How common is this? - FOUND THE ROCK

[TwoBallScrewBall]

So I'm out on my boat last weekend fishing. Not doing much so I deicde to move along to the other side of the bay. I'm in Raritan/NY bay, near the Arthur Kill just off of Staten Island. I'm driving over minding my own business and I spot something in the water a good distance off. I turn toward it and as I get closer it's obvious that it's a BIG pile of BIG rocks. I stayed about 20-30 feet away but had no problem seeing what it was. Water was breaking around it so there was more there I couldn't see. <br /><br />Now I'm absolutely paranoid. This was a moon low tide so the water was exceptionally low. I've been on this bay for all my life and have never seen this rock. Asked my dad who's been out there more than me and he never saw it. Checked the charts available on NOAA and there's no mention of it. And of course I didn't have my GPS since I was just going out a few miles (that'll never happen again) so I couldn't even mark it.<br /><br />For anyone who knows the area, it was almost directly off of Morgan creek, i'd say about a mile, and about 1-2 miles from staten island. Right smack in the middle of nowhere, and not at all close to the shore. I won't go near that area now for fear that I'll lose my outdrive to that thing. Everyone I talk to about it says I was seeing things since they've never saw it or heard of it. I wasn't. I'd probably think the same thing if I was them and they were me. I got a real good long look at it, it was a big scary rock.<br /><br />Is it common for an apparant major underwater object like that to not be noted on a chart in such a populated and used area? This is lower NY harbor after all....

 

[ChrisMcLaughlin]

Re: How common is this? - FOUND THE ROCK

Must be Al Quida!

 

[mellowyellow]

Re: How common is this? - FOUND THE ROCK

have they been dredging the harbor at all?<br />maybe notify coast guard so they can drop a<br />buoy b4 someone less observant smashes their<br />hull...<br />sounds like good fish structure though

 

[POINTER94]

Re: How common is this? - FOUND THE ROCK

Not common but more frequent than would make you feel comfortable.. The Edmund Fitzgerald fell prey to one of these unmarked shoals what was actually on the Canadian charts but not the US charts. I believe the new charts have been updated.

 

[TwoBallScrewBall]

Re: How common is this? - FOUND THE ROCK

I wish I had my GPS, I would have called the CG. What am I going to tell them now? "Um, there's a rock out there, somwhere, over there... go get it!" <br /><br />Maybe I'll see it again, hopefully I won't 'run into it' anytime soon though! Only poked up out of the water about 6-12" at that dead low tide so my fear is that you'd be more likely to hit it than see it.

 

[Mr.Ladyfish]

Re: How common is this? - FOUND THE ROCK

Similar thing happened to us. The West Bay is pretty shallow to begin with and there are all sorts of old abandoned well heads and pilings scattered throughout. We have been boating there for 13 years so we feel we know it pretty well. Last year on a low tide I spotted a 10" dia. pipe sticking about 12" out of the water. This was in an area we have run back and forth thru 100s of times. Never saw it before and it looked more than capable of ripping a hole in the hull. I marked it on my GPS. A few weeks later the on-board battery went out on the GPS. I lost all my marks. We have been looking for that pipe all summer and can't find it. It sure makes me nervous when we go through that area.

 

[mellowyellow]

Re: How common is this? - FOUND THE ROCK

what they do with your simple information is not<br />important steve, it kinda like Iboats here...<br />at least try to pass on what u have learned!<br />maybe yur the 3rd civilian who mentioned and it<br />prompts them to actually investigate???<br />at the very least I would try to locate again and<br />drop a buoy for fellow boaters.<br />safe boating,<br />M.Y.

 

[TwoBallScrewBall]

Re: How common is this? - FOUND THE ROCK

Yeah, You're right MY. I'm going to a bbq Saturday with my wife, her friend's place. Her friend's husband is in the CG (and ironically was on the CG boat that towed me in earlier this year when my ignition quit, before we knew them) so I'll mention it to him and see what he thinks. I remember when we got towed in we were in about that same area, and they would not take us directly back to port, but took a long dogleg so they could approach in the channel. Perhaps they know these things are out there....

 

[Terry H]

Re: How common is this? - FOUND THE ROCK

Go out there with depth sounder and gps and put it on your chart...just a thought

 

[12Footer]

Re: How common is this? - FOUND THE ROCK

Hit a rock in my small boat, in a creek I used to take my big boat up. Things change all the time.<br />We have sand bars in the tribuaries here, that move 5 fet per month! It's not a big deal if you travel the same waters every day. But us weekend warriors have to be vigilant.

 

[TwoBallScrewBall]

Re: How common is this? - FOUND THE ROCK

FOUND IT!!!<br /><br />This has to be it. I was browsing on a NOAA ENC here and I came across 'round shoal' in the exact area I saw this rock that day. I now have the coordinates so I'm plugging them into my GPS so I know where it is. I'm happy. Judging by the wreck in close proximity I'm not the first one to find this rock by accident, luckily I was able to see it before I got to it. The coordinates are in the lower section of the screen in the toolbar if you want to mark it yourself. <br /><br />

 

[ndemge]

Re: How common is this? - FOUND THE ROCK

Glad you finally found your rocks