What’s that Saying, “The Best Made Plans….?”

      We were up at 5:45 to make sure the dog was walked and the last-minute things secured so we could leave at Nautical Twilight, 6:15am. 

Sunrise over the West Palm Beach Inlet

     Ummm, Nautical Twilight didn’t appear until 6:30! As we were entering the inlet cut, we could see the cruise ship, Grand Celebration, waiting for the harbor pilot.  It was a beautiful sunrise. Unfortunately, those predicted winds from the ESE had shifted to the SSE, creating rollers that were tossing us around, slowing our forward speed to less than 5 mph, and no possibility of raising the sails to help. Within a half hour we made the decision to turn about and travel the ICW.

Large estate with outdoor chandeliers

     Our first bridge south of the inlet is undergoing construction.  The Flagler Bridge, which should open a quarter after each hour, omits the 8:15 AM and the 5:15PM opening. As a result, we dropped anchor for the hour and a half as we waited for 9:15. Apparently, this caught 8 other boats off guard as well.

Holiday decorations

          Since our last foray through this part of the ICW (2011), there are a lot less homes on the water for sale, but also a lot of new home construction.  Many of the homes are in the 5-6,000 square foot range, while others take up 3 lots and must be close to10-12,000 square feet! Who could possibly use all that space?!?

One of today's many bridge openings

     Some of the bridge openings were timed just right while we had to wait for others. Spanish River Bridge was missed by 3 minutes and there was another 25-minute dance in the current.  We were the first of the 3 sail boats we spent the day traveling with to break off to anchor.  We knew that there was a place to walk Bailey here in Boca Raton, so we stopped around 2:30 after only 30 miles (and 14 bridges!) Pete was able to make his two conference calls after we anchored and I chilled out before dinner.

     Pete is planning for tomorrow. If we continue the ICW, we have 21 of the 35 bridges ahead; 2 of which are fixed at 55 feet. We should be ok with our mast height at 52 feet, but it’s also another 45 miles! So, should we venture out from Port Everglades and do the last 21 miles on the ocean with the winds 4-7 from the SE or hope we find a pack of sailboats that can clear the 55 foot bridges on the ICW. Traveling in a pack helps with bridge openings (the accordion effect.)

    We’ll let you know tomorrow how it goes!

~ ~ ~ /) ~ ~  K & P