del., md., va. inside question..

I do the same, but we're talking about running on the inside. When I referenced Moriches inlet I was referring to passing it on the bay side. There's several spots on Moriches Bay, between buoys 15 & 30, where going one to another you won't be going anywhere. There used to be a spot in Shinnicock Bay where the powers that be decided to straighten the channel. They marked the charts, moved the buoys, then funding was cut. A buoy sat on about 1' of water at low tide for several years. I had my people sight off a house that I've used since I was a kid, no matter where the buoys were, because it was the natural channel. That's "local knowledge", a good thing to have when the deep water is less than 5' and constantly shoaling.

Yes, but many times it's best to just avoid spots you're not familiar with. Like this whole thread. Why not just take the C+D canal and go down the Chesapeke bay, where you know it's all deep water and no issues. Even if you're in O.C. it's not that much ocean to get around the cape or whatever.

That's the part I never understood about this thread.

I understand the OP's curiosity. First, it's a long stretch of ocean that is often radically different than what's above O.C. Once you're doing it you're committed. I plotted it out long ago in case I needed to duck in. I didn't much like what I found. Then there's the adventure of going different places and routes, exploring the nooks and cranies. Part of the fun of boating. A lot of us think with a transporters mindset, concentrating on our destinations. Some of us just cruise. It took me awhile to get with that transition when we started doing the Loop. Sort of like transitioning to doing things "on island time".

I'm all for exploring different route and so forth, but none so iffy. If it were my boat and my pockets perhaps I would, but I prefer to take a route that I know is safe. If there's any iffininess I avoid it.

But, I used to run the inside from Belize City to San Pedro in a boat that cruised at 31 knots with 4' draft. There was one spot you had to do an S curve through and at 31 knots and I would see less than 1' on the depth finder..... 6-10". Now I used to run this route often but only after I didn't know any better the first time and was told to run that way and it would be fine by the owner, who always travelled with me on that route....I about lost my shorts when he told me this area (200 yards) would be shallow and to stay at cruise and I saw 6 inches on the depth finder.....LOLOLOL

I'd love exploring that area, but in a tender, preferably a jet tender. Maybe we'll do that some time. I'd just not heard anyone taking it through as a route in a regular boat.

In case OP hasn't checked, the US Coast Pilot #3, Chapter 8 describes the VA inside passage. (see nauticalcharts.noaa.gov)

-Chris

Yep, didn't mean to imply this would replace first-hand info, just mentioned it in case you hadn't reviewed it. In other words, FWIW.

The newest one is 2014 (47th) Edition, updated through 11 Jan 2015.

See here http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/nsd/coastpilot_w.php?book=3

FWIW, I got an Adobe error statement on page two -- chapter/area numbers not visible in the diagram -- when I tried the normal download using IE11. The site says there's a known error using Chrome, and even though I'm not using Chrome, I tried the recommended technique (right click, sace target as...") and don't get the error. Or downloading the "Front" (title page, preface, TOC) file individually solved the error, too.

-Chris