Mike and Kelly were a bit nervous pulling away from the dock with Jennifer. Not having her help caused us to feel out of sync. The inexperienced dockhand didn’t help either. A neighbor saw us leaving and came over to help. They trickly part about pulling away from a parallel space is not crushing the swim platform as you turn the bow out. The dockhand didn’t understand the risk but the neighbor boat did and he was able to push the stern. Whew!!  At 7 am, the water was very calm and we were the only ones there.  

Our new friends on Bacchawhoppa followed us till they reached their next marina, Osprey Marina. We planned on anchoring but didn’t like the 2 anchorage options. It seems there aren’t a lot less anchorage spots along this route. Instead, we started calling marinas.  

This was a nailbiter for us without Jen. We found a marina that looked like and easy in.  A 4 hour drive turned out to be 9 hours to get to Barefoot Marina. While the morning was quiet and easy, the afternoon was crazy. Many boaters were out celebrating the holiday weekend. This includes inexperienced boaters that don’t obey boating rules and etiquette. Boaters would drive by fast and create a large wake which pushed and rocked us. Mike had to make sure we stayed in the channel and not wake into another boat. He also needed to steer to compensate for all the waking to keep the stuff inside our “home” from shifting around. We do a good job securing everything, but a bad wake will cause a lot of problems.

Funny moment out of the water today…. There were a lot of young people on what appeared to be a rented pontoon boat. One boat was crowded with young women.  When they passed by, they lifted their bikini tops and flashed us! We were confused.  It was funny, but why a us? lol

At 4 pm, we arrived at Barefoot Marina in Myrtle Beach, SC. The current in the marina was surprisingly calm. There were 2 dockhands waiting to help. As Mike pulled the stern in, Kelly tossed the first rope… and missed. She tossed a second time and the dockhand caught it. Missing is a problem, because Mike had momentum pulling in. The first dockhand walked the stern line back, second dockhand easily took the mid-ship line and Kelly watched the swim platform. Then Kelly let Mike know he could turn the motors off. Whew!  

Afterwards, Kelly took a shower at the marina, and we watched the Coast Guard ticket crazy boaters. After navigating the boaters today, it was satisfying to watch some of them get ticketed.