South Carolina may not be the longest stretch of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (ICW), but it certainly holds one of the prettiest sections. From the North Carolina border at Little River Inlet to the Savannah River at the Georgia border, the ICW runs through 235 miles of South Carolina’s most picturesque and historic treasures.

We left from north of Little River on a rainy and drizzly morning. Our route took us into South Carolina by Myrtle Beach, where the ICW parallels the famous Grand Strand and runs adjacent to some of the area’s premier golf resorts. And of course we saw golf carts with people hitting the 18 courses in the rain as we passed through.

Myrtle Beach is also home to the notorious “Rock Pile,” a treacherous segment of the ICW feared by many first-time cruisers. The bottom along most of the ICW is sand or soft mud; however, there is a small section through Myrtle Beach with a rocky bottom and abrupt ledges that extend along the sides. None of the rocks are visible at high tide, but the ones along the edges are clearly seen at low tide. Running aground in the Rock Pile, though, is likely to damage your boat. Fortunately, we passed through Rock Pile without incidents.

Since the weather was damp and cool, Claudia whipped out her bread-maker and started making her honey wheat bread, something she’s been preparing for the trip. An hour later, the scent of the baking bread flood and filled the boat. It was a clean, slightly sweet, yeasty aroma that somehow smelled warm, like you were inhaling a warm towl, fresh out of the dryer, on a cold winter day. I was at the helm but was completely hypnotized by the scent as though a cartoon vapor is pulling me by the nostrils. The bread tasted pretty good, too, with melted butter; nothing else needed.

We arrived at the Osprey Marina, tucked into a protected keyhole basin just off the scenic Waccamaw River. We passed the channel marker with the huge osprey nest on top—oh wait, osprey nests are everywhere along this stretch. After the narrow, wooded entrance, the basin opens up and has many large boats inside. Surrounded by grand old cypress and tupelo trees, you’ll feel a world away from the ticky-tacky T-shirt shops of nearby Myrtle Beach.

Taking a walk out of the marina brought us to a goat farm, hundreds of goats. They ran fast towards us expecting to be fed but were disappointed by our empty hands. They went back to their grazing but some started to fight with their horns. We continued our hike on a small trail seeing beautiful trees and plants, still green but some are starting to turn yellow and orange. We saw turtles peeking their heads out of the water, curiously looking at us, as we were at them. We looked for signs of alligators but no dice. We ended our hike at a pond that’s full of wildlife with herons, ospreys, and egrets.

Tomorrow we head for the historic Georgetown SC.