Canal Dredging Update – Friday, October 19, 2018

In case you haven’t seen it, the dredge has arrived and has started assembling pipeline for the upcoming dredging project.

Marcol Dredge Superintendent Billy Jordan expects to begin dredging just east of Colony Pointe as early as Saturday. As reported in the Blue Heron, the dredge will then dredge to Debidue Creek and then will come back to dredge the boat basin and the canal.

The boat landing and basin will be open until the dredge comes back to dredge the boat basin. However boaters should expect to encounter dredge pipeline (black, plastic pipe 12 to 14-inches) diameter in the channel.

The pipeline will be marked by floating buoys at appropriate intervals to provide boaters with visual identification of the pipeline location. Some portions of the dredge pipeline will be floating at the surface of the water at various times and some portions will be submerged beneath the water surface.

At times when passage around the dredging equipment and/or pipeline is blocked, boaters should communicate their need to proceed through the blocked area with dredging personnel and await instructions from the equipment operators. The dredge operator or other equipment operators will provide boaters with assistance around the dredge equipment by way of boat escort around or through the blocked area to ensure safe passage.

The dredge radio channel is 66.