The waterway south of McClellanville all the way to the Ben Sawyer Bridge has been shoaling for years and Cruisers Net still recommends mid to high tide for passage through this section. Our thanks to Tom Hale for this report posted on AGLCA’s Forum. See Bill Reynolds for another report from October 2018.

Shallow waters ICW Markers 40-35 near McClellanville
The section of the ICW called the “South of McClellanville” section is one of the longest and shallowest trouble spots on the ICW. While there are some places with 8-10 feet of water, there are also stretches with less than 5 feet of water at MLLW. If you drift out of the “channel” you will find water less than 3 feet. So, what defines the channel? How do you find it?

We transited this section for the eleventh time on March 31, 2019. We are using 4 navigation products. We have NOAA charts on Coastal Explorer as our primary navigation system, a Navionics chart chip in our chart plotter, and two iPad navigation apps, Navionics and Aqua Map. The NOAA chart 11518 is of almost no help through here: it lacks any depths and does not indicate the edge of the channel. It can’t: the channel has shifted since last NOAA surveys. You will however, have almost seven feet of tide here, so if you draw more than 4.5 feet you should wait for a rising tide before entering this piece of water. This stretch will require that you have a bit of tidal help.

For more details and screen shots of the navigation apps please follow this link. https://www.sailfeed.com/2019/04/comparing-aqua-map-master-navionics-sonar-charts-navigating-icw-charleston-mccellanville-sc/
Tom Hale
Tadhana
Helmsman 38

Click Here To View the Cruisers Net’s AICW Problem Stretches Listing For South of McClellanville

Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To The Northern Portion of This AICW Problem Stretch