11/19/16 Georgetown SC

 We stayed through Sat Nov 12 at Matthews Point for the Beast Feast.  It was quite the culinary tribute.  We had pork cooked on a neat BBQ,
 Bambi Burgers Moose burgers, venison kabobs and wild boar sausage cooked on a grill,

 oysters,

clam chowder,

 and many other treats contributed by the boaters.  We departed Sunday and made our way to Swansboro NC for a comfortable evening on the dock at Caspers.  Unfortunatly we were pushed againt the dock and had to wait for the tide to change so did not get an early start, but made Wrightsville Beach anchorage that nite.  Skipper was very happy to see the beach and made quite a bit of it.  Tuesday we managed an early start after a beach walk for Skipper.  We caught the tide right at Carolina Beach and made great time to Southport, NC. Quite often we stop in Southport, but it was early so we continued on through Lockwoods Folly, a little shallow on an ebbing tide. Shallot Inlet has always been a trouble spot and we were lucky enough to see a Tow Boat US who told us we could probably get through, but hold the red and there was one spot coming right up that we might bump.  We scraped bottom, but afterwards there was clear "sailing".  We  continued to the Calabash River anchorage.  This is on the NC/SC border and a good anchorage with a place for Skipper to walk, even though I had to use my new boots to get ashore. Wednesday, with an early start, we went through Little River, Myrtle Beach, Bucksport and to Sandy Island on Thorougfare Creek. We had time to explore the island and spent several hours walking around. Thursday we exploed the creek with our dinghy before moving on to Georgetown SC where to stayed at Harbor Walk Marina and rented a car for a day. We enjoyed a great meal, drank a few beers, and had a peacfull night.  The car was handy to resupply groceries and we had to trave to Murrell's Inlet for parts and a new light for the galley.  We stopped at a restaurant for breakfast and noted a tire going flat.  After calling Enterprise we decided to change it ourselves, after our breakfast.  However, Chris and Dave, two very kind locals who had noticed our plight, were almost done changing the tire, and had also paid for our breakfast! They would hear nothing about pay; just pass it on was their response.  We were lucky in another way as well:  we visited in the parking lot for quite a while, enjoying their tales of life in the Low Country of SC.  There are some truly wonderfull people still in this world!!    We managed to get our errands completed and the macerator pump rebuilt as well as a new light over the galley sink which has been a very dark spot for all. We also hired a diver to scrape the bottom of BSN and change zinks.  Happily, he gave us a very good report (our first since purchasing BSN) and only changed one zink.