Myrtle Beach and Charleston SC

After leaving Myrtle Beach YC Marina (north Myrtle beach area) we headed south 61 miles and 5.5 hours. The Myrtle Beach area is very different than many other parts of the ICW.

The lighthouse is just outside of the Myrtle Beach YC inlet, the homes with docks go on for miles. The costs are in the high 800k to well over a million. Trees of all types and then low lands with houses just popping up with the only access via a boat. Oh and golf courses, we must have seen 20 of them.

The last photo is of a broken floating dock. On Channel 16 the coast guard was announcing and warning mariners about this. We took this picture and posted it on an ICW facebook page with the exact mile marker number to warn other boaters.

We were looking for a quiet anchorage and that is what we found. Minim Creek was amazing. Once it got dark, we could see so many stars, unfortunately the no see’em were bad.

On Wed 10/30 we headed to Charleston SC! We spend the first two nights on a small dock that was part of the Courtyard Marriott Charleston. We selected this place because we needed to have mail delivered and packages!

Once we arrived (4 hours and 59 miles) we cleaned the exterior of the boat and hung out in the AC. It is getting warm as we get further south! No complains!

We have both been to Charleston but never together. We wanted to go to Taco Boy. We jumped into an Uber and went. Unfortunately, we both felt it was better in our memories than in reality. Both the food and service were not great. Won’t need to go there again!

We then took an Uber to the downtown area and had a drink at the Rooftop at the Vendue. It was pretty cool and the views were fantastic. We decided to walk back to the boat which took about 45 minutes.

I love palm trees! And we put a sticker on the back of a stop sign while at Taco Boy.

On Halloween we started the day with watching the Today Show for their costume reveal. Not as good as past years (just my opinion). During Gerry’s daily engine checks, he noticed dust on the starboard engine from a fan belt, so he decided to be proactive and change it! Love my proactive husband! I dressed up the boat for Halloween!

Later in the day, we met up with new friends Megan and Nick on Blown Inheritece. The are live aboards that travel from Maine to Florida each year. They were married this past August. We first saw them at the locks south of Norfolk, then multiple times while traveling and finally ended up in the same place to meet up and hang out.

We all had lunch at Bumpas, they are famous for piled high build your own French Fry plate! Gerry and I split fish and chips. We then walked around Charleston for a bit but headed back to the boat. One of the packages was the new AIS equipment and Gerry was eager to get it set up. We ran wires and are so close, but still need one more wire/connection. Such a big lunch, no desire to go out for dinner!

We were still waiting for our mail to be delivered so we could not leave Charleston, but the marina did not have a third night so we had to move. We went to Safe Harbor Charleston City. https://shmarinas.com/locations/safe-harbor-charleston-city/

The cool thing about this marina is that it is a MEGA yacht dock. We were the smallest boat by far.

Once we were settled on the dock, we took our scooters into town. We had a great late lunch at Charleston Crab House - low country boil and shrimp and grits! YUMMMM We checked out a few other roof top bars and walked all over. Love Charleston!

Back at the marina, we discovered they offered happy hour, free beer and wine (a few sandwiches and other snack's) from 5:30 to 7:30 pm. We showered, got dressed up in our best yachting cloths, and headed up. We met some of the nicest people. The owner of a Lazarra 80 called RICKTATORSHIP who is traveling with his girlfriend, a Captain and a friend of his to help with lines. The guy was a hoot, an older gentleman with the attitude of an 18 year old! The whole crew wore shirts that say “RICKTATORSHIP - World Domination Tour 2024”We’d love to catch up with them again. https://www.yachtcharterfleet.com/luxury-charter-yacht-26706/ricktatorship.htm

I set an alarm on Saturday 11/2 to get laundry done before we left the dock at 9:15 am.

We arrived in Beaufort SC and plan to stay two nights on anchor. We are the red arrow in the last picture. The middle is showing how curvy parts of the ICW can be, and the first picture is one of many boats we see along the way. A boat can be a submarine….once.

About the mail, if your are interested. https://www.sbimailservice.com/

St. Brendan’s Isle is a mail forwarding company. We put in a change of address and all of our mail (no junk) goes to an address in Florida.

411 Walnut St #22453

Green Cove Spring, FL 32043-3443

Once our mail is received, they scan the outside, we then have the option to have them open and scan, shred or hold. As needed, we can provide them an address and they will mail anything we need directly to us. It is a great and pretty inexpensive way to maintain mail. We try to do everything online, but there are certain things that just can’t be done, like getting a replacement Credit Card after my number was stolen. 🤬

Until next time!