inland rivers in the USA.
This page updated: October 2004
(but I last cruised this
area in 2003, so most of
the info dates from then)
| Places to sail on inland rivers in the USA. |
|
Please send any comments to me.
This page updated: October 2004 (but I last cruised this area in 2003, so most of the info dates from then) |
| I have both Maptech and CAPN charting packages. Both use Maptech raster charts which are excellent for coastal navigation. The interface between GPS and autopilot works well in both. Sofchart makes electronic charts for all the inland rivers. They are really helpful to locate your position so you can let tow boats know where you are in blind turns etc. Don't use them for other uses such as following a course. Maptech doesn't read those charts so that is why I used the CAPN. |
| ... I second the warning about Softcharts. The loop package is a bargain but many of the charts do not line up lat/lon properly ... |
| For doing the loop, you may find Street Atlas more useful than charts. The bulk of the trip is in canalized waterways bordered by roads and towns. Buy a navigation program that lets you use street maps as well as navigation charts. Fugawi for the PC and GPSy for the Mac can be used for land as well as water navigation. Both cost in the $100 range. The full Street Atlas program is even cheaper. |
|
We have been using Cap'n with MapTech charts. Having done the Great
Loop twice, we have used the MapTech charts for both trips. We have
experienced no difficulties anywhere along the route. Along with the
MapTech regional CD's, we purchased two floppies that interface beautifully
with the MapTech's. One is the Northbound ICW from Fla to Norfolk and the
other is the Southbound.
We got them for $35 from Captain Jacks catalog. They were developed by a
gentleman who did an inordinate amount of research as the blue line
co-incides exactly on the chart and the route north or south is laid out in
35-mile days. Each anchorage with 9' of depth at low tide is noted as well
as notes at every turn in the routing. It was a great deal at a very
reasonable price.
We keep hearing about people who experience strange GPS signals, as well as folks who say that the boats plotting on the waterway is not accurate. We have not experienced this phenomena, nor have we run aground. We will never travel without having the paper charts for the entire route. ... |
|
The Great Loop Cruise, also referred to as the Great Circle Route, is an
exciting journey that takes a boater up the East Coast of the United
States from Florida to the Hudson River. 155 miles up the Hudson River
the boater either chooses to go west on the Erie Canal or north on the
Champlain Canal. By either route, the boater eventually ends up on the
Great Lakes. The boater has several options available to explore places
like the Richelieu Canal, Rideau Canal, Montreal, Quebec, Lake Ontario,
the Thousand Islands, Lake Erie, but after much soul-searching usually
ends up at Trenton, Ontario on the north shore of Lake Ontario on the
Bay of Quinte.
From Trenton, the boater goes west through the Trent-Severn Waterway to the Georgian Bay, and then continues northwest up the Georgian Bay and North Channel to end up at the top of Lake Huron near Mackinac Island. Next comes the journey down Lake Michigan to Chicago. From Chicago the boater heads down the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers to the junction of the Ohio River. Up the Ohio about 50 miles and join the Cumberland River. Follow the Cumberland and then Tennessee Rivers upstream (headed south) and join the Tenn-Tom Canal leading to Mobile, AL. From Mobile the boater heads east to the Florida Big Bend, circles down around Florida and either crosses the Okeechobee Waterway or goes around the tip of Florida in the Bay of Florida and joins the East Coast Intracoastal Waterway, completing this exciting circle or loop. The journey has many variations depending on the cruisers time and vessel and is often completed in one year, but also may be broken up into two or three years. Boaters have completed the Great Circle Route on a Waverunner, canoe, houseboat, powerboat, trawler and sailboat. However, the most popular choice seems to be either a power boat or a trawler. The journey is about 6,000 miles (depending on which alternative routes you take) and can take you through between 17 and 20 states and two or three countries. Vessel height and depth restrictions do apply. For complete details on the Great Circle Route read my book by the same name. Skipper Bob Publications |
|
Chicago bridge clearances:
For information on current bridge clearances in Chicago you may call (312) 744-4200, which is the Chicago Bridge Office located at Randolph Street Bridge in downtown on the main branch of the river. If you are in the area you can also call them on channel 16, "Chicago Bridge Office" or "Randolph Street Bridge Tender." Generally you can count on clearance minimum of 17.5 feet which is lowest at Michigan Avenue in the downtown main branch. On the South branch there is an Amtrak bridge with only 10 feet, but it is manned 24 hours for lifts, but you will have long waits for trains during morning and evening rush hours. You can arrange for "bridge trips" where the bridges will raise for you, but you must make arrangements at least 24 hours in advance, more time is better, use the above phone 2number. In spring and fall, Crowley's Yacht Yard, which has many sailboat customers is the unofficial clearing house for times/dates for bridge trips, you can call them at (312) 225-2170, they also specialize in service to traveling yachts, and will send service personnel to the harbors. On the Calumet River just out of the lake you will have 21 feet, but these bridges will open 24 hours. Remember that inside the main river locks by Navy Pier, and inside the O'Brien Locks on the Calumet, the water levels are controlled and during flood/drought conditions clearances may vary widely. If you are a high vessel and are going south via Chicago, the Calumet River on the South side of the city is the way to go for most expeditious passage, there is a lot of commercial traffic so the bridges are manned 24 hours all the way to the O'Brien Locks, after which you have plenty of clearance because of the commercial towboat traffic in that area. Not as much nice scenery as downtown, but you will get there with a minimum of fuss. One very important caution: Do NOT enter Lake Calumet unless you have extensive local knowledge, it takes large ships, but in places the water goes from deep draft ocean vessel clearance to nothing, in like nothing flat. Then we will meet in person, when I salvage your vessel (there has never been a "soft grounding" in Lake Calumet). Lake Calumet is just to your right as you approach the O'Brien Locks, and if you are waiting for the locks, it is tempting to decide to explore the area, especially if you see the large oceangoing ships in there. On the North end of the lake lies the most harsh grounding conditions on the entire loop, old concrete blocks, rebar, scrap iron, and other metal and concrete junk, just under the surface, waiting for you. If you get caught in there, the only way out is commercial salvage by way of raising your vessel on air bags with a slipway between your boat and the bags, no fun, and very expensive. One other anomaly: the "little Calumet River" is the big one, the "Grand Calumet River" is a shallow branch, in which you will get acquainted with the term "soft grounding" in a hard way. The bottom is mud/muck which creates a suction that not only is very hard to break but gets into your cooling system and hardens like cement when it dries. |
| The limiting factor as to air draft on the Great Circle Route (loop) is a fixed bridge at Lamont, Illinois (mile 300.5 on the Illinois River) which has a clearance of 19 feet. Through Chicago the bridge clearance is 17' but going via Calument you can access the Illinois River easily and now are limited by the 19' bridge. |
| The lowest bridge on the Great Circle is 17 feet on the Chicago River but you can bypass that bridge by taking the Calumet River. Then the lowest bridge would be 19 ft 1 inch. The Erie Canal Bridges are 20 feet assuming you follow the traditional route to Canada. If you stay on the Erie Canal to Buffalo then the bridges are only 15 ft 6 inches. Trent Severn bridges are 22 feet. There is a 25 footer on the New Jersey ICW. There are a number of bridges that will require opening. The taller your boat the more waiting for bridges to open. |
|
For the entire loop the limit is 19' 1" at Chicago. The western Erie Canal is 15 1/2' feet. The Trent Severn, Oswego, eastern Erie Canal, Richelieu and Rideau all are greater than the 19' 1 " in Chicago so are not a problem anyway. The Champlain Canal is 17'. |
|
> I am confused about the > Ohio / Cumberland / Tennessee rivers connection. Most boaters use the Barkley Canal in Kentucky Lake to move over to the Cumberland River and then head north on the Cumberland to Smithland and the Ohio River. Then you would go west to the junction of the Ohio and the Mississippi. Bluewater has put together a photocopied chartkit of this area which takes the place of the Cumberland River and Ohio Foster to Cairo Corps of Engineers Charts (you can find it on our website under Corp of Engineers under Paper Charts). With this photocopied chartkit, you can't go up to Nashville and you can't go up the Ohio past Smithland. But it is just what you need if you are doing your loop. The reason for using the Cumberland is that the lock at the Tennessee River / Ohio River junction is very busy with commercial tows, and pleasure craft must wait until all the commercial traffic has been locked through. |
|
|
> river currents on Mobile River and up Tenn-Tom from there ?
We do not have that information on the web site, but under normal conditions the flow is about 3 fps [2.4 knots], on high river conditions it is about 5 to 6 fps [4.7 knots]. |
|
> currents on Black Warrior, Tenn-Tom and Tennessee rivers ?
The short version is: Current will be minimal on all three of these waterways. To be more specific, between early May and December, expect no more than a current of 1 to 2 mph. Even then, that higher figure will apply as you approach the dams from downstream. Current on both the Tennessee and Black Warrior will tend to be even slightly less except for a few miles below the dams. These are under normal conditions. Excessive widespread rain, highly unlikely during summer and fall unless the region gets the remnants of a gulf coast hurricane, will increase water flow which, in turn, will increase current. Even that effect will generally be of no real consequence except on the Tenn-Tom. That's about as definitive as I can be. But I will say that during the 13 years I have been publishing the CruiseGuides, I have never had a boater tell me they had trouble with current unless they tried to run these waterways during times of high water. |
|
> river currents on Mississippi River near St Louis ?
Around this time of year [May], the river current between St. Louis and Cairo is about 6 fps (feet/second). Throughout the year it ranges from 3 fps [2.4 knots] to about 6 fps [4.7 knots]. |
|
Quimby's has little information regarding
the lower Mississippi. Even worse, they do very little on-water checking.
So you would be wise to check in advance to verify any information it provides.
... I'm not aware of any published information on the lower Mississippi other than Quimby's which, as I have already indicated, offers precious little for that stretch of water. An alternative, and probably the best in the long run, is to try to locate someone who has made that trip who is willing to give you first-hand knowledge about what you will encounter. In that regard, a call to one of the few existing marinas on the river that do service pleasure boats might be a start. To stress the point again, cruising the lower Mississippi isn't an easy task. That applies to planning as well as execution. |
| The Mississippi, from Vicksburg south to New Orleans: It is not a nice place for pleasure boats unless you have no alternative. Not only no services but no good places to stop overnight. Not to say that there are none just not good ones. There is no gasoline and hard to find diesel. Tows are very large, 36 or more barges in one tow. And lots of them. |
| On the Lower Mississippi the tows are 32 barges long and there are very few marinas (not a fun trip). |
| I have bought fuel in Vicksburg, but I know of no other place below there on the Mississippi River. |
| ... The Lower Mississippi is not all that boater-friendly, but cruising downstream is not too bad, just plan ahead for fuel and stops. ... |
|
|
... We found cruising the Lower Mississippi
some of the best we have had with a few caveats:
1) Your boat must have long legs. Fuel basically is available only at Memphis, Greenville, (maybe Vicksburg), Natchez (by stopping at Vidalia Dock and Storage and making truck fuel delivery by Kaiser Petroleum in Natchez). 2) Wait until late mid-summer or later in order to catch the river in a slight fall. (Trash drops radically fast during a fall of the river, but it also picks it up quickly on a serious rise.) 3) Have good ground tackle because you may have to anchor behind the rock weirs put in by the COE. If you are not in a hurry, there are several islands to sneak behind. 4) Baton Rouge to New Orleans don't seem to mind if you pass through, they just don't know what to do with you if you want to stop in the main river. 5) Tunica, Ms south of Memphis has a floating dock and would not allow us to spend the night even after showing them an article from Heartland Boating, but since have called and said they changed their policy and would welcome pleasure boaters. On the plus side, even though much has been said about the large number of very large tows (true), the Mississippi is so large that this is not a problem at all. We were much more concerned with the effects of much smaller tows on the Tenn/Tom and Tennessee. |
|
> Are there any decent anchorages near the old > town / French Quarter part of New Orleans ? > Where to dinghy ashore ? > > What is the current down the Mississippi River > at that point ? How far up is the first > lock ? Are there places to anchor in that > stretch of the river ? You can't anchor in the river and certainly not in that area. I think the coast guard controls traffic in that section of the river tightly and will not allow anchoring. Very high volume of ship and barge traffic and a current that runs at least 3 knots. If you are transiting the ICW there are locks from the canal to the river. You can dock at the municipal harbor on Lake Pontchartrain (or anchor in the lake but not protected) and take a taxi into the Vieux Carre. I have never done the ICW through New Orleans. The few times I've sailed that way I went the long way around the mouth of the river. I just don't care for canals and the barge traffic there is huge. Some of the tows are several hundred feet long. I once entered the river at Tiger Pass, docked for repairs in Venice, and then continued to the east out Baptiste Collette Bayou. I would suggest entering Lake Pontchartrain through The Rigolets. Use charts 11371-1 and 11369-1. |
|
> Are there any decent anchorages near the old > town / French Quarter part of New Orleans ? > Where to dinghy ashore ? > > What is the current down the Mississippi River > at that point ? How far up is the first > lock ? Are there places to anchor in that > stretch of the river ? There are three locks into the river. One lock is on the East side of the river downstream from the French Quarter, the Industrial Canal Lock. On the West side of the river above the Quarter about four miles upriver is the Harvey Lock. On the West side of the river downstream about four miles is the Algiers Lock. If you tie up in front of the French Quarter you could get crushed by something much bigger than you. The ships that transit the area are huge and fast-moving. In Lake Pontchartrain there are two yacht basins. You might also find somewhere to tie up near the Industrial Locks. The current depends on the time of year and rain runoff (floods in the Spring). |
|
Your best bet is to enter Lake Pontchartrain through Lake Borne. ...
There are a lot of places to anchor all around Lake Pontchartrain. On the New Orleans side, you can anchor around the Municipal Marina or they only charge about $12/night in the marina with electricity. On the north shore (that is where I am) you can tie up at the municipal harbor across from the yacht club for free, includes electricity and water. It is first-come first-served, but there is almost always room. If not, lots of anchorage room. |
| Home | |
| Site Map |