ICW closing in Georgia?

[Jim]

Lot of rumors going around that the Coast Guard will remove the navigation markers on the ICW at Hells Gate Georgia. The ICW hasn't been dredged there for quite a while and they don't want to be responsible for marking a channel that isn't there. There are psots on the subject at the crusiser's net <see link>., with a call for help in contacting Georgia's congessmen and senators to apply a bit of politic pressure on the Corps of Engineers.

 

[Doug_Meyer]

Georgia ICW

Had some friends go through the Georgia portion of the ICW a couple of weeks ago on their way back North. THey have a trawler that draws 4.5 feet, and reportedly scraped bottom a few times. They said that it definitely wasn't being maintained to any indicated chart depth and had to be very watchful of the tides.They also came up through the Dismal Swamp and touched bottom in there a couple of times. They said it was a beautiful trip, though.I did read that there has been some funding requested (and approved??) for maintenance of the Dismal Swamp portion, but I haven't heard anything about Georgia. Its a shame the waterway isn't being better maintained.

 

[Paul K]

Dredge? Us?

You want the Federal Government to dredge the ICW? They are too busy cutting taxes for the guys with 100' Italian powercruisers, sending money to Haliburton and Iraq to have any left over for dredging in the US. (Sorry, but it's just too obvious. The 100' cruisers are too deep to take the ICW anyway, even dredged, so dredging would be a waste of money.)

 

[abe]

I wonder if during WWII people were concerned

about funding the ICW....we are in WW4 ( we won the cold war WW3) and the government has different priorities.

 

[Gordon Myers]

Not a big deal!

We just came through Hell Gate a few days ago on our way back to the Chesapeake Bay by way of the ICW (currently in Wrightsville Beach, NC). We are a Hunter 450 with a 5'-6" ++ draft. The markers are there. However one of the range markers is missing and had been missing for a year.If you use a chart plotter the channels and range indicators are located on the electronic charts (at least on C-Map).Having done the ICW for a few years now, we know were the problems are and do take them with a mid-tide or more. Skipper Bob's web site also has updates regarding the ICW and is very good.The problem with GA is that in the last federal Fiscal Budget, GA failed to request money for the ICW. So this budget they will be requesting money. We have seen several Core of Engineers boats surveying the GA area. Relax, with a few navigation skills and paying attention to the tides you can get through the whole ICW with out touching. We have done the whole ICW and not touched several times, and when we do it is because of my in attentiveness or pushing the limits. And 99.9% of it is just mud or sand.Gordon on Utopia III, a h450