Travels with KOKOMO II: May 30, Southport, NC

Today was the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend and a very active day for boaters on the water.

As we left the marina we noticed two boats that had seen better days. We wondered whether they had been sunk in a storm or just in some accident. Two that are close together are unusual.

There is a lot of new development along the shore in this 30 miles between Myrtle Beach and Southport. Big homes, condominium projects and tracts of smaller homes. And a lot of small boat traffic over Memorial Day weekend.

Travel trailer park overlooking an inlet.
Looks completely full this weekend.

Boaters on the 'sand bar' like in Stuart.

We encountered the 'Sunset Beach Pontoon Bridge' (the last remaining pontoon bridge on the east coast) at MM 338 that had zero clearance for boats to pass under so large and small boats had to wait for the opening. Openings were only allowed once per hour at the top of each hour. Our timing was not good as we arrived at 9:15 and had to wait 45 minutes for the next opening. A new high span bridge is almost complete and will replace this 'relic of the past'. We will not miss the old bridge any more than we will miss riding a horse and buggy to the store.

Sunset Beach Pontoon Bridge opening.

All the small boats seem to swarm through.

We made our way to Southport, NC, and enjoyed being off the busy waterway. When we were here in 2007, the marina was under construction. It is now almost complete and is a nice facility with newer floating docks and a clubhouse. Internet is available but it is so slow that it is unusable. Town is a half mile away, and we did not go exploring this time. Maybe next time.