Emergency Anchorage
Emergency Anchorage
Statute Mile: 781
Lat/Lon: 29 50.994 North/081 18.258 West
Location: west and south of flashing daybeacon #18, and northeast and south of flashing daybeacon #31
Minimum Depth: 6-feet
Special Note: an obstruction which covers at mid to high tide has been reported in the southern 1/2 of this anchorage. It is strongly recommended that you drop the hook north of a position abeam of marker #20
Swing Room: sufficient for vessels as large as 50 feet
Foul Weather Protection: Poor; fair weather only anchorage
Rating: 
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Comments from Cruisers (2)
Anchored here with our NC44, Sea Angel, last night, 10-30-09 at about mid tide. Anchored about 500′ south of #20 in 16′ of water/21 at high. There are about half a dozen boats there on what are either moorings or perminently anchored. The derelect Catalina 25 is there as is the obstruction that is visible to the east of that boat. There is a small white float on the obstruction that isn’t visible at high tide. The obstruction appears to be about two feet indiameter at the surface and shows above the surface about 1 foot at low. Holding in sand/mud was very good. Anchor set quickly and held well through tide changes and contrary winds. Some wakes from ICW but overall a quiet anchorage in settled weather.
Be very careful here. On 10/10/09 we passed this anchorage travelling south on the ICW at almost exactly MLW. There is an obstruction here. From our vantage point on the ICW it looked like concrete and steel aproximately 5′ in diameter that would not be visible at half tide or higher. We were passing by on the ICW so I can not give it’s exact location. My best estimate – It appeared to be near the 8′ sounding west of a line between R20 & R22. There were several sailboats anchored in the area and I can not be sure which were transient and which were long term. Best eyeball advice I can give is if you see a 25′ (aprox) sailboat with missing o/b motor that looks shabby and something like a Catalina 25, the obstruction is 100 yards north. From my view I could not tell if the obstruction is in the 8′ depth area or the shoal east of the area. But for sure, it will not be visible at half tide or greater. My suggestion would be to anchor abeam or north of R20. We anchored there a year ago and encountered an afternoon thunderstorm of moderate strength. Holding was good. We did not see this obstruction a year ago.
Rick Parish