North Palm Beach to Pendarvis Cove, Stuart, FL (anchored)
June 3, 2022
Drizzle moved into the anchorage this morning. We had hoped to dinghy to see some friends but realized that the ride was going to be miserable.
Within a mile of leaving the anchorage we had to wait for the first of ten bridges to open. The “restricted” bridges open at specific times (usually on the hour and half-hour) so if the timing is not exactly right, boaters might have to wait for 25 minutes or so until the next opening. There were four of these restricted bridges within the first seven miles. Six bridges were “on-demand” bridges – boaters hail the bridge tender who initiates an opening sequence that can take several minutes – so more waiting. One bridge, near the end (and close to a restricted bridge) was a 65′ bridge – the only one that we did not have to wait to have opened. I do remember thinking that these bridges were really cool, way back when we might see one of them in a day…
We do have really great internet here which allowed me to get some work done during the day. I had a good long phone call with a dear friend today, too. It’s the first time I heard her voice in three months.
John has to pay attention to keeping Lailia hovering while we are waiting for a bridge to open – he has to control our movement against wind and current and he does this really well. While he is doing that, I am taking pictures of things I think are cool, like ospreys and stuff. It’s pretty clear who is doing the important work.
We are riding out the storm in an anchorage off of the St. Lucie River in Stuart, Florida. This anchorage is west of the ICW and we think it’s inland enough to keep us out of the worst of the winds. It also means that we had to leave the ICW for a few miles (there were four bridges on this part of the trip).
We considered grabbing a mooring ball at the marina that is very close to us instead of anchoring so I don’t have to worry about dragging an anchor. The marina told us their corporate office will not let them rent any mooring balls or dock space due to the storm. The anchorage does have good holding and John reminded me that we have dealt with strong winds when we were in Black Point with no trouble. The strongest winds are forecast to hit midmorning tomorrow, so I can sleep tonight.
We expect that by tomorrow evening, the worst of the weather will have passed. Sunday looks to be fairly nice and we may spend some time in Stuart; after two days on the boat, we will be ready to walk around just about anywhere.
Tomorrow we will batten everything down and probably binge on some episodes of Peaky Blinders as we enjoy somewhat cooler temperatures.
Life on Lailia 