osprey marina, myrtle beach, SC.

up at o'dark thirty again and ready to go, just waiting until it was light enough to see and then we left southport and for once, we were ahead of the doyles!   they were behind us on SEMI-LOCAL and so were L'ATTITUDE and VIRGINIA, a little macgregor with a 50hp outboard who joined us at spooners creek.  mark and diana passed all of us eventually and left us behind, taking point once more and texting and radio'ing back the stuff we needed to know and to pass back to the rest of the fleet. we crossed the NC/SC border - not even a welcome sign!  geez...  but we were seeing more palm trees and spanish moss.

taken by diana doyle:  tadhana, l'attitude and virginia.

it was a cold morning and to make matters worse, it rained and we felt sorry for the guy on VIRGINIA.  he was single-handing. no autopilot and no enclosure.  he was out in the cold rain, good grief!  tom and i, however, were very comfortable in the pilothouse with climate control at 70 and still in our fuzzy bedroom slippers.

as i have mentioned before, in 1992, i helped a friend move his boat from D.C. and got as far as charleston before i hopped on a train to spend thanksgiving at home.  i remember stopping at barefoot landing in myrtle beach, SC.  at the time, there was a small fixed dock, free of charge, attached to a strip mall with no electricity and no water.  it was just a place to park if you wanted to run over to the strip mall and buy something.  the place is now unrecognizable with its long floating dock, power posts and water (oh, and they charge a fee now for overnight stays). and across the waterway, where there used to be nothing is a huge marina and a couple of condo developments.  i remember barefoot landing very well because a few years later when i went back to myrtle beach by car, i also specifically checked out the place,  wistfully looking out over the water and reminiscing about what i thought was a once-in-a-lifetime trip. now, i expect to pass this way again many, many times :) 

it was a long cruising day of about 64 statute miles to osprey marina but on the way, we also saw the amusing sight of a gondola overhead ferrying golfers from the parking lot to the pro shop of waterway hills golf club.  it was strange to see golf clubs instead of skis on the outside of the gondola. 

golf club cable car

golf clubs rather than skis on the gondola!

osprey marina is a nice little place - a keyhole basin, very protected all around and it is QUIET.  really great staff, very helpful and friendly, and the place has that family atmosphere all around.  it also helped that we were assigned the T-head which was far away from the maddening crowd.  i always like that :)  floating docks, too, which makes it easy to get on and off.  we have been very spoiled lately.  the marina also provides a continental breakfast and each boat gets a goodie bag which included a jar of hot pepper jelly, a honeybun, a package of pecan twirls, soap, shampoo and bathroom things and small packages of laundry detergent and fabric softener among other things! 

unfortunately, the weather was less than cooperative the next day so it was just as well that we were safely tucked away at osprey.  we shared the T-head with the macgregor and as the wind picked up, i checked and re-tied our dock lines while tom was out to the grocery store and i checked and re-tied the macgregor's dock lines as well.  let's just say the condition of that boat was appalling and a piece of string was what was holding its stern end to the dock, good grief!  it's no wonder i noticed the boat was moving around so much the way it was tied.  when the boat's owner came back, i flatly told him that string was NOT ENOUGH to hold his boat to the dock!  to give him credit, he did change the line at least.  he was a nice guy though but maybe there's a reason why he is single LOL.....

also, another sailboat coming in to dock hit our anchor as it was trying to get into its slip.  no major damage but tom was majorly pissed about the fact that the galvanizing was rubbed off the edge of our BRAND NEW ANCHOR!  he immediately sanded it and spray painted it with grey rustoleum paint.  it wasn't one of our fleet but at least four of them came in and made that turn and did NOT hit us!

we stayed one more day at osprey on top of that and tom made the rounds of all the other boats to help troubleshoot problems while i stayed home and TRIED to work.  that really has been the hardest part - finding the motivation (aside from the money, of course).  i really feel like i don't sleep anymore.  we had our SAIL rally briefing for the run to charleston in the late afternoon, followed by a potluck dinner with a raffle for a brand new mantus anchor.  the raffle winner donated the anchor to the boat that lost theirs at the mile hammock anchorage - what a guy!  now i'm sorry i said anything about his boat earlier (even though it's all true!) hahaha...

we really enjoyed our stay at osprey marina - very relaxing atmosphere, great amenities, wonderful staff and a good place to stage for the next run.

tomorrow, another o'dark early morning.  we will not be one of the boats that will make it all the way to charleston in one day.  we plan to stop in mcclellanville and are looking forward to it.  we have a reservation at the leland oil company and, hopefully, will be able to buy some fresh local shrimp, as well as see the deer head oak which is estimated to be 1000 years old! 

sunset at osprey marina in a sea of masts