Today, our first full day on the ICW, was a day of bridges. Twelve bridges, two you had to request a swing/opening. There was one lock, we had to wait an hour to get into the lock, which was only a one foot drop. There is a bridge just past the lock that opens in time with the lock opening but there was some kind of problem with timing so when we got out of the lock, all the boats that were in the lock group just ahead of us were bobbing around waiting for the bridge to open. So there was quite a group of us heading down once that bridge opened.
This part of the ICW is not particularly picturesque. The first bit was very industrial and once we got past that, the riverside was kind of swampy looking.
We’re now anchored in Blackwater Creek. There is a warning in the guidebooks that there is a 5 foot shoal at the entrance, we draw 4.5 so we risked it. We touched the shoal although the depth sounder said 5.4 but we didn’t get stuck. The depth is fine once you get into the creek. Fingers crossed that we get out ok!