Sandbar Catching Boaters Off Guard Near Caladesi

Ferry passengers and a Dunedin city leader are the latest victims of a hidden sandbar off the coast of Caladesi Island.

Vice Mayor Julie Ward Bujalski, an avid boater equipped with a GPS depth finder, was en route to Caladesi Island from the Dunedin Causeway when she suddenly became stuck on a sandbar over the Memorial Day weekend. Her boating party was stuck in the canal entrance to the Caladesi marina hours before high tide could free them, she explained.

And it wasn't just their dumb luck. Four other boaters behind them became stuck on the same sandbar that day.

"In seconds it went from 7 feet to 1.2 feet," she said. 

Bujalski isn't the only victim of Caladesi's shifting underwater sands.

At least 40 passengers aboard the Caladesi Island ferry had to be rescued after their vessel got stuck on the sandbar during an afternoon storm July 3, according to a Tampa Bay Times report. The ferry was reportedly on its 1.7 mile trip to Caladesi from Honeymoon Island when strong winds blew it onto the sandbar. 

Bujalski said she started talking to other boaters who frequent Caladesi Island as often as she does and learned they had similar encounters with the hidden sandbar, and realized that the main watercraft entrance to the island is starting to become a nuisance. 

She believes it may be time to look to the state for solutions. 

"I would never have said a word until the Caladesi Island ferry got stuck on it with 40 people," she told Rob DiSpirito, city manager, during Thursday's commission meeting. 

"When the ferry is getting stuck ..." Bujalski said. "Something's going on."