We departed the anchorage just before 9:00. We had a swing bridge that we needed to have opened and a stretch known as the “Rock Pile” to traverse today. The weather conditions were a mixed bag; sometimes the sun would peep out and we’d get hot and the next minute it was windy and looked like rain.
The landscape changed again today. We were definitely back in civilization as there were lots of huge homes, businesses and even billboards that we could see from the ICW. We reached Doc Holidays Marina around 1:30 and decided that would be an okay place to stop. The dock master put us on a face dock – not great because you get the wake of boats passing by – but it is supposedly a “no wake” zone so it’s not too bad.
We relaxed a bit and then decided we’d walk over to the West Marine, the local grocery store and an Italian restaurant nearby. West Marine didn’t have what we wanted – the Cruising Guide to Coastal North Carolina by Claiborne Young. We’ll enter North Carolina tomorrow and, while we have other guidebooks for North Carolina, we really like the ones by Claiborne Young and wanted to get his. Oh well – we’ll manage with what we have. We bought some produce at Food Lion and then stopped at Carrabba’s to eat.
Back at the boat we did a bit of computer work, watched TV and then off to bed. We plan to leave early in the morning as we need to be at the Sunset Beach Pontoon Bridge around high tide. The Coast Guard announced its closure for several hours today because of lack of water during low tide.
It was very beautiful and peaceful in the anchorage this morning.
Another shot of the shoreline with the reflection shown in the water
We had perfect timing as we approached the Socastee Swing Bridge. A shrimp boat was coming from the other direction and it was beginning to open.
This looked like the "perfect" Christmas tree. Wonder if they decorate it during the holiday season.
Yup, we're in the Carolinas. There were golf courses every few miles along the ICW.
This is the Grand Dunes Bridge. It is a private bridge built to service the residential community of Grande Dunes which occupies both sides of the ICW in this area. A very nice, expensive community.
A house in the area
.... and another. Definitely a Spanish theme
Old sea buoys/aids to navigation must end up here. There were huge piles of old buoys everywhere.
One of the local golf courses has gondolas that transport golfers across the ICW
We passed by Barefoot Landing. The Jungle Princess was at the dock. Many years ago we took a similar boat from Barefoot Landing down and back up the ICW for several miles. We remember it being beautiful and very primitive looking. We think there has been a lot of development since that time.
No, this is NOT a flying sauccer. It's a VORTAC aviation tower -- a radio navigation system.
Here we are traversing a very narrow channel known as the Rock Pile
The depth down the center of the channel was 10-12 feet, but on either side there are rock ledges awaiting the unsuspecting captain. 
Here's Monk's Vineyard at the dock. To the left and above you can see a bar/restaurant area. We discovered we were the entertainment for the customers. We had several people walk by stopping to chat or talking to us from their seats in the restaurant.
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