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Myrtle Beach

Today we logged 45 nautical miles. This is the first day our nautical miles were less than our statute miles.  Statute miles are how travel is measured over the land. What made the difference today was we were going against the current almost the whole day.

We went by Myrtle Beach today. There were lots of huge homes with fancy architecture, swimming pools, fancy fences, and fabulous landscape with lots of palmetto trees. A lot of the homes were on golf courses. Myrtle Beach has well over 100 golf courses, according to the Cruising Guide. We passed the Myrtle Wood Golf Course (a sign faced the ICW), and since I had the name of the course, I e-mailed one of my sons who is head-pro at Hillcrest Country Club in Indy, and asked him if he’d ever golfed there. He did when he was in college and the only thing he could remember about it was it had a green on an island. Since my golf balls always love the water, I’d probably still be trying to get a ball on that green…

Even the fixed bridge in the Myrtle Beach area, the Grande Dunes Bridge, was ornately adorned with colonial lampposts and fancy architecture. (See Photo Gallery)

Our route today took us down the Waccamaw River, with lots of bends and turns making it a fun river to navigate. Autumn arrived here much later in the year, as there is still a significant amount of autumn color in the trees and bushes. We are far enough south that the Spanish moss is in a lot of the trees. I remember the first time I saw Spanish moss in trees and I thought it was so interesting and picturesque. There is an eerieness to it and a mystic that makes me think of the deep south and a bayou. There are also a lot of cypress trees at the edge of the water with their “knees” (roots) protruding out of the water, sometimes visible only at low tide.

We had a dinner including the fresh flounder purchased at Carolina Beach. Flounder is quickly becoming our favorite fish. Does anybody know where fresh flounder can be purchased in Indy? Something I learned at the seafood shop where we purchased the fish is flounder has a dark side and a white side. The clerk asked me which I wanted and I told her I didn’t know a fish had dark and white. She flipped the fish over and showed me. Sure enough, one side was dark and the other white. I won’t repeat the exact words of my astonishment…after all, I am a sailor. She said, “Yeah, just like a chicken.” I asked, “What’s the difference between the dark and white?”; because when we ate the whole flounder the other night, we didn’t notice any difference in flavor in what we were eating. She said, “The dark is meatier.” So of course, we got the dark. And just like the other night when we had flounder for dinner, it was excellent. Just dipped in egg, dusted with cracker meal and a little fish seasoning, and then fried in a light oil. Squeeze a little fresh lemon on top and as Gary’s Uncle Carl would say, “It’s so good, it’ll make your tongue flap your brains out.”

We are anchored up a small creek just off the ICW tonight, which means no heat in the boat. The evening chill is starting to take hold of the inside of White Swan, so I’ll say “good night.” as I go snuggle under two down comforters to get warm and read for awhile before sleep overtakes me.

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