Our position is: 27:06.861N 80:08.616W
On Sunday we could put it off no longer so we were up fairly bright
and early and heading for the fuel pontoon as soon as it was open. We needed to
catch the 8.45 opening of the lifting bridge next to the marina and just about
managed to fit in refuelling and paying our marina dues before radioing the
bridge tender to let him know to expect us. It was a bit of a rush but we made
it by the skin of our teeth and we were on our way.
The first stretch involved 4 bridges at 3 mile intervals with a
timed opening pattern that was linked. We arrived at bridge 2 in plenty of time
and headed on towards the third and radioed them to expect us as we were what we
considered to be a reasonable distance away. However we failed to pick up any
response and when we radioed again, as we got closer, we were told that as we
hadn’t responded earlier and hadn’t been close enough, we would have to wait
until the next opening in half an hour’s time. This seemed a bit harsh as we were there
in time, so we pleaded a bit and the bridge tender relented and let us through.
After that we dawdled a bit, admiring the beautiful houses along the water’s
edge, together with the big power boats on their personalised docks, until we
realised that we were likely to take longer than the half hour to the scheduled
opening of the 4th bridge at the Indian Town Road. We put a bit of a
spurt on and radioed ahead, but the bridge tender said he couldn’t see us, so we
were too late and would have to wait for half an hour, even though when we got
there it was only about 1 min after the hour and there wasn’t anybody else going
through. We took the opportunity to have breakfast as we hovered about, but I
felt particularly aggrieved about the wait when he made no effort to open at
exactly the right time and didn’t even start closing the road until at least as
long after the scheduled time as we had arrived half an hour
previously.
There were 3 more bridges to pass through but they all opened on
demand. The bridge tenders were polite and helpful and very quick to respond
when radioed, in marked contrast to the Indian Town Road guy. Because it was our
first day on the Waterway and there were quite a few opening bridges to
negotiate we had not planned to travel too far, so we arrived at our proposed
anchorage on Peck Lake in time for lunch and anchored beside 2 other boats, not
far out of the channel as the depths were a bit uncertain. The pilot book
described the anchorage as peaceful and lovely so we were a bit disappointed to
discover that they were dredging up sand from the Lake, which was being blown
down a huge pipe onto the Atlantic beach in an attempt to counter coastal
erosion. Even though it was Easter Sunday they worked all day. At night the
sound of the big rollers crashing onto the beach was almost as
noisy!
After lunch we inflated the dinghy and went to have a look at the
beach. It was proving popular as there was a regular small ferry bringing people
over from a dock on the other side of the Waterway, as well as a collection of
motor boats fastened to trees while their owners enjoyed the sun and sand. The
sea looked too wild for enjoyable swimming, not to mention the current whipping
along the beach, but a few intrepid souls were taking to the water. We walked
along the beach, admiring the huge pipe moving the sand about and trying to
identify the small wading birds busying themselves at the water’s edge, until
we’d had enough and went back for tea. On the way back we stopped to chat to
Steve and Dorothy on the next boat. They were local and kept their boat at the
marina opposite the anchorage, but had come out for the day just to enjoy being
on the water. Just as we got back to Moorglade we were rewarded with the sight
of dolphins swimming round the boat.
Our first openng bridge near
North Palm Beach
Marina
Big waterfront houses along the way
Indian Town Road Bridge opens
eventually
Inland lighthouse at Jupiter inlet
Dredging at Peck
Lake
Atlantic side beach complete with pipe
The ferry bringing more
visitors
Motor boats tied to trees
Further along the beach was
deserted but still had the pipe! One of the liittle
waders that didn't move quickly enough to escape the camera
Apparently this boat was being worked on and just sank one
day
Steve and Dorothy's boat at the Peck Lake anchorage
