You can get the current surveys form the Corps of Engineers; a little tide on your side and you are fine, we too draw 5 feet. http://www.sac.usace.army.mil/Missions/Navigation/HydrographicMaps.aspx You can also consult your tow company and the CG. We are all for going outside and missing boring and irritating sections of the ICW, but as Greg said, the Waccamaw is the jewel of the AICW, and not taking a few days to gunkhole and enjoy it is a sin, in my opinion. Once you go all the way out of Charleston and all the way back up Winya, you are not saving much time at all even in a high speed boat. The outside play if at all is from Charleston to Cape Fear, you can tuck into Baldhead or Southport, or proceed trough the Slough and on to Beaufort if you ar really in a hurry and can do long stretches. As much as I didn't like the Myrtle Beach stretch, we tolerated it to enjoy the Waccamaw, going outside twixt Little River and Cape Fear, then Masonboro to Beaufort, two ICW stretches that are imminently skippable iMO.