Darn you Palm City Bridge!!!!!!!

We got up early so we could fuel up and pump out, but there was a trawler on the dock at Vero so we just left. At least we got an early 7am start on a dreary, rainy day. Yesterday and today mark the first rain we have seen since leaving New Bern 40 days ago. Right now rain is not good because I have some bridges to get under during the next few days.
So on to today's title story:
Crossroads requires 54 ft. 6 in. of bridge clearance. That means anything lower and we are ramming our mast into concrete and steel. That would not be a good thing. Most bridges on the ICW are set at 65 ft.(lowest is 55 ft. which we just make:-), or they are of the drawbridge-swing bridge variety. We did several of those today. No problema amigos! However, The Okeechobee Waterway has a number of 55 footers and several even lower.

That explains why Joanna and I are anchored in Pendarvis Cove in Stuart (Ed Klebaur country!) at 2:00 pm. We need to get under the fixed height Palm City bridge which is 54 ft. So, we motored up to this bridge a little earlier and looked at the bridge card. Most bridges have a gauge at the bottom to tell you the clearance. Since our arrival was close to high tide, the gauge read just over 54. Hmmm....what would you do? Go for it? Anchor up and wait for low tide in the morning? We chose the latter as the weather is stinky anyway.

So hopefully in the morning we will squeeze under Mr. Palm City at low tide and head for the first lock on the Okeechobee which will raise us up 13 ft. Then on to Indiantown and the Port Macaya Bridge set at 49 ft. That will be the real trick! I'll try to get some pictures along the way.
The photo below shows Palm City Bridge in the distance. And check out my new boat hook in the same pic. Pretty proud of that sucker...made it myself! :-)