Stopped here for lunch on 1/16/09 great facilities, friendly people and a great hamburger. Will stop again!
Sea Huddle
Click Here For The Cruisers’ Net’s South Carolina Marina Directory Listing For Osprey Marina
While I would be hesitant taking this cruise in a vessel larger than 45 feet, we love abandoning the AICW near St. M. 375, and cruising up the upper Waccamaw River to Conway, SC. This passage has a real backwater feeling to it.
Sailors beware – there is one fixed span with an unpublished vertical clearance, but I’ve always estimated it to be only 30 to 35 feet or so.
The crew of Sea Huddle does not mention it, but there are several good shoreside restaurants within walking distance of the Conway City Marina!
Took the trip up and down the Waccamaw to Conway this past weekend. If coming south on ICW take shortcut and turn right just before Green 27 and then bear left, it will bring you out at Red 2, Depth entering was 9.8 and got deeper quickly. the shallowest I saw all the way up was 9.5 in a few spots. The deeper depths appear to favor the left going up and right coming down. Conway is a nice spot with a great park to walk your animals if needed, and close to town. The dockhands were not very helpful, two college guys, I guess it is because it is owned by the City Parks. Fuel, pump out, elec, showers, no water this time apparently the lines burst from the freezing weather. Due to no wake zones, it will take you aywhere from an 1 1/2 to 2 hours to get there.
Sea Huddle
Click Here For The Cruisers’ Net’s South Carolina Marina Directory Listing For Conway City Marina
St. Johns Yacht Harbor will be spied along the western shores of the Stono River (just south of Charleston, SC), a short hop south of the AICW’s westerly exodus from Wappoo Creek and Elliott Cut. These good people are a SALTY SOUTHEAST CRUISERS’ NET SPONSOR!
We stayed here on January 12 2010 on oue way south. It is a great place. Everyone is friendly and helpful. It is so late in the year that the store is closed, however they did offer to open it if we needed something. The laundry and bathrooms are first class, they look brand new and were spotless. You will need food on the boat as the restaurant is still under construction. They also have a pool, that needless to say was closed this time of year. One thing, the diesel pump is VERY SLOW. IT too me around half an hour to pump 220 gallons. However, the word is that this will be fixed in the near future.
The bottom line, if you are in the area you can’t go wrong with this place.
Dave Boxmeyer
It’s a long cruise up Broad Creek from the AICW’s passage through Calibogue Sound to Shelter Cove Marina, but there is no doubt this is a first class facility, with a very sheltered harbor. There is also on-site dining, and provisioning nearby!
The post below was copied from the AGLCA mail list!
If you are prepared to go as far afield as Hilton Head, we are currently in the process of laying up our boat for a little while in Shelter Cove Marina. It is incredibly well protected with good floating docks and helpful, experienced staff.
Jonah and Jo.
Jonah’s Whale
Endeavour 48
I agree whole heartedly. We have had three extended stays at Shelter Cove. It is one of the best marinas in a great location. We look forward to returning.
Don Moon
Moonstruck
Sabre 42
Click Here To View the South Carolina Cruisers’ Net Marina Directory Listing For Shelter Cove Marina
I have taken a good, long look at chart 11534, and the marker #2 Captain Jane refers to below lies on the intersection of the AICW and Calabash Creek, just south of the NC – SC state line. Take a gander at 11534, and also notice there is a SECOND marker #2, which marks the southernmost section of the Calabash Creek channel. I’ve always thought two #2’s in such close proximity was a prescription for confusion.
Anyway, the southern mouth of Calabash Creek has been shoaling for some time, so perhaps these shallows are now beginning to impinge on the Waterway. HAS ANYONE ELSE NOTED LESS THAT STELLAR DEPTHS AT THIS INTERSECTION? If so, or not, please share your observations by click on the “Comment on This Posting/Marina/Anchorage/Bridge” link below. Many thanks in advance
Subject: MM 342, Little River Inlet area
Cruising News: MM 342
At Little River Inlet, December 9, 2009, we found 5 feet near Red 2. It seemed to be a “lump”; we found deeper water a little bit to port. I think we were about 1/3 above low tide. We were on the red side of the channel.
S/V Lady Jane
Lightkeepers Village is one of the three facilities located on protected Coquina Harbor, near AICW marker #13. The other two are “Coquina Harbor Yacht Club” and Myrtle Beach Yacht Club (A SALTY SOUTHEAST CRUISERS’ NET SPONSOR!).
We have kept our boat at Lightkeepers Marina, Little River, SC many times. Coquina Harbor, it’s basically the North Myrtle Beach area. http://www.lightkeepersmarina.com/
Floating docks, quiet and secure with great rates, phone James the Dockmaster for their best rates. Phone 843 249 8660. Tell them the Aussies told you to call. We’re here at the moment on our boat and plan on staying until mid January, maybe longer.
Rod and Pauline
“Two by Two” Nova Scotia 47 Pilothouse Trawler
The overnight haven described below by Captain Andy is termed “Island Anchorage,” both in the Cruisers’ Net’s “South Carolina Anchorage Directory” and my “Cruising Guide to Coastal South Carolina and Georgia.” It consists of a small loop making off directly from the Waterway’s northwestern banks, and cutting behind a small island (hence, the name). This is a good anchorage, but to the south, Bull Creek and Thoroughfare Creek make for even better places to stop along the AICW/Waccamaw River.
Subject: Waccamaw River marker #29 anchorage
Cruising News: I’m pleased to report that the rustic anchorage at Waccamaw River #29 is still nice and unobstructed although there’s considerable development along the “green side” shoreline. EQUUS spent a pleasant night here on 12/12 in warm temperatures and drizzling rain with only one other boat. This is one of my favorite ICW anchorages and it looks like a place where a dinosaur might appear from the swamps at any moment! I always use a trip line here as there are snags on the bottom.
Captain Andy Denmark
s/v EQUUS
Like Captain Andy, I can remember with Hazzard Marine was one of the most forgettable “facilities” in the SC Low Country. My how times have changed, this time for the better. Hazzard Marine is now an excellent facility, but so its Harborwalk Marina (A SALTY SOUTHEAST CRUISERS’ NET SPONSOR), just a bit farther upstream.
Equus is on the hard in Georgetown at Hazard’s Marina & Boatyard with a shaft- cutless bearing- stuffing box problem that was about to sink us . Hazard’s is a first-class operation now. I remember it from years ago as only a rickety old pier with a bad fuel pumps. It is now small but five star for service and accomodations..
Best of the season to you and yours,
Andy Denmark
Click Here To View the South Carolina Cruisers’ Net Marina Directory Listing For Hazzard Marine
Captain Koerner’s remarks below are only the latest laudatory message here on the Cruisers’ Net concerning what a fine facility cruisers will find upon arriving at Grand Dunes Marina (A SALTY SOUTHEAST CRUISERS’ NET SPONSOR). Do yourself a BIG favor and include this facility in your cruise plan!
Very good experience. Dockhands really excellent and the staff is quite friendly. Even got a free bottle of wine when I registered! Courtesy van gave me a ride so I could do some grocery shopping.
HB Koerner
As a home owner here it is a great place to live. New docks are going in as I write this to accomodate catamarans, tri hulls and every other type of wide vessels. No need to tie up on the dock ends because of extra wide boats. Probably the best hurricane hole in North Carolina.
Cliff Kisby
Subject: The Marina at Grande Dunes
Cruising News: I am currently at this marina and left my boat here for a month while I had to return to work. This is a great place to be! The staff are excellent – friendly, helpful and attentive to taking care of the vessels in the marina. Docks are in excellent condition, security is great, facilities (laundry, showers, etc.) are well-done and clean. On site services such as restaurants and fitness facility are a bonus. And their rates are reasonable, given what I have paid elsewhere in my travels for less amenities. There\’s a grocery store, pharmacy, entertainment and even a hospital within walking distance. If you are stopping in the Myrtle Beach area, I highly recommend this location.
Lois
Click Here For The Cruisers’ Net’s South Carolina Marina Directory Listing For Marina at Grand Dunes
I agree with all of these folks. Osprey Marina was terrific in every way! At the marina’s suggestion, we checked out Scatori’s Restaurant. The restaurant provided us transportation to and from, the food and wine tasted delicious and the presentation was exceptional, and after dinner we even picked up a few groceries at Lowe’s. Talk about great hospitality!
Jan & Tracy Nelson
Click Here For The Cruisers’ Net’s South Carolina Marina Directory Listing For Osprey Marina
Really liked the welcome at Harbortown Marina. They had a special of $.85/foot in November, for up to two days, then $1.00/foot. Very protected. Nice restaurant on site. Not close to any shopping, though, and no courtesy car.
HB Koerner
Take Five
Harbour Town at Hilton Head Island made a comfortable stay (and good laundry stop) after a day of navigating through whiteouts.
Captain Jane Tigar
The adjacent downtown Beaufort historic/business district is thick with good restaurants, interesting shops and dreamlike historic homes. Take an extra day if possible to appreciate this wonderful coastal communit, who are also, by the way, a SALTY SOUTHEAST CRUISERS’ NET SPONSOR!
Spent 2 days there in September and found the marina to be very convenient to all of the downtown attractions. The restaurants were great but you will need to use the courtesy car if you need provisions or a drug store. The dockmaster was very friendly but was working alone and slammed late afternoon when the transients rolled in. No problems with the shorepower. We did have a pretty good blow on the 2nd day and it got a little bouncy even on the inside of the face dock until a 60′ Hatt tied up on the outside of us. I would definitely advise against the outside of the face dock for small cruisers.
M/V Line Item
Back in 2007and 2008, we received some seemingly definite reports of a foul bottom and shallower than expected depths on the upstream portion of Five Fathom Creek, northeast of marker #20. For that reason, we removed these waters from our South Carolina Anchorage Directory. Now, as you will read below, Captain Thomason has had a much different and better experience dropping the hook here.
Has anyone else tried to anchor on the upstream portion of Five Fathom Creek lately? If so, PLEASE tell us what you found. Either e-mail me at CruisingWriter@CruisersNet.net, or click on the “Comment on This Posting/Marina/Anchorage/Bridge” link below.
I don’t see Five Fathom Creek anchorage on the cruisers net list. We have anchored there (Upstream from the red 20 on Five Fathom Creek) several times, most recently on September 23. It’s fun to watch the shrimp fleet go by on Town Creek but no problem with wakes. As I recall, depth was about 10 feet MLW. Beautiful sunset!
Jean Thomason
Trawler DOVEKIE
On November 23rd, 2009 we anchored in same spot as `Dovekie’ (message above posted Sept.2009). No problems with depth – it was about 9 feet MLW (we draw 5′). We did not find a foul bottom – all clear on the anchor. Good holding for us even though we were swinging to the current. As with `Dovekie’ watching the shrimp boats go by is very nice, they are quiet with very little wake.
Beth Bauer, S/V Adagio
Well, we anchored there the night of September 21 through 22 so I guess we just missed you.
No problems and we did watch a shrimp boat come in.
Let me just register my own, personal opinion here. Whenever we are in Charleston (perhaps our favorite port of call anytime, anywhere) we always coil our lines at the City Marina.
We are on our way South and need to leave our trawler for a week at a secure location in or near Charleston? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Don Kilpatrick
MV My Dream
Last Christmas we left ours at the City marina “Mega dock” for 10 days with no problems. The marina is very nice and near town. The dock is huge and it can be a very long walk to shore if you are out near the end. We had our dog and made the walk about 4 times a day.
Steve Willett
Monk 36, Gumbo
I second the City Marina. I live in Charleston and keep my boat at the sister marina. The person to contact is McKenzie who is the delightful and lovely dock master. She knows the marina like the back of her hand. They have a shuttle that will take you to a limited number of places. I don’t have the marina number handy but you can get it at citymarina.com I think.
George
Metafora
Sabre 36
Whiteside Creek lies just off the South Carolina AICW, several miles north of the Waterway’s intersection with Charleston Harbor. The marshy shores do not give the best of protection in really heavy weather, as noted below, but otherwise, this is a good overnight haven.
We anchored here and also found the current a little challenging. There was a sailboat anchored in the 11′ sounding area so we went around the bend to the 13′ area. Two attempts to set our Danforth were unsuccessful. The wind, tide and rain didn’t help our efforts. We retreated to the area between the 38′ and 11′ soundings and were able to get a good anchor set. We too rode strangely with the wind/current situation. Northerly winds remained at 15+ with gusts so not much sleep that night. The Danforth held ok and was tough to unset. In all three sailboats rode out the evening here. In less windy conditions it would be a great spot to anchor.
D&D
s/v Ninkasi
Click Here To View the South Carolina Cruisers’ Net Anchorage Directory Listing For Whiteside Creek
Jericho Creek does not offer the roomiest anchorage of the many great overnight havens off the AICW/Waccamaw River. However, the really adventurous among us can cruise the creek all the way to the Pee Dee River. That is a really interesting journey, but it’s not for everyone, and certainly not for larger cruising craft.
We anchored here on the south side of the oxbow. The south side gave us better protection from northerly winds. As noted, not much swing room and two anchors might be advisable, but we passed the night on one. You need to watch the tide, shoaling and bar at the mouth. We had to bugout early AM to get across the bar safely. We noted 6.2′ as we crossed the bar.
Dick Litchfield
I passed through Jericho Creek between Pee Dee and Waccamaw Rivers about six months ago at low tide (three foot draft trawler). It was beautiful and adventurous, but I saw two large stumps just above the surface, center of the creek, in the winding part of the creek near Wacammaw River. I would not have seen these with one foot more water. I don’t know if they were transient or there all the time. Be careful in this area.
Russ McAden
Click Here To View the South Carolina Cruisers’ Net Anchorage Directory Listing For Jericho Creek
We love McClellanville. Wandering its old, sand covered streets is like taking a step back, some might say “far back,” in time. Leland Oil Company marina is certainly a bit on the minimalist side.
We stayed one night at Leland Oil Co on Oct. 26th, 2009. The dockmaster put us at the floating dock next to the shrimp boats. It is tricky at low tide with my Irwin 46 Ketch’s 6 ft. keel but did not run aground at mid tides in and out. We walked the nearby street but did not see any part of the town. The stop was part of a 332 mile uneventful 8 day trip from Dowry Creek Marina in Belhaven, NC to Charleston, SC. Our only problem the entire trip was fishermen with nets. They had them stretched almost entirely across the ICW at the Sunset Beach pontoon bridge (MM 337.9). We did catch one in our prop while waiting for the bridge to open,and drifted into the shallows and had to call SeaTow to get off the bottom and call a diver to get the net off the prop.
Charles and Jo Ann
S/V Osprey
I arrived a day ahead of the remnants of Hurricane Ida, along with 20 other boats. Sat through five days of rain. Marina staff were terrific. Ships store excellent. Showers. heads were kept clean in spite of the crowd. Just steps away from great restaurants, coffee shops, bookstores. You have to plan ahead when you leave, though, and most boats on the inside slips needed to be `warped around’ by had during slack tide so that they would be stern to the dock, bow out. Backing with or against the current is not an option. Marina staff are excellent at this job.
HB Koerner
The South Edisto River/Alligator Creek anchorage, described below, is a bit open. You can not actually cruise into the creek, due to shallow depths, but rather, cruisers should drop the off its mouth (in the river). On the other hand, if the weather cooperates, this can be a great place to spend an evening.
Dropped the hook off Alligator Creek on an ebbing tide, and glad I anchored off. There was no water in the creek at dead low tide. Watch your depth finder and guage how much water will be there at low tide before you drop the hook. Having said there, there is still a great deal room for boats that need 8 – 10 feet of water. Just don’t try the creek. Superb views, good mud bottom. My CQR held great in the currents. Just use the proper scope. Coming out the next morning, I decided to `eyeball’ Fields Cut before entering, and was very glad I did. Two tugboats entered the cut, one pulling a dredge, the other a quarter mile of pipe. There was a sailboat at anchor at the edge of the ICW, and he got many blasts from the horn of the lead tug. The anchorage designated in the illustration is very clear, and is a great spot.
HB Koerner
Stayed here the night of 5-3-10. We entered from the southern end at low tide lowest we saw was 5.5 ft/ Holding was good and had plenty of swing room for our 55′ fdmy. The dolphins kept us company in the evening and in the morning there was a bald eagle standing on the shoreline. We would anchor here again.
Captains Ron and Audrey aboard Lucky Girl
Click Here To View the South Carolina Cruisers’ Net Anchorage Directory Listing For Alligator Creek
Out of all the MANY wonderful anchorages off the AICW section of the Waccamaw River, I think Thoroughfare Creek may be my very favorite. Looks like Captain Koerner found this spot equally delightful.
Spent the day under power in a drizzling rain. This was my last chance to find an anchorage before nightfall. It was beautiful to me then, in the rain, and remains so in my memory. One sailing catamaran was there when I arrived, and a trawler arrived just after I set the hook. My Bruce anchor dragged, so I changed to a CQR. No problem. It was probably due to fluky conditions, though, as wind and current were at odds when I arrived. Didn’t get a good set to start with.
HB Koerner
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