DAY TWENTY -- NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, SC TO SOUTHPORT, NC

                    DAY TWENTY -- NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, SC TO SOUTHPORT, NC

            We got underway at 1020 after spending some time with our cruising guides to figure out our next stop. We wanted to stay in Southport NC, as our Pawleys Island friends all said it was nice, but the marina right in town was sold out, so we ended up at a Safe Harbor marina a few miles outside of town. Safe Harbor is an outfit with a chain of marinas all up and down the east coast -- sort of like a Hampton Inn for boats. They aren't particularly special, but we've learned that you can count on them being clean and competently staffed. 

            The run took us three hours, which was a couple hours less than I figured it would take. The uncertainty is around the extent of speed control areas, which are not given in the cruising guides, and I haven't found them online. It turns out there are very few official speed-control zones, but a lot of places where boating courtesy says you should slow down. The question then becomes how much traffic is there and what are the local courtesy standards. It turned out that the traffic was all around the couple of inlets along the way, and that the locals are very happy to throw wakes. They certainly threw them at us! And added to the mix of Saturday traffic there was the usual buzzing of rental jet skiers. 

            Interesting sights along the way included this trailer park near Shallotte Inlet:

Boats on the beach at Shallotte Inlet (you can see the ocean in the distance):

A multi-story open-air storage facility. They usually put these inside a building.

And a bunch of boats at Lockwoods Folly Inlet:

            We spent the afternoon catching up on email and the blog. And bitching about the wakes. The locals just pay no attention to marinas and other areas where one should slow down to the point of not throwing a wake -- not cutting back from 25 mph to 10 mph and throwing a wake that is just as big but cutting a different angle. We are on the inside of the outermost floating dock, so we get some protection, but not much. Hopefully things will settle down by bedtime. We walked to dinner at a nice Italian place next door to the marina. And here's how Craunological II looked at the marina after dinner:

P.S. We got behind on the blog because the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club had crappy wi-fi. The dock master apologized for that in the morning. Said it is a work in progress. That's okay. Such projects are probably run by some of the members.