CODA BAHAMAS BOUND 2024-2025 (33)

CODA : Into the Waccamaw (bayou country)

27 October 2024

Enterprise Island oxbow, Waccamaw River, Bucksport, South Carolina   

One of three swing bridges that we passed through today all operated by women who did an exemplary job.  The above photo is of the Barefoot Bridge after passing through the so called Rock Pile passage.

Marc-  At 03:00 my face became a bit wet from rain entering the open hatch above my head.  The forecasters had missed this rain (or I had missed the forecast).  I closed all of the hatches and tuned on the air conditioning to dry things out.  At 08:00 we could see some clear sky to the west as we pulled out for the days travel.  The ICW boat traffic was light and we soon joined up with two other sailboats as we prepared to pass through several swing bridges.  The first bridge was a breeze.  An area called the "Rock Pile" stood between us and the next bridge.  The rock pile is a 9 mile passage through cut ledge with jagged edges and is significantly narrower than the ICW channels before or after it.  Each end of the passage is marked with signs noting "Danger Rocks" and since we were passing near low tide we could see some of the dangerous rocks.  The powerboats started to come through the passage with some throwing large wakes while others slowed a bit.  We stood our ground because we are deep draft and Coda is a 28,000 pound heavily built boat (Michael also likes to go out in the cockpit and stare at the fast boats).  We arrived at the Barefoot Bridge and indicated to the Bridge operator that there were three sailboats in our group requesting the bridge to open.  She responded that she could see only two of us from her cabin high on the bridge structure.  She radioed all three boats but no response came from the third boat that we knew was a small cruising catamaran.  The Catamaran Captain did respond after fifteen minutes indicating that they had been delayed due to being pushed toward the rocks by the wake of a passing powerboat.  I am not aware of the damage but the catamaran is anchored near us tonight.

Rock ledge to the left of me.

Rock ledge to the right of me.

We stopped after this excitement for some rest and relaxation meeting with friends who have retired here and live in a community called Barefoot Landing.  This is a very large developed area of different housing types from vacation rentals  to single family homes and townhouses with several golf courses as lots of shopping and recreation too.  

Barefoot Landing marina in background.  Barefoot Landing free day use docks (Coda is tied to a nice floating dock just out of view.  The deepwater docks are south of the small boat docks).  We were actually docked right in front of the Greg Norman Australian Restaurant where we were meeting our friends Peggy and John for brunch.  The food was good, reasonably priced, with excellent service and a nice view.  

Excellent Ice cream shop nearby for desert.  This one appealed to the farmer in me.

Barefoot landing carousel one of multiple amusements.

Now where did we leave our boat?

Some of the local inhabitants that seem to enjoy living next to, or on the roof of,  a restaurant.

Anchored in the Enterprise oxbow behind Enterprise Island in the Waccamaw River.  Many of the trees here are bald head cypress.  We are enjoying the solitude of this beautiful area tonight.