5/26/2024
Deep Point Marina, Southport NC
Position: 33 59.77N, 77 59.78W
Posted by Bill

We left Hilton Head yesterday at 6:50 AM and headed offshore. We ran 5-10 miles offshore. This Eastbay model ran so smoothly offshore in about 3 foot seas. We were running about 23-25 mph and made Winyah Bay inlet a little after noon. We were planning to get a slip in Georgetown SC but there was a fishing tournament going on and every slip in town was booked, so we headed up the Waccamaw river…my favorite part of the Intracoastal Waterway…and found a slip in Wacca Wache Marina near Murrells Inlet SC, position: 33 37.768N, 079 05.077W. Nice marina there with a fun bar/restaurant on site. They had a great band playing. Cheap fuel there (something we are not used to worrying about in our sailboat…lol) so we loaded up.

We left there today at 6:56 AM and took the ICW back to our home port in Southport NC. The waterway was a complete zoo, especially between Cherry Grove/North Myrtle Beach and Oak Island. Boats jam packed and creating a nasty mess of chop on the waterway. Our boat took the chop so much better than the sailboat which was a nice change. Note to self: Don’t travel the ICW on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. We pulled into our home port at Deep Point Marina around 1:17 PM and were greeted by 2 of our close friends, one of whom brought champagne to celebrate getting our new to us boat home (thanks again Robin!)

This was only my 3rd day of running the boat and as I was positioning the boat to back into our slip I came very close (damn near hitting) to the boat docked across from us. That was a scare, but we got her backed in and tied up with the help of our friends.

The entire trip from Thunderbolt (Savannah) to Southport was 2 full days of travel. This would take us 7-8 days normally in the sailboat, which we usually ran inside on the Intracoastal Waterway most years. Great time savings, but let’s not talk about the fuel consumption…lol.