Motoring the ICW Part 1 Ep. 21

Today is our first day of motoring the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). We started in Fort Pierce, Florida and are making our way down the coast to the Florida Keys. From there we will cross over the Gulf Stream to Bimini in The Bahamas. We had a very long, hot, and miserable day motoring down the ICW today! This is our first time so we didn't really know what to expect. We were amazed by the crystal clear water near Hutchinson Island, but weren't however too thrilled about how shallow it was, even with being in the middle of the channel. We draw 5' and were scooting by with 1.5 - 2'' below the keel! We soon began to feel very out of place. There were hundreds of speed boats flying past us at what felt like 100mph! We were the only sailboat in site for miles and miles and the wakes from the speed boats tossed us up and down and side to side. It felt like crossing the Coos Bay bar during rough seas! "It was like being an old slow lady trying to cross a busy freeway with no traffic rules all while being in the middle of multiple high speed chases!" -Kenzie Waiting for bridges was really tough too. It was sometimes hard for us to make it through a bridge and make it to the next one in time for it's next scheduled opening, even with going full power at about 5 knots. We had to motor in circles while waiting for the bridges to open; sometimes for more than 1/2 an hour at a time! At one point while waiting for a bridge we were turning around in the middle of the channel and ended up hitting bottom! This was a first for us! Randall cussed and quickly put the boat in full gear to try to push our way through the sand. Luckily Turtle was able to power through and we were able to make it through the now opening bridge! Today really has been exhausting! It's now dark and we have no idea where we will end up for the night! We thought for sure we would be anchored long ago, but had no luck finding anchorages along the way and the marinas we called to get a slip wouldn't answer their phones. We saw what looked like a good anchorage at Lake Worth on the charts and decided to try to anchor there for the night. Upon entering the lagoon we soon found and realized that none of the channel markers had lights on them making it IMPOSSIBLE to see them in the dark! Kenzie went to the bow of the boat with her flashlight and spotted markers as Randall kept a close eye on the chart. Anchoring in the dark was an adventure in it's self and knowing that we wrapped the anchor rode last night, we probably won't sleep much tonight either. *********************************************************************** THANK YOU for watching our videos and for SUBSCRIBING to our YouTube channel! We are so happy to share our Epic Sailing Adventure with everyone and can't wait to show you what's next! We have LOVED reading your comments and being able to connect with people! 🔔 At this time we wish to keep all our content FREE for everyone to see, and welcome all supporters via Patreon or Paypal to our team! With your help we will be able to continue sharing our videos for everyone to enjoy! -PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/Sailingturtle26 -PAYPAL: https://paypal.me/pools/c/85PveSy6xY YOU CAN ALSO FIND US ON: -INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/sailingturtle26/ -RANDALL'S BLOG: http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/blog.php?6407 MUSIC USED: "Sunrise" "Drive" and "These Moments" by: Nicolai Heidlas LINK: https://www.hooksounds.com/royalty-free-music/sunrise-acoustic/166697/ https://www.hooksounds.com/royalty-free-music/drive/24947/ https://www.hooksounds.com/royalty-free-music/these-moments/31565/ ***********************************************************************