Adventure | Blue Moon

ICW | Myrtle Beach Yacht Club, SC | MM: 346

The transition from the peaceful Waccamaw River into the Myrtle Beach area is surprisingly abrupt. One moment you’re surrounded by untouched nature, and the next, both sides of the ICW are lined with towering 3-4 story mansions, each with a million dollar boat tied up at it’s private dock.

Anchoring options are limited along this stretch, so we decided to return to the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club. It’s tucked into a well protected harbor just off the ICW, shielded from the current, and offers reasonable rates. Since we planned to leave early the next morning, we stopped at the fuel dock first to top off our diesel tanks before heading to our slip.

The wind was blowing around 15 knots pushing us onto the dock which made getting onto the fuel dock easy. The real challenge, would be getting off again in tight quarters without a bow thruster or twin engines.

After fueling up and pumping out, we shifted our forward fender to the aft corner and disconnected all lines except the stern line, which we re-tied forward along the dock. I eased Blue Moon into reverse, using the tension on the stern line to gently pivot the bow away from the dock and into the wind. Once we had enough angle, I shifted into forward and was able to swing the boat clear.

Getting into our slip was also a bit of a challenge with the limited maneuvering space and breeze, but we got in fairly smoothly.

Renée helped the kids finish school & brought them to the pool while I worked on a couple of boat projects that just popped up [project post link]. One of our hot water hoses blew a hole in it while underway which required a couple of trips to the local hardware store and West Marine for parts. We like to make the most of our marina stays so we filled up water (free in the US), did laundry and had some nice long showers.

All in all, it was a busy day but we got a lot accomplished!

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Southbound Myrtle Beach Yacht Club Post [Link]