Kings Bay dredging, Fernandina Beach renourishment starting soon Sand dredged from Kings Bay to be used at Fernandina Beach

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced start dates on Friday for the upcoming dredging of U.S. Naval Station Kings Bay and a sand placement project at Fernandina Beach. The Corps said the sand dredged from Kings Bay will be used in the Fernandina Beach project, saving about $13.5 million. 

Nassau County residents and visitors will begin seeing construction equipment and dredging pipes on Fernandina Beach around the first week of January in preparation for the next scheduled maintenance dredging of U.S. Naval Station Kings Bay and sand placement at Fernandina Beach, which is scheduled to begin mid-February. 

Life-threatening injuries after Jacksonville boat accident

Three adults and a child were involved in a boating accident Tuesday night at Pottsburg Creek, Jacksonville police said. The incident occurred at a boat dock in the 500 block of Bayridge Road. A Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department spokesman said one person was taken to Shands Jacksonville with life-threatening injuries, but couldn’t provide any other details, citing medical privacy laws. This is an update. Apparently the injuries were not life threatening. FWC report.

Coast Guard Medevacs seaman from tug - Andy Syska

Coast Guard medically evacuates man from tug boat JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Coast Guard medically evacuated a 47-year-old man Sunday night from a 92-foot tug boat near the entrance of the St. Johns River near the Mayport, Fla., jetties. A Coast Guard Station Mayport 47-foot Motor-Lifeboat crew evacuated Andy Syska, hometown unknown, from the vessel Peggy Winslow. A crewmember aboard the vessel sent a radio distress call to Coast Guard search and rescue coordinators at Sector Jacksonville around 7 p.m. to report Syska suffered a leg injury and was in severe pain. The Coast Guard crew transported Syska to awaiting EMS at the Mayport boat ramp. Syska was reportedly in fair condition.

Palm Valley Boating Accident - 1/3 of all boating accidents in Florida are boats hitting docks

A state official in charge of managing the Intracoastal Waterway reiterated this week that docks in Palm Valley extend too far toward the center of the channel, hampering boaters in an area where five people were killed when their powerboat slammed into a tugboat moored at a dock. Also, the straightness of the 8-mile stretch of waterway through Palm Valley encourages some boaters to go too fast, officials said... About a third of Florida boating accidents in 2007 involved boats hitting docks and other stationary objects. In its latest annual report, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said 109 accidents involved fixed objects compared to 194 in which boats or other vessels collided with each other. ---------------------------------------------- When a boat strikes a stationary object it is called an allision not a collision under the maritime law. The law and legal liabilities of the potential parties are different than when there is a collision between two vessels. Dwayne

Boat's driver not intoxicated, lawyer says

Some of the passengers might have been drinking, but the person at the wheel of a 22-foot boat that crashed into an Intracoastal Waterway construction site Sunday wasn't intoxicated, an attorney representing three of the victims said Friday. A statement from the Medical Examiner's Office seems to back up the claim. Five people were killed and nine injured in the 7:15 p.m. wreck about a mile north of the Palm Valley Bridge. It started off as a Sunday cruise to St. Augustine. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, National Transportation Safety Board and Coast Guard continued their joint investigation Friday into what caused the boat to veer into a 25-foot tugboat.

DNR inquiry of boating accident under way - infant injured

An infant remained in critical condition Friday as authorities continued to investigate what caused the deadly Georgetown County boating accident that injured the child and killed three others in the Waccamaw River.

Memorial Service Today For Missing Boater

A memorial service for a former University of South Florida football player lost during a boating accident in the Gulf last weekend will be held in Crystal River today. Family and friends will gather to remember Will Bleakley at 3 p.m. at Crystal River United Methodist Church.