When I was working on find a spot to stay, two things helped make this decision. 1. Super cheap fuel. 2. Such a fun name to say!

It was on the list of great marinas thats published in the Loop book that we are using as a guide, so we had it planned. We sort of planned other stops around it, so the distance was also good. It was a beautiful trip up (down?) the Waccamaw River, and the marina is just a wide spot with space for half a dozen boats, but it is apparently the shining point of the town. We spent two days there, and each evening the marina restaurant filled up with local folks. That says a lot to me.

We docked with no issue, got our cheap diesel ($3.59 a gal!) and tied up. The weather was beautiful, the water was beautiful, but we were tied super close to the restaurant so it was a bit noisy. Only in the evening, so whatever.......

I looked through cool things to do here, and short of borrowing a car and going to the beach, we were at the best place. There was a tour pontoon boat (see pictures) tied next to us and I looked on-line to get tickets. No luck. The next morning though .... while the boat captain was prepping, I hollered over and asked if they had room for 2 more. They did. We hurried onto the tour boat and went.

What a fun trip that was! It was crazy that we went back over the water we had just traveled on, but with a narrator it was different. We learned about the incredible amount of slave labor involved in the area. The importance of the rice crops. The fact that the ability to grow rice, thus the ability to make the obscene wealth the plantations had, originated in the African communities that the slaves were 'imported' from. It was fascinating, heart-breaking, and infuriating .... all at the same time. The work was so dangerous that no one who was not forced to do it would even consider it. Between the biting insects, the cottonmouths, and the alligators - I imagine a short lifespan for those workers. During this tour we also saw the alligators I mentioned. We have been looking the whole trip and finally saw some. Yay!

When we left there we continued on up the Waccamaw River - our favorite river so far - on into Myrtle Beach.

See you soon!