"South to South Carolina" Top 5 Page for this destination North Myrtle Beach by grandmaR

In the photo the Barefoot Swing Bridge is in background. This new swing bridge should not have been built because all new bridges are supposed to be fixed (non-opening)bridges at least 65 feet tall.

Barefoot Landing is at the beginning of a section of the InterCoastal Waterway called the Pine Island Cut AKA The Rockpile. There is a big free dock there where boaters can tie up to go shopping. It is called the most expensive free dock in the USA.

When we stopped there were over 40 boats rafted 4 deep along the docks.

Skimmer Bay is the closest town to Barefoot Landing. It is south of Barefoot on the Pine Island Cut. Initially I put the writeups under Skimmer Bay but I have transferred most of the information to North Myrtle Beach, except for one last narrative with pictures taken on our last trip in the section of the Rockpile south of Barefoot landing because they all won't fit under North Myrtle Beach.

Map showing location of Barefoot Landing

North Myrtle Beach is part of a section known as the Grand Strand which stretchs 60 miles from Little River to Georgetown, South Carolina. In 1968, four small beach towns - Windy Hill Beach, Crescent Beach, Ocean Drive Beach and Cherry Grove Beach - located on the northern edge of the Grand Strand, joined forces to form the City of North Myrtle Beach. It is a vacation destination, known for beautiful wide beaches, shopping, dining and golf. The Cherry Grove section of North Myrtle Beach offers some of the best fishing opportunities on the Grand Strand

Looking back along the raft up from the north end

In addition to one visit to Barefoot Landing, we have also stayed three times at Dock Holidays Marina, north of this location at the beginning of the Pine Island Cut or the Rockpile.

The first time was when we were coming from Bald Head. Due to our need to start up the Cape Fear River without a lot of adverse current, we left later than we normally would, and didn't get as far as Barefoot Landing which was where we were aiming for. On the way north, we stayed in Little River instead of here.

The second time was on the way north in 2002. After our experience at Barefoot Landing in November 2001, Bob decided never to go back. (Besides - neither of us like to shop)

So on April 7th, we left Wacca Wachi in company with a boat named ARCTURUS with two standard poodles, we went to Dock Holiday's Marina.

We both got underway early, and were through the Little River Swing Bridge before 7. We were concerned about the pontoon bridge- it only opens on the hour and sometimes doesn't open at low tide. High tide had been early in the am. It looked like we might make the 8 am opening.

About 2 miles away, I called the bridge tender and he said he'd hold the opening 10 minutes for us. So we did make it, and so did some power boats that came up behind us as it was opening. It was a different guy on duty than when we went through this fall.

The next day we went to Southport.

The third time was on the way south in 2003

• Pros:Lots of services
• Cons:The North side of The ROCKPILE
• In a nutshell:The start of the worst section of the ICW