Miami to Lantana

On Monday morning we left the Miami marina and headed into the Atlantic, expecting NNW winds of 9-15k and seas of 2-4'.  Our trip to Ft Lauderdale was only 19.4NM as the crow flies on the outside. We were pleasantly surprised to find the seas less than 2-4' but the wind was on our bow so we could not put out any sail.  Back to motoring again.  We made it into Ft Lauderdale and picked up a mooring ball at the Las Olas Municipal marina by 11:30.  After lunch we left Pretzel and took a bus to Publix to stock up on more staples.  We had a nice relaxing evening and sleep.

We have decided that sailing is not for us anymore
so we are going to get something a little more comfortable!!!!!!!!

One of our favorite bridges on the ICW
if indeed we have any favorite one!!

Tuesday found us hoping to go 54 miles to the Lake Worth anchorage. We left our mooring at 6:45 and began the long trek motoring inside the ICW since we did not want to tackle 3-6' waves outside again. After passing through 15 bridges, on their own lifting schedule, we made it to Lantana for their 2PM opening. We were only 1/8 of a mile away but he did not hold it open for us. So we decided to drop anchor here again. this is our third time here but we are sharing it with 2 other sailboats. Along the way we were getting ready to pass through a bridge when "Thump"....we had hit something. That noise is NEVER good to hear on a sailboat!  We were still moving so we did not ground the boat. then we thought it was a manatee but did not see anything behind us.  Peter felt something resisting with the rudder so we went through the bridge then tried to address the problem. there is no place to tie up and it's too narrow to anchor so we were a little concerned!  Peter shifted into neutral to stop the prop and turned the wheel so we travelled around in a circle.  Jane leaned over the aft side and sure enough......eventually a large piece of 4-5' round palm bark floated to the surface. It had to have been submerged when we hit it but it was enough to make us sit up and take notice. A little further down Peter put the boat into reverse and circled. Nothing else came up.  After the fiasco entering Boot Key Harbor with a crab pot line entangled in our prop we are a leary of anything that makes a loud "thump" .

So we are having a nice afternoon de-stressing in Lantana and planning our next stop for tomorrow. The Admiral is planning pork curry for dinner, sounds good after a long day waiting for and passing through all those bridges.