We were travelling with the current and we literally “flew along”. On most of the navigational markers birds settle down to make their nests. Some of the birds return year after year to the same spots to build on the very nest they built last year. Ospreys are examples of this strategy and often nest on the tops of channel markers, telephone poles in and around ocean and marsh environemnts. We could see the mother peaking out of her nest but we could not tell whar kind of bird it was. It looked too small to be an osprey. 
There are many boats headed north just as there were many headed south before. It is a migration of boaters as well as birds. Sometimes we are in line of boats, just one boat after another and yet, at other times, we are in a world all our own.
Sunset at Minim Creek South Carolina which is a favourite anchorage for boats travelling in either direction.There appears to be continuous new shoreside development along the ICW. The stretch of the ICW to Myrtle Beach boasts many awesome private homes. It seems that each one is trying to outdo the other.
Some of the homes have a definite Mediterranean flavour and remind us of our marvellous trip to Croatia last year. 
The last we saw of Viking Angel was in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Morris and Elizabeth decided to spend a couple of days at Coquina Yacht Club while we went on. We thought that we would see them again along the way but it was not meant to be. We spent many, many happy hours in their company and feel blessed to have known them. We hope our paths will cross again.The last pontoon bridge on the eastern coast of the States will soon be no more. Already work on the new bridge has started. There was a lot of interest in preserving the last remaining pontoon bridge of the eastern coast but it seems that expediency has won the battle and it is only a matter of time before it becomes just a memory. I am glad that we had a chance to go through it again.
We had spent the night on the fuel dock at Myrtle Beach Yacht Club. We had planned to get fuel when the dock opened at 8:00 but when we took a look at the tides, we realized that we would have to leave at 5:30 in the morning to get through Lockwood’s Folly, the Shallot Inlet and the Pipeline Canal on a rising tide. The pontoon bridge would be closed from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. and then it would be too late for us. We had grounded in Lockwood’s Folly on the way south and we did not want to repeat the experience.
Waiting boat traffic is always heavy around the bridge as it has zero vertical clearance. Even the smallest boats cannot pass unless the span is open.We got to Southport before noon and had a terrific day there. In the late fall. when we were there, many of the establishments were closed for the season. Now Southport was bustling. It was warm and sunny and even the outdoor ice cream stand was open for business.
Above patrons on the left are having drinks waiting to be seated while on the right are the dinner tables. We had dinner with our friends Shirley and Woody at the Provision Company and later shared our experiences and pictures of the Bahamas over a drink or two. As we were showing them our pictures on the computer I realized that it would have been much more effective to select only certain pictures and put them into a file that we could run as a slide show. I don’t know how to add music yet but it will be another learning experience.We had docked at the Provision Company which provides a free dock if you eat there and in the next slip we met a terrific couple that share many of our interests. We have been travelling together ever since. Corning and Tita are from Maine and it is their first trip south on a delightful 47 ft. Passport sailboat named Blessed Spirit.
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