Mandalay a Benateau 50 crewed by John and Debra Barrows. There is a fixed bridge about 3 miles south of the mooring field in St Augustine and when we arrived at it the board that shows clearance showed 62 feet! We need 63.5 so we had to turn around and head back to the mooring field where we waited a couple more hrs so the tide could fall enough for us to get thru! We returned about 2 hrs later to see it now show 63 and a little. We decided to ease up to the bridge and see how it looked. It appeared that we could make it ( bridges usually have a bit more height than they show on the boards) so we creeped up to it and eventually passed it! So do our traveling companions. So on we went to Daytona! We got to Daytona before dark and anchored in a spot off the ICW that Mandalay had used prior.
Pic of our travel friends passing under the bridge
Got up early and hauled anchor at Daytona and continued south. Next stop Titusville! Had a cool trip with no issues, picked up the ball with no problem and got a good nights sleep!
Up early again to find fog was to thick to travel so we delayed till 9 am and continued south! We stopped in coco beach for lunch! Dropped the hook off of the ICW near the old downtown area. Mandalay put the dink down and we rode to town with them! Had a great pizza lunch and Returned to the boat and continued south again!
We made it to an anchorage we used on our way up north, it's called dragon point. We tucked in and spent a quite night even though the wind blew all night!
Next morning we headed south once more!
The wind picked up and eventually hit 20 knts directly out of the north which also was pushing water into the bay raising water levels. This became a real problem when we reached the wabbasso fixed bridge. The board showed 62 feet! We understood it was off by a foot but we just did not want to chance it! So we anchored just north of the bridge(along with 3 other sailboats unable to make it under 63 ft) the next low tide was 5 hrs away, but the strong both winds didn't ever allow the water to drop enough. So we spent the night and hoped the low tide scheduled for 7am would allow us to pass! We got up at daybreak to light winds and a 63 ft showing on the board that is really 64, so we hauled anchor and scurried thru and continued to Vero Beach!
Photo of sandpiper with crew up the mast checking the height of wabbasso bridge
the infamous wabbasso bridge
We arrived at Vero Beach at 9am and fueled up and grabbed a mooring ball and settled in for a weeks stay, the have a nice thanksgiving party here so we will spend our second thanksgiving on water!
More soon!
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Location:River Dr,Vero Beach,United States
