GLORY DAYS ON THE GREAT LOOP: BRIDGE DAY!

DAY 260 TUES. APRIL 3, 4012

DEP. FT. LAUDERDALE (mm1065) 07:07, ARR. N. LAKE WORTH (mm 1014) 3:30

D. 53.82 sm / 3924.4

BRIDGE DAY!

Today is BRIDGE DAY! We are on our way to an anchorage in N. Lake Worth, but first we have to travel some 54 miles and go under eight low bridges. A low bridge to us is anything with less than 18’ clearance from the water to what’s called the “low steel”. Our “air draft” is 17’2”, and we can get to 15’7” by lowering the mast, but we don’t like to do that unless it is absolutely necessary. A few of the bridges open on request, but most of them open on a schedule such as every hour, or every half hour on the hr. & ½ hr. or ¼ hr & ¾ hr, and excluding rush hr. between 7am & 9am, or 5pm & 6pm, etc. It can get confusing and tiresome, but unless we want to travel outside (in the ocean) we have to do it. One of the tricks we use is to make the bridge a waypoint on the GPS, so we can tell our ETA at the bridge and adjust our speed so we don’t arrive too early or worse, too late, then have to cruise in circles for 30 minutes. In spite of the bridges it was a pleasant cruise and we arrived at our anchorage in N. Lake Worth at 3:30. We dropped the anchor in 8’ of water, set the anchor alarm, and settled down for a very pleasant afternoon and night. The holding was excellent and the wind was out of the ENE at 5k to 10k which lowered the anchor dragging anxiety level considerably.