In This Issue
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I. First Annual "Taste The Good Life In Little Washington" Festival Slated For February 21, 2013 6:00 - 8:30pm
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II. "Druggies" Using Crab Pots In the Gulf of Mexico??????
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III. A New Wrinkle in the Florida Sojouners Permit/FL Registration Discussion
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IV. AICW Problem Stretch Shoaling Confirmed Near McClellanville, SC, Statute Mile 434
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V. Ft. Pierce City Marina Entrance Channel Dredging Underway, AICW Statute Mile 966.5
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VI. Major New Facility, "Port City Marina" Slated to Open in Downtown Wilmington, NC During Summer, 2013
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VII. IMPORTANT - Okeechobee Waterway to be Partially CLOSED, 2/11/13 to 3/11/13
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VIII. Dredging of Two North Carolina AICW Problem Stretches Confirmed
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IX. Ballast Point/Tampa Yacht Club Aid to Navigation Destroyed, Hillsboro Bay, Tampa, FL
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X. Report and Comments on Bradenton Beach Anchorage (Western Florida ICW, Statute Mile 87)
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XI. UPDATE ON GILMERTON BRIDGE!...AICW Statute Mile 5.8
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North Carolina
I. First Annual "Taste The Good Life In Little Washington" Festival Slated For February 21, 2013 6:00 - 8:30pm
We are pleased to help promote a new, very special and undoubtedly very TASTY festival set in SALTY SOUTHEAST CRUISERS' NET SPONSOR, Washington, NC!!! While the late North Carolina winter weather can be a bit unpredictable, we often do get conditions ideal for cruising up the Pamlico River to Washington's excellent city docks, in late February. If this happy condition proves to be the case, we urge all year round NC cruisers, or even very early northbound snowbirds, to take advantage of what I'm sure will be an absolutely scrumptious festival. I only hope that yours truly and his taste buds can be there!
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Western Florida
II. "Druggies" Using Crab Pots In the Gulf of Mexico??????Honestly fellow cruisers, if you don't follow any other links in this Alert, PLEASE don't miss this one.
All I will say in advance is that this entire situation reminds me very much of the lyrics of one of my favorite 1960's songs:
"It's a strange, strong world we live in, Master Jack!"
Don't dare miss:
http://cruisersnet.net/?p=105807
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Eastern Florida, Florida Keys, Western Florida
III. A New Wrinkle in the Florida Sojouners Permit/FL Registration Discussion
The whole issue around the so-called Florida Sojourners permit seems to engender a discussion that never ends. It was only a week ago in our last SSECN alert that we linked yet another discussion concerning this issue, entitled "Florida Sojourner's Permit Reprise" (see http://cruisersnet.net/?p=104513).
Well, that article has led to yet another, not completely resolved, discussion about several other issues centered about the Sojourners Permit:
1. Are Federally Documented vessels which are NOT ALSO state registered, in violation of Florida state law, if said vessels stays in Floridian waters LESS THAN 90 DAYS?
2. Are owners of Federally Documented vessels, whose home port resides in a state that refuses to state register Federally Documented vessels, and, therefore, their vessels are not state registered, in violation of Florida state law. 3. Are there any means for older vessels to avoid some of the Florida taxing and permitting headaches?
I will tell you in advance, that only item #3 above is completely resolved by the discussion linked below, BUT all this verbiage is very informative, and necessary reading for all who take, or plan to take, their vessels into Floridian waters. Don't miss:
http://cruisersnet.net/?p=105475
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South Carolina
IV. AICW Problem Stretch Shoaling Confirmed Near McClellanville, SC, Statute Mile 434
Due to persistent shoaling, in early 2011 we designated the Waterway, south of McClellanville, South Carolina to Awendaw Creek, as an "AICW Problem Stretch." Now, in a just published report, authored by Captain Ray Schmidt, we discover why these waters so richly deserve their "problem stretch" designation.
Check out:
http://cruisersnet.net/?p=105733
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North Carolina
VI. Major New Facility, "Port City Marina" Slated to Open in Downtown Wilmington, NC During Summer, 2013
The Salty Southeast Cruisers' Net is very pleased to announce that our latest SSECN Sponsor, Port City Marina, will open during this upcoming summer (2013) in downtown Wilmington, NC. This facility will offer the cruising community just about everything that a cruising captain and crew could desire, and will be a MAJOR boost to the cruising amenities offered by the city of Wilmington.
Port City Marina will be located upstream of the existing city docks, also on the Cape Fear's eastern banks. The marina's basin has been dredged (see photos in article linked below) immediately north of the Wilmington Convention Center. Coupled with SSECN Sponsor, Bennett Brothers Yachts - Cape Fear Marina, and the city docks, cruisers will now have a HOST of reasons to abandon the familiar confines of the AICW, and cruise upstream to this exciting port city.
Learn LOTS more about Port City Marina, and peruse an artist's rendering of the new facility at:
http://cruisersnet.net/?p=105721
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Okeechobee Waterway
VII. IMPORTANT - Okeechobee Waterway to be Partially CLOSED, 2/11/13 to 3/11/13
WOW, we have just received the extract linked below, cherry picked from the latest Local Notice to Mariners, from our "man on the scene" in Stuart, Florida, Captain Ted Guy, maritime attorney and past president of the Treasure Coast Marina Industry Association. Captain Ted really keeps the cruising community and the SSECN in the know about what's happening in his home, and nearby, waters! Taken at face value, this notice suggests that the Okeechobee Waterway will be CLOSED for much of the daylight hours from February 11, 2013 to March 11, 2013, thus requiring cruisers to transit the eastern section of this highly useful avenue for cruising from the west to the east coast of Florida, or the other way around, in the early morning or late afternoon. This means that Captains navigating the Okeechobee during at least the early part of the spring, 2013 transient season, will have to carefully manage their schedule around these restrictive hours. So, if you plan to cruise the Okeechobee between the dates listed above, run, don't walk, to: http://cruisersnet.net/?p=105553
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North Carolina Eastern Florida
VIII. Dredging of Two North Carolina AICW Problem Stretches Confirmed
As previously announced here on the Salty Southeast Cruisers' Net, both the AICW/New River/New River Inlet Intersection (Statute Mile 246) and the AICW/Browns Inlet Intersection (Statute Mile 237) were slated for late 2012, early 2013 dredging.
We have just received on-the-spot reports that both of these perennial AICW Problem Stretch dredging projects are now complete, and the results, at least for the moment, are very good news. Learn all there is to know at: http://cruisersnet.net/?p=105787 (AICW/Browns Inlet Intersection) and http://cruisersnet.net/?p=105253 (AICW/New River/New River Inlet Intersection)
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Western Florida IX. Ballast Point/Tampa Yacht Club Aid to Navigation Destroyed, Hillsboro Bay, Tampa, FL
Ballast Point, which flanks Hillsborough Bay's westerly shore, is the home of Tampa Yacht Club. This club's harbor is projected by an artificial reef. Looks like, according to the article linked below, cherry picked from the latest Local Notice to Mariners, that they've lost one of the markers denoting their reef.
Full details at:
http://cruisersnet.net/?p=105502
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Virginia to North Carolina
XI. UPDATE ON GILMERTON BRIDGE! AICW Statute Mile 5.8
Gilmerton Highway Bridge crosses the Waterway just south of Norfolk and has been the subject of much attention since the construction and resulting number of closures began last fall.
For the very latest on this span, including a multi-day closure this month (January, 2013), please visit:
http://cruisersnet.net/?p=105154
That's all for now. Good luck and good cruising to all!
Claiborne S. Young Salty Southeast Cruisers' Net
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