Lots happening today...

First, apparently our signal strength is so low I can't add pictures today.  I at least hope the text gets on line.  I'll do the pictures later.

Our friend Matt showed up late Sunday night.  He said he enjoyed his first day on the ICW.  If you like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for breakfast, and napping all day you'd probably get along well with Matt.  Though this morning Matt figured out how to make toast - and we don't have a toaster!

Any SPOTers probably noticed that we are now in South Carolina.  One of the first things we saw today was the pontoon bridge.  It is the last such bridge over the ICW, and in a short while it will be history, replaced by a new high span bridge which is almost finished.  The opening part of the bridge, with the house, is on a steel pontoon which floats out of the way to let boats pass.  I am including a link if you want to find out more about a pretty interesting bridge.
http://www.okeefes.org/Barrier_Islands/Sunset_Beach/Sunset_Beach_NC_Pontoon_Bridge/Sunset_beach_NC_Pontoon_Bridge.htm

Coming into Myrtle Beach we saw a couple of huge boats.  One was coming towards us and Matt was sure there was no way it could pass.  The second one actually waited for us before it pulled away from its dock.  It's a good thing it did - this is what it looked like right after we got by.
Apparently (I haven't checked with my buddy Google yet)  South Carolina doesn't have gambling, but they have off shore gambling ships.  The one that waited for us before pulling into the channel was Aquasino.

Later in the day we came to a stretch of the ICW called "The Rock pile".  In this area the waterway was cut or blasted through a porous layer of rock.  There are areas where the rock ledges jut out into the waterway.  At high tide they are all hidden below the water.  We came through at low tide so we got to enjoy the view.  For about 20 miles before we got to the rock pile we saw maybe 2 boats.  Right in the middle of the rock pile we met 3 other boats all at the same spot.  The first was a big sport fishing boat doing about 20 knots!  If finally slowed down about a boat length behind us - reluctantly, I'm sure!  Then an on-coming trawler, then another overtaking trawler.  It's a good thing it was low water and we had seen the rocks or we probably would have pulled over too far in an attempt to let them pass.

We are now anchored in a really nice stretch of the ICW, though Matt says it reminds him of the movie "Swamp People" or maybe "Creature of Black Lagoon".  I'll probably have to rig a night light for Matt.  We had this anchorage to ourselves for about 20 minutes before 2 other boats showed up.

Today has been one of the coolest of the trip so far.  We were all wearing gloves and stocking/watch caps.  I can't really complain,  (ya, right) Sue's sister says it might snow this week.  And for any of you who know about our cats, Fluff came out in the cockpit twice today, on his own, when we were motoring.