Day 1, Ft Lauderdale to West Palm Beach

The Boundless Crew from Puerto Rico to Florida, Faith and Rudy, arrived in 
Ft Lauderdale after almost exactly 6 days and 1000 miles. The Gulf Stream 
sure was a help as the winds died for the last two days of our voyage. Our 
stay at the Hall of Fame Marina, thanks to Shawn, was a great rest for a day 
anyway. Then it was getting Faith off to NY, meeting my brother Tom and 
provisioning for the last part of our journey. Lucky Luongo, a good friend 
from work 10+ years ago, helped getting things done while in Ft 
Lauderdale.....we'll be back Lucky!! Then it was off to NC. The day started 
at 3:30 am to get Faith to West Palm Beach for a 6:00 am flight. Then it was 
to Home Depot for some boat parts, a super market for provisions, returning 
the rental car, and getting fuel at a barge outside the marina, all before 
we left Ft Lauderdale at about 10:00 am. We made it all the way back to West 
Palm beach just before dark. We stopped at a Marina where my brother 
contacted an old girl friend. She brought us some ice and gave us some phone 
numbers to call for a refrigeration guy to recharge our refrigerator. Thanks 
Linda! Tom also enjoyed reestablishing a relationship from High School.
>
>The scenery on this part of our journey was something to behold. The number 
>and size of boats was mind boggling. Each house was better than the next 
>and everybody seems to have waterfront property! The lots weren't big but 
>the expense was evident. This was for the full 37 miles of the first part 
>of our journey. The winds were behind us all the way and the weather was 
>only threatening at times. We had to wait for between 5 and 25 minutes for 
>each of the many bridges along the waterway. They were generally every 1.5 
>to 2 miles. This did slow us down a bit but it stopped me from racing and 
>gave us a chance to see the beautiful homes. It was a good day for the 
>start of the last leg of our journey.
>
>Day 2, West Palm Beach to St. Lucie Inlet
>
>Tom and I got Boundless on the move again just before daybreak. We were 
>going to make some miles today! Then the rain started with a bit of thunder 
>and lightening. We passed through a couple of bridges and came to the first 
>fixed bridge on the inland waterway North of Ft. Lauderdale. The governing 
>height of all bridges on the waterway is supposed to be 65 ft. We arrived 
>at his bridge just a max high tide. The marker at the bridge said the 
>height was 63.5 ft because of the high tide. We approached the bridge very 
>cautiously knowing that our antenna at the top of the mast was probably not 
>going to pass under the bridge. We were right! We made a quick retreat to 
>wait for the tide to drop a couple of feet. We stopped at a marina and 
>tried to get the refrigeration system recharged while waiting with no 
>success....oh well. The ice was holding well and my very simple recharging 
>system purchased in an automotive supply store was put to use. The 
>refrigerator actually seemed to be getting cold again!
>
>After wasting a few hours it was under the bridge again. I think we need 
>about 65 ft and 3 inches of height to pass under a bridge....it was very 
>close but we were on our way again. I hope the other fixed bridges on our 
>way North will gives us a little greater margin for error! The balance of 
>the day saw more spectacular scenery! The houses North of Palm Beach 
>generally had larger parcels of land and they were much more elegant! The 
>water craft were just as varied and expensive as we saw yesterday. This 
>would be a very nice place to live but I am sure it is very expensive. We 
>saw forests and many mangrove swaps adjacent to the waterway. We even saw 
>several Manatees that seemed to know to stay out of the narrow channel and 
>even a propose in the shallow waters of the inland waterway. While the 
>weather was threatening all day the rain seemed to pass us by.
>
>We thought about continuing to travel through the night but decided to 
>anchor just off of the channel for the night. The weather seemed to be 
>closing in again. After hitting bottom a couple of times we were finally 
>able to get off of the channel and safely anchored in about 7 feet (6.5ft 
>draft) of water just South of the second fixed bridge. This bridge didn't 
>look taller than the one we encountered yesterday. I hope the tide will be 
>low in the morning. Oh, by the way the refrigerator seems to be OK again! 
>It only needed a little refrigerant!