Fun Boat Cruise

Last week Lia, Alex, pop and I went on a fun boat cruise! As we waited for it to be time to board the Starship we watched the jet skis run up and down the waterway.

Once we boarded the Starship, Lia had to go on tour and check things out. She found the snack bar and worked her way up to the front of the boat. As she was standing on the bench she turned around and peeked in the window of the pilot house.

The boat left from North Myrtle Beach at 10:30AM and we cruised up the Intercoastal Waterway through Little River and into the ocean. Lia even got to sit in the captain’s seat and pilot the boat!

Lia has always been on the highway side of the Little River swing bridge and was excited to see it open as the boat approached it. As we looked out the back of the boat she could see the bridge begin to close. We have two swing bridges in our area that cross the Intercoastal Waterway. Then we under the “big bridge” that connects Little River to North Myrtle Beach continuing up the Intercoastal Waterway.

The first point of interest that the Captain pointed out was the Governor’s Lighthouse located in Coquina Harbor in Little River. This is not a working lighthouse but a smaller facsimile built to honor all South Carolina Governors, past and present. While it’s located in a private community all the boaters enjoy seeing it when they go past. You can see more pictures here. https://www.us-lighthouses.com/governors-point-lighthouse

Little River is a small fishing village on the coast of north eastern South Carolina and a short way up the waterway from the lighthouse is where the shrimp boats and other fishing boats dock. It’s also home for the only two Casino boats in our area. One goes out twice a day on Monday and the larger one goes out on the other days. Yes, we’ve left with a few coins from both boats! Listen closely to the hilarious video of Lia.

The weather was perfect and as we approached channel marker 4 we saw a huge Osprey nest! The captain mention mama was guarding her nest with 4 babies. If you look closely you can see one of the tiny babies sticky it’s head out.

We continued up the waterway until we got to where the ocean meets the Intercoastal waterway. On the right side is Waties Island which is the farthest northern island in South Carolina. Right across from Waties Island is Bird Island, the farthest southern island in North Carolina.

In between the two islands is a jetty with an opening for boats coming and going from the Intercoastal Waterway to the Atlantic Ocean. This was the first time Lia has been boating in the ocean!

Look how calm the ocean is! Even though it was calm, Lia’s tummy started tumbling a bit but that didn’t get her down! Next time before we leave the shore she needs to take something for seasickness. This is the view of Cherry Grove and North Myrtle Beach from ocean side.

While cruising the ocean we didn’t see any dolphins but it was a fun 2 1/2 hour cruise with Lia waving to every boat that went by. It was now time to leave the ocean and head back through the waterway to the dock.

Just as we past where the fishing boats dock the seagulls surrounded the boat and Lia loved that! If you want to see more of the seagulls from our trip, check them out in this blog. http://themarthareview.com/seagulls-and-more/

We got back to the dock about 1:00PM and we all had a fun boat cruise, the weather was perfect and I think Lia had the best time with the wind in her hair as the boat cruised up and down the waterway and ocean! Maybe next time we go, we can find the dolphins.