Air temp 78, water temp 83, winds light and variable
Once again neither of us slept well because of the heat. I was in the salon, under an open hatch and it was very warm after the winds died around midnight. Also around that same time, a small boat came slowly by us blasting Cuban music which woke us both of us. Some people...
Here was the sunset over Miami last night. The Sun was so red it almost overwhelmed the camera. See the red dot?
Anchor up at 0630 as we motored across the bay and into the Government Cut channel. 1/2 hour later we were outside the jetty and turned north toward Ft. Lauderdale. The ocean was as predicted - calm as a pond. I gradually worked the boat more off-shore toward the gulf-stream and was rewarded about an hour later when our speed picked up from 6.5 to 8.4 knots. We were zooming!
While underway, I had been studying the Hillsboro Inlet to see if we could try going in there today. We would be at Ft. Lauderdale much earlier than planned so had the time off-shore to get to Hillsboro before the winds and rain hit. I decided to go for it and we bypassed Port Everglades and set course for Hillsboro Inlet - 10 miles farther north. I also looked at going all the way to Lake Worth inlet but the storms would be hitting this area before we arrived around 4pm. Major problem was the storms had north winds at 20-30 knots which would pretty much prevent us from making any northern progress. Other than putting another notch in my helmsman's belt for a new (to us) inlet, going in Hillsboro would bypass 7 bridges that we would have to time and wait for on the ICW.
No problem as we navigated the inlet and only waited about 5 minutes for the Hillsboro Inlet Bridge to open for us. Then we were back in the ICW for the first time this year.
I was pretty happy that after 28 trips up and down the ICW we still get to experience new things. Last night was the first time we've anchored near the Key Biscayne Stadium and today we went through a new inlet. Nice!
Our timing wasn't good for the first couple bridges as we lost about 25 minutes at the first bridge as we would have arrived right after their 1/2 hour opening. We passed through the first 4 bridges and I was hoping we could make it all the way to Lake Worth for a nice, wide-open anchorage we had used before. But, it was not to be. A short time later the skies opened up and rained about the hardest I've ever seen. I was navigating the narrow ICW by instruments for the next 3 miles at slow speed.
As we passed a possible anchorage at Pelican Harbor, we noticed that only one boat was anchored in a pretty big area. The rain had let up but hadn't stopped completely as we decided to pull in. Laura went out on the bow to run the anchor windlass. She was pretty wet already from our quick "rain drill" of closing all the hatches on the boat in about 20 seconds. Here is a picture she took during the rain squall. Notice the wind-snakes in the water? The winds were close to 30 knots.
S/V Marguerite was the other boat anchored in Pelican Harbor and we've talked to them on and off since we left Marathon including today out on the ocean. They also came into Hillsboro Inlet but about 1/2 hour ahead of us. After anchoring, I walked out on the bow and talked to the other Captain about how hard the rain was. He said there had been a tornado watch in the area and he had tried to call me several times on the radio. I never heard anything on the radio with the wind and rain pounding the boat.
Here is Marguerite next to us in Pelican Harbor. Pretty calm in here now but the rain is coming and going periodically.
We are happy to be anchored in a nice protected area with the storms coming through all afternoon. Since we had to close all our windows with the rain, I started the Honda 2200 generator and turned on our air-conditioner to finally cool down the boat after 3 days of heat and humidity. It's feeling pretty nice in here!
Laura made homemade pizza for dinner - her famous shrimp and broccoli with Alfredo sauce (eat your hearts our Karen and Jim...). Afterwards, we watched two "Sherlock"s and 1 Criminal Minds that I had downloaded to my phone from Netflix when we still had wifi. We watch them on our TV through a HDMI cable and apple "dongle" connected to the phone.
I also hooked up on-line with my friend Wayne to play Pro Pool 2020. This is a very graphical pool game played on computer or iPad. Two friends can play each other and you see all the shots the other person is making. We played each other in bars A LOT 45 years ago and this was a fun reunion as we kept texting each other "want another Genny Cream Ale?" (our drink of choice back then), "next game is for a round of drinks" and such.
By 9pm it had cooled down inside and out so we opened the boat windows and hatches. I was comfortable and slept really well for the first time since leaving Marathon.
The 20+ knot winds are supposed to last until late morning tomorrow so we'll sleep in and relax in the morning. Maybe tomorrow afternoon we will motor the 20 miles to Lake Worth and anchor in the lake there which is very protected also. Then, Saturday looks like a nice traveling day so we'll probably head to Peck Lake or Stuart to hang for a day or two. We are planning on meeting up with our friends Dean and Sue on S/V Autumn Borne Monday or Tuesday in Vero Beach. Then we will be traveling together for the next few (several?) weeks as kind of a support team if either of us has problems with our old boats. Between the two of us we have over 50 trips up and down the ICW and neither Dean nor I let others work on our boat (if we can help it). We are both very independent cruisers and make an excellent team when traveling together.
Friday, April 17th
Air temp 78, water temp 81, winds E @ 15-18
25 nm today, 165 total from Marathon
After a good nights sleep, we took it easy in the morning then raised anchor at 0930 for a short (distance wise) trip to Lake Worth. We still had 9 bridges which all opened on their own schedule except 3 which were on-demand. I had remembered from other passes through here than this section was easy if you could make about 6.5-7 knots. That would put the boat at the next bridge right in time for their scheduled opening. Unfortunately, we only make 5.5-6 knots so would be late for several and have to wait 1/2 hour.
But.... The high east winds actually helped us as we rolled out part of the jib between bridges to add a knot or two to the boat speed. We were able to make all the bridges on their next opening and not wait anywhere. It was pretty nice. Four hours later we passed through the Flagler Memorial Bridge - that last bridge for today. Then it was only 7 miles to the anchorage which we found before the afternoon showers started. We didn't have to anchor in the rain!
It was a pretty good day on the ICW with lower-than-normal number of boats around and a little cooler with the clouds and nice breeze. Here is a picture Laura took of the Ocean Avenue Bridge before it opened for us. She liked the fancy scroll-work on the bridge.
We anchored in Lake Worth Lake near the SW corner and several high-rise condos. The winds are supposed to go south tonight so this is good protection from the waves and, hopefully, the condos will provide some lightning protection if storms come our way. Here is our view from the stern while anchored.
Tomorrow we will continue our trip north with a short trip to Hobe Sound or Peck Lake, or a longer trip to Stuart. Peck Lake is a beautiful anchorage off the ICW with awesome beach access to the ocean (assuming this isolated beach is open). Because it's so popular, there usually isn't room to anchor comfortably (to my standards). Maybe with the number of boats being down quite a bit, there will be room for us to anchor and spend an afternoon on the beach - one of Laura's favorite things to do beside snorkeling.
7 bridges tomorrow if we go past Hobe Sound. But, they are much farther apart and 3 are on-request. After that the ICW is pretty open with maybe 1 or two bridges each day.
That red dot is amazing.
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