Fort Pierce to Riviera Beach, FL

Today:    53 miles, 8.75 hours, ICW, St. M 1018.2

Total:     1141.2 miles, 169.25 hours

      Once again, up before the sun.  We have a way to go today.  It will be pretty, but trying.  We have the 6 bridges to contend with today.  The fun begins in Jupiter.

     As we were leaving Fort Pierce City Marina, Pete asked, “Where are the green channel markers?  There was a whole line of them as we came in yesterday!”  Right now, we could only find one!  Exiting into the main channel, Pete found one barely touching the surface, but at least we could see the drag due to the current.  There wasn’t even a hint of current from the other 4 or 5.  Pete called and spoke with the marina manager and reported what we encountered.  He said that they just received funding to replace the current green and red private channel markers with more permanent ones. Next time we come through, they will be visible.

Our lady of leisure loves
her creature comforts

     The winds were out of the SSE at about 12, but there were gusts upward of 18-20.  We were able to do some motor sailing until the winds changed directions.  When we were successful, our speed reached 8.4; without the wind we dropped to 6.8 mph due to the current against us.

Jupiter Light decorated

     Since Ft. Pierce, we had a gray hulled sailboat behind us.  As we approached the first bridge, Jupiter’s 707, Pete slowed so that he could catch up with us and go through the bridges together. He, too, slowed down! We tried hailing him, but not successful.  When we hailed the bridge, Pete told him why he had slowed, but again that boat wasn’t listening.  We lost about 15 minutes between the slow down and waiting for him at the bridge to catch up. The same thing happened at Jupiter Federal Bridge. When the bridge tender asked him to come closer, he said that he didn’t want to get closed due to the current.  By the time we cleared Jupiter Federal, Pete had to mosey the mile to the next bridge, the Donald Ross.  SV PRELUDE finally decided to call us only to inquire if we had contacted the bridge. It was then that Pete informed him that “we had plenty of time.  We missed the 11 am opening by 3 minutes.  We now needed to wait until the 11:30.”  His response: “Oh.”  This bridge is notorious for being a very slow opening bridge and it did take about 5-6 minutes once traffic is shut down.

     The next bridge, is about 3 miles and, in the past, we were able to make it by running the engine fully open (8.2 mph without current). Unfortunately, the current was against us and we missed the opening by 6 minutes, so, Pete danced in the current for the 25 minutes until the opening.  As the bridge sounded it horn for the opening, I saw the 45-foot power boat heading north along the eastern side of the channel.  Unfortunately, this bastille bridge opened and lifted to the west.  We and PRELUDE were southbound, on the eastern side as the bridge began to rise.  The “----” (you fill in the blank) in the power boat, maintained his eastern part of the channel course.  Pete requested he move to the western side, so we could safely pass. “Dumb sail boaters.  You don’t travel that side on 95!” Pete tried to explain about our mast, but he just continued his course right at us.  Pete has to throw the engine in reverse when the ---- was 15 feet from our bow!  He continued berating us and moved only slightly, about 5 feet to the west, to pass us. Needless to say, we were speechless!

The "bird" to the right is really the drone!

     We did pass a north bound brand new 70'+, luxury, fishing boat. It was being circled by a drone! no doubt they were filming a promotional video for the boat.

     The other two bridge openings were uneventful, and we slid into our slip at 4pm.  Thankfully it was slack tide and we were able to back in.  Since this is our home for the next 2 months, it will make it easier to get on and off, fill the water and do the pump outs and most importantly, provide shade during the hottest part of the day.  The dog was walked, and we had dinner.  Early starts and fresh air poisoning made it an early night.

~~~ /) ~~ K & P