A Conversation with Johnny Weaver about the Sandy Island School Bus Boat

By Karen Owens, Publisher

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Johnny Weaver, a long-time realtor with the Litchfield Company, regarding his role as captain of the Sandy Island bus boat. It’s a wonderful, hidden gem of our community that many have yet to discover.

Georgetown Gazette:

I don’t really know the story of the Sandy Island School Bus Boat other than I have heard it is the only one in existence in South Carolina. Tell me more.

Johnny Weaver:

Most people think about the party boat side of the island where boaters pull up on the shores of the fingers of the Waccamaw River to revel with their friends after a day on the water.  But there is a village on Sandy Island where families have lived for generations. There is a church, a community center and for many years there was a schoolhouse. In the 1960s, the students were required to attend Georgetown County schools on the mainland so there was an old diesel engine boat that was used to bring the young people back and forth to the island.

Then around 2015, they got a new pontoon boat with a cabin and pilot house, with room for 12 passengers and two crew members. Captain Timothy Tucker, who lives on the island, would pick the students up from their homes in an old Chevy Suburban and take them to the dock, where he would ferry the students across the river to school in the mornings and then pick them up in the afternoons.

Georgetown Gazette:

So how did you get involved in this?

Two friends and I decided to get our boat captain’s license about a dozen years ago. It was a bucket list item. So we went through the training, and I went even further to get my 50-ton Masters credential, which allows me to carry more than six passengers.

About this time, my friend Randy Dozier, who was the Georgetown County School Superintendent, reached out to me when he learned I had secured my captain’s license and asked me if I would be interested in being the back-up captain to Timothy Tucker (known as T.T.) for the school bus boat. I said I would be happy to, but I can tell you T.T. hasn’t missed many shifts in his 30 years as captain. He replaced the original captain, Prince Washington, who drove the original diesel engine boat.

A local resident on the island was instrumental in obtaining a grant to secure funding to transport the islanders back and forth to the mainland for shopping or work. At that point many of the island residents either didn’t own a boat or were too old to manage one.

So I became the first non-islander captain for those trips during the week.

Georgetown Gazette:

How did that work? 

Johnny Weaver:

After Captain T.T. got back from taking the students, I would go to the island at 8:30 am Monday through Friday to pick up the adults and bring them back to Pawleys by 9:00 am. Then I would head to my office at The Litchfield Company and be at my desk by 9:15 am. Then I would head over to the dock at 2:00 pm for the return trip and be back by 2:30 pm. It only takes about 15 minutes to cross the river.

I did this for 10 years, and now I have become the back-up captain and there are two new captains who help with the school bus boat – Jessie Brown and Ray Earnest.

Georgetown Gazette:

Well to do something like that for 10 years, you must have really enjoyed it.

Johnny Weaver:

I did. At first people were a little skeptical, but after a few weeks they let their guard down and got to know me. My wife Jannette and I have been invited to many parties and events over the years. I remember the first Christmas party we attended at the Community House, a gentleman came over and said to me “you’re not a friend – you’re family.” That really meant a lot to me.

The folks on Sandy Island are some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, and they just want to be left alone. They like their remote village and their slower pace of life.

Over the years, I’ve been to church services and far too many funerals. While they don’t have many who sing in their choir, they sure fill up the church with their beautiful voices when it comes time to sing.

I think about an elderly lady who traveled back and forth with her groceries, and she didn’t have a car so she would walk over a couple of miles to get to her house each time. I walked that route onetime, and it was quite hilly and I asked her how she did it. She said when she got tired, she would stop, sit and take a rest, and when she was able, she would start again. Over the years, she would give me a watermelon or a bag of fruit and I thought that was such a nice gesture. Then I realized it was also because she knew she didn’t have the stamina to carry those items on her long trek home.

Sandy Island is a very unique part of our community, with more than 90 percent of it owned and protected by the Nature Conservancy and Brookgreen Gardens. The fact that some 40 people live in this village where their ancestors have been for generations is remarkable.

I really have a special love for this place and am privileged to have been a small part of their lives.