If MY Charmer drawing 6 1/4 feet can get through this area, we all can!
I went thru the Dawhoo river near high tide and it looks like shoaling on the northern end has not gotten worst. On the ICW line, the shallowest spots were 8′ MLW in the bend between R116 and R112 and a number of 7 1/2’s MLW between G111 and R110, again on the magenta line.
Captain Pascal aboard MY Charmer, 70′ Johnson, 6 1/4 draft
Others have experienced uncomfortable evenings in Whiteside Creek due to current and wind, so I am not surprised at the report that follows.
This stream pierces the western shores of the AICW north of Charleston, and northeast of marker #96
Submitted on 2010/05/24 at 11:06am
We anchored here on 11/22/09. One sailboat was already anchored in the prime spot so we went around the 1st bend and attempted to anchor. After two unsuccessful attempts to get the Danforth to set, we moved back to the first leg of the creek and anchored just up stream of the other sailboat. Shortly afterward another sailboat anchored just off the other boat’s stern.
It was raining and the wind was 15 gusting to 20 knots. This creek is totally exposed with nothing but marsh grass all around. After two failed anchor sets, my anxiety level about the anchorage was maxed out. It was getting dark so we were stuck with this place. One of those sleepless night anchorages.
Captain Dick Litchfield
Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To the Location of Whiteside Creek
Cowen Creek cuts the eastern banks of the Beaufort River, south of Beaufort. What appears on the chart as an ideal anchorage may not always be the case, as noted below by Captain Litchfield.
Submitted on 2010/05/24 at 11:29am
We attempted to anchor here on 4/24/10. The evening’s predicted wind direction and strength nixed all possible anchorages except one in Cowen Creek. We ran some distance up the creek and tried anchoring in 10′ of water in the lee of some trees on shore. Our Rocna anchor set quickly, but failed to hold in the `fluff’ mud bottom. After several attempts to find good holding, we abandoned the anchorage and headed for Port Royal Landing about 8 miles away.
Other spots in the creek may work better in better weather conditions. However, distance in and out along with our experience puts Cowen Creek on our `Not Here’ list.
Captain Dick Litchfield
Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To the Location of Cowen Creek
Battery Creek cuts off the AICW’s passage along the Beaufort River, south of Beaufort, NC. You will drop the hook abeam of the Port Royal waterfront, which is currently being redeveloped from a commercial port to a tourist destination. One really good seafood restaurant is within dinghy range. Use your binoculars, look along the upstream portion of the waterfront, and you should spot the place. Happy dining!
Oh yes, and a word to the wise. Northbound AICW skippers sometimes mistakenly enter Battery Creek, thinking they are still on the Waterway. That’s easy to understand as the entrance into Battery Creek is far better marked that the AICW at this point. Study your chart and/or your GPS chartplotter carefully to avoid this error.
We arrived on 11/29/09 at near the top of the tide and anchored just past the shrimp boat docks and near three sailboats on moorings. We anchored in 18′ of water with about 10 kts of breeze. The anchorage is exposed to south and west winds. Tidal range overnight was eight feet. Just after dark we had 20′ of water beneath the boat and when I got up at around 0200, we only had 12′. Holding was good and despite the aggressive tidal switches, the anchor held firm. Not much local traffic while we were there.
The evening passed quietly but it gave way to a `Beirut Breakfast’ at daybreak. All heck broke loose as we were eating. Seems the marines at Paris Island were on the small arms firing range and it reminded me of the middle east fighting you hear on the TV.
Otherwise a nice spot.
Dick Litchfield
Click Here To View the Cruisers’ Net’s South Carolina Directory Listing For Battery Creek Anchorage
Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To the Location of Battery Point Anchorage
As witnessed by Captain Litchfield and many, many others, Port Royal Marina (A SALTY SOUTHEAST CRUISERS’ NET SPONSOR) continues to earn its reputation as a first-class marina.
Submitted on 2010/05/22 at 6:22pm
We contacted Port Royal Marina and made arrangements to tie up to the outside dock as we were arriving after the marina closed for the day. We managed a easy unassisted tie up despite the wind and current. It’s amazing how you can do that when there is no one around to watch you mess up.
With the wind blowing straight up the river, the outside dock proved to be a less than desirable location, but we were in for the night with electricity, water and a dock that wasn’t going anywhere.
We found several of our cruising friends there the next day so we decided to take advantage of the marina’s 3 for 2 deal (pay for 2 nights, get 3rd free). The staff and facilities were great. We used the marina’s courtesy car, drove to downtown Beaufort for lunch and some groceries. A great place to stop.
Captain Dick Litchfield
Click Here To View the Cruisers’ Net’s South Carolina Marina Directory Listing For Port Royal Marina
If you’re thinking “snobbish yacht club”, forget it when you stop at Myrtle Beach Yacht Club. It’s a very friendly, casual marina, complete with herb garden for you gourmets. Friendly staff and friendly slip holders make MBYC a very pleasant stop. And, these good folks are a SALTY SOUTHEAST CRUISERS’ NET SPONSOR!
Submitted on 2010/05/22 at 5:42pm
As we are departing Myrtle Beach we hear chatter on the VHF regarding the number of boats in the Calabash Creek anchorage. This was to be our destination but it was already crowded so we opted to stay at the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club.
The tide was low and water depths into the harbor basin were very skinny. Darn near heart stopping at one point. Even at the dock we were very close to sitting on the bottom (our draft 4.5’³). We were helpfully refueled and docked by the staff.
We were both a little tired so instead of fixing dinner, we decided to go to the Officer’s Club Restaurant. We were pleasently surprised. The atmosphere and food were great. We both had excellent meals. We had crab stuffed mushrooms, steak, and shrimp scampi,. We even decided to have desert and enjoyed a monster `Brownie Tower’ with coffee. After that fabulous meal we walked about the facility a bit. This place really surprised us. A great place to stop.
Captain Dick Litchfield
We haven’t received many comments about Thoroughfare Creek, which lies west of the Waccamaw River/ICW flashing daybeacon #73, so it’s good to have these observations from Captain Litchfield. This creek makes a simply wonderful overnight stop, particularly if you track you way upstream to the point where high, sandy cliffs march down to the starboard side shores.
Submitted on 2010/05/22 at 5:50pm
We decided to stop short of our goal and anchor in Thoroughfare Creek to take advantage of the trees that provided some wind protection. We shared the anchorage with one other sailboat. We dropped the hook and immediately found out why its called `Thoroughfare’. There was lots of local traffic evidently running between the Waccamaw River and the Great Pee Dee River plus the usual local fishermen, skiers and jet skis. Thankfully, the wind and traffic died a little after sundown and we had a quiet evening. It’s a beautiful anchorage especially in when you are fogged in at daybreak.
Captain Dick Litchfield
Tom Point Creek anchorages are among the best south of Charleston, as a number of you have commented.
Submitted on 2010/05/22 at 6:13pm
We pulled into Tom Point Creek on 4/27/10. It has been a blustery day and we had to run 2+ miles upstream before we found a spot with trees to block the gusting wind. We dropped the hook and were joined shortly by two other boats, one upstream and one down stream. Holding was good, and we spent a quiet evening. Not much local traffic.
Captain Dick Litchfield
This is an anchorage we haven’t heard a lot about, but from Captain Arnold’s description, it seems well worth exploring. The May River departs the AICW to the northwest at statute mile 560, just north of Hilton Head.
Can’t tell you about how nice a mooring is at Bluffton some 5 miles up the May River. Well protected from all winds and a good 10ft of water. The town is just great – Wednesday being Farmers Market day and also a first class thrift store run by a local church. Big stores like Walmart and Publix are 6 miles away – you can get a taxi or often find a friendly native will give you a lift. Free public dinghy dock.
Where exactly did you anchor? My daughter will be attending USCB this fall and we are looking for a good anchorage in the area.
Captain Tracy aboard Sea Huddle
Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To the Location of Bluffton, SC
We’re considering stopping at Bluffton on our way back to Savannah from Beaufort in a couple of weeks. Any updates/additional information on this anchorage? I’m assuming the public dinghy dock mentioned is the Calhoun Street Dock. Planning to give it a try.
Always a popular stop in a narrow, but well protected span of water behind a small island just south of the Hwy. 17 bridge, just a stone’s throw from Charleston and the Ashley River.
Behind the island in the Wappoo Creek is about the best [anchorage near Charleston] – and you can dinghy to the Charleston Crab House restaurant and walk a half mile to a Piggly Wiggly and a Subway and a liquor store – though not necessarily in that order. You can dock temporarily at the City Marina for $5 an hour but the overnight transient rate is outrageous unless you are of mega-yacht status.
Captain Arnold
Tom Point Creek cuts the western shores of North Edisto River, well south, southwest of flashing daybeacon #102
The most delightful creek is Tom Point Creek. Keep going up it for at least 2 miles and you’ll have great protection from trees, deep water and perfect natural silence. I was visited there by a large loggerhead turtle and several friendly dolphins.
Captain Arnold
High praise from Captain Arnold for one SC’s most popular stops. Don’t overlook a stop at the Downtown Beaufort Marina. Not only is this an excellent facility, but they are a SALTY SOUTHEAST CRUISERS’ NET SPONSOR
Everybody loves Beaufort. There’s a free city dock all day but you must leave by midnight and maybe come back next morning if you wish. Good mooring in Factory Creek and a free dinghy dock within walking distance of two grocery stores, a boat parts store and a great hardware store. Blackstones Cafe in Beaufort offers the best breakfast, Southern Sweets the best ice cream and there are two great secondhand book stores to peruse.
Captain Arnold
Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To the Location of Beaufort, SC
Captain Arnold offers suggestions on tying up free of charge on Daufuskie. The AICW runs past this isle, south of Calibogue Sound and Hilton Head Island, as the Waterway scampers south towards the Savannah River.
Several drop-by free docks on Daufuskie Island. First, at Mama’s Marshside restaurant – buy a meal there and they’ll let you stay overnight at the dock FOC. Second, just a little further north is a small failed marina where you can dock as long as you wish and nobody will question it. Walk about a half mile and you’ll come to Freeport Landing (Freeport Marina) with a great restaurant and ships store – very nice people rushing around on golf carts.
Captain Arnold
Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To the Location of Daufuskie Island
Good words about a GREAT marina, and Harbourgate is a SALTY SOUTHEAST CRUISERS’ NET SPONSOR!
A great marina just north of the swing Bridge has lowered their advertised price from $1.75 to $1.50. Walk to four different restaurants. Provisioning can be arranged too. Pool, hot tub.
From the AGLCA Mail List
This cruise of the upper Waccamaw (all the way to the Conway, SC waterfront) is OFF the AICW, and the channel, while passable, is not as reliable as the Waterway. There is one fixed bridge to worry with, but unfortunately, we have never found a published vertical clearance for this span. I have estimated it to be about 35 feet, but please understand, that is just an estimate. At Conway, cruisers will discover a city marina in a delightful setting, surrounded by a beautiful park, and with some transient dockage available. There are several restaurants within walking distance.
I would like to go up river from the Waccamaw/ICW to Conway. I note that the charts indicate a good amount of water depth. I have a Carver 39MY which is 40’7″ long and about 18ft high. Do you know if it would be practical to take this vessel as far as Conway and overnight there? Any help or advice would be welcome.
Captain David Kelly
Larry,
I have never been all the way to Conway on the Waccamaw but I have a friend who did it years ago in a 27 footer and said it was fine. Another friend tells me that there are some fairly large boats docked in a marina near downtown but he is not sure if there are any bridge or draft restrictions for a boat like the 39MY. I have always wanted to make that run but it has never worked out.
Captain Bobby Gregory, Intracoastal Yacht Sales
David,
According to the dockmaster at the Conway City Marina, you will have no difficulty with your 18ft. clearance.
Larry
The anchorage reviewed by Captain Bill below lies off Little River Inlet, NOT off the AICW. You must actually run a goodly portion of the inlet passage, from the AICW out towards the briny blue, before turning off the marked track, and ducking behind Bird Island. Click the link below to see a Chart View image of this anchor down spot.
We have not hitherto listed this anchorage in our “South Carolina Anchorage Directory” as we have always suspected changeable depths here. However, Captain Bill’s observations below synch with the soundings I took here several years ago, so maybe the bottom strata is more stable than I thought. So, look for an entry in our Anchorage Directory soon for these waters.
Close by ‘“ about 2 miles ‘“ there is an excellent anchorage behind marker #8 in the Little River [Inlet] channel, just behind Bird Island. This is a well known secret to all the locals. A creek comes off the main channel just before you get to the jetties and runs NE. It is amazingly deep and affords a wide swing scope.
Open the hatches, catch the breeze and listen to the breakers on the other side of Bird Island all night!
Captain Bill Norris
aboard Nobody You Know
Within the protected shores of Coquina Harbor, which cuts into the northern banks of the Waterway opposite unlighted daybeacon #13, Lightkeepers Marina is a popular stop for cruisers.
Great place to stay’“very friendly staff, easy docking and spotless showers!
S/V Moondance
Georgetown Landing Marina has a long, welcoming transient/fuel dock that makes easy handling of the occasional opposing wind and river currents that can occur. Because of the expanse of open dockage, Georgetown Landing makes a great rendezvous spot for groups flotillas.
Great place to stay. The dock staff were very friendly and helpful (including Bella the yellow lab pup!) The bathrooms were very clean. It was an easy walk into town. We were inside the long face dock and had no problems in strong winds from both the south and north. Being at a sportfishing marina wasn’t a bad deal’“someone didn’t want their king mackerel catch and gave it to us!!
S/V Moondance
Click Here To View the Cruisers’ Net’s South Carolina Marina Directory Listing For
I honest don’t think any pleasure craft facility has garnered more praise here on the Cruisers’ Net than Osprey Marina. This wonderful marina is accessed by way of a long canal, which cuts off from the AICW, a short hop south of the decrepit Socastee swing bridge. And, of course, Osprey is a SALTY SOUTHEAST CRUISERS’ NET SPONSOR!
The posting below comes from Captain Ted Jones, former editor and co-owner of the late, great “Coastal Cruising” magazine. Captain Ted has been kind enough to exclusively share his cruising log with the Salty Southeast Cruisers’ Net during his still underway sojourn to points south!
1230: We departed Georgetown alongside a pretty green Canadian sloop with which we kept pace all day.
1700: We were looking for a spot to anchor as we were approaching the narrow canal through Myrtle Beach where there would be no place to anchor. We checked one out behind an island, but were skeptical of continuing to be fly bait. We pulled alongside the Canadian who told us they were headed for Osprey Marina where the rate was a buck a foot. We said we would tag along and see if they had room for two.
1730: Osprey Marina turned out to be a pleasant surprise and the find of the Century. One enters a narrow cut on the east side of the ICW. After a hundred yards or so, the cut opens into a large basin which has half-a-dozen docks, each with 30 or 40 slips. They put us on the fuel dock so we could pump the holding tank and while there we topped off with fuel.
The dockmaster walked me to our slip so I could see if it was okay and how to get into it, then we motored around to B-dock, slip 6 and tied up for the night. Osprey Marina is modern, clean, and has all the amenities. Nearby is an Italian restaurant which will pick you up or deliver your meal. We called and had an excellent pizza which was delivered earlier than expected. We ate half of it and have the other half for later. Osprey Marina gets our vote as one of the best deals around, but don’t blink as you pass the canal.
(All day we had seen signs with the word Osprey, but the rest of the lettering is too small to read. We didn’t know what they represented, perhaps real estate sales.)
0915: We bid farewell to Osprey Marina vowing to return. It’s biggest attraction to us, aside from being a great spot, is that it lets us avoid Barefoot Landing which we don’t care for partly because it has the worst, overpriced ice cream either of us has ever tasted. What a contrast: I forgot to mention in yesterday’s log that all overnight boats are given a care package which contains, among other things, a whole package of Helluvagood Cheese and two kinds of crackers to go with it, a couple of mints, a magazine, two drink holders, and a whistle with float plus information about the marina, the marina grill menu (breakfast and lunch), etc.
Ted Jones
Click Here To View the Cruisers’ Net’s South Carolina Marina Directory Listing For Osprey Marina
When I read the message below from Captains Todd and Brenda Lanning, it occurred to me that I misspoke last week when, in an SSECN Alert, I stated that the only AICW problem stretch left in the two Carolinas was found at the intersection of northern Alligator River/AICW and Albemarle Sound (in North Carolina). As Todd and Brenda learned, depths along the southern portion of Fields Cut (just a short hop north of this passage’s intersection with the Savannah River), can still run much too shallow at low tide.
So, you may be asking, why hasn’t this section of the Waterway enjoyed the “stimulus” dredging that has so enhanced the AICW along the rest of it’s run through both Carolinas. I asked the Army Corps of Engineers that very question not too long ago, and was told that their survey missed the shoaling on southern Fields Cut.
Dredging was performed, however, on northern Fields Cut, where this passage leaves the Wright River. If you follow the links below, you will see we have separate “AICW Problems” listings for both these waters.
So, do take care when cruising from Savannah River through the southern 1/3 of Fields Cut, and time your passage for mid to high tide if possible. Follow the links below for more specific advice.
Greetings again,
We just transited Fields Cut at low tide and registered water less than 4.5 feet. Fields Cut is located just after you cross the Savannah River going north. The shallow area is between the range marker at the south end of the cut and the cement pilings on the east shore, roughly 100 yards of shallow water.
Be careful out there!
Todd & Brenda Lanning
Life’s2Short
1985 40′ Oceania Trawler
Click Here To View the Cruisers’ Net’s “AICW Problem Section” Listing For Southern Fields Cut
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