Decided to leave Clewiston at first light....with any luck, today's journey would include the Moore Haven lock, the Moore Haven RR bridge (hopefully not, as it's usually open), the Ortona Lock, the SR 29 bridge, the Fort Denaud swing bridge, the Alva Bridge, the Franklin Lock and the Wilson Pigott bridge. If, that is, luck was with us. The Ortona Lock is currently under construction/revitalization and the posted hours of operation (usually 0700 to 1700) were currently 0700-0730, 1130-1230, and 1630 -1730.
The plan was to leave at first light, hopefully make the 3.5 hour trip (3.5 hours boating, not including waiting for locks and bridges) to be at the Ortona lock before the 1330 closing. If we missed that opening, the 1630 opening would make it too late for us to make it to Fort Myers today. Let's see what happened, shall we?
So we were up in darkness to be ready to leave at first light. First problem of the day? First light revealed fog. Not the good kind. So we sat and waited. Without fog we could have left a little after 7. Now, we waited.
Another Grand Banks had pulled in last evening - the NinaMia. A 50 footer. Real nice one too. We had talked to them a bit last evening, we were both heading the same way, and so we agreed to travel together. Just one problem this morning - they wanted to leave at 0730, fog and all. Ed and Karen don't boat in fog, so they left without us.
By 0800 the weather looked better so we cut the dock lines and moved. We were going to be in the ditch and really couldn't get lost, I just hoped to not hit anything I couldn't see. Important safety tip. Visibility was pretty good, actually, just some patches of fog. So, I hit the gas (diesel) and ran faster than normal to try and catch up to NinaMia. The problem with them being so far ahead of us was that they would get to the lock and lock through, leaving us to wait for a lock to fill and unfill. That would definitely slow us down. We ran into a few fog patches and I made sure the radar worked. Didn't hit anything, so it must have.
I heard NinaMia call the Moore Haven Lock and ask to lock through. No way were we gonna make it. But, as luck would have it, NinaMia had to wait. And the lock opened just as we arrived. Good day for us. Busy day at the lock though; four boats exited, four boats went in. NinaMia was faster than us, and broke traffic for us all day. Bridges and locks they had to wait for we went right through. Nice.
We got to the Ortona lock and miracle of miracles! No construction today. They locked us right through at 1100. Way ahead of schedule. Should be no problemo to get to Fort Myers today.
Unless.....
As we were approaching the Franklin Lock we noticed thunderheads building in the west. Not for this guy, says I. The Locks are run by the Army Corp of Engineers. Many have campgrounds run by the Corp at the locks. The Franklin lock actually runs a Boat Campground. Eight slips with water and power for 30 bucks! In we went and done for the day at 1430. Not a bad day, and should be an easy jaunt into Fort Myers tomorrow. We'll see. Tomorrow.
Time to see if the radar really works.
The ditch is easy. If you can see the trees growing in it......
Busy day at the Moore Haven Lock.......
Ooops.....ran aground. According to the GPS. At 9 kts. In 19.7 feet of water. Very reassuring.....
James Bond was out fishing.......
Boat Campground, Franklin Lock.
Bet this guy doesn't get up every morning and check to see if he's sinking.
No comments:
Post a Comment