Georgetown, South Carolina - at Dry Stack Marina at a dock

Walking down main street, peaceful

One of the most beautiful parts of the ICW is from Barefoot Landing Marina, down the Waccamaw River to Georgetown, South Carolina. It was rice growing country in the past due to the fresh water from the Waccamaw River and the 4 ft tides that allowed the water to irrigate the rice fields with the rise and fall of the tides with gates at the fields to control the amount of water. Even with the incoming tide, the water was always fresh where the rice plantations were. This is alligator country for sure!  Still, we didn't see any alligators but we know they're there from our trips to the rice plantations in the past.

We thought these were cute, little dinghies - but then they had no bottoms!

We are now in Georgetown and he had heard of a serious fire a month ago that burned in downtown Georgetown so we took a walk to investigate. Sure enough, it burned down a block of houses but did not damage the harborwalk, all made of wood. The rice museum was undamaged as was the town hall.

They were actually planters!

Fortunately, the fish market that we like was likewise undamaged so we stopped by for grouper fillets for dinner! Ann prepared them to perfection and we had a wonderful meal. You just can't beat fresh fish.

Devastation from the fire in Georgetown

So now we're sitting in the cockpit, enjoying the night and getting ready for an early departure on Tuesday. The route south from here is filled with very shallow spots, some of the least water areas of anywhere on the ICW. It used to be white knuckle time in the past but now, if you run aground, you just back off and try a different route a little to the right or left. Running aground is no big thing on the ICW, you get used to it after awhile, especially with the lack of funding for dredging and the current state of affairs where the Army Corps of Engineers is on furlough due to the budget problems. The ACOE said, if you have a problem, call 911 (not us, we won't answer)! We'll see how far we get.

And a peaceful ending to the day