coffee, we found that Sherwood was already 'up and at 'em' and had even prepared breakfast - complete with a "birthday muffin" sporting a candle. We hustled around getting our stuff together and, soon, we were on the way to the "Crazy Sister Marina" to catch "The New Inlet Princess" for a morning on the water. We got there, checked in and joined 
our fellow fishermen to wait for the 'all aboard' call. The skies were a bit hazy but the weather was otherwise great so we had an enjoyable time looking at the area around the marina and getting to know our shipmates. Finally it was time to board and 
we headed out of Murrells Inlet between the jettys that extend from the North end of Huntington Beach and the South end of Garden City Beach. The Inlet Princess is not a huge vessel but carries a maximum of seventy five
passengers and a crew of about seven. Of course you would expect a commercial enterprise to provide good service - after all, that's how you stay in business. But, I've got to say, the young folks we sailed with were 'a cut above.' They were bright, engaging and about as helpful as you could dream
of. They had our gear set up and ready to go and by the time we got to the fishing grounds bait buckets, baskets for fish and ice coolers were all waiting. We spent a little
more than an hour en route to the spot Captain Robert had chosen for us to start with and it was refreshing and invigorating being on the 
open sea with a bunch of great folks. We got to know three families from Lynchburg, VA who were staying in one of the large campgrounds in North Myrtle beach and we had fun sharing camping stories. We also got to know some of the crew members and were especially happy to get to know Jamie (who grew up not far from where Linda lived in Maryland) and Trey - from Hemingway, SC. They were a
huge help to us throughout the day. Finally, we came to a halt and the Captain gave us the 'go ahead' to commence fishing. Almost immediately Linda pulled in the first catch of the day with Sherwood very quickly afterward hauling in a 'double catch'. The fishing - and catching - was steady throughout the morning with only infrequent stops to re-position the boat. As we had 
expected, the main catches were Black Sea Bass but we were delightedly surprised to also pull in "Ring Tail" and Drum as well. After a long, excellent morning of fishing it was all too soon time to 'reel 'em in' and head for shore. The ride back was remarkably smooth with lots of sea birds and occasional Porpoises spotted along the way. We arrived safely back at the marina and by the time we were ready to disembark the crew had the boat 'ship-shape with all gear properly stowed and our fish labelled and on stringers for our 
retrieval. Once ashore our new friend Trey cleaned and filleted our fish for us and placed them in plastic bags for our convenience. Before long we were packed up, back in the car and headed to Inlet Point for a cool shower and a long overdue lunch. It was a wonderful way to 
spend Linda's birthday and I really hope you will have the opportunity to go to sea with the hardy sailors of the Inlet Princess some day. I can pretty much guarantee you won't be disappointed. We'll be back soon with some more beach observations so, until then, see ya.- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
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