Current Monitoring Devices in Miami’s Government Cut

If you thought the buoys that mark the channel to your local inlet are exclusively in place to guide boats and ships to the safest course to and from the inlet, you would be right… sometimes! We all know “Red, Right, returning” as the method to remember that you keep the red marker to your right when returning from sea. Many inlets throughout the country are treacherous! Stray outside the marked entrance channel by a few feet and you are aground. Stay between the red and the green and you will be in safe water as long as the draft of your vessel does not exceed the depth of the channel. Calling for local knowledge in an unfamiliar inlet is always a good idea!

Now to the other functions of “some” channel marker buoys. The buoy in the picture above is located in the entrance channel to Government Cut in Miami, Florida. Several of the buoys in that channel are equipped with current profilers. These are devices that measure the speed and direction of the current in real time. One of the primary uses of this information is for ships transiting in and out of the port. The Miami Pilots have access to this data and use it to plan their transit through the channel. A strong Northbound current at a certain point in the channel may mean that the pilot keeps the ship a bit closer to the South side of the channel when approaching that area to compensate for the prevailing current. Without this information, an unusually strong current could set the ship outside the channel and potentially cause it to run aground!

TowBoatU.S. Ft. Lauderdale works with an engineering company that regularly services these devices, providing boats and crew to transport replacement profilers to the buoys and assist with the steps necessary to calibrate them once installed. TowBoatU.S. Ft. Lauderdale has a fleet of work boats that can fill a variety of needs. Access details at https://www.towboatusftlauderdale.com/fleet.asp or call the office 24/7 at 954-783-7821 to get more information.