More Tornado Warnings!

Day 31! Today started out early as usual. We have certainly gotten into a pattern here. Up with the rooster and to bed with the chickens. Hopefully we will recover when we arrive in Marathon.

You can tell by the photo taken as we started out this morning that the sky is very threatening. That was just the beginning of the building thunder clouds. The sun did peak out for a few minutes to never be seen again today. Tornado warnings kept flashing across our weather screen for Northern Florida and Southern Georgia. We could see heavy precipitation coming our way but by the time it reached us it fell apart and we got a slight rinsing. It was enough to wash off the salt that had accumulated over the past few days.

We arrived at our first bridge this morning and were made to wait even though it was on request. Then our next bridge made us wait for the boat behind us. We were patient but hopefully this wasn't going to be the norm for us today. The wind was 15 to 20 knots gusting to 30 and on our nose and the tidal current was against us. It was a slow go but fortunately we didn't have to wait at many more of the bridges. We arrived at the fourth bridge from the end of our days journey and had a half mile to the next and our engine alarm came on. Larry quickly went below decks to see what was causing it to over heat. I had to keep us in the narrow channel with the wind and current giving us a push. Our enclosure acts like a sail and I hove to and it kept us pretty much in the same spot. You read how to do certain tactics but until you actually have to implement them you don't know for sure if you can do them right. Larry cleared what ever the problem was and we were on our way. The next bridge was on a schedule and we actually made it on time.

With all that said we didn't get to Boca Roton to anchor in Lake Boca. We stopped short of there at Pelican Harbor. It is a man made harbor just west of the ICW. We along with one other boat are safely at anchor here. The wind is still blowing but we have good protection and it should be a little quieter than last night.

Our goal tomorrow is to get to Miami. The wind will be behind us and hopefully the current with us. We have never taken the ICW route all the way to Miami. We have to plan to be at the South end at low tide so we can pass under the 56 foot bridge and still keep our mast in tact. We need 57 feet and low tide will give us the extra.