Myrtle Beach, SC

Sean, the CAT technician appeared promptly at 8:30 a.m. and quickly dove head first into the engine room. 

In no time at all he had the old pump off and was taking it to the shop to have the gear removed (it's a gear-driven pump - one of the reasons I didn't want to remove it myself).  He was fast, and by 11:00 we were pushing away from the dock and continuing our journey South.

At 11:56 I heard the Coast Guard announcement on the radio that the Sunset Beach bridge was closed until further notice due to low water.  This bridge is a pontoon bridge, probably the only one still in use - and only about 28 miles from where we were at the time.  Unfortunately, if the tide is too low, it cannot open - in fact it is sitting on the bottom and can't move at all.  Normally it opens on the hour.

Since we were over two hours away from the bridge, I figured that the tide would probably get there about the time we did.  So we took our time and as we approached the bridge at about 2:30, I called the bridge tender and asked when he thought it might open.  He replied "in about 5 minutes" - our timing was about perfect.

After passing by the Little River inlet, we came by the casino boat - probably too windy for any gambling today.

Of course Myrtle Beach is famous for golf and there are dozens of courses along the ICW.  Here is a picture of one fairway taken from the helm.

The wind was gusting to 25 knots from the southwest, almost on our nose.  About 5:00 we were tired and pulled into the Grand Dunes Marina at Myrtle Beach.  It is a first class facility - we were given a bottle of wine after registering.

It turns out they also have three restaurants on site, including a Ruth's Cris Steak House.  While we didn't eat with Ruth, the other restaurant, Water Scapes was fantastic - the best meal we have had in a long while.

Tomorrow, we travel the Waccamaw River, one of my favorite sections of the ICW.  Since it's only about 45 miles to Georgetown, we'll be able to take our time and enjoy the scenery.