Brunswick GA to Savannah GA

[Captankirk]

This is probably not new, but for those slow travelers, how do you make the trip going north between Brunswick and Savannah? It's about 70 statute miles as the crow flies, so I know it's quite a bit more on the ICW. Lot's of anchorages, but limited marinas, and the Admiral is not a "spend the night on the hook" kinda girl.

Suggestions welcome.

 

[psneeld]

About 50 miles from Kilkenny Marina (just south of Savannah) to Darien City Dock (just north of Brunswick).

Actually.... the ICW isn't all that much more by the time you do inlets and go offshore the shoals.

 

[Wayfarer]

I've always made that a two day trek with an anchorage in the middle.

 

[mrinkel]

A couple of anchorages we've used in the past between Brunswick and Savannah is Wahoo River and Crescent River. I anchored at Wahoo River a couple of weeks ago on a friend's boat and it was nice (current, but good holding). Kilkenny is also a decent stop if you prefer a marina.

Mark Rinkel
Mainship 430
https://ourpositivelatitude.com

 

[BigTime]

This is probably not new, but for those slow travelers, how do you make the trip going north between Brunswick and Savannah? It's about 70 statute miles as the crow flies, so I know it's quite a bit more on the ICW. Lot's of anchorages, but limited marinas, and the Admiral is not a "spend the night on the hook" kinda girl.

Suggestions welcome.

ICW at Savannah River to Brunswick is right at 100 statute miles. Sudberry Crab Company Restaurant and Marina is 42 miles south of Savannah plus 7 miles up a river from ICW

 

[DBL]

Walburg Creek - St. Catherines Island

I've spent over a hundred nights anchored in Walburg Creek, behind St. Catherines Island. There's plenty of deep water and a good holding bottom.

The island has a species regeneration center, operated by the Bronx Zoo, and there are animals that include ginsboks, gazelles, giant tortoises and more.

There is a huge house you can see from the creek. It used to be owned by Button Gwinnett, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

The island hasn't been logged in over 150 years, so you can ride a horse at a gallop through much of the forest.

It's a really neat place - and you can hear tropical birds at night....

 

[psneeld]

Thought I had read you need prior permission to land on St Catherines Island.

 

[DBL]

Walburg Creek - St. Catherines Island

Regarding my earlier post - The island is private. I only got to go there because I had friends who ran the operations.

The anchorage itself is a good one, and a quiet place unless it's in the height of the shrimping season.

Cheers!

 

[psneeld]

Regarding my earlier post - The island is private. I only got to go there because I had friends who ran the operations.

The anchorage itself is a good one, and a quiet place unless it's in the height of the shrimping season.

Cheers!

But I believe you can get access if you request in advance.

I think there was contact info in the Waerway Guidebook.

 

[ranger58sb]

This is probably not new, but for those slow travelers, how do you make the trip going north between Brunswick and Savannah? It's about 70 statute miles as the crow flies, so I know it's quite a bit more on the ICW. Lot's of anchorages, but limited marinas, and the Admiral is not a "spend the night on the hook" kinda girl.

Suggestions welcome.

We simply ran the length from St. Simons Island to Thunderbolt. My log for the last time says 83 NM, 0815-1715, so 9 hours. It's a longish day, but not horrible. Our 2021 trip was more of a "delivery" too so overall we were traveling a slight bit faster than we might usually.

There's another marina maybe 5 NM ?? shy of Thunderbolt -- Isle of Hope maybe? -- but they've not had availability when we've been passing by.

Planning ahead: Timed the tides through a couple of the shallow areas (mid tide rising preferred) then with our morning departure based on whatever time those tides dictated. (Once, 2020 I think, we set out at approx 0430, IIRC...)

We've looked into dock options like Kilkenny and Sudbury. Former sounded grim.

Can't remember why we passed on Sudbury on our previous trip, but we were traveling right at the beginning of the 2020 Covid panic for that one, lots of things weren't clearly understood at the time, we wondered if we'd be trapped inside some State or other, whether bridges would be staffed, etc... so that was another reason we made that longer segment, too.

Edit: This last trip, another boat (MS430 sedan) departed St. Simons at the same time we did... went outside instead of ICW... and they arrived at the same marina in Thunderbolt probably a half hour before we did. Outside weather just happened to be OK for them. They're actually doing The Loop in stages, and by coincidence we met them again up here on the Chesapeake several weeks later.

-Chris

 

[PMF1984]

FYI, Kilkenny has ice cream at the store/office.