South Carolina

 11/24- We finally got on the move again this morning casting off our lines by 0800. It was a pretty straightforward day with only a couple of inlets that required some careful navigating. At these inlets there is usually some shoaling where the tide brings the ocean in or out along with any sand that is there. The Army Corps of Engineers has been busy dredging many of these places so we can cruise down the channel with our 5 foot deep boat. Neither inlet today was very shallow but there is always strong current around the inlet. Depending on the state of the tide you can be doing 8 knots on one side of the inlet and then barely 5 on the other side. I guess it all evens out in the end. 

    One thing I was thinking about today is the amount of pressure treated wood that I see. We went by piers that were close to a half mile wide all decked out with this lumber. Every house along the channel has a pier many of which are several hundred yards long. These are all held up by pressure treated pylons. This goes on for miles. The marinas are filled with these. It amazes me that there are any trees left. 

    The other thing I’ve noticed today is the color a lot of the houses are painted. Yellow, orange, teal, and lavender seem to be popular. I’ve seen these combos in so many places that I’m beginning to think that the paint stores must run specials on these colors. It sure does beat drab gray or white though. 

    We are in North Myrtle Beach tonight enjoying a quiet night in a nice slip. Tomorrow we hopefully go through what is called the rock pile. It is a 28 mile long dig canal which has several very narrow sections. It was blasted out of what must be the only rock around for miles. Basically you do not want to leave the channel otherwise you will hit rock instead of sand. Let’s hope it goes well. 

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