsville Beach to enjoy the beach and dinghy exploring the surrounding creeks.

Island for sale, military patrol boat at Camp Lejeune

Timed bridges

Full moon at Wrightsville Beach anchorage, beach

We left Wrightsville Beach late Wednesday morning to time the tidal current on Cape Fear River, and had a fast ride to Pipeline Canal anchorage, a short 4 hours travel day.

Thursday was a trying day through 4 bridges, two were timed and two on request. The Barefoot Landing Swing Bridge had a new operator and instead of opening on request we waited for over 20 minutes while trying to hold the boat in the current and wind. We ended the day anchored in an oxbow near Enterprise Landing on the Waccamaw River, arguably the most beautiful part of the Intracoastal Waterway.

Waccamaw River

We had a leisurely breakfast on Friday and traveled 15 miles down the Waccamaw River to one of our favorite anchorages at Thoroughfare Creek. The Waccamaw River is one of prettier sections of the ICW, it's peaceful, a wonderful place for bird watching. While waiting for the passing cold front we dinghied around to explore the creeks, drifting with the engine off to hear the birds sing and watching the alligators swim near shore. We also met our friends Barbara and Phil at Reserve Harbor Marina, they took us to their home on Pawleys Island for us to do laundry and grocery shopping. We also went to see a custom golfcart show event and the Georgetown Wooden Boat Show. A fun filled day with activities, good food and great conversations.

Barbara, Phil, Mark & Joyce, Golfcart show

Georgetown Wooden Boat Show

Wooden boat building competition and finished boats

We left Thoroughfare Creek early Sunday morning, a breezy sunny day. It's a busy day on the waterway, many are local boats going home after the Georgetown Wooden Boat Show, but most are migrating boats going south. We're pleased to be out of ICW when we dropped anchor around 4:30 PM at Dewees Creek. Our week ended with the most gorgeous sunset on the sawgrass marshes.

Sea birds on the waterway
Our southbound track continues, this week we traveled 252 miles.