DAYS 269-270: Georgetown to Thoroughfare Creek Anchorage R66 - Calabash Creek Anchorage - Shallotte River Anchorage

Georgetown to Thoroughfare Creek R66 ANCHORAGE: 8.1 mph; 17.5 miles; 2:08 hours

Thoroughfare Creek R66 to Calabash Creek: 7.8 mph; 47.2 miles; 6:02 hours

Calabash Creek to Shallotte River ANCHORAGE: 6.6 mph; 13.9 miles; 2:05 hours


PLANNING: This leg of the journey needed a lot of planning to beat the sunset and ride the tide. We are traveling the ditch again with some of the same challenges. This time there are a lot of marinas between Georgetown SC and Southport NC with additional anchorages between Georgetown and Bucksport Plantation Marina & RV Resort. However, after Bucksport, there isn't an anchorage choice until Calabash, S H A L L O W, where we took a pass and headed to the Shallotte River R76 anchorage.





MM 389 R66 Thoroughfare Creek ANCHORAGE (across the river from Safe Harbor Reserve Harbor Marina)

The words to describe this anchorage: quiet, peaceful, calm. We left Georgetown late in the day, on the tail end of a storm and to put a few miles under us and shorten the trip to the Calabash Creek Anchorage.


We passed a “School Boat” that transfers kiddos from Pawleys Island to a bus stop on the mainland. The kiddos catch the bus-boat every day at 6:15 AM then climb onto the school-bus at 6:30 AM - the reverse takes them home. Pretty cool. I wonder if there is an “after school-boat” available for the older kids who play sports…


MM 342 Calabash Creek

We were to anchor here for the night - this is a HARD NO! The channel is too narrow with shallow edges and no swing room. It’s the first time we have found an anchorage to have better reviews and turn out to be an awful option. We needed to find a back up plan and quick; so, after a late lunch in Calabash, and waiting for the tide to raise the boat, we decided to move on to R76 off the ICW onto the Shallotte River.


Calabash: There are several restaurants. We went to Captain Nance - do not make this mistake. Instead, wait until 4 PM and go to The Oyster Rock Waterfront Seafood Restaurant - we used their dock and they seem to have a lot more going on (outside oyster bar, planned live music, everything not fried in the same vat …) When using their dock, be sure you're watching the tide and tie up in the crook of the dock - stern in. It gets shallow and we had to sit out the tidal change. 


MM 328 Shallotte River ANCHORAGE at R76 off the ICW (7’ depth)

This anchorage has a strong current being so close to the inlet. It is just past Monks Island and between The Inlet View Bar & Grill at Bowen Point and Gibbs Creek/Sage Island. It looks like you could tie to the dock at the grill fro dinner - anything else needs asking. This anchorage does not get great reviews but they're wrong. It was an excellent choice.

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