We made it to Miami. An amazing day.
We left the ICW side dock "marina" - more like a fuel stop. When we arrived at 4:45 Sunday, the help had already closed up. A fellow sailor helped us tie up. Tides were almost 7 feet. Our batter boards were invaluable to protect the hull. We waited until 7:15 and the operators still did not show up. We left phone numbers for them to call to get paid for the docking fee.
Our early morning bridge openings were difficult and not timely. Our first bridge was four minutes late (I think he was on the phone and forgot us) and because of that we missed the next bridge time. We changed tactics and had Phyllis make the calls for us. That seemed to get a much better response and we started getting a little more consideration on our arrival times. This meant that we would make an opening even if we were one or two minutes behind. That helped.
As we left Fort Lauderdale, I noted a red cell of rain approaching on XM Weather. Then I heard on the radio about 6 inches per hour rain in Miami and flash flooding. Just as we began crossing Miami harbor, the violent cell struck. It was the hardest rain I have ever seen. A complete fresh water "boat wash". No more salt onboard now.
We capped the day by passing under the Julia Tuttle 56 foot high bridge. This is a strange bridge because almost all ICW bridges were built to the 65 foot standard. But not this one.
With a two knot current pushing me thru, I crawled under the bridge with one foot clearance.
With that done, we passed thru the Venetian Bridge which was the last of the 37 bridges on the ICW Florida route.
In the rain we docked at Miami's Miamarina in downtown Miami.
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