Help me plan ICW - Myrtle Beach Trip

[Kendall]

Hi:

Looks like I will be able to break away and do my first ICW trip June 6th 2009. Me and a buddy will I assume put the 260 DA in the water near the Hwy 9 bridge early that Saturday morning. Our very tentitive plan is to head out to Bird Island for the day then back to Barefoot for dinner and maybe stay in a slip at the Grande Dunes Marina.

For those that know this area what is your advice for Marina's to stay, places to see etc. We would like to head down towards Charleston but I'm not sure how long this takes using the ICW or if the ocean would be nice enough to let us cruise down there. We have to be heading back to Charlotte sometime Tuesday afternoon....is this enough time to go very far south?

What gear should I have on the 260 if we go out in the Ocean just off the coast? EPIRB, coastal life jackets, flare kit, GPS etc.

Thanks for any help.

Kendall Davis

 

[Kendall]

Sorry...I did mean to say "Please" help me. :smt100

 

[islandhopper00]

This damn web site!!!!!!!! I wrote an even longer post than this but it seems like if you take to long to post it kicks me out and delets my post. Anyways here is the short answer.



Hi Ken, the ICW at Myrtle Beach is pretty straight forward. hard to get lost in the "ditch". The Hwy 9 ramp is pretty nice. Parking is good. The marina there at the bridge, Harborgate Marina is good. I've stayed there. The Marina across from Barefoot landing is real nice, but it can be a pain to get across to the beach side. Barefoot waterfront is available by reservation only. At least when I was there last.
With the no wake zones it takes me 45 mins to an hour to get from Barefoot area to Wachasaw Marina area, and then maybe another hour to get to Georgetown. The run from Barefoot to Wachasaw is alright, but the run to Georgetown from Wachasaw is fantastic. Alot of nature to see on that run. The waterfront in Georgetown is nice and a good stopover point. There are all sorts of side trips thru there, and if you look at Saltys Southeast cruisers they have anchor spots and ICW news you need to check out.
You can run the "outside loop" to Winyah Bay from The Litte river inlet, but it can get rough outside and you need to check the weather. If you do run outside and it gets to tough to run in one trip, Murrels inlet is a good stopover, there are plenty of waterside restruants and places to anchor up for the night. Then you can continue the trip the next day to Winyah. You'll need a good gps to find your way. I think this would be a good trip. Adventrous but fun.
I'm not an authority on MB cruising, and most of what I know is learned from the school of hard knocks. Call around and talk to the different marinas along the route and get a feel for availibility of slips. The internet has all the marinas listed. It's hard to tell you everything you need to know in a thread responce, specially when I type by the hunt and peck method. Good luck. Mike

 

[Sweet Dreams]

Mike pretty much has ya covered with all I know too. Good advice there. Searaypaul has posted myrtle and chas trips that may help you as well. Heard Bird Is is nice but have never been. Dont know the area north of barefoot. We plan on being on the water on the south end that weekend so maybe our paths can cross.

 

[Kendall]

This damn web site!!!!!!!! I wrote an even longer post than this but it seems like if you take to long to post it kicks me out and delets my post. Anyways here is the short answer.



Hi Ken, the ICW at Myrtle Beach is pretty straight forward. hard to get lost in the "ditch". The Hwy 9 ramp is pretty nice. Parking is good. The marina there at the bridge, Harborgate Marina is good. I've stayed there. The Marina across from Barefoot landing is real nice, but it can be a pain to get across to the beach side. Barefoot waterfront is available by reservation only. At least when I was there last.
With the no wake zones it takes me 45 mins to an hour to get from Barefoot area to Wachasaw Marina area, and then maybe another hour to get to Georgetown. The run from Barefoot to Wachasaw is alright, but the run to Georgetown from Wachasaw is fantastic. Alot of nature to see on that run. The waterfront in Georgetown is nice and a good stopover point. There are all sorts of side trips thru there, and if you look at Saltys Southeast cruisers they have anchor spots and ICW news you need to check out.
You can run the "outside loop" to Winyah Bay from The Litte river inlet, but it can get rough outside and you need to check the weather. If you do run outside and it gets to tough to run in one trip, Murrels inlet is a good stopover, there are plenty of waterside restruants and places to anchor up for the night. Then you can continue the trip the next day to Winyah. You'll need a good gps to find your way. I think this would be a good trip. Adventrous but fun.
I'm not an authority on MB cruising, and most of what I know is learned from the school of hard knocks. Call around and talk to the different marinas along the route and get a feel for availibility of slips. The internet has all the marinas listed. It's hard to tell you everything you need to know in a thread responce, specially when I type by the hunt and peck method. Good luck. Mike

Thanks for the tips Mike. We will just have to see what the water/weather looks like this coming weekend and see if we want to go out in the big water. I would love to be able to stop in Murrel's inlet and eat at Drunken Jacks if possible. I think I've seen a marina in Murrels inlet on the Garden City side but I don't know if they take transients.

Based on you guys talking about Georgetown in the other thread we may try to head down there Sunday.

Thanks again.

Kendall

 

[nickysc]

[
Based on you guys talking about Georgetown in the other thread we may try to head down there Sunday.

Thanks again.

Kendall[/QUOTE]

We'd love to have you join in on the thread as well as the trip.

 

[Sadler]

[
Based on you guys talking about Georgetown in the other thread we may try to head down there Sunday.

Thanks again.

Kendall

We'd love to have you join in on the thread as well as the trip.[/QUOTE]

Kendall--I second Nicky's comment. Join us on the GT thread and the trip if possible. We're going the weekend of June 27.

 

[islandhopper00]

Thanks for the tips Mike. We will just have to see what the water/weather looks like this coming weekend and see if we want to go out in the big water. I would love to be able to stop in Murrel's inlet and eat at Drunken Jacks if possible. I think I've seen a marina in Murrels inlet on the Garden City side but I don't know if they take transients.

Based on you guys talking about Georgetown in the other thread we may try to head down there Sunday.

Thanks again.

Kendall

In Murrels inlet there is a marina called Marlin Quay marina. I'm not sure but it seems if they have space available they'll take transients. There is also the old Voyagers view marina. It's closed down but the docks were still there and you could probably sneak an overnight there. Or, if your adventruous there are anchorage spots in the creeks, just watch for the tide change and set in the deep part of the creek. Seems the tide range in Murrells is about 4 feet? Enjoy Mike

 

[Kendall]

Well we made it back alive!!

What a fantastic trip. The weather was beautiful (only rained at night), the 260 did everything we asked, and the sites were worth the time and effort to see.

I need to tell everyone that our trip would not have been as much fun if it were not for our own Dave S. I had purchased all of the components to install a Northstar GPS with Smartcraft tie in. When I had it all hooked up and looking good I found out that the Smartcraft gages would not work. I called Dave who has been helping me along the way to ask his thoughts. We discussed the situation and get this....Dave offers to drive over to my house in a complete down pour and bring his extra cables for me to try!! Long story short Dave's Smartcraft interface cable worked great and I ordered a replacement today. THANKS DAVE!

We put in at the HWY 9 bridge as planned and headed out towards Bird Island. The weather was cloudy but there were still people anchored at the beach. We edged out past the jetties and noticed the waves were sharp and high...maybe 4 footers? Enough to make me turn and go back behind the northern jettie and anchor for lunch!

After lunch we headed for Grande Dunes Marina which turned out to be an awesome stop. The guys here were great and for my $52.00 (minimum) slip for the night they thru in a bottle of wine which I quickly gave to the couple from Charleston who had pulled in right before us in there new 48' DA....hard to drink wine when your buddy brings three (yes 3) gallons of rum on the trip!

Some friends stopped by and gave us a ride to Broadway but not before we got a first class tour of the 48'.....very nice indeed.

Saturday morning we headed out for Georgetown and the waterway was beautiful through here as you guys mentioned. We ate lunch in Georgetown at one of the dock resturants and decided we would head to Charleston. We stopped in McClellanville for fuel and made it to Charleston parking at City Marina. This Marina had some huge boats but was much more expensive ($78.50 with power) for the night. They put transients at the fuel dock which was a little busy. We walked to meeting street and ate dinner at the Crab House. Headed back for a good night's sleep from the long day.

Monday morning we headed back with no stops to MB stopping at Grande Dunes for fuel and lunch...made it in around 5 hours...had to wait on the Sochaste (sp) bridge for 15 minutes. We finished up our marina stays at Barefoot Yacht resort which was also extremely nice ($1.50/ft no minimum). Took a swim in the huge pool and headed out to dinner.

Excellent adventure for us.

Some things I noted for a first timer:

Trailer brakes do not work when the fluid runs low making for severe A$$ pucker. We did check the fluid before leaving but didn't notice the leak until I pulled in at the BP.

You need a good size truck to pull a loaded 260 DA...we used a 1998 Dodge Dually with 5.9 Cummins and that package had to work hard.

McClellanville was where the Forest Gump Shrimp boat sceens were filmed.

You can get lost even with GPS if you don't pay attention leaving Georgetown for Charleston.

Big yachts are fast even when not on plane!

Crab or Lobster traps with little floats are all over the place and can cause little needed hassle when trying to avert large vessels.

Isle of Palms is beautiful.

Charleston is busy but very nice.

People actually wakeboard down the ICW in MB only 20 feet from docks.

The 260 is a fine boat and got just over 2 mpg while crusing at 28 mph 98% of the time.

Only one issue developed with the 260 and that was I noticed wet carpet the last morning of the trip and the shower sump area was wet but there was no water in the sump box. I also noticed that the sump box pump was stuck on and I had to pull it's 12V hot wire to turn it off.

I will try to upload some pictures. Thanks to everyone who helped give advice for this trip and especially Dave S who went out of his way to help a fellow CSR guy!

 

[chuck1]

Sounds like a great trip, can't wait to see the pictures.

 

[Sadler]

Sounds like you prepared well, executed well, and had the best of times. Perfect boating. Congratulations!

 

[Kendall]

Let's try this photo link:

http://photobucket.com/Kendall_011

 

[Sweet Dreams]

Great pics. Pretty boat! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Sadler]

Very nice photos.

 

[Dave S]

Nice pictures Kendall. Glad you enjoyed the trip.

Dave

 

[everthing's irie]

That looks like it was a great trip. I'm ready for one now.:grin:

 

[islandhopper00]

Kendall, when you jump in, it's with both feet...no!
Great trip. I didn't realize you were going as far as Charleston. McCleanville is a great little town. I buy shrimp by the 50 lb box there.
When you get your confidance up, you'll tackle the 4 ft'ers.
Great pics.

 

[islandhopper00]

You need a good size truck to pull a loaded 260 DA...we used a 1998 Dodge Dually with 5.9 Cummins and that package had to work hard.

What?? I keep hearing how people pull these boats with a 1/2 ton truck!

In case ya'll don't get the scarcasm, read the sentence with scarcasm.

 

[Kendall]

Kendall, when you jump in, it's with both feet...no!
Great trip. I didn't realize you were going as far as Charleston. McCleanville is a great little town. I buy shrimp by the 50 lb box there.
When you get your confidance up, you'll tackle the 4 ft'ers.
Great pics.

Thinking back...I really wasn't so scared of the 4 footers as I was the 10' depth underneath me! How can it be so shallow all the way past the jetties? Is it always that shallow in front of the grand strand?

:smt100

 

[islandhopper00]

Thinking back...I really wasn't so scared of the 4 footers as I was the 10' depth underneath me! How can it be so shallow all the way past the jetties? Is it always that shallow in front of the grand strand?

:smt100

I don't get out of that inlet very often. I can imagine shoaling at the mouth though. When I do run out the inlet, I tend to cut the marker bouy short to the south. I don't remember it being that shallow though. Hmmm.