The ICW has had a variety of experiences in store for us today. We left Cricket Cove Marina and it seemed like not a soul was stirring, except for the poor bridge keepers who were remarkably cheerful for having to work on a holiday.
The next section of the ICW is dreaded by many as rather than the friendly and forgiving mud bottom this area is lined with rocks. We followed the local advice and Active Captain and stayed in the mid channel and with the right tide had no problems but I could imagine that meeting large barges and casino ships wanting more room would be very stressful. Yes, I did say Casino ships, one of them gave us a hell of a fright as it loomed out of the mist just on dusk as we tried to anchor in Calabash Creek the other night.
We then had the stretch of Myrtle beach with wall to wall condos and 130 golf courses (not all of them were on the canal, of course). The developments tend to follow a theme, beach side pastel colours, Neo colonial and then one area was so Tuscan we thought we were back in Italy; as you can see by the photos.
A complete change of pace arrived when we entered the Waccamaw River. This lovely winding section of the ICW is bordered by swamps and cypress trees. This was Freya's and my first experience of a deciduous forest in autumn/winter plumage. The spare beauty of the bare skeletal trees festooned with Spanish moss and the sun picking out the last fading colours of autumn in the lower branches.
We turned off the main river and motored slowly into the tree lined Prince Creek. There is not a man made sound to be heard in the distance. It could almost be the land those early inhabitants experienced. There are so many little bayous which wend their way mysteriously off the main channel, it would be magical to be able to explore them all. In many ways the bad weather which stopped us from sailing down to Charleston on the outside has turned out to be a positive as we are enjoying the beautiful scenery. Mind you it could definitely be warmer. We are admiring the sunset on deck mainly because the Skipper has decided to have another go at the Dickinson stove.
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