First, let me say there is a lot of shallow water but in the same breath I can say that navigation is actually very easy once you understand a few basic things about the harbor.  Let’s take a look at a typical trip from the Peace River Bridge (bridge connecting Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte) to Boca Grande Pass which is the entrance to the Gulf.  This route is particularly good to understand if you are a wayward sailor and looking to moor to the public mooring buoys on either side of the bridge in Punta Gorda.  Mast height on the Peace River Bridge is 45 feet so that eliminates many sailing vessels which desire to use the moorings east of the bridge but there are still plenty on the west side.

From the bridge making way westward you can sometimes become a little confused at many different day markers what they mean.  To your east you will see Fisherman’s Village and there is a long set of channel markers to lead you there.  Your first bearing point will be Red Marker 2, which has a flashing beacon.  Your water depths throughout the Peace River in this area will be 8-12 feet or more.  Colony Point (often not shown on charts) is the beginning of the large fat point for which Punta Gorda was named.  Punta Gorda is Spanish for fat point.  We often refer to this area as Colony Point because of the condos in the area and the road bearing the same name.  Colony Point is a good place to avoid getting too close to land as the water comes up very shallow on this point and adjacent mangroves.  The west side of the point is Ponce de Leon Park which is a primary exit for all of Punta Gorda Isles (PGI).  THIS IS THE MOUTH OF THE PEACE RIVER.

If you follow from Red #2 to Green #1 there is plenty of water up to 16’.  Nothing tight about navigating or staying close to the markers.  There are many sailboat races each year at the mouth of the river with plenty of room with no worries about running aground even with deep draft sail boats but still be mindful of the shallows on Colony Point and either side of the channel markers to Ponce Park.

From Green #1, the harbor is wide open!  On either side of the harbor for your southern track is a sandbar a ¼ mile off the mangroves so basically you have miles of water to enjoy with no worries.  In general, there is water from 7 feet and deeper as long as you stay off this sandbar which is often visible at low tides.  There are tons of room for any style boat heading south.  THERE ARE NO NAVIGATIONAL MARKERS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE HARBOR (I guess they are not really necessary).

Your next point for navigation can be Green Marker #5 which identifies the end of an underwater point (and land point) known as Cape Haze Point.  DO NOT CUT THIS SHORT UNTIL YOU KNOW YOUR WAY AROUND!  It will be a soft grounding if you run too close to the land point but countless many of us, me included have made that mistake and it normally means waiting for high tide to get off.

You could also target Red Marker #6 in front of Burnt Store Marina and then head West with a straight line track to Boca Grande which will be barely visible at this point.  Proceeding westward you can follow the day markers to the Pass but there is plenty of water to explore and enjoy so you don’t have to stay anywhere close to the markers until you get closer to Boca.

BE AWARE OF THE FOLLOWING OBSTRUCTIONS IN THE HARBOR!  MOST ARE POORLY MARKED HOWEVER NONE ARE IN YOUR TRAVEL PATHS BETWEEN MARKERS:

North of Marker #1 near the entrance to the Peace River is The Old Tire Reef.  Not much there on the bottom but there are pilings sitting out in the middle of nowhere that you might not expect.

Mid harbor there is a large artificial reef known as Alligator Creek Reef.  It is poorly marked!  You will see a large concrete piling sticking out on either end.  They are not lit at night!  Crazy, so before traveling at night a run through the harbor at day time is recommended.  Alligator Creek Reef is in front of Alligator Creek which has a marked channel.  Between the concrete pilings the fish attracting debri on the bottom should not cause any issues with navigation as there is about 10-12 feet of water there.  Here is what the pilings sitting in the middle of nowhere look like!  The first photo is the north end and the second is the south end of the artificial reef.

Once you are passing Green Marker #5 on Cape Haze Point beware there is a public artificial fishing reef known as Cape Haze Reef north of your trajectory line between #5 and Red marker #4.  It is well marked with Yellow floating cylinders that protrude about 5 feet above the water line.

The next obstruction to be aware of is called Danger Reef.  I think this is a great name for this as there is a sunken 40 foot boat on the bottom.  It is marked with a single non-descript piling that in my opinion is woefully inadequate.  This should not be a problem unless you are just tooling around exploring the harbor.  It is unlikely you will not see it but I find it sneaks up on me.  At night it is not lite!  Very dangerous so you need to know your way around very well during the daytime prior to traveling at night.

That’s about it for obstructions however most will never cause you an issue during daytime navigation.

Charlotte Harbor and the adjoining waters will provide you with a lifetime of enjoyment without navigation worries.  Just take your time and watch what other mariners are doing.  I find some of my customers that are not experienced with saltwater buy larger boats than needed.  Particularly fisherman.  Since they may have come from lakes and perhaps not understanding channel markers and saltwater navigation they tend to buy boats that draft too much, are too long, gunnel height is too high and perhaps have twin outboards.  I will give you guidance on what type of boat to optimize your fishing goals.  For sailors, there are no real worries on running aground and there are plenty of homes to accommodate a 6 foot draft (or less) but sailboats with deeper drafts may have to make concessions on tides.  Its important to know that your home is truly sailboat accessible before you enter into a contract however the open harbor will never be a problem.

The post Shallow Spots and How To Navigate On Charlotte Harbor appeared first on Sailboat Home Listings.

Just about every mariner I sell a house to asks me the question on what the tide swing is.  Certainly, an important question for anyone with a sailboat or deep draft water craft or in a shallow water canal system.  It also is important depending on where your waterfront home is located.  In most canal systems, you will not need to worry about tide heights to come and go from your dock, especially Punta Gorda Isles and Burnt Store Isles!  However, there are locations where losing 2 feet or more of tide may cause an issue getting out of the canal or possibly allowing you to drop your boat lift in the water far enough to allow the boat to float off.  This second scenario is important to understand when buying a house because in some cases the boat lift is very near your seawall or bank and that of course, is where the water will be the shallowest.  If your boat lift cradle bottoms out you may need to wait for a higher tide to get your boat out.  I know what to watch for with problem situations for shallow water and your boat lift and what canals are most likely to present a problem.  There are also private dredges you can arrange to address problem situations if your dockside water is too shallow.

Now, on to the most important point of this article for sailboat and power boat folks:  What is the tidal swing for Punta Gorda, Port Charlotte and Charlotte Harbor?  On average it is 2 feet.  That’s all.  For experienced blue water sailors you may have experienced tide swings as high as 8 feet or more but likely never less than 2 feet.  Two feet is the magic number but the tidal swing or height does vary depending on wind direction, moon phase, day of the month and time of year.  Also, important to know for the experienced mariner, there may be only 1 high tide and 1 low tide a day so your “tide watch” is useless here.  On most tidal bodies there are 2 highs and 2 lows and you can pretty much set your clock to it.  In those situations, each day the high and low tides shift about 55 minutes ahead and this is year around.  Charlotte Harbor and tides in Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte are not so predictable.  Some days the tides are nearly flat for the entire day with a slow gradual incoming or outgoing tide.  On most days however the tide follows a 2 high and 2 low tide schedule with about 55 minutes increase each day.  However, you can only predict flat tide days or 2 tide days by looking at a proper tide chart showing the entire tide curve not a small card you find free in boat stores that has simply highs and lows in numerical format.  My best explanation of this is we in southwest Florida have water surrounding the entire state.  The gulf stream has its pattern on the gulf side as well.  With that said with the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf Stream water flows affecting each other our end result is tides affected by nature that do not follow tide models found in other areas.

General rules for mariners regarding tides:

• Tides will be higher in the summer and higher with wind pushed water with south and west winds. Charlotte Harbor is a big bowl with a large inlet/outlet.  Extra water can be pushed in and pushed out and remain temporarily trapped.
• Tides will be lower in winter in general especially with a north or northeast wind which pushes water out of the harbor and consequently out of the canals.
• Tides we be extra high or low on a full moon and possibly on a new moon.

The post Tides in Punta Gorda, Port Charlotte & Charlotte Harbor for Sailors and Fisherman appeared first on Sailboat Home Listings.

Often mariners interested in owning a home in the Punta Gorda – Port Charlotte area ask me about navigation on Charlotte Harbor.  At first glance many think the waters are very shallow and navigation is tricky.  Charlotte Harbor does have plenty of shallow waters less than 5 feet however when it comes to navigation you can rest easy once you know a few basic areas to avoid.

Using Fisherman’s Village as a point of reference of take off, I will take you through the harbor and into Boca Grande Pass and point out a few things to be aware of.  Starting from Marker G3A, (a green day marker) you have 7-8 feet of water on most tides.  This marker is at the outside entrance to the channel leading to Fisherman’s Village.  Perhaps more important to you, if you are considering Punta Gorda Isles as your neighborhood you can exit into the Peace River, and once outside the canals generally you have 6-10 feet depending on tide.

From either of these two locations you will have 7-15 feet of water in most places if your heading is towards Red #2 which is northwest. You really don’t have to cut really close to the markers as there is plenty of water around it and most markers for that matter.  Different then the Caribbean or the keys where if you get outside a few meters away from the marker you hit coral, here there is plenty of room with no underwater obstructions.

From Marker 2 go basically West SW towards Green day marker 1, located at the mouth of the Peace River. Both markers 1 and 2 are flashing 4 second markers for night time navigation.

At this point I will mention that night time navigation on the harbor is only for someone experienced with it during the day time. Surprisingly there are a number of public fishing reefs and other obstacles quite visible during the day (and with day markers) however at night there is no evidence they are there.  I have never understood this but caution is advised until you have done it during the day.  A few times around the harbor and then you will have waypoints for the various locations to use extra caution under low light situations.

For a point of reference to many public reefs and general navigation, click on this link which will take you to a free electronic chart:     http://www.charts.noaa.gov/OnLineViewer/11426.shtml

I do recommend you never go into unfamiliar waters without first studying a paper chart and of course, have it aboard. Chart Plotters are nice but a chart can save you if your plotter goes down and gives you a bigger picture all at one time.

So back to navigation for the sailor or for that fact, any mariner. From Marker 1 at the entrance to the Peace River take a heading towards Marker 5.  Marker 5 is the MOST IMPORTANT navigational aid on the harbor.  It is located off of Cape Haze Point which has an under water bar that goes for a long way from the obvious land point.  Green Marker 5 is at the southeast tip of the bar and your goal is to stay on the southeast side of it.  Shallow draft boats will have no problem going on the inside in many places from Marker 5 to the actual land point (there are a few places to avoid on the bar especially on low tides, so shallow water explorers use caution).  Outside of Marker 5 is 10-11 feet and anywhere between Red Marker 6 and Green Marker 5 is plenty of water for the sail boater or large power craft.

Once you round the corner at number 5 you can take a general westerly heading straight to Boca Grande Pass. There is plenty of water depth in the middle of the harbor.  I would caution you to stay well away from the north end of Bokeelia Island (the north end of Pine Island is known as Bokeelia).  There is Jug Creek Shoals which is a tow boats dream!  Totally covered on high tide with no markers.  If you set your heading to Red Marker 4 you will be in good shape.

In reality once you have gone around the harbor a few times, you will lost any fear of running aground and quickly realize there is lots of water for easy sailing. Charlotte Harbor has been recognized by Sailing Magazine as a top sailing destination and sailing regattas are a way of life here so hopefully that will put you at ease as well.

If you are accustomed to fresh water lakes that are very deep without any worries I hope this helps you feel a bit more at ease.

If you have any other questions on navigation, canal depths or water depths, check my website or call/email me.

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