We’re rethinking our take on Myrtle Beach

Although perhaps not quite on par with that time Chloe had her nodes removed, we made the courageous decision to respect the approaching hurricane and not leave our fairly sheltered spot.  So yeah, basically we’re still in Myrtle Beach, although we’re telling people that we’re in Little River despite the fact that the people who live here bizarrely voted down the chance to become a separate town.

The point is, we don’t have much interesting to report.  We did, however, walk down to the lighthouse at the basin entrance.  We didn’t take a picture coming in because we were busy dodging morons on SeaDoos, morons on center consoles, morons on pontoon boats, morons on sailboats, and so on, but here it is.

A few days ago our friend Erin sent us some lighthouse trivia.  We’re not positive but this one probably wasn’t amongst the answers.

We do have a question ourselves though.  In Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, which are more plentiful?

A.  Jungle-themed miniature golf courses;
B.  Candy shops;
C.  T-shirt megastores (“Buy 1 for $6.99, get 4 free!”); or
D.  Pancake houses.

The answer, of course, is that it’s a trick question.  Nobody has an actual answer, because there are too many of each to count.  But we’re embracing the place anyway.

First of all, the pickleball is awesome.  Our new buddies Pat and Lynn met us Sunday morning and we played until we all were exhausted.  (Admittedly that didn’t take long for one of us.)

The girl who took the picture recently had been traumatized by the shouting and swearing between her dad and her boyfriend—who was just learning the game—so we forgive her for not telling us to face a different direction.  Then on Tuesday, Lynn picked us up, we played more super-fun pickleball, and she took us home.

Second, MBYC is full of interesting folks who have had boats here for years and have lived on those boats for those years.  We’ve enjoyed talking to just about everyone.  We did skip the Fourth of July party at the pool, but it looked like the people who care for that type of thing were having a good time.

Then we slept through the fireworks.  However, the Uber driver who later took Doug to the GPS Store said they were a big dud, so we’re glad we didn’t bother.

When not playing pickleball we mostly puttered around the boat.  Nothing exciting, although we did learn that the reason our chart plotter went blank when we were approaching Georgetown is because the people who sold us the boat hadn’t bothered with much in the way of nautical charts except for the few miles they cruised, all of which were south of Georgetown.  So we feel like uploading all of the US and most of Canada is a useful accomplishment.

One of the many great things about the type of cruising we’ve done is the periodic happy surprise when we run into old friends unexpectedly.  This almost was one of those times.  Because while walking the dock, Dana spotted Mahi Mahi, from St. Clair Shores, Michigan.

Hey we know a Mahi Mahi from St. Claire Shores!  We spent some awesome times with Jerry and Deena.  Late night at Bobby’s Fish Camp.  Anchoring off the Tenn-Tom.  Jerry’s accordion Christmas concert aboard that same Mahi Mahi in Fort Myers Beach.  We kind of lost them after Marathon, but catching up will be awesome.  Not.  Turns out people from St. Clair Shores stay home in the summer and cruise in the winter,  which is both backwards and disappointing.  Still good memories though.

We still haven’t yet watched the meteorology webinar we bought a couple of years ago, but the weird clouds that rolled in on Wednesday sure looked suspicious.

Despite the ominous clouds, we managed to make our way to the Officer’s Club for what could’ve been our Last Supper if Elsa had hit us full force.  Cool place, but not for a Last Supper.

Fortunately she mostly gave us a pass.

The rain and forty-knot gusts were enough to make Dana and Oscar miserable when he needed out, but not enough to sink the boat.  We consider that a victory for the good guys.  The storm now is heading towards several boatloads of friends we have up north of here though, so we’re not done worrying.