NOAA ENCŪ

NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

US3LA01M - INTRACOASTAL WATERWAY NEW ORLEANS TO CALCASIEU RIVER WEST SECTION


INDEX:

NOTE A
AIDS TO NAVIGATION
POLLUTION REPORTS
CAUTION - USE OF RADIO SIGNALS (LIMITATIONS)
SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
CAUTION - TEMPORARY CHANGES
WARNING - PRUDENT MARINER
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
AUTHORITIES 
NOAA WEATHER RADIO BROADCASTS
CAUTION - DREDGED AREAS
CAUTION - GAS AND OIL WELL STRUCTURES
HURRICANES AND TROPICAL STORMS
RADAR REFLECTORS
WATER LEVELS, CURRENTS, AND TIDES 
CAUTION - BRIDGES
INTRACOASTAL WATERWAY AIDS
COMMENTS REQUESTED


NOTES:

NOTE A 
Navigation regulations are published in Chapter 2, U.S. Coast Pilot 5.  Additions or revisions to Chapter 2 are published in the Notice to Mariners. Information concerning the regulations may be obtained at the Office of the Commander, 8th Coast Guard District in New Orleans, LA, or at the Office of the District Engineer, Corps of Engineers in New Orleans, LA. Refer to charted regulation section numbers.


AIDS TO NAVIGATION 
Consult U.S. Coast Guard Light List for supplemental information concerning aids to navigation.


POLLUTION REPORTS
Report all spills of oil and hazardous substances to the National Response Center via 1-800-424-8802 (toll free), or to the nearest U.S. Coast Guard facility if telephone communication is impossible (33 CFR 153).


CAUTION - USE OF RADIO SIGNALS (LIMITATIONS) 
Limitations on the use of radio signals as aids to marine navigation can be found in the U.S. Coast Guard Light Lists and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Publication 117. Radio direction-finder bearings to commercial broadcasting stations are subject to error and should be used with caution.


SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
Consult U.S. Coast Pilot 5 for important supplemental information.


CAUTION - TEMPORARY CHANGES 
Temporary changes or defects in aids to navigation are not indicated. See Local Notice to Mariners.


WARNING - PRUDENT MARINER 
The prudent mariner will not rely solely on any single aid to navigation, particularly on floating aids. See U.S. Coast Guard Light List and U.S. Coast Pilot for details.


ADDITIONAL INFORMATION 
Additional information can be obtained at www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov.


AUTHORITIES 
Hydrography and topography by the National Ocean Service, Coast Survey, with additional data from the Corps of Engineers, Geological Survey, and U.S. Coast Guard.


NOAA WEATHER RADIO BROADCASTS 
The NOAA Weather Radio Station listed below provides continuous weather broadcasts. The reception range is typically 20 to 40 nautical miles from the antenna site, but can be as much as 100 nautical miles for stations at high elevations.

Lafayette, LA		WXK-80		162.550 MHz
Lake Charles, LA	KHB-42		162.400 MHz


CAUTION - DREDGED AREAS 
Improved channels are subject to shoaling, particularly at the edges.


CAUTION - GAS AND OIL WELL STRUCTURES
Uncharted platforms, gas and oil well structures, pipes, piles and stakes can exist within the limits of this chart.


HURRICANES AND TROPICAL STORMS 
Hurricanes, tropical storms and other major storms may cause considerable damage to marine structures, aids to navigation and moored vessels, resulting in submerged debris in unknown locations. Charted soundings, channel depths and shoreline may not reflect actual conditions following these storms. Fixed aids to navigation may have been damaged or destroyed. Buoys may have been moved from their charted positions, damaged, sunk extinguished or otherwise made inoperative. Mariners should not rely upon the position or operation of an aid to navigation. Wrecks and submerged obstructions may have been displaced from charted locations. Pipelines may have become uncovered or moved. Mariners are urged to exercise extreme caution and are requested to report aids to navigation discrepancies and hazards to navigation to the nearest United States Coast Guard unit.


RADAR REFLECTORS 
Radar reflectors have been placed on many floating aids to navigation. Individual radar reflector identification on these aids have been omitted from this chart.


WATER LEVELS, CURRENTS, AND TIDES
Real-time water levels, tide predictions, and tidal current predictions are available on the internet from NOAA's Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) at https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/water_level_info.html and https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/currents_info.html
 

CAUTION - BRIDGES
Numerous bridges and overhead cables cross the waterways of this area. Some are not shown because of the small scale. See larger scale charts and U.S. Coast Pilot 5


INTRACOASTAL WATERWAY AIDS
The U.S. Aids to Navigation System is designed for use with nautical charts, and the exact meaning of an aid to navigation may not be clear unless the appropriate chart is consulted. Aids to navigation marking the Intracoastal Waterway exhibit unique yellow symbols to distinguish them from aids marking other waterways. When following the Intracoastal Waterway westward from Carrabelle, FL to Brownsville, TX, aids with yellow triangles should be kept on the starboard side of the vessel and aids with yellow squares should be kept on the port side of the vessel. A horizontal yellow band provides no lateral information, but simply identifies aids to navigation as marking the Intracoastal Waterway.


COMMENTS REQUESTED
NOAA encourages users to submit inquiries, discrepancies, or comments about this chart via NOAA's ASSIST tool at https://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/customer-service/assist/.


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