Day 313, Thursday May 1st, a new month on the boat

Day 313, Thursday May 1^st, a new month on the boat

Well another month behind us.  Movement north is slower than anticipated although our average speed in the Intercoastal water way is much faster than what we had thought it would be.  We run mostly around the 8 mph range and have done a couple of 75 mile days. 

Today we have 1 errand which is to ship a part out.   We get this done early so we can make a decision on heading out.  They had been forecasting nasty weather for 3 days and it has not been that nasty here although there have been tornados not too far away.  When we look at the radar the weather is alongside our passage as opposed to overhead, so we decide to push on. 

First bridge of the day.

It is easy leaving the dock as the current  grabs the bow and moves it in the direction we want to go.  We time the drawbridge just north of us, which opens on the hour, however the next bridge opens on the hour and half hour and of course it is about 35 minutes away so we will have to wait for the hour even though we put the pedal to the medal and attempt to make the 30 minute interval.

Poking along

We have another sailboat right behind us for the day.  Lucky them as if we hit something, they can avoid it.  We luckily have clear passage.  We have high to mid tide for the 5 hours we are on the water today.  We pass by alligator bay but don’t see any alligators.  We still see a couple of dolphins and wonder how much further north we will see them.

Bird nest on a boat.  They nest everywhere!

After 5 hours we see the anchorage we have selected for the evening, so we pull in, drop the hook and get a bite first try and move into happy hour and a game of king’s cribbage.  The anchorage is within a Marine base so there is lots of activity with boats coming and going and planes and helicopters overhead.   The boat that followed us for the day pulls in as well but can’t get their hook to set so after 6 tries with 2 different anchors they take off.  There are 4 other boats in the anchorage and one of them we have met in the southern Bahamas before.

The evening passes uneventfully, and we get a restful night sleep ready to face the next day.

Cheers

Julie and Dawson