(updated 5/9//2018, new waypoints added to the southern section for better depths)
As requested, below a the waypoints for manual entry for the red side route which is the only one I now use (twice this year, last time after Matthew, it works for at least 14 MLW).
As requested, below a the waypoints for manual entry for the red side route which is the only one I now use (twice this year, last time after Matthew, it works for at least 14 MLW).
Waypt Lat Long
Note: it's okay to round the decimals to three places. The third decimal is about +/- 6 ft
It better to load the GPX file to avoid data entry errors. The BFernd2 is an update to the previous BFernD1 with more waypoints in the southern section of the passage for better depths.
| BF1 | 30 39.7920 N | 081 28.5311 W |
| BF2 | 30 39.8843 N | 081 29.0779 W |
| BF3 | 30 39.6023 N | 081 29.1973 W |
| BF4 | 30 39.1168 N | 081 29.0000 W |
| BF5 | 30 38.8260 N | 081 29.0377 W |
| BF6 | 30 38.6588 N | 081 29.1338 W |
| BF7 | 30 38.4848 N | 081 29.3008 W |
It better to load the GPX file to avoid data entry errors. The BFernd2 is an update to the previous BFernD1 with more waypoints in the southern section of the passage for better depths.
GPX file: BFernd2
For help in using GPX files, see GPX File Use
The red line route is shown below in the survey chart around the G1 turn. Note that it passes 450 feet north of G1! The green stuff shows 2 to 10 ft of depth. In some places it's right next to the channel which is only 125 feet wide.
Bob, I have seen your many posts on Active Captain and in particular have used your waypoints across St. Andrews Sound with great success. We sail out of St Simons, GA and last week had to traverse Fernandina Shallows at low tide which I dreaded. I have an old garmin gps and so i cannot load the routes you provided. I tried to enter each individual waypoint for both BFernRed and BFernGr but they did not show up correctly on my chart so there was something wrong with how I entered them. I was able to load the four coordinates given on the Taylor Engineering Survey and those turned out fine.
ReplyDeleteNot being sure what to do I called the local Tow Boat US person to get some ,ocal knowledge. He told me to go "green to green" from G3 to G1 and that if I wend wide to the red side as described in active captain that "he would be towing me off". So i followed his advice and went from G3 directly to G1 and as soon as we got close to G1 we hit bottom. Fortunately we did not get stuck but I steered away from G1, found deeper water and kept going. I basically took your blue route but I believe that I got too close to G1 and should have moved toward mid-channel just before getting to G1. Meanwhile there was another sailboat going south at the time and they took the survey route and had no problems. I guess we should all be aware of "local" knowledge from local know-it-all captains. Is there any way that you can post the gps coordinates for the survey route (dotted line on your map) so that those of us with older gps models can enter them manually? You did that on AC for St. Andrews Sound and it helped me quite a bit. Thanks for what you do.
bob
Bob K, your point is well taken. I have an old Garmin 492 and use a program no longer supported by Garmin to enter GPX routes. At any rate I updated the page to include the waypoints for manual entry and I also updated the Active Captain post.
ReplyDeleteFantastic Bob. Thanks so much.
ReplyDeletebk
Bob,
ReplyDeleteJust used the waypoints given above. Entered the shallows at 4:45 which was 1/2 after low tide this afternoon (4/11/17). Waypoints worked great, saw nothing less than 14' (just a brief blip). Mostly 20+ from FS5 to FS2. Then mostly 19/19 from FS2 to FS1.
John
sv Aimless
Cape Dory 36
Draft 5'4" loaded
sv.aimless@gmail.com
John, thanks for the feedback! The red side Fernandina passage has been stable for several years. Even Matthew didn't disturb it. The passage is so simple if everybody would just follow the red side passage given at the top of the article.
ReplyDelete