San Bernard River

We cruised up the San Bernard River many years ago on our way from Kemah to Corpus Christi. It was wonderful in those days. Has anyone cruised up the river lately? How far upriver is it navigable with 5' draft? Any interesting stops?

Drake, never been past Galveston. On the east side we have been up the Neches and about 5 mikes past Beaumont, to the freshwater barrier (that's normally open) but didn't go through. We are currently in Lake Charles, plenty of free anchorages, very few marinas, although diesel is no problem. Next will be up to Alexandria. If you do the San Bernard, let me know as we love river cruising!

How was the Neches? How far upriver were you able to go?

Drake said:

We cruised up the San Bernard River many years ago on our way from Kemah to Corpus Christi. It was wonderful in those days. Has anyone cruised up the river lately? How far upriver is it navigable with 5' draft? Any interesting stops?

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I haven't cruised up the San Bernard River recently either, but according to the note on the most recent NOAA Chart 11322 "SAN BERNARD RIVER - The controlling depth from the Intracoastal Waterway to a point 26.0 statue miles upstream was 9 feet for a mid-width of 50 feet. Apr. 1994-Jul. 2004"

Friends of the River San Bernard has quite a bit of information on all things San Bernard. I think with 5' draft, your only access is via the ICW. I believe the Army Corps of Engineers is working on re-opening the mouth of the river to the Gulf, but I don't think it is complete yet.

I'll ask around and get back with more info if I can find anyone who has been there recently.

Larry
M/V Boomarang

"How was the Neches? How far upriver were you able to go? "

The Neches is pretty well industrial (and a mothball yard for the Navy) but has several anchorages in the form of oxbow's. From the ICW it's about 30 miles to the saltwater barrier. We have a slip at Beaumont Yacht club as they are covered and at $299 a month can't be beat. I have family in La so it's perfect....to far for them to just drop in and not far if I want to visit

Is the river accessible from the ocean?

In my tow boating days I loaded out of just about every river, bayou, and canal between Baton Rouge and Brownsville. The Neches is accessible from the Gulf through the Port of Port Arthur. As far a scenic Rivers are concerned in that area, I would highly recommend the Mermentau, well worth the the short trip east.

"I would highly recommend the Mermentau, well worth the the short trip east. "

Absolutely correct and Lake Arthur has several, very reasonable docking options and if you continue to the other side of the bridge, you can anchor out and avoid those early morning crew boats.

A little off topic but does anyone know what the Garmin Inland Waterways charts actually cover. I called them and all I could get was all "major" lakes and rivers. My current charts seem to stop at the I10 and switch to "world map" with the river shown but no detail. I do have paper charts but it would be nice to know what classifies as a "major" river before purchase.

The coverage of Garmin's Lake Vu is at Garmin | LakeVu HD.

Garmin has a site that gives details of the coverage of Lake Vu. If you google "garmin lake vu coverage" it's about the third hit.

Thanks Drake but I did that and it shows it covers most of North America. If I search lakes it shows if the lake is covered and in what detail but if I wanted to go up the rivers to say Shreveport La, what coverage would I have?