Myrtle Beach, Southport and Wilmington - Loop Trip Days 140 - 147

The overnight at Bucksport was really wet. There were thunderstorms and blowing rain. The floor covering in the cockpit is a luxury vinyl material that is sort of like a sponge. Interestingly, when it gets wet and you walk on it, it makes suds like soapy water?? Oh well, it will dry eventually and the sun is out, but cold again. After traveling for miles along the old rice plantation fields, we are now going through cypress swamp. It feels like you are in the middle of the wildernesses, but we're actually almost in Myrtle Beach. This continues for miles with just an occasional glimpses of houses or resorts. Then suddenly, it's miles of subdivisions, golf courses, retailers and restaurants. This section has all been excavated to create a canal for the ICW and through here it was cut through rock. The rock remnants are along the banks and much of the banks are exposed rock and there are lots of signs that say "Danger - Rock"! Right down the middle here. Today's stop is the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club which is a really big marina marked with a lighthouse at the entrance. After watching the end of the Master's, we went to the Officers' Club, upstairs above the office, for a quick dinner. Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/1005198

This was just too funny not to include

MBYC is a very large marina

Can you find us?

After a day of sunshine, the rain is back this morning. We're not leaving early because there are some reported shallow areas north of here and a rising tide will improve that. As we cruised up the waterway the most interesting thing was that there were more boats out in this weather than we had seen when it was nice! The trip was interesting in that we were passing a lot of beach areas and in the distance, we could see ocean front houses while close to us were the ICW developments. The worst area expected was at Shallotte Inlet, but there was a huge dredge there and depth was no problem. Further up was Folley Inlet and we did see shallow water there, but it was well marked so we had no issue. Our Marina for e next few days was Southport and we arrived in the rain will wind out of the north. Chris came out to grab lines and get us into our slip which he did very well. Later, we went to dinner at Oliver's, on the waterfront, which turned out to be a very good choice. Food and service was excellent! Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/1006078

Harbor Pilot tower next to Oliver's

Tuesday was supposed to be better but the clouds and rain continued. The temperature still has not gotten any warmer so we hung out at the marina for the morning. I was working on reservations for Wilmington and looking at the next legs north. We had a snack, got cleaned up and went to the Maritime Museum on the edge of town. This was an interesting place with lots of local history and one of the staff members gave us a basically private tour through the facility. While we were doing this, we looked out the windows toward the inlet to see a large freighter aground right in front of us! It was almost high tide and he was totally stuck and we never did see him get moving. Guess we'll find out tomorrow if he was ever able to get going again. From the museum, we walked down the main street of town to Mr P's Bistro for dinner. The marina people told us that this was a great place to go and that was spot on. It doesn't look like much from outside, but this is an excellent restaurant. They offer a wide selection of entrees and take great care of their guests. We stopped in a little winery just down the street from here on the way back, met Rick and Linda, who gave us all sorts of local knowledge. Now we have only one day left to see the rest of the town!

The grounded ship turned out to be a dredge working the channel

The azaleas were amazing.  The green stuff on the tree branches is called resurrection fern because it goes from brown to green when it rains.

Beautiful evening

Fortunately, Wednesday was a sunny day! The temperature still isn't too warm, but the sun makes it very comfortable outside. We walked into town for brunch at the Moore Street Market. This is located in an old home right downtown and is very popular. Afterward, it was back across the street to the Fort Johnston-Southport Museum. The fort is no longer there, but it dated back to the Colonial days and the initial settlement of the Carolina coast. It was used until the end of WWII as a coastal lookout station. The museum covered not only the fort, but the town as well. For quite a few years, movie making was big here until North Carolina ended incentives. After the museum, we started off on a walking tour of town following a prepared guide. This little venture turned out to be the real three hour tour and we actually skipped the last two stops on the walk and found a nearby place to sit down and rest. The wind picked up again and it started to get chilly. Provisions was the place we had planned for dinner, but it is basically outside so the Frying Pan was right across the street, had great reviews and an inside dining room - plan changed. BTW - the restaurant was named after the light ship that was off the Cape Fear coast until it was retired in 1960 after 30 years of service.

Plan of Fort Johnston

St Phillips Chapel c.1860

The Three Lives of Karen was filmed here

Indian Trail Tree in Keziah Park - thought to have been bent to act as a direction marker

Crimes of the Heart was filmed here

View across the Southport Inlet

Thursday is the travel day to our next stop at Wilmington, NC. High tide is early today and the plan is to get to the fuel dock as soon as the office opens. Good plan but also conceived by about four other people. Anyway, we got there and had to wait for fuel and a pump out. We got moving just after 9 AM and headed up the Cape Fear River toward our destination. It was chilly when we started but the day warmed quickly. There was not much boat traffic going up river and this river is very wide and deep. There are quite a few widely spaces, very large houses along the way and several shipping ports, but not much else. We reached Port City Marina about noon and got into our slip. The Azalea Festival is is full swing and the main concert stage is within sight of us. Billy Carrington is tonight's headliner and we can hear it all right here. We did the River Walk into town for dinner at Elijah's and then got back to hear the concert! Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/1008461

Port City Marina

Coast Guard cutter downtown

View across the Cape Fear River

Elijah's deck on the river

Nightfall over Port City

Friday the thirteenth was a warm and sunny day. It was also the day to find the post office and mail a check to our Uncle in Washington. Guess that's appropriate. On the way out of the marina, we met Theresa and her little dog, Chaka Khan, which Regina tried to steal (well not really). What an interesting person! We talked for nearly an hour. For fun stuff, we visited the Cotton Exchange to have lunch at the German Cafe, but they decided to close early! We will have to come back tomorrow. The Wilmington Railroad Museum was nearby so there we learned about the Atlantic Coast Railroad that had been headquartered here for many years before it was moved to Jacksonville, FL. That was an unexpected blow to the city. Today that railroad is part of the CSX system. We walked around town looking at all the Azalea Festival activities and checking out the many little places along the waterfront area. It was during this that we discovered the Blind Elephant. This is another speakeasy and has nothing but a street number on the door. It was really cool and had a fabulous piano player!

Regina with Chaka Khan

Railroad Museum

Blind Elephant

The Azalea Festival continued in full swing on Saturday. Front Street had blocks of vendors with every imaginable product possible and about a million people! We looked through some of that and a few shops before returning to the German Cafe. There was already a crowd waiting outside for the doors to open and as soon as the food arrived it was obvious why they came. After dinner, we went to the Dead Crow Comedy Room which was located in one of the old basements. They had four warm up acts before the headliner came on stage. Much fun and some funny people! We got back to the marina about five minutes before a fireworks show started. Unfortunately, it was hidden behind an adjacent hotel building so all we could do was listen. Bummer.

Sunday was supposed to be departure day, but yet another one these weather fronts has blown in. We could go and have an uncomfortable ride and night or hang out here longer. Not a hard decision.  The day turned out to be cloudy, windy, but warm so walking into town was just a fight with the wind.  The street vendors are still here and a good number of people shopping and listening to some random street concerts.  We stopped at Beer Barrio for lunch - unusual name for a Mexican restaurant - and had some specialty tacos.  From here, the Bellamy Mansion Museum was just around the corner and they had a 3 PM tour.  This 10,000 square foot antebellum home that has been meticulously restored.  Our guide directed an almost 2 hour tour of the home and all of it's history.  After the tour, we went to Rebellion for a light dinner and then to the boat to watch the ACM Awards show.  Surprisingly, all of the vendors and people had vanished from the street in about an hour!

Bellamy Mansion with Baptist church in background

Bellamy Mansion front door

Bellamy Mansion rear and side yard

Bellamy Mansion slave quarters

Parlor

Bedroom

Kitchen in the basement

Dining room also in basement

Sunday night was rain, thunder, lightening and crazy wind.  By Monday morning, we were down to the wind part, but tomorrow is looking pretty good.  For our last day, we decided to catch lunch at The Basics again and then Uber to Costco.  This was our first chance to go to Costco since we left Marietta!  After we got back, unloaded and put everything away, Regina discovered that Guy Fieri had been to Wilmington and had done a Triple D episode at The Copper Penny!  Now that is always statement about a restaurant so it required a trip for our last dinner here.  When we arrived, it was packed and folks were waiting outside.  We went in to get on a list and saw two seats open at the bar so we grabbed them - how lucky was that!  I had one of the sandwiches that Guy tried - a Hot Pork Tenderloin - amazing but so big I could only finish half of it. Tomorrow morning we head for Harbour Village at Topsail.