3/21/2019
Depart: North Key Largo (Pumpkin Key)
Anchorage 9:30
Arrive: Pompano Beach 6:15
Distance: 60 nm
ICW MM 1120 – 1055
The chart
showed us anchored in the Biscayne Bay Aquatic Reserve beside Pumpkin Key. We
anchored here in 2016 when we positioned ourselves to cross to the Bahamas.
When we left here today to head towards Miami / Fort Lauderdale, we entered new
boating territory.
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| Clark preparing to wash the anchor as it is brought up. |
We left the Faro Blanco Resort when we did because of the number of fast boats coming into the marina and requiring every possible slip. As we entered the Miami area, at least 40 of those fast boats zoomed by us. Vroom! Vroom! Vroom! It almost felt like we were under attack!
On the extreme other end of the spectrum, a short time later we came upon a number of sailboats (very silent) with spinnakers up to grab the wind.
Having not traveled this way in the past, it was interesting to get our first glimpse of Miami.
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| Miami ahead |
Off to one side we could see a helicopter hovering over a boat. We had winds of about 20 knots, and it was surprising to see how steady the pilot held that copter over that boat. After watching the action for a while, we decided the coast guard was performing practice drills.
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Zooming in and looking closely one can see the line
coming down from the helicopter to the small boat below |
As we entered the Miami area, we saw a couple of cruise ships.
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| Miami: Cruise Ships in port |
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| Miami: Hard Rock Cafe on waterfront |
We received
many warnings from fellow boaters about the number of bridges we would encounter
traveling through this area. Clark was determined to wait for as few as
possible. With the multitude of bridges we came past, we only required four to
be opened for us and only waited for three of them due to timing issues with
scheduled openings and our arrival times.
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| Miami: First of many bridges to come |
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| Lucky on this one! It stands open to boat traffic. |
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| Miami: More bridges ahead |
One of the
bridges we approached had no depth board to give us a “warm, fuzzy” feeling
about clearance. Clark asked the bridge tender who said, “No, captain, I do not
know the depth information.” My gut said we were good, and we decided to go for
it. We needed around 22 feet clearance as we still had the mast and antennas up.
When we exited the other side of the bridge, we saw the ruler on that side said
26 feet. It would certainly have been nice to know that ahead of time.
The most
hair-raising experience came when Clark insisted we could make it under the
Broad Causeway Bridge. With the solar panels on top of our hardtop, we need just
over 17 feet of clearance after lowering all antennas and the radar mast. The
meter board on the side of the bridge read 16.5 feet clearance at the side of
the bridge. The center typically has additional space – anywhere from 2 to 4
additional feet of clearance.
Once again,
Clark sighted the clearance over the top of the boat while I piloted. The
difference today from our recent seven-mile bridge escapade was that today the
current was with us taking us into the bridge. A decision to abort meant a
quick shift into reverse and a push on the throttle to get out of there.
As we
approached the bridge, Clark said, “I think we can do it.” “I think” was not nearly
definitive enough to instill confidence. At any moment, I expected him to say, “Abort!”
He never said another word! We kept going
and as we reached the bridge, I instinctively ducked as I anticipated the
impact of hitting the bridge.
Thankfully,
we passed under the bridge without a collision. Even so, my heart was in my
throat and my heart rate had sky-rocketed. Clark came back to the helm beaming,
“We had 9 inches to spare!” I replied, “Well, why didn’t you say so before!” “Oh”,
he said, “I thought I did!”
Clark made a sharp, U-turn around the red/green marker on the chart, traveled a very short distance, and said, "Whoops! I went the wrong way at that marker." In the midst of all the confusion, he made an 180-degree turn to set us on the correct path. With no other incidents, we made it through Fort Lauderdale and into Pompano Beach where we stayed the night.
3/22/2019
Depart: Pompano Beach 10:15
Arrive: Jensen Beach Anchorage (Port St.
Lucie) 7:00
Distance: 69 nm
ICW MM 105 to 982
Clark
checked the off-shore conditions and decided to avoid bridges today and go “on
the outside” in the Atlantic Ocean. Many of my boating friends say they prefer
the inside, ICW, route because they are uncomfortable offshore. With the way
Clark likes to “play chicken” with bridges, waves offshore seem like a safe
alternative to me.
We had a
chilly night on the boat last night. I checked at 7:00 and then at 8:00 and the
temperature had dropped by one degree. I figured we were in for a cold day on
the ocean, so I decided to dress on the warm side. I pulled out a sweater and wore
my jacket.
We got a
late start today. Before getting underway, we had some miscellaneous chores to
take care of. Having been cold last night while trying to sleep, I put a
blanket on the bed to be warmer tonight. We finally started on our way at
10:15. We had one bridge to wait for and then we headed out into the ocean.
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Lighthouse at Pompano Beach
before passing through the Hillsboro Inlet to the ocean |
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Lighthouse at Pompano Beach
after passing through the inlet to the ocean |
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| View of Pompano Beach area from the ocean |
Clark said
the reports he read said the wave action would settle down after 11:00, but at
11:00 and long after, we heard “small craft advisory” warnings, and the wave
action actually grew worse instead of better. We started out with the waves at
2-to-4 feet. They grew to swells of 4-to5 feet as the day wore on.
The waves
did not really bother me so much as the cold wind in my face and, later in the
day, the salt spray coming over the boat and hitting us on the flybridge. Plain
and simple, the conditions proved to be miserable. I added a fleece to my layers
of clothes for warmth.
As we traveled along the coast, we could hear the boat traffic on the ICW calling for bridge openings regularly and were happy that we were not sitting and waiting with them. With a "small craft advisory" in effect, we certainly understood their choice to stay inside. We certainly did not see a lot of other traffic on the ocean.
At one point I looked out the front of the boat and saw something in the water. "What is that!?"
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The brown blob turned out to be a sea turtle
that, for once, did not dive before Clark got to the camera |
We also passed a tug on our way.
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| Green Tug out on the ocean |
Of the few things we saw on today's travels, a large black blob in the water confused us a bit. It was directly on our course line but too far away to identify.
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| What is that black thing floating in the water ahead of us?? |
It turned out to be a dredge pipeline attached to a mooring ball floating in the ocean. We had passed one of these mooring balls a short while earlier. It looked like a big, yellow oil drum floating in the middle of no where.
We reached
the inlet at Port St. Lucie around 5:30 or so. As we made our way inland, we
rode the swells of the ocean. Since we are unfamiliar with this inlet, and having
seen many cautions on Active Captain, we took it easy coming in. When we
finally got behind the breakwater, the waves settled down. For the first time
all day, I felt warm and had to start stripping off my coat, fleece, and my
sweater to feel comfortable in the hot sun.
Clark had a
particular anchorage in mind, so we headed there only to find “no room at the
inn”. The anchorage at Manatee Pocket was full of sailboats. We left there to try another one at Jensen Beach about 5 or 6 miles away where we found plenty of other boats but also plenty of
room to drop our anchor.
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| Scene at Port St. Lucie, FL |
I like to
use my electric appliances whenever possible. On the trip from the first
anchorage to the second, I quickly cooked food for dinner to avoid using amp
hours after we turned off the engines. Timing worked out very well, and we had
dinner ready to eat at 7:00 when we finally declared ourselves settled for the
night.
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Bridge near Jensen Beach
where we anchored for the night |
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| Sunset as seen from our anchorage at Jensen Beach |
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