Heading North on the ICW

I left North Palm Beach at 7 AM and waited about 5 minutes for the 7:15 opening of the Parker Bridge. Getting out side from here would mean motoring south for an hour first so I decided to go up the ICW today. I had prepared for a long day so I had my cooler, a loaf of bread, peanut butter, jelly, hand-held VHF, chart book, camera, and dock lines all within easy reach at the helm. I can put the auto pilot on and run somewhere but I don't like to be away from the helm more than a few seconds because the ICW is quite narrow in most places.

My ideal goal was to get to Vero Beach Marina which is about 70 miles away. I planned a "drop out" anchorage at Ft. Pierce if I felt too tired to make it all the way. Vero Beach Marina was recommended by my friend Phil when went up the ICW a few weeks ago.

I had 6 bridge openings to go through along with 4 fixed bridges to go under. The fixed bridges are all at 65 ft and Summer Snow is 50 ft tall so they presented no problem. The depth of the ICW is set at 12 ft and I only need 5.5 ft. I found several places, particularly near ocean inlets that had shoaled to 6 to 5 ft and that was a problem. I didn't touch the bottom but was careful to have some "tide help" in those spots. Never-the-less there was some 5's showing on my depth meter at times.

I made good time motoring at 5+ knots and much to my pleasure I was able to put the sails up in some of the larger lakes and maintained 6+ knots for 3 or 4 hours. This really put me ahead of schedule so I knew I would meet my ideal goal. Often I found the best combination was to use the head sail with the motor at a lower speed which made it very comfortable. I did pass a sail "purest" who was just under sail power but obviously not trying to make a distant destination in the daylight. The ICW is not a place I want to be in the dark because there are lobster buoys all over including right in the ICW, go figure!

When I reached Ft. Pearce it was only 3 PM so I was confident to proceed the last 10 miles to Vero Beach. That is when the tide turned (figuratively and in reality). Where before I was fortunate to have the tide flowing with me, now it was against me. The knot meter was reading 3 knots or less and this added over an hour to my ETA. I finally reached the marina and got a slip at 7 PM and I was very tired and hungry. After securing Summer Snow and signing in I headed for the restrooms. Before I reached them I met a very friendly and interesting ex-Marine (see photo). Jim was very helpful and offered to take a fellow ex-Marine to a restaurant in town. We were in Da Nang at the same time and had many common experiences in the Marines. What a great conversation we had! There are so many good and friendly people in this world. I got back to the boat at 9 or so and zonked out for the night.