Tuesday, Mar. 31– Hmmm, that bridge looks a little low

A five hour cruising day from St. Augustine to Daytona found us in busier waters and making our way under lots of different bridges. So far, we’ve only had two bridges that needed to open for us — and in both cases we lucked out with timing. The bridges were opening almost exactly as we arrived. Today, our bridge travels were more interesting. We passed under several fixed bridges — which means they do not open. You are either under the height limit or you take the nearest cut into the ocean to avoid it. The ones we passed under were 62-65 feet high — no problem for Dot.Calm. The bascule bridges presented some challenges. “Bascule” comes from the French word “teeter-totter” based on how these bridges open, using a small motor to move a counterweight that lifts the bridge. The really low ones we encountered — less than 12 feet clearance — were no problem at all. A call to the bridge tender, and up she goes. But two of the bascule bridges had clearances close to the height of our boat. We estimated the height of Dot.Calm including all of the electronics on top to be around 22 feet, but to be on the safe side, we radioed the bridge tenders that we were 24 feet. In one case, the bridge tender obliged with a speedy lift of the bridge. In the other, the bridge tender told us that a bigger boat had gone under “her bridge” an hour or so before with no problem and that we should just forge ahead. All well and good, except the tides in Florida can change pretty dramatically in “an hour or so.” We moved up to and under the bridge cautiously and made it without a scrape, but with a good deal of trepidation. The ICW shows the many sides of Florida from multi-million dollar heaps to stretches of wilderness that looks as though no one has ever set foot on it. In between are condo developments of every stripe, some that look like Italian villas and others like public housing plus more modest single family homes and one double-wide mobile home park.