Through Peril Strait: Sergius Narrows

What a wild ride! The tidal current through this narrows is so strong that we could not have motored against it, nor could we have managed the boat going with it. The guide books said that the way to negotiate the narrows was to wait for low water slack, and that's what we did. Even so, as the photos show, the tidal currents alone carried us along at 6 kts even when the engine was in neutral! [Slack water is the tidal condition before the tide direction changes. Tidal movement is the least at ebb, so the amount of water that is moving is least.]

A channel marker in the narrows. The tidal current is so strong that there is a wake downstream of the marker, and even an eddy flowing upstream!

Again, the same marker showing the enormous current at low water slack tide. There are tidal swirls that made the boat swing through enormous arcs, completely out of our control.

Tidal current rips slewed the boat out of control, not a suitable situation when dodging rocks and staying in a narrow channel

While awaiting suitable conditions in the next section of narrows, Bill works on completing the reading of his book on Napoleon.

Top