As part of the effort to stem the tide of plastic pollution entering the world’s oceans, the Coca-Cola Company is joining with The Ocean Cleanup to expedite the deployment of cleanup systems in fifteen rivers around the world.
Coca-Cola Joins The Ocean Cleanup in Tackling Ocean Plastic Pollution
Maritime Executive
The entrance to Withlacoochee River is a long, narrow, multi-marker channel. This new technology will assist boaters wanting to explore the beautiful Withlacoochee.
Lower Withlacoochee River Survey Made Easier with Sonar Technology
Water News You Can Use
Update: the Solar Federal Investment Tax Credit has been extended for 2 more years at 26%. Sun Powered Yachts is a CRUISERS NET SPONSOR!
This week’s lowest current marina fuel prices as of Jun 02
Diesel Range: $2.37 to $3.89 Lowest @ Dudley’s Marina in (North Carolina)
Gas Range: $3.00 to $4.20 Lowest @ Delegal Creek Marina in (Georgia)
Remember to always call the marina to verify the current price since prices may change at any time. Also please let us know if you find a marina’s fuel price has changed via the Submit News link.
All Regions (Price Range $2.37 to $4.34)
Virginia to North Carolina (Price Range $2.84 to $3.55)
North Carolina (Price Range $2.37 to $3.89)
South Carolina (Price Range $2.70 to $4.09)
Georgia (Price Range $2.97 to $3.49)
Eastern Florida (Price Range $2.59 to $4.34)
St Johns River (Price Range $2.95 to $3.65)
Florida Keys (Price Range $3.32 to $4.00)
Western Florida (Price Range $2.73 to $4.01)
Okeechobee (Price Range $3.18 to $3.18)
Northern Gulf (Price Range $2.60 to $3.48)
This discussion of battery powered ships focuses on commercial shipping, but can battery powered recreational vessels be far behind?
Battery Power
Marina News May 21, 2021
BoatUS continues to be one of the leading advocates of boating safety and of boaters’ rights.
BoatUS says efforts to grow sales of higher blend 15% ethanol fuels
such as “Regular 88” and reduce or eliminate warning labels are anti-consumer
SPRINGFIELD, Va., June 1, 2021 – Efforts by the ethanol industry to create a new federal rule that would weaken or eliminate important warning labels designed to prevent boaters and consumers from misfueling with prohibited higher-ethanol fuels at roadside gas pumps has Boat Owners Association of The United States (BoatUS) concerned. The national recreational boating advocacy, services and safety group recently co-signed a letter to EPA Administrator Elizabeth Dermott addressing the proposed “E15 Fuel Dispenser Labeling and Compatibility With Underground Storage Tanks” legislation (EPA-HW-OAR-202-0448) and urging the federal regulator to side with consumers on its Misfueling Mitigation Program (MMP) to ensure transparency in the sale of fuel to consumers.
“Ethanol manufacturers are pushing to blend more ethanol into the nation’s fuel supply. To accomplish that, consumers are not being fully informed at the roadside pump about the type of fuel going into their boats’ gas tanks,” said BoatUS Manager of Government Affairs David Kennedy. “New marketing schemes to brand these prohibited 15% ethanol fuels as ‘regular 88,’ promoting them as a low-cost alternative and, at the same time, attempting to drive federal rulemaking efforts to reduce and weaken warning labels at the pump is an anti-consumer one-two-three punch that should not be tolerated.”
The proposed rulemaking provides no new data on a theoretical basis to support the proposals to either decrease the stringency of the existing E15 warning label or eliminate it altogether. A 2020 Outdoor Power Equipment Institute (OPEI) poll shows that only about one in five consumers know that “regular 88” — or 88 octane fuel — has more ethanol (15%) in it than 87 octane (10% ethanol) fuel.
Use of ethanol fuel blends with more than 10% ethanol, such as “regular 88,” in recreational boat engines, motorcycles, off-road vehicles and power equipment is prohibited by federal law. E15 fuels have been proven to damage engines and fuel systems, and its use in a marine engine voids the warranty.
Consumers have indicated the need for a better, more effective higher-blend ethanol fuel warning label design as well as more prominent placement of the warning label on the pump. A recent national poll shows that just 18.25% of consumers think the current E15 label used at gas pumps across the country is very effective for warning that E15 is hazardous to certain types of engines.
EPA has also worked to broaden the availability of E15 fuel in the U.S., including most recently with the 2019 repeal of summertime restrictions on its sale. These restrictions were originally implemented years ago to address concerns over the higher ethanol fuel’s contribution to ground level ozone (smog) on hot days.
“Visit a local gas station dispensing higher ethanol fuels and look for the warning label on the pump,” added Kennedy. “It’s often hidden or buried along with a mountain of promotional signage. EPA should help consumers make the right fuel choice, and efforts to weaken the Misfueling Mitigation Program, such as stripping away label elements that indicate a warning message or exclude mention of 15% ethanol altogether, only accommodate the interests of ethanol producers and harm boaters.”
About Boat Owners Association of The United States (BoatUS):
Celebrating more than 50 years, BoatUS is the nation’s largest organization of recreational boaters with more than 800,000 members. We are the boat owners’ voice on Capitol Hill and fight for their rights. We are The Boat Owners Auto Club and help ensure a roadside trailer breakdown doesn’t end a boating or fishing trip before it begins. When boats break down on the water, TowBoatUS brings them safely back to the launch ramp or dock, 24/7. BoatUS offers GEICO boat insurance policies that give boat owners affordable, specialized coverage and superior service they need. We help keep boaters safe and our waters clean with assistance from the nonprofit BoatUS Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water. Visit BoatUS.com.
Key Lime Sailing Club, A CRUISERS NET SPONSOR, always has very special offers for their visitors! Key Lime Sailing Club is a unique slice of KEYS ENJOYMENT…give it a try and let us hear about your experience.
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With summer drawing near, it’s no secret that anglers want to be on the water. Learn about everything from boat ramp etiquette to need-to-know safety tips for boating in Florida.
Need-to-know tips for beginner boaters
Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission
The Dismal Swamp Canal Welcome Center is located adjacent to the Dismal Swamp State Park, offering trails, exhibits and ongoing programs in Camden County, NC. Docks are provided by the Dismal Swamp Canal Welcome Center, A CRUISERS NET SPONSOR and a NC DOT Rest Area facility. Congratulations to Sarah Hill and her staff for this well deserved award!
Click here for Camden TDA- Telly Award 2021
Camden County TDA and Mike Martine, with Eye Candy Digital Video, won a 2021 Bronze Telly Award in Online Commercials: Campaign-Branding for our “Wide Open Spaces” promotional video created last fall utilizing NC Recovery Grant funds procured through Visit NC. This was one of five videos created with Eye Candy Digital Video, promoting mental and physical wellbeing through Outdoor Recreation.
The Telly Awards honors excellence in video and television across all screens and is judged by leaders from video platforms, television, streaming networks, production companies like Netflix, Dow Jones, Hearst Media, ESPN Films, and Vimeo. Last year, the awards attracted more than 12,000 entries from top video content producers including Adobe, the BBC, PBS, and The Walt Disney Company.
We invite you to visit the Camden County tourism website at www.VisitCamdenCountyNC.com to view the video and learn more about our beautiful wide-open spaces, outdoor recreational opportunities and local businesses.
We are so excited to share the great news with everyone! Thank you all!
Sarah
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| Sarah Hill Director, Dismal Swamp Canal Welcome Center Chairperson, Camden County Tourism Development Authority 2356 US Hwy 17 North, South Mills, NC 27976
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Once you have pulled up a ton of the oily, black muck that adheres to the anchor like tar, you will wish for a washdown system like this! Thank you Roger Hughes for a great article.
How to Install a Deck-Wash System
by Roger Hughes in Cruising World
Last week, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock wrote the Federal Aviation Authority to request it delay the release, scheduled for June, of the environmental impact statement for the Spaceport Camden proposal in Georgia’s southeastern corner. See A Call for More Study of Proposed Spaceport. Our thanks to Ted Arisak for this reference.
With a new administration, Spaceport Camden’s liftoff looks in doubt
SaportaReport
The BoatUS Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water offers five tips that can potentially speed a rescuer’s response to a boater in need of emergency help.
Five Things You Can Do
to Take the ‘Search’ out of Search and Rescue
Are you making it difficult to be found in an emergency?
ANNAPOLIS, MD., May 25, 2021 – “Do I know how to be found in an emergency?” That’s a question every boater should ask at the beginning of the boating season. The answer, however, is likely to go far beyond simply having a cellphone aboard. The BoatUS Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water offers five tips that can potentially speed a rescuer’s response to a boater in need of emergency help.
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About the BoatUS Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water:
The BoatUS Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water is a national leader promoting safe, clean and responsible boating. Funded primarily by donations from the more than 800,000 members of Boat Owners Association of The United States (BoatUS), the nonprofit provides innovative educational outreach directly to boaters and anglers with the aim of reducing accidents and fatalities, increasing stewardship of America’s waterways and keeping boating safe for all. A range of boating safety courses – including 36 free state courses – can be found at BoatUS.org/Courses.
National Safe Boating Week is May 22-28 and, as we prepare for the 2021 Hurricane season, let’s hope that caution and good seamanship will prevail among the increasing number of boats on the water. See FWC: Safe Boating Week.
National Safe Boating Week, May 22nd to the 28th. It serves as a reminder to boaters that once they leave the dock or ramp, there’s no guarantee that everything will go smoothly to ensure a safe return.
Despite the pandemic — or perhaps because of it — skyrocketing boat sales have seen a significant increase in the number of people taking to the water, many for the first time. Knowingly or unknowingly, those who ventured onto our Florida waterways are faced with a grim reality: more accidents, more injuries, more fatalities.
Think these figures would be down? According to the just-released Statistical Report by the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Department (FWC), the number of reportable accidents in 2020, the latest figures available, was higher than in any year in the past five years. Not only that, it was proportionately higher when factoring in the increase in the number of registered vessels.
Nationwide, some of the leading calamities resulting in fatal boating accidents occur from falls overboard, collision with a fixed object and swamping. A must safety reminder is to wear a life jacket. Another is to not drink excessively while operating a vessel. But one essential reminder not often touted is to pay attention. Inattention is far and away the leading contributor to boating accidents.
A lack of boating education and knowledge is another major contributor to the increasingly grim statistics. Introductory boating safety courses are offered by state, non-profit agencies and commercial enterprises. But there’s another option from an organization which has specialized in safe boating education for more than 100 years.
United States Power Squadrons (USPS), commonly known as America’s Boating Club, is quite possibly the only national organization to offer such a wide variety of safety and skills-advanced courses nationwide at reasonable prices. Free to the boating public are such programs as “Vessel Safety Check” and online “America’s Boating Channel” described in more detail at www.usps.org.
SC House Bill 3865 was passed and signed into law May 17 and will take effect July 1, 2021. Our thanks to Ted Arisaka for alerting us to this legislation.
A local government may adopt an ordinance requiring a permit for a watercraft or floating structure to remain moored, anchored, or otherwise located in any one five-mile radius on public waters within its local jurisdiction for more than fourteen consecutive days. The cost of a permit required by a local government may not exceed fifteen dollars. An ordinance adopted pursuant to this subsection must not apply to watercraft:
South Carolina House Bill 3865
New Bern is home to New Bern Grand Marina, A CRUISERS NET SPONSOR, which lies in the heart of downtown New Bern, North Carolina.
New Bern in 1898 could have easily experienced a coup similar to the massacre that took place in Wilmington the same year, writes North Carolina historian David Cecelski.
The other coup d’etat: Remembering New Bern in 1898
David Cecelski on Coastal Review Online
We can't thank all of our cruising friends for their support over the years. We hope to see many of you at our marina in the future sometime soon!
As manatees return to their summer haunts along the coast, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) biologists are reminding residents and visitors to boat carefully and report sightings of these gentle giants online.
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With all the headaches cruisers have with bridge congestion and delayed openings, Greg Allard thinks it is time for a little humor. Cortez Bridge crosses the GIWW at Statute Mile 87.5.
Click Here To View the Cruisers Net Western Florida Bridge Directory Listing For The Cortez Bridge
To help prepare for the Memorial Day holiday weekend, SCDNR will be holding courtesy boat inspections across the state.
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Spaceport Camden is a proposal to build a rocket launch facility in Camden County, Georgia. Our thanks to Ted Arisaka of Save Georgia’s Anchorages for sharing this information. See A Call for More Study and Monthly Closures of St. Andrews Sound.
There’s a reason why launches take place directly at the water’s edge. Rockets fail. Debris falls. Fires rage.
Spaceport Camden will have to launch over Cumberland Island and Little Cumberland Island to reach open water.
Ted Arisaka
Jim and Peg Healy are full-time cruisers and very experienced boaters who regularly ply the waters of the Intracoastal Waterways. Our thanks to Jim for sharing this adventure! Editor’s note: the links inserted below are from Cruisers Net’s library of postings.
Sanctuary and crew came through the bridge Tuesday, 5/18. Following is my report to family and friends list,
“The best of times; the worst of times!”
Today was an “interesting” day.
The goal was to cross Lake Okeechobee (success) in the early morning (success) to avoid strong winds (success). We departed Clewiston at 06h05, and got to witness the birth of the new day:
The Indiantown RR Bridge is undergoing an extensive renovation. (See Temporary Opening Deviation.), Our plan was to run the 36 miles from Clewiston to the Indiantown RR Bridge to arrive by the bridge opening at 11h00. So all throughout our crossing, “the computer” said we were “on plan” to arrive at Indiantown at 10h30. That gave me 1/2 hour “slop” to get through the lock at Port Mayaca. Getting through the lock all worked fine.
Well… Then it got interesting… Really interesting…
About one mile east of the lock at Port Mayaca is the RR lift bridge that stops sailboats from using the lake crossing. It’s 49 feet open. And as we were pulling up to it, it closed. Closed, we can’t get through. Oh, crap! That’s not in the plan…
And of course, no phone number posted, and no response on VHF09. Just a closed bridge and utter silence…
After some minutes, I called the Port Mayaca lockmaster, who says “a train must be coming;” but, dead silence; except my wailing. So, I then called the Indiantown RR Bridge to ask why his colleagues closed on me. He reports it’s a different RR company that runs that bridge, and he doesn’t have the number for them. But, he know we’re coming, and he said, “don’t panic yet!” Or was it, “don’t panic; yet!”
So now I’m fumbling around looking for a phone number for the US Sugar RR Bridge (FEC owned) dispatcher. All of a sudden, there were horns sounding, and two guys in hardhat and safety vest came out onto the bridge. They look at me and then at each other and then back at me. Bewilderment all ’round…
And then, a miracle happened…. all of a sudden, the bridge begins to open. There’s no damn train. These bozos just closed the bridge without checking for boat traffic. As we used to say in the city, “Oye veh!”
OK. Now it’s petal to the metal to make Indiantown. Sanctuary arrived at the Indiantown bridge at 11h05… Having tested the engine’s cooling system (success) for that hour…
…To a long line of boats backed up in both directions. So we waited about 15 minutes for the bridge to open. This morning, both the eastbound and westbound draws were open, so traffic made it through smoothly. The bridge is that big, black hulk in the center of the picture…
There was one poor sailboat I felt badly for. We were at the end of the line (literally). In the picture, in the distance to the right of the bozo with the dinghy, you can just about see the sailboat. He’d anchored there for the night, waiting for the opening. When it came time to haul the anchor and move through the bridge, his anchor was foul and he couldn’t get it up. When we went through, he was in his dinghy and his lady was on the bow and they were working hard to get freed up. And of course, the bridge is asking them if they plan to come through. I was focused on the traffic, but Peg tells me they made it… Don’t know if they freed the anchor or abandoned it…
It was an interesting day!
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AND BY THE WAY, the bridge on the St. Lucie River at Stuart – the “Roosevelt Bridge” – used to be “on request.” It was “temporarily restricted” because of high rise bridge repairs, but was supposed to return to “on request” status. Well, folks… The Roosevelt Bridge is now PERMANENTLY restricted during the day. (See Update: Old Roosevelt Bridge Change of Schedule.) What used to be one of the easiest bridge on the east coast has turned nasty. Their opening schedule varies during “commuter” hours, but during the day, every 1/2 hour on the hour and half-hour. Those of you who know that bridge know there is a single leaf RR bascule immediately next to the Roosevelt Bridge. If the RR bridge there closes, you can be hosed, because that would cause you to miss Roosevelt’s next upcoming scheduled opening. Be attentive there, and be sure to have your patience stores fully stocked, especially in the afternoon when there are more trains. It’s a very busy area, right off a marina (Sunset Bay) and mooring field, and a lot of residential surroundings. Patience is not a plentiful commodity amongst the locals in that area.
LETTERS to the mayor of Stuart and the USCG Bridge Division are appropriate. The Okeechobee Waterway conditions there are very difficult, and made worse by those bridge restrictions.
Jim
Monk 36 Hull #132
Jim – I have not been able, with a little research, to find anything which officially codifies the right of the bridge operator to proceed with a delayed opening "off schedule." If I can find it, I will post the link to it. But we did observe it happen several times (from Sunset Bay marina).
Both bridge operators I spoke with also said that in their experience, if a second train is planned to come through within 15 minutes of the first, then the RR will leave their bridge down. Again, the bridge operators have no way knowing if there is a second train.
I fully agree with you that this continues to be a dangerous situation. Those bridges in Stuart are without question a high-traffic and potentially dangerous area. With reduced openings, the boats pile up on either side of the bridges, waiting for an opening. Once the bridges are open, it is bedlam, since there is no "pecking order": boats enter from both sides simultaneously, and the pinch-point is at the RR bridge, which is extremely narrow. Very few boats yield. I would like to see a procedure where the bridge operator directs the order of passage for the waiting boats: "All westbound boats will go through the bridges first."
Cruise safely.
Best regards
Greg Allard
Hi Greg,
Thanks for the reply. Do you happen to know if that word-of-mouth procedure is actually documented anywhere? It looks like both FDOT and the USCG both had to sign-off on permitting that change to become permanent. I would assume that agreement language was in the approved/adopted change order. I would feel slightly better with that. I have been trapped at that bridge by trains, and although they say that they raise the bridge after a train has gone through, I found from my infinitesimally small sample size that is not always the case. It depends on the discipline of the RR dispatcher, and it may not happen if another train is coming through in short order. Add a fixed schedule at Roosevelt Bridge to that mix, and the lack of communications with the RR company and the Roosevelt bridge, and the result is not good for cruisers OR LOCAL TRAFFIC. I can't imagine how that change got approved. I would think local people would have been in revolt. That's why I question whether there was ever a public comment period.
Jim – Great report – but not so much fun for you in trying to make the reduced schedule at Indiantown. Another example of how the Okeechobee crossing can often have some unpredictable moments.
One comment on the Stuart bridges (adjacent to Sunset Bay Marina). We came through them a couple of times in in March and May, and I spoke to two of the bridge operators of the Old Roosevelt Bridge (which is the one which needs to open.) They said that if the regularly scheduled time for their bridge to open could not occur because the RR bridge was down, as soon as the RR bridge opened, they would proceed with an opening of the Old Roosevelt Bridge for waiting boats, even if it was past the scheduled opening.
The bridge operators stated that they have no idea when the RR bridge will open or close. There is no regular schedule, and they have no communication with the RR about when the trains are due. The only notice they have is some flashing lights and horn which will apparently sound when the RR bridge will soon go down.
Enjoy the rest of your cruise.
Comments from Cruisers (1)
Perhaps one of the largest contributors to pollution and obesity could do more than virtue signal.