The mechanics finally finished fixing our engine this morning and right before lunch we took it out with them for a sea trial. We didn’t go very far, just far enough for them to proclaim it fixed. We were pretty nervous about getting off the dock especially because of the tide. As it turned out it wasn’t bad at all. The only bad thing about this whole experience was the bill. It cost us about $2400, not to mention all the restaurant meals we had! Good thing they didn’t have to pull the boat out of the water. Besides the extra expense of the travel lift they also told us they would not have let us live on the boat in their boatyard because of the type of security they have.

Right after lunch we headed south again. We had hoped to get to Ft. Lauderdale but it was too far to go unless we had left first thing in the morning. There are so many bridges that need to open for sailboats in this part of Florida that you can’t count on getting any place fast. We didn’t plan our exit with the schedule of the first bridge so we had to wait a bit. After that we either went fast or slow to get to the next bridge on time. At one point we started going through the bridges with a huge tour boat that told us he would be going through the next three bridges at their next openings so we stayed on his tail the whole way. Some bridges open on the hour and half hour, some open on the quarter hour and three quarter hour. The last bridge ahead of us opened on the hour, twenty after the hour, and twenty of the hour. We were going to have to wait fifteen minutes for it to open so we just decided to call it a day and anchor in Boca Raton for the night. We aren’t getting off the boat though. We will leave early tomorrow and get to Ft. Lauderdale by noon. It is super windy tonight but we are very glad not to be sleeping at a dock again! The picture above is of our anchorage. It looks like rain in the picture but so far it hasn’t rained.