Sailing Quest: The Final Days of Quest’s Shakedown Cruise

March 21, 2010

We are back in Anacortes safe and sound. We arrived here about midnight on the 18th. The past couple of days have been hectic, but I’m finally getting to update the blog about our final days on this leg of the journey.

March 16, 2010
Hi 75 Lo 62
Lat/Lon 27 1.6 N, 80 29.1 W

Yesterday we put Quest to bed for the summer. Venturing in to the interior of Florida, to Indian Town, we encountered some new and very interesting things. Things that we will have to deal with again this fall when we take Quest back out to the ocean.

It’s about 30 miles from the ocean at St. Lucie Inlet to Indian Town Marina. We chose Indian Town because it has a great record for getting boats safely through the hurricane season. It’s inland a ways, they take the boats out of the water, and they strap the boats down securely. Quest should be safe here.

Along the way to Indian Town, there were 8 brides we had to go under. I know I haven’t mentioned brides much in this blog, but they are one of the more intimidating aspects of sailing in and around land. It seems that no matter how high the bridge is, when you are down on deck, it always looks like the top of the mast is going to hit the bridge as you go under. The very first bridge we went under, way back at Brunswick, GA, was 120 feet above the water line, and it seemed close. Since then we have gone under several bridges that were between 80 to only 56 feet above the water line. Did I mention our mast is 53 feet 8 inches above the water line? Yes,… well that creates some SERIOUS pucker factor at those lower bridges!

Of the 8 brides between the St. Lucie Inlet and Indian Town, only two, the first Roosevelt Bridge, (there are two Roosevelt Bridges right near each other), and the St. Lucie Bridge, were plenty high enough at 65 feet. The other 6 were all under 60 feet. The second Roosevelt Bridge was a bascule (lift) bridge that opened for us, the rest were all fixed.

One bridge, the Palm City bridge, was only 54 feet 6 inches high. Our bird spike at that top of the mast was apparently not counted in that measurement of 53 feet 8 inches, because it scraped along the underside of the bridge, and eventually broke off, landing on the deck below. We were relieved to see that it was just the bird spike, and not our anchor light or the lightening arrestor. Yessirrreeee, LOTS of pucker factor on that ride!

As Quest moved inland, we had to get into the St. Lucie Canal which required going through the St. Lucie Locks. We’d never been through a lock before, so it was kind of exciting. The boat is basically closed into a very narrow chute with high sides. It fills with water, and you float out the other end at the level of the interior canal. I envisioned this to be a very small version of what might be found along the Panama Canal. Although their similarities are probably like comparing a redwood tree to a tooth pick! But it was new and interesting.

Indian Town Marina sits just off the St. Lucie Canal, which is a deeply dredged fresh water canal that drains from Lake Okechobee. Although it is a man-made canal, the sides are not concrete, they are a mixture of thick mangrove, willow and other dense flora. There were a lot of mosquitoes there, and somehow, the area just ‘felt’ very different than what we’d experienced along the coastal areas. It felt more,… hmm,… untamed, I guess would be a good word.

And untamed it was! While we were docked at the marina, stripping the canvas and taking our luggage off the boat, Sarah spotted an alligator swimming about 30 feet off our stern! Cool!!! An alligator! I was so excited! (But I was also a little freaked!) I ran for the binoculars so that I could get a really good look at him. Dang those guys are UGLY! Weird eyes!!!

I should have run for my camera instead of the binocs. By the time I’d grabbed the camera, he was a ways off, and sitting lower in the water. I wanted to toss Bo in the water to try to lure him back closer, but Sarah wouldn’t let me. Hey, I would have had a line on him so that I could pull him back. Geez, I not THAT heartless! LOL!!! So without gator bait, this was all I got for a picture. That dark speck, yeah,…. that’s him!

After the excitement of seeing the alligator, it came time to haul Quest out of the water. Here she is being lifted up, all 22,000 pounds of her! (She kind of a 'plus-sized' girl, but she handles her 'full figure' with grace!)