Cruising America's Great Loop and other inland routes
View all threadsWell I had the dubious honor of running the ICW the rest of the way from
Atlantic City to Manasquan Inlet NJ in the fog again. It was identical
conditions to the trip from Cape May to Atlantic City I wrote about a few
weeks ago.
On Wed we left Atlantic City NJ in less than 1/8 mile visibility. Rather
than sit and wait for the fog to lift.whenever, we departed at 6:45am. Ran
inside without event.
The caution areas are north side of Great Bay and where the ICW runs out the
Little Egg Inlet a bit but then turns 90 deg northbound (that would be a
left if you are from Rio Linda). Its deep there but in the fog the buoys are
spread apart pretty far. The channel has shoals and slight turns and it
could be easy to drift aside of the channel into shallower water. If you
were not depending on radar and had visual acquired the buoys, less concern.
After you made the northbound turn and get up near Liberty
Thoroughfare/Mordecai Island, there is a red lighted channel marker "LB"
that needs to be taken differently. It is definitely shoal, less than 4ft,
in the channel as you approach that marker. So well before it move over to
the right and favor close to Mordecai Island where you will find 6-8ft of
water and can pass easily. But remember: with incoming current, it will
bring you to this shoaling area very quickly while you may be trying to
identify it and find yourself in the skinny water.
Other than that I cannot mention any notable areas. In the old days back
closer to Atlantic City, Black Point (Stat Mile 60) used to be a shoaling
concern. Northbound from there, around Green 159, there is now two
additional buoys in the channel (in addition to the steel pole markers)
because of shoaling to keep you in deep water. These are not on the charts.
Even Tow Island in Great Bay was well marked and plenty of water. That used
to be a shoal shift spot that moved each year.
Oh the fog did lift when we went under the Manahawkin Bridge around 10:45am.
We found some of Skipper Bob's mentions of bridges in his ICW book are not
correct now. He mentions some bridge heights that are now a few feet higher
probably because of being rebuilt since his publication.
R.