Skipper Ann is seeking dry storage in Georgia. If you have suggestions, please respond to this posting. Thank you!
I am wanting to find dry storage for hurricane season anywhere along the Georgia coast. I have a 40 ft trawler and now have it under cover (not inside) on the hard. Is there anywhere that does that?
Ann
A SALTY SOUTHEAST CRUISERS’ NET SPONSOR, Camachee Cove Yacht Harbor is located just off the Waterway’s western shoreline, south of unlighted daybeacon #7 and north of the Vilano Beach Bridge.
Stayed three nights. Very protected marina. Staff was very helpful. One of two courtesy cars were always available for short trips into town or the nearby Publix. Clean restrooms and showers. BoatUS discount was a plus. Saw a sea turtle swimming around my boat one day and a manatee getting a drink of water.
Captain Vic Wilreker
Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To the Location of Camachee Cove Yacht Harbor
These are not the first words of praise we have received for Burkey Marine and will not be the last.
Great day until our diesel engines ingested and something the boat overheated. A local dealer came out and couldn’t repair the boat for two days. Then we called a group called Big Diesel aka Burkey Marine on a Saturday after 7pm. These guys came out, fixed the blockage in our systems and we were on our way! My wife and I will always keep the number; you should too as they travel where ever the boat is! You may have to pay for airfare but Burkey Marine is our number one diesel service center for our boat. Sincerely Captain Tim Jensen
FYI Burkey Marine Group 772-215-7663
I had a engine over heat and this crew can out same day and checked on us underway. As with every business I’m sure they are not perfect, but we had a bad day and they made it better. We do say thank you to Big Diesel Marine. I’m sure they wont mind me posting their number 772 215 7663.
We had a great expierience over the phone being walked through our problem by Big Diesel Greg Burkey all was well after the trip was salvaged! Some people care and yes we reccomend the Greg Burkey Marine Group several phone calls later at no charge we were fixed! CaptJ
We feel the same way! These big diesel guys helped us over the phone telling us what to look for and once we located the problem they talked us through the repair at no charge. (After hours)
We are fans!
Shoaling at the intersection of the Waterway and Lockwoods Folly Inlet has been a concern in past years and now, as Skippers Lundie and Winters report.
Passed through Lockwoods Folly northbound on 6/13 30 minutes before low tide (poor planning). Shoaling in vicinity of G47. Favor north side (R46).
Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To This AICW Problem Stretch
Came through today and yes, at that one spot, it is very shallow. Slow down and feel your way if below half tide. We poked around and even within the channel, I could see a 4′ draft boat hitting bottom. Surprisingly, Shallotte Inlet was pretty good today. No issues of real note.
Ocean Club at Port Canaveral lies on the “Canaveral Barge Canal” east of the single 600X90ft lock. From the Atlantic, the long canal crosses Cape Canaveral and Merritt Island, then intersects the Waterway at statute mile 894. Our thanks to Harbor Master Humphrey for this update.
The locks at Port Canaveral Florida are closed indefinitely Monday through Friday from 7:00 AM -5:00 PM. Open on demand weekends from 6:00 AM – 9:30 PM and M-F open 6:00 AM – 7:00 AM and 5:00 PM-9:30PM only
Clayton Humphrey
Harbor Master
Ocean Club – Port Canaveral
Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To the Location of the Ocean Club at Port Canaveral
I would like to know how we could get the locks open to assist the lagoon as well, and what is the resoning behind the lock system?
I am a Merritt Island resident. I’ve lived here since I was eleven years old. I would just like to know what we can do as a community to get the Port Canaveral locks opened on a consistent basis, the purpose of which would be to clean our rivers and breathe life back into our estuary. Thank you for any advice.
I agree, I think opening up the Lock would benefit the Lagoon. Unfortunately you have to look at the reason it was put there the first place. before the Lock there was a lot of sand movement in the inlet and the Subs were running aground. The ACOE in their infinite wisdom decided to stop the water flow and thereby causing the sand bars to stabilize. this fixed the problem in the inlet but I believe like you caused problems in the Indian and Banana Rivers. I’d love to see some kind of “flush” to take place on a regular basis, even if it’s south of the inlet with a huge pipe or something.
The South Channel of Charleston Harbor is essentially the Waterway as it runs east/west from the Ashley River to the Waterway’s eastern harbor entrance into Sullivans Island Narrows at ICW marker #130. There is plenty of water on either side of the harbor channel in which to avoid the dredge equipment. Project dates are not given.
SOUTH CAROLINA – CHARLESTON HARBOR SOUTH CHANNEL: Dredge Operations
Mariners are requested to stay clear of the dredge, pipelines, barge, derricks and operating wires about the dredge. All operators should be aware that the dredge and pontoon lines are held in place by cables, which are attached to anchors some distance from the dredge and pontoons. Buoys are attached to the anchors so that they may be moved as the dredge moves. Submerged lines should be avoided. Mariners are requested to exercise extreme caution when approaching, passing, and leaving the dredging plant. The dredge LEXINGTON monitors VHF channels 13 and 16. Mariners arc cautioned to strictly comply with the Inland Rules of the Road when approaching, passing and leaving the area of operations, and remain a safe distance away from the dredge, booster, buoys, cables, pipeline, barges, derricks, wires and related equipment. Owners and lessees of fishnets, crabpots and other structures that may be in the vicinity and that may hinder the free navigation of attending vessels and equipment must remove these from the area where tugs, tenderboats and other attendant equipment will be navigating. Dredging operations will be conducted twenty-four (24) hours a day seven (7) days a week, all fishnets, crabpots and structures in the general area must be removed prior to commencement of any work, a slow NO WAKE speed is requested of transiting vessels. All vessels are requested to contact the dredge prior to passing. Chart 11518 and 11524 LNM: 25/15
Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To the Location of South Channel
The onsite dredges and dredging equipment will certainly make the close quarters of the Dismal Swamp Canal even cozier, so SLOW DOWN and keep a good forward watch. The possibility of the dredging action pulling up stumps and logs is very real and could damage your running gear. The Lake Drummond feeder ditch intersects the Canal at Statute Mile 22 north of the Dismal Swamp Welcome Center, A SALTY SOUTHEAST CRUISERS’ NET SPONSOR!
VA ‘“ CHESAPEAKE ‘“ DISMAL SWAMP ‘“ DREDGING
Southwind Construction Corporation will begin dredging operations within the Dismal Swamp Canal near marker 22 on 29 June through 29 July, 2015. Operations will take place 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The dredge KRISTI JOE and tender DANNY JOE will be onscene. Both vessels monitor VHF Channels 13 & 16, with a working channel 78. Floating rubber and polyethylene pipeline associated with dredging operation will traverse both northerly and southerly along the western shoreline of Dismal Swamp Canal to the adjacent Upland Disposal Area located along the Lake Drummond Feeder Ditch. Chart 12200 NM: 25/15
6/25 And this news today from Donna Stewart at the Welcome Center:
Larry,
I spoke to the Operations Manager, Joel Scussell. He said he does not expect a lot of disruption and they will work 1700′ feet both north and south at the mouth of the ditch and 500′ into the Feeder Ditch. The contractor has done work in the past, with a good reputation and they expect to be cleared to 9′ in this location. I wish they had funds to dredge the whole canal. We will add this to our Wish List.
Thanks,
Donna
This story of Seamanship at its best was posted by Kim Russo on AGLCA’s Forum.
A Hero in our Midst
I’d like to give some recognition to a Looper who went above and beyond and rescued a diver that was lost at sea yesterday.
Tom Duggan of “Island Time” was navigating the Crooked Island Pass near Mexico Beach, Florida, heading home from a yacht club raft-up, when a Coast Guard Mayday Call came over the radio advising of a lost diver at sea approx. 5-miles outside the St. Andrews Bay Pass. Tom immediately decided to take the long way home and steered further offshore in hopes of helping in the search for the diver. Upon reaching the search site,Tom slowed down and he, his wife Karen, and their guests starting watching the water. Right after a Coast Guard boat made a sweep a ½ mile in front of them, Tom spotted the drifting diver off the starboard side. He sounded his horn to let the diver know he was spotted, got on the radio to advise the Coast Guard vessel and slowed down to bring the diver aboard. The Coast Guard boat roared over and took the diver aboard as Island Time idled alongside. Thanks to Tom’s hunch and a lot of good luck, the diver’s life was very possibly saved to spend the rest of Fathers’ Day with his family.
Well done, Tom & the crew of Island Time!
Kim Russo
Director
America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Association
The decommissioned Frying Pan Light Station is being privately restored as Frying Pan Tower, open to overnight guests. Frying Pan Shoals off the tip of Cape Fear is well known to off-shore cruisers. For more information and lots of photos, visit the Frying Pan Tower website at http://www.fptower.com/history.html.
The Frying Pan Tower – formerly the U.S. Coast Guard Frying Pan Light Station, is a lighthouse situated at the end of the Frying Pan Shoals, 32 miles south of Bald Head Island N.C.
This is the southernmost end of the feared `Graveyard of the Atlantic’ which stretches up to the northern end of the Outer Banks of N.C. The shallow waters of the shoals (only 35-50 feet under the Tower) made ship navigation treacherous so in 1854 a lightship was stationed there. For 110 years, except for a few years during The War Between the States and WWII, crews manned the lightship 24/7 in all weather.
The mission of the project is to protect and preserve the Frying Pan Tower, originally the USCG Frying Pan Light Station.
The restoration of the Frying Pan Tower is being conducted by volunteers; financed through contributions and the donation of needed supplies. This unique part of American history is being preserved so that generations to come will have an opportunity to enjoy what very few people have experienced: the ever changing, never changing life 85′ above the Atlantic Ocean.
The constant struggle to preserve an old, steel structure sited in the middle of an ocean, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean’s `hurricane alley’, is a labor of love and adventure by individuals who wish to see history preserved and shared. Conditions and materials as well as the forces of Mother Nature make it unlikely that this struggle will ever end. It will be an ongoing project for many years, likely decades, as rust and wind and salt and sun takes its toll on the Tower.
The Tower has stood vigilant since 1964, though the light has not been continuously lit since 1992. Now it is lit when crew members and guests return to enjoy and work, to change Old Glory, and to experience a unique and thrilling stay with the birds, the fish, the turtles, the rays and spectacular sky displays.
There are few places in the world such as the Tower and with your help it will be around for years to come!
And this from WGNO TV:
34-miles offshore, ocean hotel offers solitude
POSTED 11:14 AM, JUNE 23, 2015, BY SMARLBROUGH, UPDATED AT 12:05PM, JUNE 23, 2015
http://wgno.com/2015/06/23/34-miles-offshore-ocean-hotel-offers-solitude/
Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To the Location of Frying Pan Shoals
Franklin Lock, westernmost lock on the Okeechobee Waterway, is located at Statute Mile 121 and St. Lucie Lock, the easternmost lock, lies west of Stuart, FL near Statute Mile 15. This notice was posted on AGLCA’s Forum by good friends Chuck Baier and Susan Landry.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District has announced restrictions for lock operations on the Okeechobee Waterway due to receding water levels on Lake Okeechobee, effective immediately.
Locking operations at the W.P. Franklin Lock & Dam near Fort Myers and the St. Lucie Lock & Dam near Stuart will be conducted every two hours from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily. This action is the result of the water level at
Lake Okeechobee falling below 12.5 feet.
`This is standard operating procedure whenever the lake falls below 12.5 feet’ said Steve Dunham, Chief of the Corps’ South Florida Operations Office. `We encourage boaters to be aware of the lake level and consider that drafts will continue to decrease if the lake drops more in coming weeks.’
Under the updated schedule, boats will be locked through at the Franklin and St. Lucie Locks at 7 a.m., 9 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 3 p.m., and 4:30 p.m. Operations at the other three locks, Ortona, Moore Haven, and Port Mayaca, will continue on demand between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. with final lockage beginning at 4:30 p.m.
Should the lake drop below 11.5 feet, additional reductions in service will be necessary. For more information on navigation notices concerning the Okeechobee Waterway, please visit the following website:
http://www.saj.usace.army.mil/’¦/Na’¦/NoticestoNavigation.aspx
Click Here To View the Okeechobee Waterway Cruisers’ Net Bridge Directory Listing For Franklin Lock
Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To the Location of Franklin Lock
Click Here To View the Okeechobee Waterway Cruisers’ Net Bridge Directory Listing For St. Lucie Lock
Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To the Location of the St. Lucie Lock
Comments from Cruisers (1)
St Marys Boat Sirvices Inc. Nothing better on the coast
1084 New Point Peter Road. DIY encouraged & aided
904 219 2869. Dry storage
Rocky Smith
Manager
Fax 912 576 2397