Little Mud River is almost universally acknowledged to be the worst section of the AICW. This “AICW Problem Stretch” lies some 21 statute miles north of Brunswick, Georgia. The readings below come from our good friend, Chuck Baier, an experienced and skillful cruiser, and confirm our recommendation to navigate this area at mid to high tide only.

We transited most of the problem areas on the [Georgia] ICW at or near low tide so we are sure we had an accurate depth readings. We transited the Little Mud at 2 hours before low tide and on a falling tide. Based on this the following,
depths would be at low tide. At Red “192″ depth of 5 feet. At Crooked Creek, depth of 4 1/2 feet. Approaching Green “193″ 4 feet, then 3 feet very near “193″. Just past Green “193″ 3 1/2 feet. At Red “194″ 3 1/2 feet and just past Red “194″ 3 feet. From Red “194″ to the turn onto the Altamaha is all about 4 feet. Fortunately there were no other fools except us transiting at this low of a tide. We hope this will help others STAY AWAY at anything less than 2 to 3 extra feet of tides.
Chuck Baier

And some advice from another experienced cruiser, Chuck Gorgen:

Time to comment on the “rules of the mud bottom channels”. The deepest part of the channel is probably NOT going to be in the middle. Water current on a falling (ebb) tide runs faster than water on a rising (flood) tide, and the faster water cuts a deeper channel. So, the deepest place in a tidal channel is the outside bend in a falling tide current. The next deepest place is the outside bend on a rising tide current. On some curves where the curve is outside for both the ebb and flood, to will find very deep water and the possibility that the curve is even outside the charts. The situation at MM 704 is a good example of that. On some S curves you will find shallow water in the center of the channel. At low tide look at the banks, along a steep bank you will find deep water close to the bank,
along a gradual bank, shallow water. In some of the cuts that have been dredged, it isn’t always obvious which way the water flows, so you just have to observe which way the water is flowing at a given tide state. So, read the channel by looking at it, and don’t follow the magenta line on your chart plotter. Frequently, your chart plotter will show you in the marsh, and there have even been some places where the deepest water is outside of the buoyed channel! When your depth finder is showing less than the chart, wonder slowly back and forth looking for the deep water, sometimes the deep channel isn’t very wide. You actually learn a lot about a channel at low tide when you can really see it.
Chuck Gorgen

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Little Mud River is almost universally acknowledged to be the worst section of the AICW. This “AICW Problem Stretch” lies some 21 statute miles north of Brunswick, Georgia. Capt. Mike confirms our recommendation of using mid to high tide through this section.

1-11-12 Left anchorage at MM 653 @ 8:20am, with a high tide of 9:33am, into the Little Mud river and saw depths no less than 12′ in the river and on the range out to the sound.
Capt. Mike

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Little Mud River is almost universally acknowledged to be the worst section of the AICW, some 21 statute miles north of Brunswick, Georgia. We have several reports of depths in this problem stretch.

MM655, Little Mud River, I found similar depths as on previous runs.
9′MLW north of G193
8′MLW 100′ off G193
5′MLW by the charted wreck
7′MLW 100′ off R194
5′ to 6′ MLW half way between G195 and the range marker
Once on the range depths increase rapidly to 10+MLW
MM683, Jekyll Creek, 7′ MLW is as shallow as I saw mostly near G19 and along the range. I passed about 150′ off G19 then turned on range (was northbound). Stayed on the range till past R16 ( passed about 75′ away) then split R16 with the southernmost range marker. No change from previous trips
MM704, Cumberland Dividings, all Markers have finally been moved and are marking the shoal on the red side. 12 to 15MLW throughout.
Capt. Pascal Gardemer

Thanks to CruisersNet and Captain Pascal, who reported on the Little Mud River just a few days ago. We anchored at the South River to wait for a rising tide, proceeding through at 2 hours after low tide. We saw very low water (no more than 5.5′ before R 196; did touch bottom with our 5′ keel. Also saw very low water (5′) just before #198.
Eve-Marie & crew of s/v Flash

I passed through the Little Mud River in early October at dead low tide with no current. Stayed in center of channel and never saw LESS THAN 9.3 FEET; Crawled through at 3.5knots because of all the reports of shallow water and shoaling. This is the best I have ever seen it!
Skipper Bill Lucas

Claiborne
Transited (11/14/11) Little Mud River 1520-1540, 1 1/2 hour before low tide, +1.8′ (low tide at Rockdedundy River, daymark 185 @ 1700 +1.0′). Lots of skinny water. Best water appears to be on the green side, left of center going south. Saw depths as low as 7.2′ (5.4′ @ low). One sailboat aground just on right side of center channel about midway between R194 and range light QR. We made 7.5 mph with opposing current and let the boat steer toward the best water, which was close to the bank. One plus with low water is that you can make out the edge of the channel.
Michael Horowitz (M/V ALTAIR)

Just came thru Mud River today 11/14/2011 starting at the north end about 8:am with 6 ft of tide. Prior to starting thru I noticed on AIS that the passanger ship Independence at over 200 feet in length and 8.5 feet in draft was entering the river from the south end. We decided to wait for it to come up thru and while we did I watched it on AIS and learned where to find the best depth.
The ship came up the river staying well to the green side all the way.
On our passage we did the same in reverse and found 6ft MLW between 192 and 193. Then 6 to 7 ft MLW between 193 and 195. Then 8 to 9 ft MLW from 195 to 198. All on the green side of the channel. This appears to be quite a bit more than some crusiers have found.
Dennis Lawrence aboard S/V Thate Wata
Catalina 42 Mk 2 Hull 758
Draft 6ft 10in

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Palmetto Moon with Jim, Su and Lazy Cat Alex have just traveled from Georgetown, SC To Brunswick, Ga. Palmetto Moon cruises at 8.5 MPH and draws 4.5 ft. Here are the issues and observations of their travels:

5-Kilkenny (MM-613) to Brunswick (MM-680) Left at high tide
Little Mud River (MM-653 to 656.3) 1 hour before low tide
Favored G-183, then stayed center of markers, to R-192 lowest we saw was 5 feet.
From G-193 to R-194, center of channel, We saw 4 feet
From R-194 to G- 195, center of channel We saw 2.4 feet
From G-195 and front range marker At the south end, we saw 3.1 feet.
This info is what we experienced in our travels. As always you are the captain of your vessel and should use this as info only. Safe travels.
Palmetto Moon

It is almost universally acknowledged that the Little Mud River section of the AICW, some 21 statute miles north of Brunswick, Georgia, is the single worst stretch of the “ditch” between Norfolk, VA and Miami, Florida. Well, Captains Chuck and Susan’s observations below certainly tend to bear out that theory.
As you may recall from other recent postings here on the Net, Captain Chuck Baier and Captain Susan Landry are the former general manager and editor, respectively, of Waterway Guide. They are now cruising south on the AICW on their way to a new home in Fort Myers, Florida. Chuck and Susan are being kind enough to forward very detailed reports to the Cruisers’ Net about concerns they encounter, particularly AICW Problem Stretches.
With this dynamic duo’s vast cruising experience, we can take their observations below as gospel. And, as you will see, just give up on the idea of traversing Little Mud River at anything but high tide.

Claiborne,
We transited the Little Mud River on Tuesday 5/17/2011 and we thought your readers would be interested in what we found. I hope they also appreciate us transiting all of the problem areas on the ICW at or near low tide so we could get accurate depth readings. We transited the Little Mud at 2 hours before low tide. Based on this the following depths would be at low tide. At Red “192″ depth of 5 feet. At Crooked Creek, depth of 4 1/2 feet. Approaching Green “193″ 4 feet, then 3 feet very near “193″. Just past Green “193″ 3 1/2 feet. At Red “194″ 3 1/2 feet and just past Red “194″ 3 feet. From Red “194″ to the turn onto the Altamaha is all about 4 feet. Fortunately there were no other fools except us transiting at this low of a tide. We hope this will help others STAY AWAY at anything less than 2 to 3 extra feet of tides. We will send more as we find it.
Chuck and Susan

We have transited this area with our Tayana 37, “Dream Seeker”, twice and had no problems. Of course it was at 1/2 tide rising through 1/2 tide falling. With the tidal range in GA you can carry 6′ but you have to know your onions as they say.
Kevin McPadden

We transited the Little Mud River on May 4, 2011 about 1/2 hour before low, northbound. The mud banks extending into the river were visible on both sides. While we didn’t risk going aground to sound each marker, we stayed in the middle between the visable mud sides. We draw four feet and were obviously dragging through the mud a couple of times based on how the steering responded. Otherwise we saw no less than 4.5 feet and generally 5 feet plus on the sounder.
Again, this was in mid-visible water, not necessasarily mid channel, although our course always honored the daymarks. The depths reported by the sounder might not have been accurate because of the soupy mud bottom.
Bob McLeran and Judy Young

I really appreciate all the info on the ICW. I will be making the trip to Tampa next week from Washington DC. Thanks again.
Safe Seas,
Captain Lisa Alexander

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The Little Mud River section of the AICW, particularly the section just north of the Waterway’s intersection with Altamaha Sound, is universally considered to be the WORST single stretch of the passage from Norfolk, VA to Miami, Florida

I always time Little Mud River to have some tide. North bound, the key is to stay on the range and then turn to split the range marker with G195 (pass in the middle). It gets very shallow near the green, on a windy day, takes the wind into account, for instance with Westerly winds, pass even further from the Green. North of the green, it remains shallow all the way to around the bend, with as little as 5′ in some spots. Take it slow and use your sounder to find the least shallow water.
Pascal aboard MY Charmer, 70′ 6+ draft

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The Little Mud River section of the ICW, particularly the section just north of the Waterway’s intersection with Altamaha Sound, is universally considered to be the WORST single stretch of the AICW

April 2011: passed thru with smaller boat than usual (just under 4′ draft) with only 2′ tide. No issue by G195, again splitting it with the range marker showed about 7′ mlw but found some 5′ mlw further up the creek around the bend. Bottom line don’t mess with Little Mud River, if you need more than 4′ make sure you have 1/2 tide!
Captain Pascal

Yep, I draw 3.8 We ran through with 2 feet still remaining before low tide. The start traveling northbound is the worst I was kicking up mud with a flock of seagulls following to grab whatever I kicked up. I would not recommend anyone doing this at low tide. About 2 miles into the river there is a feeder river on the port, that seemed to raise the water level.
Skipper Jeff

We went through the Little Mud River (near mm 656 – North of St. Simons I.) on April 9th. At mid tide we saw 7′ of water between R194 and 192. This would have been 4′ at low tide (it was a 6′ tide). It was only in one spot, but with a 5′ draft I would not have made it through at low tide. The rest of the river had at least 5′ at low tide.
Mitch & Carole Brodkin

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Again, Captain Kovach takes this trouble spot within less than two hours of high tide and offers some advice to his fellow cruisers.
Please note that the Little Mud River section of the AICW, is the WORST problem stretch of the entire run from Norfolk to Miami. Trying to interpolate the tidal tables, it looks as if we must subtract 6 to 7 feet from the soundings below to discover what depths would be at MLW. That means we could easily be looking at a mere 3 feet of water near markers #190 and #195.
TIME YOUR PASSAGE THROUGH LITTLE MUD RIVER FOR HIGH TIDE ONLY!!!!!!

10-29-10 Little Mud River (A Walk in the Park) Anchored in Duplin River night before, Great Anchorage
Short Distance to Little Mud River. High Tide was 1200 Noon. Arrive Little Mud River 1-1/2 Hours before HIGH TIDE.
Marker R190 10 Ft,
Marker G195 10 Ft.
Exit Mud River @ 1247 PM.
Draft Five Ft we had five under the keel Minimum all the way. Good Run.
Instead of folks posting horror stories they need to take life easy and do these areas of concern two hours before high tide.
Captains Bob and Helen Kovach aboard M/Y ALLEZ

We just passed the Little Mud River. We hit it at exactly low tide. Uh oh. We made it through OK however. The minimum depth I saw was 6.5 feet near marker 194. We met a tug going north. He said that he didn’t have a depth sounder, but that he draws 8 feet and he made it through fine, also at low tide. Go figure.
Captains Dick and Libby Mills

Good evening all, went through today 11/2/10 at 2:00 PM local, just about low tide & only saw 6.9 ft, just stay in the MIDDLE & you will be fine! Winds today were between twenty to thirty & did not seem to affect the depths.
Captains Mike & Barbara aboard M/V Elan
2011/03/09
We did basically the same thing that Captains Bob and Helen did, anchoring in Duplin river the night before passage through the Little Mud River section. We hit it at about an hour before high tide and had a trouble free passage. (s/v MarLyn, S2 30ft, 5ft draft)
Skipper Mark

Transited Little Mud River 3/27/11 at half tide. 8-9 ft through mid channel.
Skipper Stephen

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With a tidal range in this area of almost 8 feet, using Capt. Poovey’s observations, MLW would be less than 3 feet at green marker #195, confirming earlier reports of depths at or near three feet at low tide through this stretch.

Subject: Little Mud River
Welcome to Georgia where the people are nice and the water on the ICW is shallow!
Traveled through this area heading south Tuesday, Oct. 26. Noted lower panel (Red Panel/White Stripe) on range marker was missing adjacent to channel marker Green “185.”
Also noted that channel marker Red “188″ was missing. As to depths these observations were made starting at 11:39 AM at marker Red “190″ and ending at 12:02 AM at Green “195.” (35 to 55 minutes past high tide), mid channel.
Red “190″- 19.5 ft.
100 yards south of Red “195″- 13.6 ft.
Red “192″- 15.2 ft.
Halfway between Red “192″ and Green “193″- 13.0 ft.
Green “193″- 12.0 ft.
Red “194″- 12.0 ft.
Halfway between Red “194″ and Green “195″- 11.3 ft.
200 yds. north of Green “195″- 10.7 ft.
Green “195″- 13.9 ft.

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