| This part of the ICW between Georgetown, SC and Southport, NC has some of the best and some of the worst places so far. Leaving Georgetown we traveled up the twists and turns of the Waccamaw River. Much different than the Low Country with its grasslands and open spaces, the Waccamaw is more mixed forest - pines, live oaks with spanish moss, and tons of cypress with their knees jutting out of the water. Most of the way is nature preserve and we saw lots of riperine wildlife - ospreys, turtles, and blooming vines of red and yellow climbing op the trees.
We passed Watchasaw (on the Waccamaw) and spent the first night just beyond a little town called Bucksport. We dropped the anchor in a river bend just off the ICW under an old cypress tree with a nest ospreys. We watched them hunt in the sunset and then wash up on the beach. That night the full moon rose and shortly thereafter a small rain squall went by providing us with a first - a moon rainbow! Around 3 in the morning we woke to a clunk and found a 65 foot tree snagged in our chain. After a little work we got it free. The next day we found it pinned against one of the channel markers.
As the Waccamaw thinned out we turned onto a canal that connects to the Little River. Here civilization has started to crept in and then it has taken over with mostly jet skis noisily screaming past over and over. The ICW here leads on to what's called the Golden Strand - the area around Myrtle Beach - a Disney wannabe. The banks of the river are all under development with MacMansions. Here's a shot of one of them.
When we passed the Myrtle Beach area, the river development is older and so you see lots of reasonable houses - all with boat docks reaching out into the river. At one point we had a first time experience - we passed through a pontoon bridge. It is essentially a barge that has road over it and is connected to the land on one side. To open, it pulls a ramp in and then swings open. Pretty primitive and pretty cool.
The river is very narrow here and with all the development there really isn't a good place to pull over. We tried several times to get out of the ICW but as soon as we got in line with the markers, the river shoaled up quickly. We finally found a tiny bend and dropped in 9 feet just off a boat dock. As we let the anchor "soak", a giant barge came by within spitting distance - not comfortable. We are planning to get out into the big water as soon as possible - it just isn't feasble to anchor on this part of the "ditch".
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