Osprey Marina - at a dock

Osprey Marina is as good as ever

We left around 8:30 and headed to our first challenge of the day, Lockwoods Folly. In order for it to be maximum fun, we scheduled it at low tide. Fortunately, low tide was actually 1.5 ft above datum (the 0.0 level) so we had a plus 1.5 ft over a real dead low - and we needed it! I didn't use the USACE route which involved a scary pass on the wrong side of a green can. Instead, I use one provided by Hank Pomeranz that took a more natural route honoring the buoys. It resulted in a low of 4.6 MLW in one small spot, the rest was deeper. Since I had a 1.5 ft tide, I was fine with my 4 ft 9 in keel but it's still exciting to see the depth numbers drop so dramatically before rising again. My path will be reflected in my track today which I will upload tonight and in a new GPX route for Lockwoods Folly dated 10/18/2018. I would strongly recommend having a half to full, rising tide to pass through this inlet.

Look how high the water got!

Shallotte inlet was rather dull. It's well buoyed (2 reds, 2 greens), just go right down the middle so defined by the buoys to get 9.7 MLW as the lowest spot.  So we motored on and the rest of the trip was uneventful. The famous "Rock Pile" just north of Barefoot was benign. There were lots of ledges visible along the sides but as long as you stayed in the middle, no problem.

Watch out for those ledges in the "Rock Pile"

Barefoot Landing is redoing their docks so they were out of business for transients. As a result, I guess, Barefoot Marine across the way raised their rates to $2/ft from $1.50 last year so we passed both by and went to Osprey Marina for $1/ft. They survived with no damage although they had to ad 4.5 ft to the tops of their pilings. They have now welded extensions on the pilings to make the added height permanent.

Normally our next stop would be Georgetown but they are having a Wooden Boat Show so we'll stop upriver from them at Heritage Plantation Marine before moving on to the Isle of Palms the next day.