Little Mud River is almost universally acknowledged to be the worst section of the entire AICW run from Norfolk, VA to Miami, FL. This “AICW Problem Stretch” lies some 21 statute miles north of Brunswick, Georgia. Despite recent reports of improving depths, like Captain Poovey’s, we still recommend navigating this stretch at mid to high tide only.
We suspect Captain Poovey may have had the good luck to navigate the AICW/Little Mud River stretch on an unusually high tide. At least, that’s our best guess, and the tides in little Mud River have a 7+ foot range even under normal conditions.

Traveled through this area today [10/9/13] from the North at 11:50 AM which was 1/2 hour before high tide. I was very surprised to observe no depths of less than 13.6 feet. (Green “193”). Usually, slightly North of Green “195” has been the worst. But today it was 15.4 feet. I steered center channel the whole way.
I have made this passage 13 times and the depth readings today were the highest I ever observed. Any ideas?
Bob Poovey m/v Threadbare

I went through Little Mud River southbound today at MLW +3.7′ (Wolf Island) and saw pretty constant 10.5-11.0 depths, which would indicate a fairly constant 7′. That is until I got to the intersection with Altamaha Sound. Just north of G195, the depth dropped severely to 8′, and then midway between G195 and the southernmost range marker, I saw 7.5′, which would indicate about 4′ of depth at MLW. I agree that you should wait until mid-tide or better to pass through here. There can be as much as 9′ of tide here, so it won’t take long if you arrive at low tide.
Bill Raynor

Click Here To View the Cruisers’ Net’s “AICW Problem Stretches” Listing For Little Mud River

Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To This AICW Problem Stretch