The 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, wow time has passed as we pause to remember a day which indeed did go down in infamy.
We were up before light to get prepped for a long day. There are 16 bridges to be passed through today and the timing is a delicate dance A very few open on demand the rest by schedule and not all on the same one. The route has become somewhat familiar as this was the 5th time we had done this polka. We were off the dock without much trouble holding our breath as we made our way back to the ICW. There is not much water between the marina and the ICW and we were leaving on a falling tide. We made it back to the channel and pointed our nose South toward the Lantana Bridge which opened for us at 7:30 AM and we were off. Next up Ocean Blvd after passing by the shoaly Boynton Inlet. That bridge also opens on the hour and half hour. We passed through the 0800 opening and glided past our condo complex. Only that our timing would have held for the rest of the day but we got behind a barge, which had been anchored across the ICW from the condo for two weeks. How we got so lucky to have it move the day we did. We were behind it for the next two bridges and then passed it. It was moving much slower than us, but not slow enough. Twice we had to wait for it to catch up to make the bridge opening, delaying the opening until its arrival, thus causing us to miss the next ones. Traveling at 5 knots you can time it to get to the next bridge just as it opens. Throw that schedule off by even a couple of minutes and we can't make up the time. Our boat just does not go that fast and Scott hates to push the engine. We cooled our heels at 4 or 5 of the bridges for 20 minutes or more waiting for a scheduled opening. It was hot, unlike yesterday there was no wind at all. That made it somewhat easier to stay in one place waiting... unless the current decided to play with us. As usual the inlets were shoaling and we saw some skinny spots along the way.
We hoped to be able to pick up a mooring on the south side of Las Olas bridge for the night but I had made a reservation for a dock space at Pier 66 Marina in the event we couldn't get one. We had called to see if the mooring were still there as the marina and land have been sold. When we stopped in the spring on our way north the expectation was that the entire operation would be gone in weeks. However ensuing law suits have kept the development in limbo. The moorings are known to go fast as the day progresses. Folks drop them early in the morning but by mid afternoon they are generally full again. We could hear the radio chatter of boats transiting the bridges both before and behind us. There were two sailboats and a trawler two bridges behind. We wanted to stay ahead of them on the off chance that a mooring should be available. If they caught up to us and passed us we figured we would be out of luck. Moorings are significantly less expensive than dock space and sailors are rarely wealthy.
We pulled up to our 15th bridge only to have to wait and sure enough the boats behind us caught up. They had gotten behind the tug and barge who was now requesting unscheduled openings which they were able to pass through. Because we were first in line we got to go through first but if they passed us before the Las Olas bridge we figured we didn't have a chance. They did stay behind us which rather surprised me. Pulling up to the Los Olas bridge though another boat was ahead of us. We could see one loan mooring on the far side of the bridge and to our dismay the boat ahead of us pulled into the mooring field. Wait though there was one more ball on the far side of the field which we quickly snagged. And not so delicately. I picked up the painter on the first try but oh my what sight we were trying to tie up the line. I think we were both exhausted and neither one of us could quite get that line through right. It must have taken us a half hour to finally get it sorted. You would have thought we had never picked up a mooring before. Sad sad sad. Once secured we set to work getting the dinghy in the water so we could sign in before the marina closed and take India in for shore leave. We signed up for one night with the intention of heading to Miami tomorrow outside. It looks like our weather window to get to Marathon has closed. There is a front coming through on Friday that looks to be quite nasty. We are planning on going to Dinner Key and tie up to a mooring there until we can put together two good days to get to Marathon.
We passed this house on the way, somebody has some Christmas Spirit. HO HO HO