Cruising through the Rock Pile in South Carolina on the Great Loop

Today after staying for a week at Osprey Marina in Myrtle Beach, we cruised back on the intracoastal waterway up through one of the most treacherous sections of the Great Loop; The Rock Pile. This section is considered tough mainly because it is narrow and unforgiving.

To clear this section when creating the Great Loop, the Army Corps of Engineers used dynamite to destroy the rocks. Unfortunately, since this was the last section they didn’t do a very thorough job and thus its infamy.

Many a captains have steered over to let another boat pass and then bent a propeller on the unseen rocks. The proper way to pass in a larger vessel (I’d say Pivot barely counts) is to call ahead “Vessel heading northbound into the Rock Pile, any concerned vessels please respond”. This way any barges can call out that it would be better to wait.

We stayed in our lane and made it through but might have had a few more grey hairs! Hope you enjoy on YouTube!