Hope this guy never gets a bigger boat!

Maybe he is waiting for his better half to grab the picnic basket and a bottle of bubbly.

Noting like a quiet meal, watching the sunset.

well ... he DOES have the island to himself ...

Hi,

.... with a cold one in hand having just changed his lower unit oil and taken the dings out of his prop.

Maybe he just needed a place to store it where his X-wife or the repo agent couldn't get to it.

We should never forgett the only boats that never hit anything are the ones which never leave the dock ! This Operator made a mistake, but at least, he left the dock.
Best,
Maldwin

Well folks... been there, done that! LOL
Pictures from 9 years ago when I was running my old 42 Post up from FL.
The wind & moon made for a particularly low tide. As you can see, I was hugging the eastern side of the channel. Before the tide came back up, we were in great company as three others grounded out trying to squeak by. Even the outboard center console TowboatUS was dry for a short period.

This was in an area just south of Jacksonville called Palm Valley. I read about lots of trouble there over the next season or two with
impassable areas at medium/low tide.

Um Dave, isn't that the eastern shore where the houses are? I too have been through there when most were bumping bottoms, although it looks like you really caught the wrong tide.

I have been thru Palm Valley 4-5 times (again this coming June), but I have never seen it that low. You can be sure I'll be sticking to the other (East) side. Or...maybe I'll wait for high tide....

There are 2 kinds of boaters. Ones who have grounded a boat and ones who have lied about never grounding a boat.

I have grounded once (a small daycruiser) and this time I for once had my father onboard as well...

We had been having dinner in a bay and I started to go on plane with the evening sun in the eyes, when we hit the rock and damaged the stern drive.

The rock was not charted at that time, it was supposed to be 10 meter of water, but the annoying fact is that I anyway knew it was there...

Any boater who claims not to have touched bottom is either brand new to the sport or is a Pinnochio. How was your running gear? The bottom looks soft, but you're way down in there....

My last few times through there I had no problems, but it wasn't dead low tide. I came through about 4 years ago at low, didn't see it as bad as Dave found it, but everyone was getting stuck in one particular spot. I squeeked through churning mud in a 41 Dancer, I believe it was, at idle. The favored side is the east shoreline, but the one worst hump was on that side. Needless to say, it's marked on my chart & GPS since that trip. You want to be dead slow through that area anyway because of the low docks.

Shallow Draft !!

That's what I love about shallow draft vessels. I took one of these 37' catamarans down the back side of Hatteras...even from Ocracoke Island down thru Core Sound and into Moorehead City. It had kick-up centerboards and kick-up rudders. The power was via a 9.9 hi-thrust Yamaha outboard that pivioted up as well.

19 inches of draft in a 37 footer....great gunkholer

PS: I was led to believe that at one time the intercoastal waterway actually transisted this route, but I don't find that info at the moment

Cool shots.......free drydocking!!

I understand where the ICW is now....been thru there a number of times. I was speaking of a time period long ago before the present ICW is where it is. I was told that the 'orginal ICW' with thru this Core Sound area at one time, and Harkers Island was along the route??

Actually, running the Pamlico sound is 10' deep or more and I've never had an issue running yachts with up to 6' of draft through there. They diverted the channel and dredged it north of the last bridge before you cut over to go to Coinjock. Basically if the boat is 20 knots cruise or less I take the ICW, If it's faster I run Pamlico Sound and it saves A LOT of time as you only have to slow down to go through 2 bridges.....1 is really high, and the other opens on demand.........and it's a lot easier, than bobbing and weaving through the Alligator river route.

Oh comon now..... we've all done it. In college, living in Clearwater beach, we thought we were really hot sticks when we pooled our money and bought a "party boat". An old Century IIRC, 25ish feet. with an Merc. I/O. It was hours upon hours of college fun.
While out in the bay, just outside the (what I now understand) channel from the drinking grounds we like to think we invented, we drop the anchor to take in the last of the afternoon, music, beer, chow, ladies, passers by, etc.

Hey, what are all those posts with green and red markers and numbers and such?

Tide rolls out and there we were. For what seemed like a long, long time......

Boy, those were some fun times!

The house I grew up in was on the water. Anchor a buoy in the mud flats left by low tide. Tie up small ski boat to buoy and leave it sitting on the mud when tied went out. Didn't hurt the Boston Whaler or Sea Ray, but wouldn't try it on anything that didn't have an outboard egg beater or stern drive.

I'm starting to see Canada's new last season boat operator card as a good thing!!!!!!