Tides @ Camp Lonesome?

[Walt]

We are considering shuttling our kayaks into Camp Lonesome in Nov 09 via boat. The closest tidal info I can find is the mouth of Lostmans river, or Cape Sabel. Can anyone give me some insight on how to use this info, or maybe there's a better source. My boat draws 8" of water, 14" with motor down, with gear and 2 kayaks I'm sure it will be lower than that. What can I expect navigating the Broad River? Is it doable @ medium tides with a 16" draft?

[vivian]

Walt the Broad River has a ton of bars at the mouth. You can use the tide info for Lostmans River to get the info for the Broad River. I use the tide station at Onion Key to get the time on the inside bays and top of the rivers.

There should be plenty of water for you up in the Lonesome area to use your boat. Try navigating the Broad on lower tides to see where the bars are before attempting on higher tide phases and mark them on the gps.

[Keith W]

How long is your boat? If it's under 18' you may be able to take the inside route and avoid the river entrances. I don't motor in the ENP so I may have no idea what I'm talking about, but I sure do see a lot of motor boats running the inside route between Everglades City and Camp Lonesome when I go that way.

[Terry]

Remember, the park sewer scow is a 25 foot boat with a V-6 outboard so any place you see a
piss pit you can get that size boat in there.
I use a 3 hour delay from the entrance to the major rivers to the backcountry but it varies.
I once observed a 5 hour high tide delay at the intersection of Shark/Harney/Tarpon Bay and
the entrance of Shark River.
The good news is, as tide predictablity decreases so does the tidal effect.

[Keith W]

I was thinking about Alligator Creek and Plate Creek and the little creek that joins Plate Creek Bay and Lostmans 5. The charts recommend 18' or less, but again, I've never had a motor under my butt in the ENP so my opinion is highly unqualified. Didn't think about 'Stinky' making it through.

[Walt]

Thanks for the information.

Good point about the service barge.

[Walt]

We made it to Camp Lonesome. There was no drama making it there in a fully loaded Panga. I was actually surprised, I was expecting the Broad River to be smaller than it was. The route was easy to navigate, even @ low tide (mouth & back waters).

We took an excursion down the Wood River, and paddled down close to mud lake. I was surprised to see several small skiffs back in there fishing. They were more surprised to see us.

We took some water samples to test for salinity, and found the water to be 100% fresh @ our camp site. We had to travel 1.5 miles down stream to start reading any salt. That explains the lack of game fish back there.

The bugs were almost non-existant @ Camp Lonesome. Weather was perfect! We had a great time.

Thanks for the help.

[vivian]

Glad you had a great trip! We were in that area last December and did find snook and tarpon. The water was not as fresh as you found maybe because of the drought last year?

What did you use to test the water? I am thinking of bringing a water filter for my December trip it is a 9 day affair. If I can find some freshwater to filter near Canepatch it would help to maybe bring 7 gallons instead of 9. More wine too!

That area sure is beautiful.

[Walt]

The water was flowing one way down the river @ Lonesome. At high tide it would slow down, but not stop or reverse. The water was tanic, but rather clear(4' visibility). My friend carries a simple aquarium salt particle measureing device. On the way down there, we did notice that the water levels in the canals were higher then I have ever seen them. We did have a good rainy season. (Filtering water) We were thinking the same thing.