Smith Point Marina

A recent survey of the Little Wicomico River entrance, known as “The Jetties” has shown that over 50% of the channel is well under the 8’ controlling depth established by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and a substantial portion is under 5’ in depth. This has lead to a rash of recent groundings in the middle of the Federal channel. According to Dan Hickey, owner of Smith Point Marina, the entrance has been shown to be so treacherous that he is now advising transient boaters with drafts over 3’ to steer clear of the Little Wicomico River and go elsewhere when looking for safe harbor.Hickey noted that the “Jetties”, a Federal Project since 1935, has not been dredged since 2014 and shoals have formed in several locations effectively barring entrance to any but small boats. A recent boater with a 4’ draft ran aground just after high tide and noted that the tide running out of the river actually looked like a waterfall where it exited over the obstructing sand bars. Hickey and others living and working in the Little Wicomico have called attention to this problem by writing letters and e-mails to Congressman Wittman and local authorities, but although the survey showing the hazardous situation is now over six months old, there has been no indication of any action being taken to correct the situation.“We can easily wait for some boater seeking safe harbor from the Chesapeake to come in, run aground in the channel, and have their boat damaged or persons hurt by this situation, or we can get Congress and the USACE to act. Until they do, we are recommending to sailors asking us for entry information that any boat drawing more than 3’ be kept away from the river, said Hickey. “