Bob eventually got a hold of Hinkley’s and the mechanic confirmed the adjustments he’s been doing are correct. Bob is still not overly happy about the drip rate but was reassured that the mechanic thought it was ok.
We left a little before noon, good timing to reach Hell Gate, the shallowest area on the ICW, on a rising tide. It was surprisingly quiet on the river, we saw one other sailboat coming our way and were not passed by a single trawler or motor yacht, maybe because we left later in the day. It turned out to be sunny and quite warm. We had current against us for about an hour before we reached Hell Gate which wasn’t a bad thing as the tide was rising. It’s a 3/4 mile stretch and lowest water we saw was 11.9 feet from the waterline so no problems. It’s a pretty narrow stretch of water so doing it at mid tide sure helped.
We saw a lot of very nice houses, some really big mansions, along the way. Just a reminder there is a lot of money in the US. We wondered whether some of them were permanent or just seasonal homes despite their size. We don’t think this is a seasononal home.
We anchored at Buckhead Creek which is supposed to have lots of dolphins but no sightings so far – to quote Donald Trump – sad !