Indiantown lived up to its reputation for mosquitoes last night. We were driven in as soon as the sun set. Just as well as we wanted an early start. We were up by 7:00 AM. Scott made coffee as I tidied the boat. We needed to get ice before we shoved off. It would be unlikely for us to get the dingy off the bow before tomorrow. Living without a working fridge will take some getting used to. After coffee and a quick breakfast we prepped to leave. Scott moved the car to a safe spot. We'll be back to get it on Monday if all goes well. We were still diddling around when George on Gracie pulled out. He's headed to the docks where we spent last Christmas. We had considered going there. But Scott was anxious to get a ball in Stuart before they all fill up. There is no telling in these times if they will or not and right now there are moorings available. Such an odd year it has been.
We shoved off the dock just a bit past 09:00 and made our way out of the marina into the canal. I hailed the railroad bridge to insure it was safe to transit and got the go ahead. We settled in for a leisurely drive down the canal to the lock. The current was with us and we made quick passage to the lock. There wasn't much boat traffic just a few power boats and one sailboat that had left the marina right after us.
Out timing at the lock wasn't stellar. They had just started locking thru some eastbound vessels and needed to lock thru the waiting westbound boats before we would be able to transit. We needed to cool our jets for nearly an hour before we got the go ahead to enter the lock. Light Reach doesn't respond well to standing still and that makes the captain cranky. Top that with the lock master giving him a hard time about his pokey entrance makes for a not such a fun experience. That and it had started to rain, not hard but enough to make it wet! There were 5 boats in the lock, three power and two sail. This was the first time we had seen them use both sides of the lock here. Once we got in and settled the procedure went smoothly although the one power boar smacked the wall coming in, crunch!
The rest of the trio down the river was uneventful the rain sputtered and then stopped. When we got to the mooring field we peruse do the open balls and spied one quite close to the docks. Yes ! We wanted one close if possible for better wifi access. It took us a bit to snag the sucker the current was against the wind. It was just past 1500 hours when we settled in and got things settled. Certainly not our longest passage, but in a year cursed by a pandemic we won't complain or at least not much!
The picture was taken while we motored down the river.