Division 7 - District 7 

Great Links for Boaters
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Local Information for Planning Safe Fun on the Water

• National Weather Services Forecast for Tampa Bay
  Current Hazards, Current Conditions, Radar, Satellite, Climate, Weather Safety, and much more.
• Current Weather Conditions for Tampa Bay
  Summary by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
• Marine Forecast for Tampa Bay
  Wind speed, seas and chop, visibility, Gulf temperature.
• Local Tides
  Chart provided by Tampa Bay Online and Storm Team 8
• Local Notice to Mariners for District 7
  Obtain the most recent LNMs for our area.
• Florida and Eastern Gulf of Mexico Recent Marine Data
  To view marine data, click a buoy station.
• Interactive Global Geostationary Weather Satellite Images
  Select your weather satellite image map to view actual satellite photos.
• Float Plan Central
  State-of-the-art float plan design, its logical organization and exclusive one-page design make it extremely easy to prepare and use. (PDF file and more)
• Boater's Duffel Bag
  What should you carry aboard?
• Docksearch.com
  Find marinas where you're heading.
• MariSafe.com
  Find pump-out stations.
• Marinas list at iboat.com
  Find marinas throughout Florida.
• Tampa welcomes boaters to convention center docks
  City-operated docks at the Tampa Convention Center are open for transient boaters. Fees are paid through a drop box system. Call the Dock Master at (813) 259-1604.

Boating Information Sites

• Boating Safety
  Website of the U.S. Coast Guard Office of Boating Safety. Learn how to prevent accidents, injuries, and fatalities while boating. Review safety tips, news, recalls, defects, and laws and regulations you should know.
• Boating Safety Courses
  Courses cover many aspects of boating safety, from boat handling to reading the weather.
• Navigation Center
  Whether you navigate using GPS, DGPS, LORAN-C, or good-old-fashioned paper charts and a sextant, this provides you with information that will help you fix your position. You'll find the latest GPS and DGPS outage information, nav rules, almanacs, and much, much more!
• Nautical Charts
  The Office of Coast Survey (OCS) produces nautical charts for United States waters, including its possessions and territories. Includes Electronic Navigational Chart, Print on Demand most up-to-date charts, and more.
• Waterproof Charts
  Order Blackwater Charts, chart books, navigation tools, and other boating books.
• Light List
  PDF document contains a list of lights, sound signals, buoys, daybeacons, and other aids to navigation for our area.
• Marine Navigation Calculator
  Calculators for Log and Trig, Celestial Navigation, Conversions, Distance, Time Measurements and Conversions, Weather Data Conversion, and Sailings
• Coast Guard Storm Center
  Hurricane preparedness, storm warnings, and more.
• Marine & Coastal Weather Services
  Provided by the National Weather Service
• Recalls & Safety Defects
  Is your boat safe? Check for documented and alleged defects for all boats manufactured in or imported into the United States — essential information for boat owners or those considering the purchase of a recreational vessel.

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Children's Activity Links

• Inky the Whale coloring book - Print and use!
• Our Day with the Coast Guard coloring story book for young children
• More than 200 Years of Coast Guard History coloring book for older children
• The Adventures of Captain Cleanwater activities book
• Water 'n Kids coloring book of basic safety precautions for water safety
• Coastie's Homepage
  Includes Coastie's scrapbook, story, water safety quiz, CD player, and more. Coastie teaches safe boating to children.

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Coast Guard Auxiliary Sites

• U.S. Coast Guard Auxilliary
  Flotilla Finder, Visitors' Deck, Members' Deck, Online Boating Courses, International Links, Coast Guard Auxiliary e-zine "SITREP", and more.
• Coast Guard Auxiliary's 7th District
  Our local area
• Flotilla Finder
  Don't live in the Brandon, Florida, area? Use this zip code search to find the one nearest you.

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Coast Guard Sites

• Main U.S. Coast Guard site
  The United States Coast Guard is a military, multimission, maritime service and one of the nation’s five Armed Services. Its mission is to protect the public, the environment, and U.S. economic interests – in the nation’s ports and waterways, along the coast, on international waters, or in any maritime region as required to support national security.
• Threat Advisory Alerts from Homeland Security
  See the current terrorist threat condition (severe - high - elevated - guarded - low).
• Coast Guard Recruiting Site
  Everything you ever wanted to know about careers in the Coast Guard and the Coast Guard Reserve (including maps showing the location of local recruiting offices), civilian jobs, the Coast Guard Academy, the Coast Guard Auxiliary and lots more.
• U.S. Coast Guard Academy
  The United States Coast Guard Academy is committed to strengthening the nation’s future by educating, training and developing leaders of character who are ethically, intellectually, professionally and physically prepared to serve their country and humanity, and who are strong in their resolve to build on the long military and maritime heritage and proud accomplishments of the United States Coast Guard.
• U.S. Coast Guard Reserve
  General information about the Reserves including excellent information about the Reserve program and its opportunities. It also includes a Reserve Forum, links to publicly available publications, The Reservist magazine, Reserve resident training information, and more.

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