Don't Rock Passage

[PELLUCID]

Dr. Ralph has an article on this. I thought I'd provide an update since I went up and back this weekend.

The picture shows my estimate of the 3 foot contour, based NOT ON HYDROGRAPHY but on paying attention to my depth finder and the color of the water. The blue line is the recommended course.

Many boaters go around the north end of Don't Rock. It has shallowed a good bit from what I remember a few years ago. Still 5ft. MLW but there is deeper water on the south side.

The sandbar to the E-NE of the Sandbank Cays has grown a bit. It's easily seen and avoided; note the slight dogleg in the recommened course.

The blue line should give you an honest 4ft. MLW all the way through and maybe a tad more.

Bob

[DrRalph]

Bob, what was the state of the tide? Also, can I use that photo in the Don't Rock article? Thanks

[PELLUCID]

I went through once about an hour before high water, and once a little under mid water. I've taken that into account for the depth estimates. Actual minimum depth a little under mid water was 5.8 feet so that should easily give you 4 feet MLW.

I will e-mail you the original photo which is larger. You can size it to fit your needs in the article.

[DrRalph]

Thanks, great info, we all appreciate it.

[Megalops]

Ralph and Bob,

We went through (in our 36' trawler 3.5 draft) the DR April 15th and then back through around the 25th. We were MLW plus (I think) 1.5 on the way east and had minimum 5.8' depth all the way through. There was on very short stretch that dropped to 5.8, most of the passage was 7 plus. I used the waypoints provided in Ralph's article and ran pretty much a straight course from one to the other. I saw the sandbar just NE of sandbank cays but did not feel that it appeard scary enough to dodge.

We went west through on a little lower tide, I can't remember exactly what it was, but we still had plenty of water.

Interestingly, my Garmin chartplotter uses the explorer charts as a basemap and it shows Dr. Ralph's courseline. The explorer soundings seemed pretty darn accurate to me.

After using the DR, I don't see myself ever traversing the whale again in this boat, unless the Don't Rock fills in.

I can see how big seas would break on the DR, making it impassable, but the whale would be miserable in those conditions as well. I personally feel that the DR has undeserved bad rep and is the safer passage.

BTW, thanks for keeping it updated on your site. This is an invaluable tool to crusiers, and it would be helpful if you could keep nav info posted as a sticky. Then maybe more people would provide up to date info.

I also slipped into Carter's on our trip, another shallow spot that I would guess shifts a lot. I can dig up my notes on it if you want them.

Doug

[yellowfin]

i travel 3 or 4 times a week through dont rock passage in a 31 contender and i have never seen 4 ft at low water! please dont let people think they can travel through dr as an alternative in a larger boat, yes it can be done but in the smallest seas the swells will put you aground at mid tide never mind high tide. at low tide we blow sand with an outboard boat in spots, the diagram that was provided is excellent and the proper route, caution should be used in anything over 3 ft draft!

[Megalops]

I would agree that swells could cause groundouts at the bottom. You run it way more than me, I'm just reporting what I found. If you read my post it says that we went through with approx 1.5' over MLW, so 4' at mlw would be about right. Now, if you went through with a minus tide or a 4 foot swell, you would have issues.

The whale was passable but rolly both days we went through. If you recall, it blew pretty hard out of the east almost the entire month of April. I paid a lot of attention to the tide level before we started out and made sure we were at plus water. I also came up on it slow to make sure the swells were not too big.

Personally, I hate the whale. It has been a white knuckle roll fest every time I have been through it, and I'm not freaked out by shallow water as I deal with it all the time at home, so the DR seems a better choice for me.

My props are protected by my keel, I can take a hard bump with no damage.

If I was in a 40 plus sportfish with tons of power and unprotected props I would run the whale every time.

Just out of curosity, in a great, fast, sea boat like a contender 31, why do you go through the DR instead of the whale?

[yellowfin]

:Dits a shorter distance thats all, we have a 60 ft sportfish as well so we are used to going the long way around whale cay! when we are traveling north to go fishing or back to the states. and with the contender you can reaqlly scoot around skinny places once you are up on plane and trim out the motors, you really cant do that with the big boat

[DrRalph]

BTW, thanks for keeping it updated on your site. This is an invaluable tool to crusiers, and it would be helpful if you could keep nav info posted as a sticky. Then maybe more people would provide up to date info.Doug

Sticky it is, Doug, good idea. Thanks to everyone for helping with updated info.

[Megalops]

Yes, the contender is a beautiful boat. I ran a 26' Intrepid for a long time and it was the same way, good sea boat but would run pretty shallow if you had the guts.

[Megalops]

BTW, one of the range markers going into carters mentioned in the explorer charts and Dodge guide is missing. We had 4' entering the harbor at just above MLW. Lots of water once we were in though. Also it was HOWLING out of the east both on our way in and back out, which may have blown some of the water off that side of the bank, I dunno.

[PELLUCID]

I went through the Don't Rock passage today and it did not seem much different from this summer. Just for grins, I went around the north side of Don't Rock and did not find anything less than 5' MLW.

[DrRalph]

Bob, thanks!

[boatbum]

We just did the Canal North to Dover Sound in Freedom (3.5-4.0 draft) on a rising to near high tide. Throughout the whole canal we had 8 feet minimum. But as is well known and documented that faded upon leaving the North end of the canal. We found ourselves in 4 feet under the transducer which I believe is a foot (+) under the surface. I don't believe we churned anything up this time.
Last year we left Sea Spray for Little Harbour and passed along the East side of Lubbers. I'm thinking we missed the mark a bit following the recommended path :D
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh40/danno53/Southbound/LitlHrbr023.jpg
I've often wondered about DR and we've rejected it every time even when it was calm. But we have taken the dink from TC to Whale :D

[BahamaAngie]

Boatbum, sorry off the subject, but I had to comment on your picture. It is breathtaking. Makes me want to hop on a boat there!!!

[boatbum]

Indeed. I know I lost my breath when I saw the line in the sand we kicked up!

[Kel's Escape (First Coastals)]

Test

[Megalops]

We came through the Don't Rock passage today going east to west. We had a rising tide at about 2 feet over mlw. We passed north of the rock, following out track lines from May. Lowest depth I saw was 5.8 feet, and it was likely a little deeper as I have an offset built into my depth finder. As always, your actual mileage may vary, so keep your eyes open!