Sacramento Delta / Waterways - Anyone running them? Club?

[PwrTek]

Hello,

Is anyone here running the waterways around Sacramento? Do you have a club affiliation that does trips together?

We would really like to find some other nice folks to join up with and ask about it. There are miles of awesome waterway and we don't want to go until we get the lowdown from some people with experience.

Any suggestions? Thank you!

[jto]

We just did an overnight last weekend on our own from Discovery Bay to Old Sacramento(1st time). There wasn't much current on the Sacramento River. And hardly any boats in most areas away from the marinas. But there was a fair amount of floating debris throughout the river. We definately preferred the Sac River over the Delta. The Delta has a lot of shallow areas these days.

[PwrTek]

Thanks for the reply! Good info - I've been trying to locate some clubs that run as well.

So did you have a place to tie up in Old Sac?

I've got a lot to study before we will consider making a trip over.

It's about 2 hours trailering to get there for us.

[jto]

Old Sacramento has a great public dock to tie up for the day(free), or overnight with shore power($1.50/ft + $20 res fee). Reservations are recommended. Check here for info. Our boat is small so we docked overnight and stayed in a hotel. The Embassy Suites Hotel is riverfront and has a gangway down to the docks directly in front of it.

Here's a blog story that prompted us to try this trip: Discovery Bay to Old Sacramento . We'd love to join a club also as we're hoping to upgrade to a cruiser soon.

Google Map view of the docks . If you go, dock on the inside, depth permitting... everything on the outside will rock from passing boat traffic while the inside remains completely still.

[PwrTek]

Great info! Thank you.

I found a website with some helpful info and have been trying to figure out the Northernmost reliable ramp to launch from.

Delta Boating Website

[Gregms]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to Chaparral (240 Signature) after being away form the Delta and boating for about 12 years. My boat is at Bethel Harbor but I'll be getting up to Sac probably this fall. I'll be looking for some interesting Anchorages in and around the central Delta.

It will be good to be back into boating and spending some nights on the water.

Greg

[PwrTek]

Hello, that's great, welcome back to boating! We are trying to plan some Delta trips for next year, but we have to trailer over to the river first so it takes a bit more effort.

We have really enjoyed sleeping long weekends on the boat in the lakes.

[Mike CA]

Just launched at Discovery Park (Sac) yesterday and headed down to Rio Vista and back.  Have a 264 and looking at heading to the bay this Sunday.  Any suggestions or advice?

-Mike-

[pineapple girl]

Mike where'd you end up going? We're out on the delta today (mokelumne) 

[Johnfrmcal]

On July 22, 2015 at 4:10 PM, jto said:

Here's a blog story that prompted us to try this trip: Discovery Bay to Old Sacramento .

Ha that's funny, I just joined this site to get info about Chaparrals because I'm looking at getting rid of our 20' Crownline for a larger Chaparral, and then I run across this post.  That trip is my jet ski trip, we started 7 years ago and we go every year, those are my pictures of all of us.

Word of advice for anyone who wants to explore the Delta but is afraid of shallow water…Pay the $13 bucks a year for Navionics on your phone, or the $50 bucks a year for Navionics on your iPad.  I have it on both.  Best insurance in the world.  You can clearly see all the depths and it's a piece of cake to follow the deepest routes wherever you are going.  Better than on your MFD (if you have one) because it's just the chart, not a bunch of other info to get in the way of your chart view.  We cruise the Delta in our 44' Carver, drawing darn close to 5 feet, and it seems like, as luck would have it, we are always stuck cruising in low tide at some point in the day.  In three years of cruising the Delta in a cruiser, I've never touched bottom.  Typical ski boat/runabout boats really don't have anything to worry about.