A fairly uneventful day. I'm getting better at motoring forward to help Shawn take the anchor up.
We got to a bascule bridge, requested an opening, and then opened for a taller powerboat in front of us (and generated a lot of wake, of course!). We were worried we'd have to wait 10-30min for the next opening but thankfully the bridge opened swiftly.

Decided to take the jupiter inlet to the Atlantic rather than dealing with timed bascule bridges, because they're such a pain. We happened to take the inlet while the tide was coming in, and thus the current against us, so we were scared we would get to a standstill and have to turn back and continue along the ICW. It was nerve wracking, but we did eventually get through the narrow opening and into the beautiful blue ocean!

I did not get as seasick as last time, maybe because I'm getting better sea legs, or maybe because we picked up actual dramamine this time instead of ginger with a dramamine logo slapped on. I certainly felt drowsy so I could tell it was having some effect on my body.

Eventually the winds and waves picked up and we took the next inlet in, a bit north of West Palm Beach. Dry heaved at the sheer number of obnoxiously expensive personal craft. The current was powerful here - idle pushed us back, forward kept us steady, and full throttle was the only setting that kept us moving forward.

This makes the timed bridges here... Interesting. Flagler went pretty smooth, but Royal Park, which I read opens "on the hour and half hour" and we got to at 3:58, said their next opening was at 4:30. So we had to keep puttering forward and readjusting for 30 effin minutes. I wrote this section as we waited. What a pain. Ugh. Yes - I *could* have argued with the bridge tender over VHF - but I've also heard tales of angry bridge operators snapping masts so best not to invoke their wrath.

Went through some more bridges and had to wait for most. We greatly prefer open on demand bascules of course - but considering all of the bascules are technically on-demand with time restrictions why even the time restrictions? Or just build a bigger bridge. Sigh.

Oh, we passed by Mar-A-Lago today. It's not that impressive from the water. Grumbled a bit about "tax dollars on fire" and continued on our way.

Currently anchored out in a slightly less ritzy area than last night. We could've made more ground (er... water, I guess), but we looked ahead on the charts and there wasn't anywhere good to anchor past this bridge. We only lost an hour and we're far more comfy here.

As an aside, I'd like to inform the non-cruising readers about what we do most of the day. We mostly trade who helms (though Shawn helmed most of the day since pointing into the waves is difficult). This is an incredibly boring task that you can't really look away from. You can occasionally look at reddit or something, but nothing requiring more focus than that. Because of this, we do a lot of talking. Since we wake up at sunrise and stop at sunset, that means we're talking to each other for over 12hrs a day (7am to 7pm - at least).

The surprising part is that we haven't worn on each other even after 5 days of this, which is great!

We spend most of the time discussing our usual topics: Role-playing setting worldbuilding, character ideas, politics ("Does boat wake violate the non-aggression principle?), social encounters (more in an analytical way), and other nerdy stuff. With the occasional "fuck these fucking plowerboaters" thrown in for good measure.

Needless to say, I/we are both greatly inspired for various role-playing campaigns when we return. Not saying I'm excited to come back, but I have things to discuss with others upon our return... Mostly because it feels weird to text people about this stuff while I'm supposed to be on a honeymoon.

Sometimes I go below to cook or clean up something that fell down in a boat wake, or make mixed drinks, but it's usually sitting out on deck just talking.