Captains Bob and Helen continue their detailed reports from their southward voyage through Georgia.
As many of you already know, the Jekyll Creek section of the AICW, south of St. Simons Sound, is one of the worst “AICW Problem Stretches” on the entire run from Norfolk, VA to Miami, FL.
Note that Captains Bob and Helen’s reading below were taken only a hour before high tide. With a tidal range of approximately 8 feet, that means we must subtract at least 7 feet from the soundings below to discover what depths would be at MLW. Notice that means there would be 1 FOOT of water near marker #18 at low tide!!!!!!!!
Clearly, cruisers MUST plan to traverse this section of the AICW as near to high water as possible!

Larry, we hit Jekyll Creek about 1 hr 15 min before high tide.
Jekyll Creek, High Tide 1503. Entered Creek at 1345 Draft 5 ft
R8 = 18.6 ft,
G9=18.6 ft,
R10 = 13ft,
G..11=13 ft,
G13=13ft,
g17=13ft,
R18=8ft,
G19=13ft
R20=13ft (Time 14:04),
R20A=11.5 ft,
R24=16 ft,
Exit Creek 1415
Good Run down the middle of the marks. You need to play the tides Mid-to High
Captains Bob and Helen aboard M/Y ALLEZ

And, Captain Pascal chips in with the notes below. Though he doesn’t say it, I deeply suspect his readings were taken near high tide as well.

I came thru Jekyl on the Oct 30th (70′ MY, 6+ draft) and noted the following:
10’MLW all the way from northern creek entrance to G13
At G13, I aimed straight for R16 until about 200′ north of being abeam of the range marker, then turned to port to intercept the range. on this path, the shallowest water i found was about 7 to 8′ MLW just before the range and then on the range, all the way to G19 which I passed about 100′ away.
The key here, like many other places is to go slow and feel your way thru for best water as the channel is very narrow. it’s easy to stray off just 30′ and find very shallow water.
Pascal

G19 on range found 2.7′ corrected for MLLW. [Transit Jekyll Creek] Definitely [at] 1/2 [tide] or better.
Captain Ed Potter

11/3/10 9:30 am local, low tide today is at 12:47pm
PASSED GREEN #19 mid channel & saw 8.5 ft the rest of the cut the readings were around 11 ti 12t.
Mike & Barbara aboard M/V Elan

Well,clearly different cruisers are finding very different depths in the AICW/Jekyll Creek. See Captain Rogers note below.
I suspect these soundings differ because some are lucky enough to find the best water, while others are encountering shallows “in the AICW channel.” Jekyll Creek is still, in our collective opinion, the #2 problem stretch on the entire run from Norfolk to Miami (with Little Mud River as the #1 problem)

We came through Jekyll yesterday(11/3/2010) an hour before low and saw no less then 8 feet. I called Jekyll Island Marina and talked with them before transitting because of what I had read. They said they had seen no problems and depths were good and just stay in the channel. They also said going through at low was a good idea because you can definitely see where the channel is. I used the range marks and they were right on.
Richard Rodgers

Click Here To View the “AICW Problems” Entry For Jekyll Creek