Shallow waters create some beautiful sights when the water is clear, however they can also present hazards we need to be aware of. The most important thing to remember is to avoid light colored water when you are cruising at speed. This means that the water depth is not very great, and you risk running aground on a sandbar or a beach. A sudden stop could seriously injure a passenger or even disable the boat. The Choctawhatchee Bay is not very deep, and sandbars can exist fairly far away from the shoreline. Even when idling along, great care needs to be taken to avoid prop-strikes on the bottom. A good rule of thumb is to not operate the boat in areas that look to be less than 3 feet deep. If you do end up in a very shallow area, such as Crab Island, the best way to maneuver the boat to a safe water depth is by trimming the engine all the way out of the water (while turned off of course) and pulling the boat to safety. This keeps our engines and propellers in good shape, but also helps protect our vital Sea Grass!

Sea Grasses are very important to the health and well-being of our coastal ecosystems. Many marine creatures rely on these plants to provide shelter and food, but they also provide oxygen to the waters. Sea Grasses grow on the bottom of the bay in patches, and can cause the water in the area to appear dark and seem deeper than it really is. Boaters cruise through unfamiliar areas, maybe exiting known deeper waters and assume that because the water is still dark colored, it is still deep. More often than not they end up gouging the seagrass with the propeller and ruining the propeller and lower unit of the boat.

Channel markers act as the lines of a road on the coast. The saying goes red, right, return, and while that is true the saying is not as simple as it sounds. It is better to drive like you would on the road, staying to the right side of the channel, because you actually dont always want red markers to be on your right.