Boating and Water Access in North Myrtle Beach

Barefoot Landing Marina

Barefoot Landing Marina, part of the larger Barefoot Landing retail and entertainment complex at 4898 US-17 South, sits directly on the Intracoastal Waterway and offers more than 100 slips accommodating vessels up to 80 feet, according to boating-directory sources. Its location puts boaters within walking distance of Barefoot Landing's roughly 100 shops and 15 restaurants, plus the Alabama Theatre and House of Blues, making it a genuinely dual-purpose destination -- a working marina attached to one of the area's largest entertainment complexes, not simply a fuel-and-slip stop.

Cherry Grove Marina and the Little River Area Marinas

Cherry Grove Marina, at 2201 Little River Neck Road, serves the city's northernmost section, close to the Little River Inlet -- giving boaters based there a shorter run to open ocean than marinas farther south along the ICW. Just across the state line area in Little River proper (technically outside North Myrtle Beach city limits but immediately adjacent and functionally part of the same boating community), Coquina Harbor Marina and the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club provide additional slip capacity, per multiple regional marina directories.

This page does not state current slip rates, availability, or specific amenities at any of these facilities, since that information changes regularly -- contact each marina directly for current rates and availability.

Public Boat Ramps: Free, City, County, and State-Maintained Access

For boaters who trailer rather than keep a boat in a slip, North Myrtle Beach and the immediately surrounding area offer several public ramps. The Cherry Grove Boat Landing offers free public access with ample trailer parking and direct access to the ICW, per South Carolina's own saltwater fishing and boat-landing directory. Johnny Causey Landing offers two launching lanes, a courtesy dock, roughly 45 boat-trailer parking spaces, and portable restroom facilities. A Horry County boat ramp sits under the US-17 bridge at Nixon Cross Roads on the ICW, and the Peter Vaught ramp at the Highway 22/17 interchange offers two launching lanes, courtesy docks, roughly 40 trailer parking spaces, and a picnic pavilion.

This mix of free and low-cost public ramps, maintained across city, county, and state agencies, gives trailer boaters real, multiple options for accessing the ICW and, from there, the ocean via the Little River Inlet -- without requiring a private slip. Confirm current ramp conditions and any seasonal closures directly with South Carolina's Saltwater Recreational Fishing License Program site (saltwaterfishing.sc.gov) or Horry County directly before planning a launch.

The Little River Inlet: Direct Ocean Access

The Little River Inlet, at the city's northern edge, provides the direct connection between the Intracoastal Waterway and the open Atlantic for boaters based in North Myrtle Beach and Little River. The inlet is also the subject of an active U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredging and jetty-stabilization project, removing an estimated 65,000 cubic yards of sand as part of ongoing maintenance -- a reminder that inlet channel depth and navigability here is actively managed federal infrastructure, not a fixed natural feature, and conditions can shift meaningfully between visits.

Boaters unfamiliar with the inlet should check current NOAA nautical charts and any active Coast Guard notices to mariners before transiting, particularly during or after significant dredging or storm activity.

Waties Island: A Real, Nearby, But Restricted Destination

Just across the Little River Inlet from North Myrtle Beach sits Waties Island, an undeveloped barrier island extending nearly three miles to the South Carolina/North Carolina border. Roughly a third of the island was bequeathed to Coastal Carolina University in 1995 and is now protected under a Nature Conservancy of South Carolina conservation easement as the Anne Tilghman Boyce Coastal Reserve, with portions moving toward eventual South Carolina state park status through the Open Space Institute's ongoing conservation work. Because of that protected and academic-research status, this page does not state current public access rules or landing permissions for Waties Island, since those specifics were not independently confirmed for this build -- boaters interested in visiting should confirm current access rules directly with Coastal Carolina University or the relevant conservation authority before landing.

Boat Rentals and Charters

Beyond private boat ownership, the area supports a real charter and rental industry, most concentrated around Little River -- covered in more depth on this site's dedicated Fishing Guide page, which names specific charter operators and pricing ranges for deep-sea and inshore trips departing from the Little River waterfront just north of the city.

This page does not name specific kayak, paddleboard, or pontoon-boat rental outfitters serving North Myrtle Beach's calmer ICW and marsh-creek waters, since a comprehensive, currently operating list was not compiled for this build -- the marsh creeks around Little River Neck and the calmer water behind Barefoot Landing's lake are the kind of setting paddlesports outfitters typically serve in a market like this, but confirm current operators, rates, and launch points directly with a local outfitter or the city's visitor information resources rather than relying on this page.

Tides, Currents, and Navigating Near the Inlet

Boaters transiting between the Intracoastal Waterway and the open Atlantic through the Little River Inlet should account for real tidal current effects -- inlet channels generally see stronger, more variable currents than the adjacent ICW itself, a general boating-safety consideration that applies to any tidal inlet, not a claim specific to a measured current speed at Little River. Given the inlet's documented, actively dredged and jetty-maintained status, channel depth and marked navigation points can shift between visits, which is precisely why current NOAA nautical charts and Coast Guard notices to mariners -- not a prior visit's memory of the channel -- are the right reference before transiting.

This page does not restate specific channel marker numbers, controlling depths, or current-specific hazard advisories for the Little River Inlet, since those are exactly the kind of time-sensitive navigational specifics that belong in an official, continuously updated chart or Coast Guard source rather than a static research page.

No-Wake Zones and Boating Etiquette Near Marinas

Marina-adjacent stretches of the ICW near Barefoot Landing, Cherry Grove Marina, and the Little River marina cluster commonly carry posted no-wake or idle-speed zones, a standard, widely applied boating-safety measure near docks, marinas, and swimming areas rather than a North-Myrtle-Beach-specific rule. This page does not restate exact posted speed limits or zone boundaries, since those are marked on-site and in official charts and were not independently catalogued for this build -- observe posted signage directly and reduce speed near any marina, dock, or swimming area regardless of what a chart from a prior season showed.