We are still here … 17 days after
arrival. We thought for sure the day
after we received our package/mail from the US, we would be on our way. Even if it were just a short jump to another
anchorage, we would escape this place.
Mail arrived yesterday yet here we are.
If all mail was good mail our escape could have been possible. But if you recall from our last update,
Larry had received some rather disturbing mail from the Department of Motor
Vehicles in Florida. It said he needed
to take a driver improvement course (due to a rolling stop he did back in Boca
Raton before we left for this adventure).
He had until June to get it done or his license would be suspended. Ever since he opened that piece of mail, his
frustration level has grown. He has
tried contacting them, without any luck.
Their “hold” system sucks. It
plays a hold message twice and then disconnects you. URGH!!!
Well, today was another attempt to contact
them. We want this resolved before we
end up in some islands without good internet and his deadline comes and
goes. We went to The Tavern
(restaurant/bar) for our “free” internet.
There is a $5 minimum purchase per internet connection for this “free”
service. Typical, nothing is ever FREE
anymore! We each had 2 Bud Light
($2.50/each) to make up our $10 required purchase. Larry tried and tried to contact DMV but was still unsuccessful.
He did research it online while he was waiting
for them to answer. It turns out,
making a rolling stop, when making a right hand turn on red is the same as just
whizzing straight through the intersection on a red light. It’s considered careless driving or
something. So, even though he paid the
fine, he is still required to take a driver improvement course. Luckily, he can do this online.
Back to Lindberg Bay we go in hopes of being
able to connect long enough (and strong enough) for Larry to complete the
4-hour course.
We arrived at Lindberg Bay about 3pm and by
4pm, Larry had tested the new WIFI Booster we’d received in our mail package
(luckily it seems to be bringing in the signal much better than without the
device) and he was ready to start.
Between 4 and 8-ish, he took the course. It was very easy except that it is a timed course. No matter how quickly you complete a
section, you must wait out the clock until the time for that session has
ended. Then you can move onto the next
session. There were times when Larry
was finished the 1-hour session in about 15 minutes and had to wait 45 minutes
for the countdown timer to hit zero before he could proceed. The annoying thing is, randomly, it would
ask you security questions (that you answered at the beginning of the
course). When one of these popped up,
you had 2-minutes to answer the question before it would lock you out of the
system. It wants to make sure YOU are
the one doing the course and that YOU are there for the full 4-hours. ANNOYING!!!
There were videos for him to watch but for the most part, the connection
was too slow and never did completely stream the video feed. Oh well, he aced it without video. By 8:30, he had completed the test … and
PASSED with flying colors!!! He only
lost connection a few times but luckily, when it reconnected, he was back at
the spot where he’d left off and his work was saved. He didn’t loose any of it.
So … that is one annoying task behind us.
The anchorage was nice and calm (as it
usually is when we start out our day in Lindberg Bay). However, as the evening progressed, it got
rolly. We hoped the winds would settle
as night drew on but it only got worse.
We tried to sleep but we were tossing and rolling so much, neither of us
slept at all. We debated about heading
back to town. It was a difficult
decision to make because it meant going through that narrow cut in the darkness
of night. About 3am, after zero sleep,
we decided to bite the bullet and just go for it. We had done the cut maybe a dozen times by now (but always in the
daylight where we could see the shoals).
But, we had our GPS and the tracks took us straight up the middle. If the GPS doesn’t fail us … we will be
fine. We’re keeping our fingers crossed
and holding our breath as we approach the cut.
Well wouldn’t you know it … we are just
making the bend to head through the cut when Mother Nature decides to test our
patience and skill-level. It rained and
visibility dropped dramatically. We
were both exhausted and frustrated but before we knew it, we were safely past
the shoals and headed towards the mass of boats in the harbor.
Anchoring in town can be a challenge even in
the daylight hours because of the numerous boats you have to avoid. In the darkness, it was interesting to say
the least. Larry went out on deck with
a spotlight and helped guide me through the maze of boats. Our plan was to head back to the same spot
where we had anchored for the past couple of weeks. It is relatively shallow, close to shore and fairly un-crowded …
except … this time, BAM!!! There was another boat anchored almost exactly where
we wanted to drop the hook. So, now
came the challenge of finding an alternate spot … in the dark.
We’d rather not anchor in water deeper than
20-25 feet if we can help it (you have to put out too much anchor rode to get
the proper scope and that makes your swing radius very large). Tonight it looks like we didn’t have a
choice. We found a spot in between
several boats. The water was 32 feet
deep. We dropped the anchor and by
about 4am, we were settled and resting comfortably … much better than Lindberg
Bay.
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