Walburg Creek Anchorage
Walburg Creek Anchorage
Statute Mile: 619
Lat/Lon: near 31 40.060 North/081 09.714 West
Location: on the wide waters of Walburg Creek, west of St. Catherines Island, just north of the charted sharp turn to the west
Minimum Depth: 12-feet, but the deeper northern entrance requires bypassing several unmarked shoals, while the creek’s southern entrance from the Waterway is shallow
Swing Room: sufficient room for vessels as large as 50 feet
Foul Weather Shelter: Very Good for all but northern and northeasterly winds
Rating: 
Click on Chartlet Below to Open a Chart View Window,
Centered on the Location of This Anchorage:
Comments from Cruisers (11)
We were just here this morning. Entered and excited from st cats sound. Tons of water, easy in and out. Just give the green can a wide berth. It was a great anchorage with sandy mud at about 20 feet deep. Only complaint was there were 5+other boats overnight and over 50 boats on the nearby beach during the day.
Walburg Creek is a nice place to anchor between Brunswick and Thunderbolt. We found good holding and plenty of swing room. The only caveat is that it can be a rough ride in heavy wind when the tide and wind are at odds with each other.
Sharon and Ken Vogel
M/V Docker’s Inn
Claiborne,
Sanctuary and crew spent the night at Walberg Creek on 4/23/2013. We entered from the south. A very helpful find was that the south entrance, although an unmarked channel, does have a dredged channel that carries better than 12′. Northbound, draw a rhumb line from Red ICW marker “124A” to the 19′ sounding inside the charted shoal path at the mouth of the south entrance of Walberg Creek. That line will carry across a shoal sounding of 3.9′. It re-joins the dashed magenta line of the alternate ICW at that 19′ sounding. We followed that path and found 12′ or better on that rhumb line.
The anchorage is excellent. Choose a place that protects you from prevailing winds. Some anchorage areas are shallow (7′ – 9′ at low tide), and some are deep (30′ at high tide). But, the creek is wide, there is little local boating traffic, Verizon WWAN is reliable, if slow, and there is plenty of swing room for 150′ of chain. The place is quiet, beautiful and remote. Magnificent!
Jim
Peg and Jim Healy aboard Sanctuary
Spent night of 4/16/13. Chicken to enter from the south and entered from 14′ depth across the middle ground. Anchored at 16′ depth in calm weather. Loved this anchorage, gave it 4 stars.
s/v Skye
Dear Claiborne,
We departed Shelter Cove Marina, Broad Creek (MM 560)Hilton Head SC around 9am 12/28/11. The wind was really blowing so we decided to stay inside. It was sunny and pleasant making the days cruise very enjoyable. Around 4:30pm We crossed St Catherines Sound (MM 620) southbound into Walburg Creek. We dropped the hook about a mile down in 20 feet of water. In minutes I was sitting on the foredeck of our Silverton 37 with a strong cold drink, smoking a cigar absorbing the last minutes of a huge golden sunset.
After a quiet night we were underway and heading out St Catherines Sound inlet into the Atlantic southbound for St Simons Inlet. Conditions were perfect as the wind was light with waves 1 ft.
This anchorage is perfectly located in both distance from Hilton Head and St Simons Island and access to the Atlantic.
Walburg Creek is a magic place!
Best,
Kurt Kuykendall
M/V Jus Relaxin
Silverton 37 Conv
We anchored there late Nov. 2008 and liked it so well that we dropped anchor again on the way north in May 2009, Both times we entered from the northern entrance.
We found it to be peaceful and uncrowded, plenty of swing room and good holding.
It was so quiet we could hear the dolphins breathing as they swam by.
We woulkd give this a 4 anchor rating
Ron & Audrey
Lucky Girl
We’ve anchored in Walburg Creek off of St Catherines Island. Nice little spot. I’d recommend it for solitude and holding. The island has a lot of history as does the other SC and GA barrier islands (Cumberland, Dafuskie, …) Do a Google search. Mostly abandoned, but still a little activity on the island.
Either the west entrance or north entrance is easily doable, although the west entry is more puckering wondering where that shallow spot is. We wondered hard, but never found it.
Jim Ague
Another of our favorite anchorages and….with a great “dog beach” as well – at least at mid to low tide! Go in about a mile for best water depth (Shallower=less rode) and enjoy the dinghy ride to the point by the ocean inlet. Beach reminds me of a movie set. Even those with the need for doggie duty should go experience it!
Captain Bobbie Blowers
Anchored there Memorial Day night. Lots of folks on the beach at the St. Catherine Sound side, but they were gone by 1800. Entered via the southern cut. Took a straight line from near the #124 marker to the south side of the island (north side of the entrance channel), then stayed about 150 feet off the island. Never saw less than about 7 feet, which means there is probably about 6 feet at low tide. Tide was up about a foot and flooding. We essentially stayed on the outside of all the channel curves the rest of the way around the island to the north anchorage, plenty of water. Several 35 ft and above boats were anchored there for the night. Lots of room at the Northern end, but would not want to be there with northerly blow. A side note. We went out St. Chatherines Sound the next morning, near low tide. The charted depths are generous. The channel has filled in particularly at the far eastern end. 50’+ sail bounced near us on the way out. We saw depths of 7 to 8 feet. Tide was near low and there was an incoming 2 to 3 ft swell. Not a good inlet in the best of weather! Would not run that inlet again unless tide was making and at least half way up.
Malcolm Farrel
We’ve been anchored in beautiful Walburg Creek, GA the last few days, enjoying a wonderful full Thanksgiving dinner; one of those times we really appreciate our energy inefficient galley with full sized kitchen appliances. Gorgeous crisp fall weather enabled fun dinghy exploration. Took the outside route here from Thunderbolt via Wassaw and St. Catherine’s Sounds. This a quick and pretty passage we tried for the first time in the spring on the way up. Highly recommended as a change of pace, the islands are very pretty too.
George and Ann
We also anchored in Walburg Creek in the Spring of 08. What a beautifulplace. Your post brought back a vivid memory of beautiful marshland and fast moving currents. Just set the hook and watch your speed over water
register about 3kts.
Wayne
Dear Claiborne,
Your concerns notwithstanding, we ran outside from Savannah and went into St. Catherines inlet with the intention of spending the night anchored in Walburg Creek, which we did. My chart is dated 2004, and I just couldn’t believe that the charted depths could have shoaled to where we could not get in with 5′ draft in 4 years.
The only place where the buoyage is different from what my chart shows is the location of the FlR “2” buoy at the entrance to the channel over the bar. The buoy has been moved to the (approximate) location shown by my waypoint on the StCathEnt.jpg file. My arriving track shows how I adjusted to the edge of the shoal. I carried 12′ over the bar at dead low tide.
In addition, the Middle Ground shoal off the north end of Walburg Creek has grown out to the east, and the shoal off the north end of St Catherines island has grown — both as shown in Walburg.jpg. We didn’t hit bottom on our arriving track, but we did see some 7′ depths, again at low-ish tide.
We also came in through Ponce de Leon Inlet and by reading the markers, the water, and watching other boats we had no problems.
Our best for the holidays, and thank you for your work with the sitge and guides.
Michael Porter
M/V Barbara