Places, Stories, and Thoughts of the Atlantic ICW Georgetown, SC to Mile Hammock Bay Camp Lejeune, NC

June 1-June 11, 2018
11 days. 88 days since start.
144 nautical miles. 873 total since start.

Georgetown to Prince Creek
22 nautical miles. 751 since start.
4 hours motoring
Soon after leaving Georgetown harbor heading north on the ICW, Winyah Bay begins to shrink down until it flows between the banks of the beautiful Waccamaw River. We motored a short distance through the tall tree lined dark water river then turned off the ICW onto Prince Creek. Prince Creek winds for a few miles and then connects back with the ICW. The relatively narrow creek is deep enough for navigating the entire run and just wide enough for anchoring (without a stern anchor) in quite a few spots near the bends.
Anchored 2 nights
Prince Creek is maybe the most beautiful, secluded, natural anchorage we have been to yet on the east coast. A few power boats and jet skis came through during the day, but we were the only boat anchored there for both nights we stayed. We saw an alligator, lots of herons, ospreys, as well as swallow tailed kites that would dip down and drink from the river. With the banks of the river so close in, the night noises of the crickets and frogs filled the boat. There were also many fireflies completing an amazing setting under a starry sky. We had a great relaxing time there just watching the days go by.

Prince Creek to Myrtle Beach
31 nautical miles. 782 since start.
6 hours motoring
Leaving Prince Creek through the north exit back into the ICW, we continued along the beautiful Waccamaw on a morning where the water was still and perfectly reflected the tall trees on the banks. After the Waccamaw, the ICW enters a section that is the epitome of referring to the ICW as “the ditch.” From here, through Myrtle Beach and into North Carolina, the waterway is a long, straight, narrow high banked canal like ditch without anywhere to even pull off and anchor. There are still plenty of interesting beautiful homes to look at but not much else.
At dock 2 nights
Most cities along the ICW have some sort of natural harbor or basin that allows for anchoring, but Myrtle Beach along the above described section only has marinas as options for stopping. We were due for some good showers and laundry though, so we didn’t mind too much. Not to mention that the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club has a pool! It was a nice couple of days, and we even Ubered down to the beach area that is the home of a dance called “shag.” We went to a shag club called Fat Harold’s that claims to be where the swing type dancing originated in the 1940s and took some lessons. Our instructor was actually one of the extras in the 80s movie “Shag” when she was a teen. Pretty cool!

Myrtle Beach to Carolina Beach, NC
45 nautical miles. 827 since start.
8 hours motoring
Just after leaving North Myrtle Beach, Holiday crossed from South Carolina into North Carolina. The skinny ditch section continues for many more miles here until it spills into the giant Cape Fear River. After the last couple of transits in the skinny ditch, it was nice to be in some open water, but we still motored with no wind.
Moored 1 night
This was a long day for us. Even though we were just a couple hours from Wrightsville Beach where we wanted to stay a while, we grabbed a mooring ball at Carolina Beach, our first stop in North Carolina. Also, since the next run would be so short, we spent the following morning checking out Carolina Beach before heading out. It is a nice vacation type “beach town” with a board walk.

Carolina Beach to Wrightsville Beach
12 nautical miles. 839 since start.
3 hours motoring
We made the short motor up to Wrightsville Beach and dropped anchor in the very nice natural anchorage next to town.
Anchored 5 nights
We spent some time at the amazing beach here that has beautiful blue water. We also spent some time with our cruising friends Ren and Ashley on SV Jade. They are the free dive instructors that we see in our travels in various places (Key West, Marathon, and now here!). A really cool family! Check them out here and here. They even took us for a river cruise on the Cape Fear River on their restored 1965 motor cruiser, Hope Lee (available for charter). Awesome time with an awesome family that lives and cruises full time on a sailboat! Wrightsville Beach is also the beach area for the college town of Wilmington. Lindy and I took an Uber into town and checked out this awesome city on the Cape Fear River that reminded me of Athens, GA.

Wrightsville Beach to Mile Hammock Bay
34 nautical miles. 873 since start.
7 hours motoring
We continued our motoring up the North Carolina ICW through a beautiful sparsely populated area.
Anchored 1 night
Our stop on this day was in a very interesting spot. Mile Hammock Bay is a lake like harbor just off the ICW in the middle of the Marine Corps base Camp Lejeune. You almost feel like you are anchoring in a restricted area, but we double checked our guide books and also saw other cruising boats around. There is a sea wall, boat ramp, and docks for the military and although no military water craft was there, I’m sure it could happen. We did see some military vehicles and were awoken by a drill instructor yelling during some PT just on shore. There are also live fire drills in the area, and we heard quite a few explosions. But the neatest thing is that the base has Osprey airplanes (the ones that can take off and land vertically), and they were flying over us regularly.