Sailing down the Indian River to West Palm Beach at Lake Worth

 We've enjoyed sailing the Indian River ever since it was incorporated into the ICW above Titusville and flows wide and deep 120 miles to the St. Lucie River and Inlet.  Most of the bridges have 65 foot clearances, and the ride is easy.From the St. Lucie Inlet, where we rejoined the Indian River, down to Port Everglades, where we went outside, we had to pay stricter attention to our course to account for currents,  and ocean inlets--and countless bridges..  The bridges can be fixed at 65 feet, or, as is more likely, are of a shorter vertical clearance and either open on demand, or have scheduled openings on the hour or half hour.  There are lots of bridges in South Florida.



Happy Fisherman

  There are also lots of grand homes along both sides of the ICW as we sailed by Hobe Sound, Jupiter Island, and North Palm Beach, on our way to rendezvous with Pekabu at Lake Harbor Marina on Lake Worth.                                                   

A really grand manse!

                                                             

Here come the Catalinas!



But where were Andiamo and Brunelle?  Grounded.  they couldn't leave their mucky, shallow slips at the fancy Marriott Resort Marina until nearly noon.  They caught up with us about 3:40 p.m.  We hadn't seen each other since their departure for the holidays in the Northeast. We got to wait for the next five bridge openings together.  One time we called the wrong bridgetender.  When we wondered why she wasn't opening the bridge where we were waiting, she informed us no one had called her and she just didn't open bridges because someone was waiting.  So Andiamo Dan cajoled and groveled, and she eventually opened the bridge for us. Whew!  Even though Manatee Zone  and speed limit warnings were frequent, we still had the boat shaking wakes of rude power boats to deal with.  The winner of the "bad boat" award for the day was Seaclusion, from Annapolis!
 

Andiamo sneaks through the bridge



                                         I really wanted to put those  boys on SeaNile! 

We arrived safely at 5:35 at Lake Park Harbor Marina with a hot Meatball and Pasta supper waiting  for us.  How kind of Kathy and Pete! We had traveled about 34 miles, and had spent at least an hour and a half waiting for the final three bridges of the day.   In spite of a fog delay  in Stuart, worry about weird engine noises that didn't turn out to be anything, and a knot meter that had stopped working, it was a good day to be on the water...  Sunny and in the 70's.

                                                                      All our best from Lake Worth, 

                                                                  Glen and Maureen

                                                                     January 11, 2010