On to South Lantana

My skipper decided that we should move on to South Lantana. While there was a small craft warning and a hazardous weather warning, it looked like that we could make the short 20 mile jaunt down to Lantana before the weather and winds moved in. 20 miles at 5 miles per hour ...... no problem.

Winds were soft as we left the marina. Sunny, blue sky with the ocassional cloud. Six bridges and we would be all nice and tucked in for the night. An early day.

Ship coming in the Fort Worth Inlet.

Well how wrong could that go.  The winds started to build, and we had to wait 45 minutes for the Flagler Memorial Bridge. Huge boats started to fill in behind us in the waiting line. My skipper, aways polite decided to move behind the big boats and wait for the bridge.

On the other side of Flagler Bridge there were also a number of boats waiting to come thru from the south. Finally the bridge lifted, and the radio chatter from captains had decided that the north bound boats should go first as they had the wind and tide pushing them from behind. Then it was our turn.

We started to proceed and pushed our little Yanmar 3GM motor to the max to make way against the wind and current. Then the words you never want to hear from the huge wall of a boat behind you ...."Step it up Surona" I had to report to him that "this is all we got" He stayed behind us. I really wanted to say; "she's giving us all she's got captain. She won't take anymore captain; she might break up". However, I refrained. Not sure how much a sense of humour he would have. Things were a little tense with about 10 boats trying to make that bridge opening, and only 1 mile to the next bridge which would open in 15 minutes.

"Step it up Surona"

Our frustration was only to begin. We thought we were waiting behind these big boats for the next bridge; Only to find out that most of them were putting out fenders as they were going to go into the marina between the bridges. We got caught behind 3 or 4 of these big boats jostling around for position and missed the next bridge. Wait another 30 minutes for the next bridge.

Next time we won't be so polite. Note to self ..... when you are the first boat in position for the bridge; hold your position. Polite skippers end up waiting for the next bridge.

Hope we never find ourselves in this position.

The winds were picking up as we waited. 15 to 17 knots. At 10,000 rpms we were just holding our position heading into the wind. Finally the bridge was opening. Time to rev the engine up and make our way thru the bridge opening. There must have been 2.5 knots of tide coming thru the bridge. It seemed to take an eternity to make our way thru. The little chipmunks in our engine were giving it everything they had.

On the other side of the bridge it was no picnic. The winds were howling up Lake Worth, with gusts to 28 knots. NOAA said moderate chop on ICW waterways. Slight chop my as.... But I digress.

Rare to see this size of boat anchored.

Six bridges on our days travels; and we had to wait for each one of them. With the winds so strong our progress was slow. 4.5 knots for the most part.

The winds continued to build. The sky was building a lot of grey clouds that were obviously building rain. With only 4 miles to go to our destination the VHF radio sounded a weather alert, and then the Chartplotter posted a weather notice. Peter said, Cheryl you have your glasses on, come and read this.  Oh yeah, thats right .... notification of a tornado watch in the south Florida region.

The good news is that it was a tornado watch, not a warning, and we were only 2 miles away from our destination.

Quite calmly, relative to the way I felt, I told Peter that "my mother will never forgive you if you take me thru a tornado, and you can kiss the Bahamas trip goodbye".

Once again, my skipper brought the boat in for another perfect docking. We are all tied in and quite snug and safe.

Looked at the weather for the night. Winds are to stay high overnight; 17 to 21 knots, with gusts building to 40 knots by 5 am then subsiding. Strong and possibly severe thunderstorms overnight. Don't expect to get much sleep overnight. The boat is rocking and rolling at the dock.

It is such a relief to be tied to a dock when weather systems need to move thru.

Tomorrow could be t-storms in the morning. We don't plan to go anywhere.

 Pics from a previous day.

Peter always says he is the captain, but I am the admiral.

Confused boater, doesn't know if he is American, ????, Canadian, or from Scotland.