January 11, 2007 Myrtle Beach, SC

We have had a great couple of days. We stayed in the South Harbor Village Marina near Southport, NC marina last night. The weather was beautiful but the winds were really blowing! We saw 40 mph on the wind gage a couple of times so we really enjoyed the comforts of the boat and the heaters are working just fine, thank goodness. We left early yesterday morning on our way to Myrtle Beach, SC. The day was supposed to be relatively easy and the plan was for us to arrive around 2 pm with a couple of hours before we met our old friends from IBM days for dinner; Dale and Miriam Compliment and Frank and Doreen Detweiller.

Of course this is boating so when we came to the last bridge that had to open for us, Rick called the bridge tender to ask for an opening and was told that the bridge was broken and couldn’t open! They didn’t know what the problem was or when it would be fixed. It turned out to be just a slight 2 ½ hour delay which wasn’t such a big deal. So we did boat chores and tried to stay warm. After finally going through the bridge we went through the ‘rock pile’, a part of the ICW that had to be blasted out which is expensive and, consequently, it is very narrow with really ugly rocks lining either side. By this time the sun was setting and we were going directly west so it was a bit of a challenge to cross this part of the ICW with the sun directly in our eyes.

But we made it to North Myrtle Beach, the land of golf courses, and to the Barefoot Landing marina where we met our friends and had a really nice visit with drinks on the boat then on to the Crab Shack restaurant for dinner. The evening ended at the Compliment’s home with home made apple pie and ice cream. Wonderful evening! Thanks to Miriam for that wonderful dessert.

Today we will get continue on south. We will get to see my brother Tom and his wife Carolyn this evening. We are both looking forward to that. This is a great way to visit family and friends.