I live on the south side of the Wharf Marina on Clear Lake. I draw 5'4" and rarely encounter issues except during the
winter months when the north winds blow the water out of the bay. These "wind tides" can be 4-5 lower than normal, on an extreme day. I can't say these are the days I'd like to be sailing anyway. The bottom of the harbor is "tea grounds", meaning even if the tide is abnormally low and you're dragging up to a foot of
keel through the muck, you can
power through it without much problem. Clear Creek itself is about 13' at the end of the Wharf docks on the west side.
The problem at the Wharf used to be getting around the point at South Shore Harbor. That was dredged about two years ago to control
depth, which is 8', I believe. Take the marks around the point to the green side and you shouldn't have any problem. The channel has a tendency to silt towards the red side and there are two high points marked on the
charts that *are* high points.
It's been a good experience having my boat here. The harbor is a real
hurricane hole, and we had very little damage from Ike, unlike other less-protected
marinas that had heavy damage or were completely wiped out. The docks are through-bolted, so they didn't float up and away like many of the less well-built or floating docks.
Capt Brent