Intersection of AICW and Browns Inlet
Intersection of AICW and Browns Inlet
Statute Mile 237, North Carolina AICW
The Problem: The AICW waters from the Waterway’s intersection with shallow Browns Inlet to a point just north of the Onslow Bridge, have been shoaling badly for the last several years. MLW depths in certain sections of this problem stretch have now deteriorated to less than 3 feet.
The Solution: It is now all but mandatory to cruise this section of the AICW at mid to (preferably) high tide. SLOW DOWN and proceed though this stretch of markers at MAXIMUM ALERT!
Comments from Cruisers (3)
Just happens that I may have been the next boat to pass the location of this grounding. At 10:20 AM on 17 January, I was delivering a boat to Charleston and came up on a large powerboat stopped in the middle of the ICW at 34-35.847N, 077-14.568W. The stopped boat had passed us a few miles further North, headed southbound at around 20 knots.
As I approached the spot, SeaTow came up and began setting up to unground the boat. It seemed to me that the boat had been on course directly from R60 to G63, which are the prominent daymarks before and after the inlet, and from the appearance of things the boat had been traveling pretty fast.
This is a traditional problem area in the ICW, and both my Active Captain software and the Garmin plotter on the boat I was delivering sounded alarms for the hazard.
Floating marks G61A and R62 were both in the location shown on my chart software, which is well over to the north side of the waterway (Starboard if you are heading south) and only about 75-100 feet from the shore. Made me quite nervous as we went by, but we saw 8 to 9 feet of depth in the channel at about an hour before local low tide.
Object lesson is: pay close attention to the charts and keep a watchful eye out for the markers – particularly the floating ones – instead of following the Magenta Line in this stretch of the ICW.
On Saturday January 17, we experienced a hard grounding with bent shafts (2) and destroyed props (2) at this location. Knew about previous reports but marks were not where the deep water was. Strong current must have moved them. We are now on the hard waiting for shafts and props.
Shame that this continuing problem is not addressed Our current bill is $26,000 to be removed back from the bar, and about $80,000 for shaft abd prop repairs! Navigation marks are not maintained!
Douglas Jemal
What is your draft? What was tide level? How fast were you going?