Just before sunrise on Tuesday morning we arrived at the sea bouy marking the entrance to San Carlos Bay/Estero Bay. Benjamin watching the chartplotter guided us into the harbor. Juli and Steve were wiping the sleep out of their eyes as we stopped to lower our ships anchor. The tide here is swift and the current strong. We have timed our entrance to precisely match the low tide. The Matanzas pass bridge has 65' of vertical clearance. Our mast is 65' tall. With the full moon we have a narrow margin that will allow us to pass under the bridge. It is a very tight schedule as the channel can only be fully entered in daylight so as to miss the largly unmarked sandbar on the North end. We lay waiting at anchor for the dawns first rays to light the channel enough for us to make our passage. At 06:10 we haul anchor and press our way into the still falling tide. We are so tired it's hard just keeping our eyes open. As we enter the most narrow point a fishing boat charges out at us. With 9 ' of water I do not yield to the oncomming shallow draft vessel. The game of chicken ends with us passing port to port on friendly terms. It seems they understand our restricted movement.
As the horizon turns pink we approach the bridge. If you have never done this in a sailboat you can not appreciate the tension that builds as your masthead rapidly closes the gap between it and the bottom of the span. Even though I know we will clear the bridge I stop the boat inches from the bridge. We look up and if our eyes are to be trusted it is for certain that we are going to hit! Proceeding at a snails pace we put the boat under the bridge cringing in apprhension of immanent destruction. It is quiet. Then just as we are about to clear the other side there is the faint "ting,ting,ting" of the VHF antenna as it taps gently on the concrete. We are now clear of the bridge, picking up our mooring ball and shutting down the engine. After 20 hours of the deisel running the silence is deafening and at the same time most welcome.
But our day is not over. We lift the dinghy overboard, attach the outboard and fuel tank. Locking the boat we motor into the marina to check in and run a few loads of much needed laundry. Showers too are on our list that day. The
ro
und moves in wavelike motions as we make our way a
cross the parking lot. There are new smells of food, flowers and automobiles that our olfactories have not had in da
ys.
The big event that day will be Jean's arrival here. We are all very excited to see her as it has been over three weeks since e left Knapps Narrows.
Glad to hear you have reached your destination!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on arriving and shaking all the cobwebs out (so to speak). It seems you performed like a well oiled sailing machine nailing the pass. Tough work, I have had the experience of what the navy called lowering the mast whilst going under a bridge. It was fun, exciting, and a a big joke that gets played on unsuspecting greenhorns like I was at the time but then there was over 30 ft of clearance between the bridge and the top of the mast and it still looked like we were going to hit the bridge so I can't imagine what inches of clearance would look like.
ReplyDeleteGlad Jean has finally caught up with all of you. I hope your Thanksgiving went well and I believe you will now be celebrating a belated Thanksgiving with the whole family.
Fair winds, following seas and Godspeed.