Going South March 13-14, 2021

 Saturday, March 13, 2021. Day 97.

We had left the fuel dock two minutes before 11am and had just enough time to get to the Roosevelt Bridge for an 11am opening. Yeah! Because most of the bridges open on a schedule, it can seriously delay travel if one misses the opening by a few minutes. One must hang around for 30 or 45 minutes waiting for the next bridge opening, which is not only frustrating, but also a waste of fuel and increases the risk of injury or collision as more vessels are hovering around waiting for the opening. As my friend Joel reminded me in the fall: boats don't have brakes.

I steered for the first hour and we went under a total of 5 to 7 bridges. It was sunny and mild (the wind was only 5 to 7 knots ), and it was a Saturday so there were hundreds of boats all sizes going all speeds stopping by beaches and at the shoreline,

 folks were wading in the water. The visual was an endless caravan of vessels, and a what felt like an endless stream of people everywhere.

The ICW channel we were traveling through, on our way to Peck Lake, to anchor for the night, was quite narrow from time to time. Fortunately, most of the boats observed the speed limitation in the narrow passages, but the crowds on the shore were unbelievable: boats everywhere, people on every inch of beach.

We anchored in Peck Lake at about 12:40pm. By the time we had arrived, there were already dozens of boats in the beach area. We observed them longingly. Because we were leaving the next next evening for an offshore run, it made no sense to take the dinghy down nor inflate the SUPs. We comforted ourselves that we would soon be in the Keys and have lots of time for dinghy rides and to use the SUPs (famous last words!).

Peck Lake is right off the ICW, so there was a lot of traffic going by, and all day and all night the boat was rocking and rolling.

I used the afternoon to take care of my never ending paperwork and other obligations, and continued to contact all necessary creditors and other parties, to let them know my address was still the same.

Roland made his favorite lunch after we anchored: grilled hotdogs. Dinner was delish: steak from the butcher of Stuart, also grilled on the back of the boat

Sunday, March 14, 2021. Day 98.

Chris called early in the morning, to wish us happy Pi Day (3.14). Before that call. I was unaware that it was a holiday! I enjoy any excuse for celebration! Saturday night had been the start of daylight savings time, so we lost an hour of sleep (or got a very late start in the day, depending on your point of view). Although it was sunny and warm in Peck Lake, it was quite windy and the traffic was busy so we continued to rock ‘n’ roll on the boat.

After our poached egg breakfast ( loving those silicone cups), we left our anchorage and proceeded to start our slow cruising south through many bridges

I did some steering until the traffic and the narrow area got out of hand and then Captain Roland took over. The traffic for most of the way, had speed restrictions because it was deemed a manatee area. Where there were no speed restrictions, boats and jet skis were scooting all over the place, creating lots of wakes so, again Magic Moments was rocking and rolling. We passed by every vessel type known: fishing stand up paddle boards, fishing kayaks, ocean going fishing boats, mega yachts, and little floating pontoon boats, and a myriad of other motor vessels. People and vessels everywhere.

 It was lunacy, it looked like thousands of children had been released on a football field for an Easter egg hunt. And the boaters were acting as if “there were no lanes” (a favorite expression of my father). To say the least, steering was challenging. I think my favorite were the people who beached their small boats on sandbars in the middle of the waterway, and were wading, swimming, floating, and playing in the water around their beached boats, on the sandbar: very strange looking to me.

The most stressful part of cruising that day was going south under the PGA bridge. It was the narrowest area in the whole ICW (anybody who knows, better please correct this). On the starboard side, there was a packed waterside restaurant, whose dock was also fully occupied. There were several boats all around, waiting to dock and go to lunch, narrowing the passageway even more. As we waited for the bridge opening, a 200 foot mega yacht that wanted to have lunch at this restaurant, entered the ICW from a marina on the side, and was just idling in the middle of this very narrow passage. Fortunately, the yacht was behind us, but he kept getting closer. I finally went to the back deck and made hand motions to tell them to back up; they were too close for comfort and we couldn’t go anywhere because the bridge was not ready to open. They finally did back up, but the situation was unnerving.

All told that day, we went through a myriad of bridges: Hobe Sound Bridge, PGA Bridge, Jupiter Federal Bridge, Indiantown Bridge, and Parker Bridge, to name a few.

We anchored at about 3:40pm in Lake Worth, near West Palm Beach. We had to anchor past the marina, and past a huge (1-2miles long), mooring field (one is not permitted to anchor in mooring field, and I have never seen such a huge mooring field). Here we anchored for about four hours while the captain had a chance to rest. We had a little dinner and I applied a patch and two wristbands that, similar to acupuncture, were supposed to eliminate seasickness. Across the waterway, was a marina with unbelievable mega yachts; we were in a very fancy neighborhood. Their dinghies made Magic Moments look like a row boat!

Around 8pm, we left the anchorage. MM was prepped, I was prepped, with my patch and wristbands, and just as the sun set, we set off for the inlet to the ocean, and our overnight offshore passage.