Almost two years ago three people died while trying cross the Waccamaw River in a 15-foot fiberglass boat that sank.
But it's hoped that scenario, a group of Sandy Island residents huddled in a private boat on a stormy night attempting to get safely to dry land, will soon be a thing of the past.
A ferry has been awarded to Coast RTA to use for transporting residents to and from the island, the S.C. Department of Transportation announced this week. The ferry is not expected to be brought to the area before spring.
Sandy Island has no regular public ferry service except for a limited-use school ferry, and there is no bridge between the island and the mainland.
The 60-foot ferry originally was purchased by the Alabama DOT, with money from the Federal Highway Administration, in 2002 to transport vehicles on the Coosa River near Gadsden, Ala. But the local agency did not have the funds to operate it and ownership of the vessel was transferred back to the highway administration.
In April the ferry was put up for sale and, eventually, the S.C. DOT and Maine DOT filed applications for it with the highway administration.
The ferry is worth about $500,000, said Myers Rollins Jr., the general manager of Coast RTA, which will operate the ferry.
Rollins said there is a lot to figure out before island residents can ride the ferry, starting with getting it here.
The boat is in Alabama right now and he said the best way to get it here is on the Intracoastal Waterway.
But Rollins said weather and sea conditions on the waterway during the winter are not ideal, so the ferry will not be taken to the nearest entry point to the waterway until spring.
In the meantime, Coast RTA and Georgetown County officials will sit down to figure out the logistics of operating the ferry, he said.
"How much service do we want to put out there? Four runs a day? Three runs a day?" he said.
He said they also have to figure out whether the school ferry, a 32-foot boat that was custom built in 1968 and can hold about 20 people, will continue to run or if this ferry will replace that one.
And while Coast RTA is getting the boat free from the federal government, the operational costs are going to have to be figured out locally.
"Hopefully we can begin to have those discussions," Rollins said.
The federal government has awarded the Coast RTA $148,000 to operate the boat for the first year, with the agency required to match whatever funds it spends, Rollins said. The agency will have to apply annually to renew the grant, he said.
Rollins said he plans to visit the island soon and meet with residents to discuss the acquisition.
Georgetown County Administrator Sel Hemingway said that while the county heard that Coast RTA had been awarded the ferry, it did not have any other information on it.
"Council has not discussed this, nor have they made any financial commitments," Hemingway said.
The Sandy Island community is made up of about 100 people on a 9,000-acre island surrounded by the Pee Dee and Waccamaw Rivers and two creeks. It's located to the northwest of Brookgreen Gardens between U.S. 17 and U.S. 701.
The (Charleston) Post and Courier contributed to this report.
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