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Please Note That Postings Below From Fellow Cruisers Are Listed in Chronological Order, Based on Publication Date
Yellow Background Denotes Navigation Alert Postings
Key Biscayne Yacht Club Channel Light 3 damaged
Dumfoundling Bay Daybeacon 50 destroyed
This shoaling appears to begin just north of Bakers Haulover Inlet. Slow speed and sharp watch are required.
FLORIDA – AICW – WEST PALM BEACH TO MIAMI – NORTHERN BISCAYNE BAY: Bakers Haulover Shoaling
Mariners are advised that significant shoaling has been identified in portions of the Intracoastal waterway within Bakers Haulover, in the vicinity of:
25-54-15.77N / 80-07-49.37W (25°54.2629N / 080°7.8229W, 25.904381 / -80.130381),
25-53-51.14N / 80-08-01.75W (25°53.8523N / 080°8.0291W, 25.897539 / -80.133819),
25-53-59.71N / 80-07-33.10W (25°53.9951N / 080°7.5517W, 25.899919 / -80.125861),
25-54-15.62N / 80-07-44.83W (25°54.2603N / 080°7.7471W, 25.904339 / -80.129119) .
The shoaling has resulted in depths being reduced below 10 feet in some areas with the most severe portions showing a depth as low as 2.9 feet.
Extreme caution should be exercised when transiting the area to avoid vessel damage and potential groundings.
Good news for cruisers who are not docking overnight in the Hollywood area or who might be anchoring. However, the nearest anchorage is three miles south.
Where boating is a pleasure: A new Publix could let you dock to shop
SunSentinel
TL;DR: It’s an empty lot. It *may* eventually be a Publix with a dock. Definitely not this season.
[Editor: Thanks Sean! Title has been adjusted. LD]
The age old issue of converting popular ICW anchorages, such as North and South Lakes in Hollywood, into mooring fields has in the past been associated with municipal waterfronts like St. Augustine. The mooring fields are considered to be a way to prevent derelicts and long term, unattended anchored vessels. See Anchoring Hassels in Hollywood, Florida and Sewage in Waterway Blamed on Boaters, Hollywood, FL.
Click here for Boat buoys could sink sailing on Hollywood lakes
Sun Sentinel
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District announces details for the public scoping meeting in Fort Lauderdale regarding the development of the new Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual (LOSOM). The meeting locations listed in the link below include Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Miami Gardens.
Our thanks to Specialist Erica Skolte for this notice.
Click here for Corps announces public meeting in Ft. Lauderdale on Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual
Contact
Erica Skolte
561-340-1527
561-801-5734 (cell)
Erica.A.Skolte@usace.army.mil
See Okeechobee Waterway Overview.
For details and admission, go the official site, Palm Beach International Boat Show.
Palm Beach International Yacht Show
Announcing the 2019 annual Palm Beach Boat Show, in West Palm Beach, Florida, from Thursday the 28th to Sunday the 31st of March, 2019.
If you are familiar with these two channels, located south of Key Biscayne, into Biscayne Bay, let Kevin and us hear from you.
Is anyone familiar with entering Biscayne Bay via the Cape Florida Channel or Biscayne Channel? I draw 4.5 feet. What are the currents like? Thanks.
You shouldn’t have any trouble with either channel. Key Biscayne channel is better marked and perhaps a little deeper, but neither is a problem for your draft. Enjoy the trip through Stiltsville. The Cape Florida channel is not as well marked, but again no problem. However, be cautious of the sportfishers that run through it on plane. Some sails chose to anchor near the channel for a quick start to a Bahamas trip – not a good idea. Also, on weekends there is a lot of traffic here going to and from No Name Harbor and its restaurant. Currents on each are not an issue for boats under power.
Great advice Bill. Thanks for helping a fellow cruiser .
MIAMI — State and federal responders are scheduled to begin vessel removal operations in Miami-Dade County Thursday as part of ongoing response efforts following Hurricane Irma.
Damaged vessels being removed will be stored at two newly established locations: Watson Island Marina and the Seminole Boat Ramp.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL REPORT
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Evacuation Shelters in Miami-Dade County from The Miami Hurricane
In July of 2016, several popular Miami area anchorages, including Sunset Lake, were declared to be Banned Anchoring Areas by the FWC. See Bill Murdock’s article and chart on these banned zones: /163814
Cruisers’ Net would like to know if any of you south Florida cruisers have attempted to anchor in Sunset Lake and, if so, what were the results? Is the ban being enforced? Let us hear from you.
Click Here To View the Eastern Florida Cruisers’ Net Anchorage Directory Listing For Sunset Lake
Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To the Location of Sunset Lake
Are you seriously asking people to admit, on the Internet, that they broke the law?
This severe shoaling in the Waterway channel immediately west of Bakers Haulover Inlet.
FLORIDA – AICW – WEST PALM BEACH TO MIAMI – BISCAYNE BAY: Severe Shoaling
The U.S. Coast Guard received a report of severe shoaling in the vicinity of Bakers Haulover Buoy 7A (LLNR 47824 [25°54.1120N / 080°7.8605W, 25.901867 / -80.131009]) reducing the width of the channel to 20 yards. MARINERS ARE ADVISED TO EXERCISE EXTREME CAUTION AND LOCAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE CHANNEL CONDITIONS IS RECOMMENDED BEFORE ATTEMPTING PASSAGE. Chart 11467 LNM 32/17
If you are headed for the Bahamas this summer and would like company, give John and Judy a call.
Looking for buddy boat(s) to cruise the Bahamas. John and Judy are sailing a 35 ft Heritage, departing the Miami area the end of June or early July, looking for the company of other boats to join us on the trip. We find that sailing with a “buddy” or 2 increases the enjoyment. The cruising area will be the Abacos and Bimini. We are a retired couple and are not licensed boat captains, but John has extensive experience in the Bahamas, but not recently. If you think you would like to take the trip, give us a call at 863-655-4153 and we’ll talk about it.
John and Judy Egizi
Hibiscus Island and Monumental Island anchorage are on the north side of the MacArthur Causeway in northern Biscayne Bay. The anchorage is northeast of Monument Island, accessible from the north and from the Waterway west of the area. Our thanks to Janice Callum, who is replying to Crackdown on Dinghy Landings Access, for this report and for her excellent advice on being good citizens while visiting “foreign waters” lest we be labeled as the “ugly boater.”
We are anchored off Hibiscus Island in Miami Beach. No visits from police or problems with anything! Boats are anchored off Star Island and the Collins Canal, no hassle. Many more derelict looking boats are anchored on the north side of the East Venetian bridge, but they also seem to be left alone. We saw one trawler named Lady J get pulled over by the water police…the officials are especially protective of the sea grass seedlings in this area and the No Wake zone in Maloy Channel, so crawl along those shores! Sunset Lake remains boat free; as well as free of the dinghies that were anchored around to obstruct cruiser’s anchoring. How ’bout if we all just leave that spot alone until the “unwelcome” (caused by the fellow who considers himself a Cuba expert who sails a near derelict red boat) wears off (and do let him know if you see him that none of us Snowbirds have appreciated the mess he’s caused for us down here). The good news, that we have not seen posted anywhere on the www, is that there is a wonderful dinghy dock up the Collins Canal across the street from the boater-friendly Publix….not just a chain, a real dock! But, fellow cruisers, please, PLEASE stop jamming your trash into the waste receptacle on the street by the dock! It’s beyond comprehension that anyone thinks this is an appropriate spot for trash bags; and, you are risking this spot to tie up for all of us! The police docks and park wall under the bridge (on the other side of the canal) are all posted Tow Away Zone or 20 Minute Loading Zone No Mooring. Let’s all be welcome visitors and do something helpful while we are here! Pick up your dog’s waste, keep your stereos down, anchor well off folk’s backyards and go somewhere else if you can’t handle the wakes.
Best regards, Janice Callum, “Calamus”
Click Here To View the Eastern Florida Cruisers’ Net Anchorage Directory Listing For Monument Island
Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To the Location of Monument Island
This notice is for our friends and cruisers in south Florida.
New Zika transmission zone confirmed in Miami-Dade County
NBC 6 MIAMI , WPTV Webteam
4:20 PM, Oct 13, 2016
11:29 PM, Oct 13, 2016
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL REPORT
This article and video by Todd Tongen comes from Local ABC News 10 of Hollywood, FL.
Hollywood condo owners blame live-aboard boaters for dirty waterway
Residents near North Beach Park say boaters dump sewage into Intracoastal
By Todd Tongen – Anchor/Reporter , Samantha Bryant – Intern
Posted: 6:19 PM, May 13, 2016
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – Hollywood condominium owners are blaming live-aboard boaters for a dirty Intracoastal Waterway behind their complex.
Residents of The Moorings condominiums near North Beach Park in Hollywood told Local 10 News reporter Todd Tongen that the live-aboard boaters are nothing more than squatters on the water.
Marybeth Cullinan, a Moorings homeowner association member, reported seeing raw sewage dumped in the waterway.
CLICK HERE for the full article and video.
The vast majority of waterway contamination is not due to boaters but to surface runoff through storm drains. Intact feces could not make it through the choker valve on marine heads. They would most likely be dog dropping washed into storm drains. Similarly cigarette butts , styrofoam cups,paper and other trash are from irresponsible land dwellers, not boaters.
Dinner Key Marina is located at the western end of Dinner Key Channel on the western shore of Biscayne Bay. For more typical comments on Dinner Key Marina, see /25334.
If the customer service in most places in Miami is subpar, then the service at Dinner Key Marina is absolute garbage. The kind of service that makes you immediately regret having moved to Miami (and I speak fluent Spanish). The kind of service that forces you to set aside ample time to sit down and write a juicy, one star review just like the one that you are about to read. So you do not mistake this review for one coming from a non-credible source, I should probably mention that I am a USCG licensed Captain (50 ton Master) and a Cambridge engineering graduate with 20 years of boating experience. Also for the record, I have never really written a review before, but this nightmare could not have gone unpublished. Here is the sequence of events:
1. I signed a one year contract with the marina for a commercial slip in August of 2014. The plan was to run charters to small groups of elite guests aboard my 41-foot Maxum. Having endured a 3-hour long trip down from Fort Lauderdale, my father and I finally pulled into our allocated slip. The very next morning, we were rudely woken by a bunch of goons banging on the fiberglass, asking why we had parked there. They had chained the boat to the seawall. I kindly replied that I had signed a one year contract for that spot. They later unchained the boat and barely made an apology. That is Dinner Key Marina’s idea of a welcome, apparently.
2. One week following my arrival, I drove up to Orlando for a few days. There, the local police came knocking on my door announcing that they had found a boat registered to my name up on a beach in Fort Pierce (about 125 miles north of Miami). Long story short, a ring of drug smugglers stole my 41 Maxum from Dinner Key Marina. I still wonder if it was not someone from the marina who tipped off my absence. It took 3 months of investigations by the USCG, DEA, and the local Sheriff’s department, and an additional 3 months of quoting repairs before I recouped the money from the insurance company (the boat was declared a total loss). Dinner Key Marina did not help out with anything and did not even express their sympathies for what had happened. I later suggested that they install a camera to monitor that pier (Pier 9) and they really could not have cared less.
3. I returned to the marina with a new Concept 36. Why do you ask? Because none of the other 30 odd marinas in Miami had availability for commercial vessels. I should also mention that although Dinner Key Marina welcomes commercial vessels, they are not zoned for commercial use. I found that out following a visit to the City Hall trying to get my zoning permit. So technically, everyone there operating commercially is illegal. The operations lady at the Dinner Key Marina, Maria Busto, one of the most impolite, ill-intentioned, dysfunctional individuals I have ever had the displeasure to meet, had promised me following the theft of the 41 Maxum, that she would give me priority on my original slip. Sure enough, when I returned to the marina with the Concept 36, she had given it away to somebody else and left me with a slip amidst a bunch of shrimping boats. Just for the record, all of the frustrating experiences delineated above were delivered almost exclusively by her, Maria Busto. Do not waste even a second of your time with her. Talk directly to Stephen Bogner, the manager, anytime you need assistance. I found this out too late. He is of great character and although he does not have much control over what goes on in his marina, he means well.
4. My dad fell ill in early 2016 and I was forced to move back to Orlando to tend to him. I terminated my contract with Dinner Key Marina under this premise. My dad just passed away from heart failure at the age of 55. Even knowing about these circumstances, it took Dinner Key Marina nearly 4 months to refund my deposit. E-mails went unanswered almost every time. Every time I called in, no one was around even during business hours. Simply unbelievable.
5. Summarizing, this was the worst experience I have had with any company in my entire life. I failed to mention the countless times I had to fend off people trying to steal my stuff at the dock (and they did), obnoxious fishermen tossing garbage around and having to pick up after them, birds crapping shrimp guts all over my boat, vandalism, and daily encounters with ill-tempered employees of the marina (with a few exceptions, including Renato, an awesome security guy). Come here at your own peril. This place is a disaster. It will drain you emotionally and ruin your life!
Alexander N Endlein
Click Here To View the Eastern Florida Cruisers’ Net Marina Directory Listing For Dinner Key Marina
Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To the Location of Dinner Key Marina
Peter Conway is inquiring about Hurricane Harbor on the southwestern shore of Key Biscayne. There is no charted channel into what appears to be a well-sheltered anchorage. If you have local knowledge of this harbor, let us hear from you.
What happened to the anchorage at Hurricane Harbor? Is it not still a permitted anchorage?
Peter Conway
Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To the Location of Hurricane Harbor
Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To A “Navigation Alert” Position at Bakers Haulover Inlet
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