I remember folks trying to swim the CCCanal and not making it. I can also remember the rough waters in the canal when I kept me boat in Orleans and used the canal from time to time to go back and forth from Newport. i don't know if the site picks up Coast Guard radio up there? It doesn't down here, but i can pick them up on the scanner. Friends with open routers on the beach will get a lot of WiFi activity from the water. Cellphone....It depends which provider you use ...if your phone will work out in tampa bay and of course some phones have better reception than others, so it's a coin toss. CB still has a strong signal on the water, so if you know the right channels you can certainly get service, CB is also the most entertaining. 
Hi Sandbox,
Yes, this is the one that I got earlier, great link, you can find any town you want in any state.
I havent listened recently, but it will be interesting later when we get fog and the Coast Guard will be talking to some of the oil barges going thru the CCCanal to our electric generating plant. The pleasure-boat people in the middle of summer can be pretty crazy, so its fun to listen to them too.
Lots of the time, they ignore the weather forecasts and end up in trouble. Even once in a while a fishing trawler gets in trouble, like the one which sunk going thru Woods Hole. That was scary.
It will be interesting to listen when the weather is bad, or when we see the GC 'copters circling nearby. Recently its kayakers who have not a clue of tide and wind, and they end up calling for help on their cell phones. Quite a few have drowned in the last couple years.
Jane
We seemed to have high jacked this thread, like the old days, you'd start on one subject and end on three more.

Ain't it grand! I love it when threads turn into a good old chat 