Up the New River

 We wanted to economize a bit so we moved up the New River to the Ft. Lauderdale Municiple Marina which occupies quite a bit of the river front from downstream of the 3rd Avenue bridge to upstream beyond the Andrews Avenue bridge. If you look at the webcam you will see our transom faces the third avenue bridge.
 Looking at the GPS track one can see there is a confused path up between the bridges. We reserved in advance and were assigned spot #31. The attendant told us it was between the bridges. When we arrived we went between the bridges which required the 3rd avenue bridge to open. This bridge gets a huge amount of river traffic requiring openings. Anyway once inbetween the bridges with the 3rd avenue bridge closing we spoke with the marina and the spot was on the down stream side.
 Being in current in a tight area with traffic is not exactly a relaxing situation. Especially since an 80 footer had to squeeze by us while I was on the phone with the marina. Learning where we were supposed to be, I asked the bridge to open again and since timing is everything, we had the tide running and a string of emergency vehicles that had to cross the bridge before it could re-open.  

 Swell.

 Once downstream of the bridge again we find that someone is in the spot we were assigned. Talking on the phone with the marina once more we worked out another spot just down stream of the bridge and turned around once more. In the middle of our turning around the bridge opens and sure enough the Jungle Queen is coming at us blowing her whistle to let us know down stream vessels have the right of way. Like I didn't know it. I managed to get Freedom swung around and on the wall just as the Jungle Queen floated by.

 We've had better boating experiences. At least the marital issues that can creep into special times like this didn't invade the situation.

 But we're in and tied up and safe. A whopping 3.6 nm on the GPS today. I'll update this entry with a couple of photos including a shot of the Jungle Queen to add some perspective to the story. Perhaps sometime I'll have a wifi hotspot that allows folks to point the webcam and look at video. Adding to the fun on the day the generator refused to put water over the side so I'll be in the bilge trying to square that away. It's a good thing we always check for water when starting engines, the generator or the airconditioning. Especially in this case since it is a water cooled exhaust. It sounded louder than usual to me and the proof was no water going over the side.