I've noticed that most boats enter and exit on the north side of the bouy, and am curious how wide the cut is on both sides of the bouy, and how deep it is at the bouy. Anyone know?

Oh, and in feet, please. I can't be having with that there metric system. Can't fathom it.

Can't give you the measurements, but I can say that the buoy is close to the south side and there is no navigable water beyond it. At a guess I'd say it's about 20-30ft deep at the buoy.

There used to be a similar marker by the northern edge but wasn't replaced after a storm.

When diving my computer has recorded a maximun of 35' at high tide in the middle of the channel which is not very wide. One needs to use their eyes.

Thanks all. So that's why the boats pass it on the north side, it's already at the south side. Got to thinking about this in relation to the big yacht that did the reef damage. I watched that, wondered if he could have gotton inside at the cut.

I have dived this channel many times in the past, though not for several years. At the bouy, south side of entrance, water is about 8 feet deep, and is about 8 to 10 feet all the way across. Deepest point anywhere in channel is 17 feet, I used to have to find it so that dives with students were legal, rules state a dive must be to 15 feet to qualify. Whoever recorded 35 feet needs to have their depth gauge calibrated !! Channel is 80 to 100 feet wide, any boats entering come in on a heading of 300 degrees, or towrds town, as coral curves in from the south side of the break. Once clear of channel, water is no more than 8 feet deep, and generally a bit less. Not sure if that big yacht would have made it. All depths are aprox. and are based on low tide, not that it makes a huge difference as max tidal range here is 14 inches.

Thanks, good in depth info backed by experience. I've been promised that, if I grow up, I can take the boat through some day.

grant3wishes is correct
The cut is a dog-leg and any vessel drawing more than 6.5' must beware once you get inside the reef

I've only once dived the channel all the way between open sea and lagoon and on that occasion I didn't measure the depth but I've frequently dived in the channel on the lagoon side of the reef and it reaches between 15 and 25ft over quite a bit of its length. I've never reached 30ft though.