NOAA ENCŪ

NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

US2EC01M - STRAITS OF FLORIDA AND APPROACHES


INDEX:

NOTE A
AUTHORITIES
AIDS TO NAVIGATION
RADAR REFLECTORS
WARNING - PRUDENT MARINER
POLLUTION REPORTS
SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
CAUTION - TEMPORARY CHANGES
CAUTION - USE OF RADIO SIGNALS (LIMITATIONS)
CAUTION - SUBMARINE PIPELINES AND CABLES
CAUTION - GAS AND OIL WELL STRUCTURES
CAUTION - LIGHTS
GULF STREAM CURRENTS
HURRICANES AND TROPICAL STORMS
WATER LEVELS, CURRENTS, AND TIDES
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
COMMENTS REQUESTED


NOTES:

NOTE A
Navigation regulations are published in Chapter 2, U.S. Coast Pilot 4 & 5. Additions or revisions to Chapter 2 are published in the Notice to Mariners. Information concerning the regulations may be obtained at the Office of the Commander, 7th Coast Guard District in Miami, FL, and 8th Coast Guard District in New Orleans, LA, or at the Office of the District Engineer, Corps of Engineers in Mobile, AL. Refer to charted regulation section numbers.


AUTHORITIES
Hydrography and topography by the National Ocean Service, Coast Survey with additional data from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Geological Survey, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Coast Guard, and British Admiralty charts.


AIDS TO NAVIGATION
Consult U.S. Coast Guard Light List for supplemental information concerning aids to navigation.


RADAR REFLECTORS
Radar reflectors have been placed on many floating aids to navigation. Individual radar reflector identification on these aids has been omitted from this chart.


WARNING - PRUDENT MARINER
The prudent mariner will not rely solely on any single aid to navigation, particularly on floating aids. See U.S. Coast Guard Light List and U.S. Coast Pilot for details.


POLLUTION REPORTS
Report all spills of oil and hazardous substances to the National Response Center via 1-800-424-8802 (toll free), or to the nearest U.S. Coast Guard facility if telephone communication is impossible (33 CFR 153).
  

SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION 
Consult U.S. Coast Pilot 4 for important supplemental information.

 
CAUTION - TEMPORARY CHANGES
Temporary changes or defects in aids to navigation are not indicated. See Local Notice to Mariners.


CAUTION - USE OF RADIO SIGNALS (LIMITATIONS)
Limitations on the use of radio signals as aids to marine navigation can be found in the U.S. Coast Guard Light Lists and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Publication 117. Radio direction-finder bearings to commercial broadcasting stations are subject to error and should be used with caution.


CAUTION - SUBMARINE PIPELINES AND CABLES
Additional uncharted submarine pipelines and submarine cables may exist within the area of this chart. Not all submarine pipelines and submarine cables are required to be buried, and those that were originally buried may have become exposed. Mariners should use extreme caution when operating vessels in depths of water comparable to their draft in areas where pipelines and cables may exist, and when anchoring, dragging, or trawling. Covered wells may be marked by lighted or unlighted buoys.


CAUTION - GAS AND OIL WELL STRUCTURES
Numerous platforms and gas and oil well structures exist in the Gulf of America from Key West, Florida to Brazos Santiago, Texas. Some wells are submerged and capped. Only those structures reported submerged and covered less than 11 fathoms/20.1 meters are charted outside of the 10 fathom/18.2 meter curve. Location of surface platform structures and wells submerged 11 fathoms/20.1 meters or more can be seen by using cells in the scale band 3. Submarine pipelines and cables, aids to navigation and safety fairways through operational oil field areas.


CAUTION - LIGHTS
Many lights on the Cuban coast have been reported to be irregular or extinguished.


GULF STREAM CURRENTS
From investigation by the Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1885, 1886 and 1887.


HURRICANES AND TROPICAL STORMS 
Hurricanes, tropical storms and other major storms may cause considerable damage to marine structures, aids to navigation and moored vessels, resulting in submerged debris in unknown locations. Charted soundings, channel depths and shoreline may not reflect actual conditions following these storms. Fixed aids to navigation may have been damaged or destroyed. Buoys may have been moved from their charted positions, damaged, sunk, extinguished or otherwise made inoperative. Mariners should not rely upon the position or operation of an aid to navigation. Wrecks and submerged obstructions may have been displaced from charted locations. Pipelines may have become uncovered or moved. Mariners are urged to exercise extreme caution and are requested to report aids to navigation discrepancies and hazards to navigation to the nearest United States Coast Guard unit.


WATER LEVELS, CURRENTS, AND TIDES
Real-time water levels, tide predictions, and tidal current predictions are available on the internet from NOAA's Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) at https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/water_level_info.html and https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/currents_info.html.


ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Additional information can be obtained at www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov


COMMENTS REQUESTED
NOAA encourages users to submit inquiries, discrepancies, or comments about this chart via NOAA's ASSIST tool at https://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/customer-service/assist/.


END OF FILE