GL: Upper Waccamaw to Conway, SC

[Jim Ague]

The charts only cover the first 5 miles of the 15 mile trip up the Waccamaw 
River from the ICW near Bucksport to Conway, SC. However the chart does 
mention 6 feet of water and daymarkers for the remaining 10 miles, that is, 
in 1972. Claiborne Young's book about coastal cruising in Georgia and South 
Carolina (small case cause I don't have the real name in front of me) 
describes the trip well.

Armed with his book, 12 satellite photos from 7500 feet using Googol Earth 
and a few days to kill, we decided to try it, at low tide (11AM to 2PM, Oct 
11, 2006).

Piece of cake! With common sense (stay in the middle, stay away from snags 
and lily pads, ...), we never saw less than 8.5 feet of water and most of 
the time the water was deep (15' or more). The daymarkers, book, and 
satellite photos helped confirm which fork to take.

The Conway City Marina wasn't too welcoming over the phone: provided no 
local knowledge, except the Marina might have 4 feet of water(!?); stated 
they were a private marina, but would let me tie up overnight at $1/ft 
instead of $10 fixed per Y's book.

So we bypassed the marina canal, stayed on the Waccamaw for another half 
mile, did a U-turn in the anchorable basin at its navigable end, and tied up 
at one of two 40' floating docks in 8.5 feet of water. A quick search of the 
nearest lamppost uncovered 15 amps of power.

Great town for access via walking. If you like the Waccamaw River as you see 
it along the ICW and have a couple of extra days going north or south, do 
it. If anyone is interested, I can provide my 12 Google Earth JPG files 
and/or the track file from Nobeltec VNS 6.5.

-- Jim
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Jim & Rita Ague
M/V Derreen, Monk 36
lying Conway, SC
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