Chesapeake Bay - Smith and Tangier Islands

[Manny]

Anyone been to Smith and/or Tangier Islands this year? If so are the channels in both deep enough to accommodate a boat with almost a five and a half foot draft?
Also I know Parks is still open in Tangier, but is there a place to tie up for the night on Smith?

Hoping to find someone that has been through recently, most of what I have been finding on the web has been older information.

Thank you in advance!

 

[dlochner]

We were there in June 22. Carried 5' draft all the way in on Smith Island, do go slow and watch the depth the bottom is soft, so its not a big issue.

There is a long dock on Smith, honor system to pay for dockage, it was $20 a night. There is one restaurant which serves lunch and can get pretty crowded on the weekends, it is also closed on I think Monday and Tuesday, of course those were the days we were there.

If the dock is crowded, don't worry most all of the boats will leave after eating lunch. There is a nice interpretative center about the island's history and a small convenience store that serves some light fare. We enjoyed our day there.