beachbob

took a ride from little river to Grand dunes myrtle beach today ICW was as low as 4.8 feet in spots. Scary as hell for a go fast. Hows the ICW where your at was just wondering.

CAP071

The back bay in Barnegat NJ is down to inches in some spots

Pantera1

Im confused are the oceans drying up or do they need dredging

CAP071

No mother nature is just changing her mind on where she wants the water to be

mopower

Tides move silt around and spots need dredging...no money I guess. Hell , Jerseys transportation fund is drying up so they can't fix the roads let alone the waterways

Formula Outlaw

Here on the Gulf Coast it's not in too bad of shape. With the winter tides there are spots it can get shallow, you just have to be careful.

What we are having trouble with is the inlets/passages from the ICW to the Gulf. All the storms we've had the last couple of years has REALLY sanded them in badly. They just dredged New Pass (south end of Longboat Key) and right now you really have to watch where you're going. Heading out you have to keep to the south and follow the Lido shoreline for quite a ways before you can head west to open water. I'd guess 200 yards or more before you can swing to the west. It's a problem up and down the coast.

Iggy

Congress cut funding to maintain the ICW. The Army Corps of Engineers don't have the manpower to keep up.
Somebody decided that the ICW was no longer necessary for shipping so money was put elsewhere. The ICW was needed during WWII to keep goods moving up and down the coast. Not anymore.

CigDaze

It's all about budget. The ICW was envisioned to have a minimum authorized depth of 12 feet from Norfolk to Miami, and a long time ago, it was...sadly, the funding and manpower simply has not been in place, and the ICW is filling up.

Support the ICW:
http://www.atlintracoastal.org/
http://www.boatus.com/gov/icw_article.htm
http://www.boatus.com/news/releases/...r/alliance.asp

Smarty

Low tide on some parts of ICW in New Jersey is not the place to be on a Sunday or Saturday afternoon because there is no space to maneuverer around the fisherman, family run-abouts, and water-skiing/jet-ski crowd. Especially at from Ocean City to Cape May, at certain spots. Don't get me wrong, it is not that horrible (lack of depth), but stay between the markers, otherwise the you touch bottom. And since we are responsible for our wake, with the 10'14' rental fishing boats lining the ICW.
I prefer to be in the ocean, when boating at the shore.

CAP071

some of those back water ways are marked by broken broom sticks stuck in the mud