We have left the dock! I wasn't sure we were going to ever do it but this morning at 0700 we dropped the dock lines and left our cozy Stuart home. Original intention was to leave Monday but we got way laid by dock gravity and took another day in Stuart. We were paid up through the 9th soooo we decided to avail ourselves of Bagel Monday and spend one more night. The water tanks were filled and we made ready to go. I was able to figure out how to transfer my routes from the IPad to the chart plotter. It wasn't elegant but it was much easier than trying to enter waypoints manually.
We got off the dock in good fashion as it was early and the winds had not picked up yet. They did build throughout the day. We had reserved a reciprocal night at Loggerhead in Lantana with a total travel day of 46nm with a number of bridges to get through. The first big hurdle would be transversing the very tricky St. Lucie river. It shoals badly at the entrance and the tide was going out. We followed our tracks from last spring and were able to negotiate the skinny bits without an issue. We did almost end up in the Atlantic when we missed the turn off for the ICW. We caught it in time but there again the water is thin at what is known as The Crossroads where the St Lucie Inlet, St Lucie River and the ICW meet. We managed the bridges fairly well with only having to wait for a couple. Fortunately we got through the still under construction Flagler with is only one open wing span before rush hour. It only opens once and hour between 4 and 6. The winds were piping and that bridge has crazy current creating a real nail biter as you go through
We sailed through the now restricted region by Trump White House South, thankful he was not in residence as we had to wait for the Southern Bridge. Had he been there the security would have chased us out. With the bridge only opening on the hour and half hour I'm not sure what you are supposed to do when he is in residence. The new regulations stipulate that you are to keep moving and not dally. Not sure what happens if you have to wait for a bridge opening... hope to never find out.
We pulled into Lantana just as it was getting dark. This marina unlike the one is Stuart closes at 5 PM sharp. They don't stick around to help you get in and we were told they were out of prox tags so we would not have use of the facilities. Had we been staying more than one night we would have not been happy about that. Still the dock was ours included in the price we had paid at Stuart which is a real bargain as a transient. One of the fellows across the way helped us get tied up, boat people are the best! Once tied up dinner was started a frosty cold adult beverage was enjoyed and the CSO had shore leave. As the lovely lady who sold us Morning Star used to say 3 out, 3 in good day sailing!
The picture is us heading down the St. Lucie there's a nubby out there, our name for temporary marks that indicate a shoal. Respect the nubbies!!