USCG advises mariners about serious shoaling of the Swinomish

Message Relay from Recreational Boating Association of Washington (RBAW) and BoatUS:

Greetings,

This message is being forwarded to alert all boaters regarding shoaling in the Swinomish Channel. This information was provided in a Local Notice to Mariners but, since recreational boats are grounding on the shoals, we are putting this information out again for general distribution and posting in area marinas. The Local Notice to Mariners follows:

WASHINGTON - STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA TO STRAIT OF GEORGIA - SWINOMISH CHANNEL - Reported shoaling

Numerous soundings of shoaling in theSwinomish Channel have been reported. The primary locations for the shoaling have been from the Swinomish Channel South Entrance, north to the vicinity of La Conner, WA.

Some depths have been reported as two (2) feet less than the charted depths. Mariners are advised to use caution when transiting this waterway due to the reported shoaling.

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We also remind boaters to monitor the tides closely (the controlling depth for the channel is less than 5.5 - 6 ft). Some of the shoaling is near the center of this narrow waterway.

Kindly note that the US Coast Guard Navigation Center has an excellent site where you can sign up to have the Local Notice to Mariners e-mailed to you when it comes out every week. That site is: http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=lnmDistrict&region=13.

We thank marina organizations for notifying their members, and marina managers for posting this alert and advising boaters heading this way to take extra caution transiting the Swinomish Channel.

Very respectfully,

Lyn McClelland
Coast Guard Auxiliary
Sector Puget Sound
Marina Outreach Program Manager
206-794-3032