GL: Apalachicola/Government Cut, was: 3-1/2'

[Glenn Dean]

We were thru Apalachicola, this past June. We found plenty of depth in
Government Cut , itself but the channel to Apalachicola, thru the bay was
shallow.
As I remember 7' was the avg. depth , but it would get down to 3 feet in some
places.
We kept feeling like, somehow we had gotten out of the channel.
The commercial boats must know where the deep water is, otherwise they would
be hitting bottom.

-----Original Message-----
From: great-loop-bounces@lists.samurai.com
[mailto:great-loop-bounces@lists.samurai.com]On Behalf Of Albin43SDtr
Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2006 11:41 AM
To: great-loop@lists.samurai.com
Subject: Re: GL: Apalachicola/Government Cut, was: 3-1/2'


'Lo All,

>There is shoaling between Apalachicola and Government Cut, but never
>in the pass.

The last time we went south, a few years ago, the USCG advised us not
to use Government Cut because there was extensive shoaling inside the
cut and only folks who knew the tortuous route through the shoals
should use it. They said that the shoals in Government Cut change
continuously.

For What It May Be Worth:

Local folks I know that work those waters advise others (including
me) to go to the pass at Carrabelle, at the west end of Dog Island.
This is especially true if one has to wait for a crossing window, as
the water at Dog Island's Shipping Harbor is usually (always when we
were there) very clean and clear. For us, it takes most of a day to
get from Panama City to Dog Island, so we stay the night and leave
late the following day. Great place to kill time. The water around
Apalachicola is brown with silt and rich with whatever comes down the
Apalachicola River that the oysters like so much.

The Celestial cruises about 8.5 kts or so. Since we cannot cross in
daytime, leaving after sun up and arriving before sundown; we always
cross at night, leaving about 4 PM, so that we can easily see all the
buoys in the pass, and arrive late enough in the morning to see any
buoys, shoals and crab pots when arriving. Fortunately, there is very
little jetsam and flotsam in the water there. There are lots of
shrimp boats further south. If your radar has a guard zone alarm -
use it, as not all of the boats, especially the long-liners, are well
lit, but most shrimpers are. We usually opt to arrive at Clearwater
or Tampa Pass (at Egmont Key), because the bottom has changed so much
in the area around the Anclote Keys, and I am afraid I may be too
tired to see all the shoals, especially since then I would be looking
into the sun. We usually leave coming back north via the Anclote
Keys, but go slow and keep a wary eye out for shoals. The last time
back, there were 3-4' sand dunes where the chart showed 12' of
water......and that will/did all change with the next few major storms.

Another benefit of traveling the Gulf at night, is that the winds
usually lay down, unless, of course, a front is passing through. I
have often seen 3-4' daytime waves become a slick calm at night, only
to become 3-4' waves late the following day, caused solely by
convective onshore winds created by heating of the land-mass.


Take care and be safe.

Wayne
M/V Celestial
Albin43 Sundeck
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