Sunday, April 15, 2018

Suntex in Lantana - Where's President Trump?

The area is heavy with security and some yards have 7,000-volt fences 
We would like move Monday to just south of the Southern Blvd Bridge to await the 7:30 opening Tuesday morning. It will be the first opening in over a week. We expect a crowd. The problem is that it's also in the presidential exclusion zone when President Trump is in Mar-a-Lago which is exactly at the eastern end of the same bridge. We are still not sure where he will be so we will call the Coast Guard Monday afternoon to find out the status of waiting by the bridge.

The other option was to leave Suntex at first light on Tuesday morning that's at exactly low tide and we can't make it to the ICW. So we have to do something. We have all of Monday to figure that out.

You can see by the photos that they take their security seriously around here. The 7,000 volt lines are strung far above the top of the chain link fence. The marina we're in has 24/7 security and they always seem to be patrolling on foot, in cars, and in golf carts. I guess there's a reason.

Tie right up, looks pretty solid at high tide
But watch out at low tide!
We continue to see cranes all over Florida, mostly replacing pilings. They look pretty good until you see where the piling meets the water at low tide. Then you wonder how they even stand up. I sure wouldn't want to tie a boat to them or depend on them to support a dock. We watched them replace pilings in Key West. It's a very slow process and must be very costly.

Meanwhile, we have a line of thunderstorms approaching that promises to entertain us with high winds, hail and possible waterspouts. I've been entertained enough along those lines.

5 comments:

Tim said...

Interesting post - thanks.
Sadly, there are decaying/rotting pylons all over the place, many with boats secured to them.
As you say, they look OK at high tide, however in the next storm, these posts won't hold a decent sized boat.
And it's worth checking what the marina berthing agreement says about damage, too.

Thanks,
Tim

Anonymous said...

According to the AM News, it seems President Trump is headed to Florida today (4-16). I suspect Mar-a-Largo is/will be a no-go zone today/tonight.

/s/ Scott'n Kitt
s/v HyLyte

Bob423 said...

Tim, it’s a common sight at low tide everywhere I’ve been.

Scott’n Kitt, groan. That messing things up for those waiting for an opening. I don’t know what we’ll do yet.

Anonymous said...

Bob--

According to the latest morning news, he President is supposed to be "in residence" for the entire week! Hopefully you'll not be "locked in" because of that. If so, at least the weather will be a little nicer and Ms. Ann will have a chance to recover from her illness a little longer.

Good Luck!

/s/ Scott'n Kitt

Bob423 said...

Scott”n Kitt, We talked to the Coast Guard this morning as well as the construction supervisor (and the bridge operator) and all is go for Tuesday according to them. I’m aware of two openings: 7:30 am and 10:00 am. I’m sure there are more but after some discussion, we decided to take the 10:00 am opening since low tide occurred exactly at the time we were due to leave our slip for the earlier opening. It’s only 28 Nm or so to our anchorage at R38 in Hobe Sound.