The Intracoastal Waterway from Fernandina Beach to Fort Pierce

What the sources say

• The miles are statute miles from Norfolk ICW mileage is zeroed at 36°50.9'N., 76°17.9'W., off the foot of West Main Street in Norfolk, Virginia. Distances along the waterway are in statute miles; every other distance in the Coast Pilot is in nautical miles.
• The channel may shoal between dredgings The 12-foot figure is the federal project, not a survey. The Coast Pilot still carries a 1998 report of severe shoaling from Mile 775 south to Mile 780, including where the waterway crosses St. Augustine Inlet, and advises mariners to seek local knowledge before transiting that area.
• How a clearance in the Coast Pilot is meant Vertical clearances of bridges and overhead cables are in feet above mean high water unless otherwise stated, and clearances of drawbridges are for the closed position — the open clearance is given as well only for vertical-lift bridges.
• Drawbridge schedules The bridges on this stretch fall under 33 CFR 117.261, "Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway from St. Marys River to Key Largo". Its opening paragraph says public vessels of the United States and tugs with tows must be passed through the drawspan of each drawbridge listed in the section at any time; the lettered paragraphs that follow set the times bridge by bridge.
• What that looks like at the Bridge of Lions At mile 777.9 the draw shall open on signal, except that from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. it need open only on the hour and half-hour, and it need not open at 8 a.m., 12 noon and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday except Federal holidays.
• Bridge radio VHF-FM channels 13 and 16 are monitored at some of the bridges over the Intracoastal Waterway. The Coast Pilot names the working channel bridge by bridge; there is no single channel for all of them.
• Current at the Kingsley Creek bridges Flood and ebb currents run normal to the bridge openings at Mile 720.7; velocities up to 2.5 knots on the flood and 3 knots on the ebb may be expected, especially with favoring winds.
• Tide in the waterway Under ordinary conditions the mean range of tide in the waterway is from nontidal to about 7 feet, and in many sections the tide depends on the force and direction of the wind.

Depth the waterway was built for