Since we've been back on the ICW we've passed under about 11 opening bridges and countless fixed (65 ft or higher) bridges. Of those 11 bridges, one had already been replaced by a fixed bridge, and was open, one was a railroad bridge that is open by default and only two were restricted to a specific schedule, meaning, if I counted correctly, seven were open on demand, by hailing the bridge tender on VHF. Lucky for us, we arrived at the Coronado Beach Highway Bridge only six minutes before the scheduled opening, and we arrived at the Bridge of Lions and hailed the bridge tender who he said wasn't waiting for us, so we had two minutes to make the 3:00 opening - we made it. We caught one bridge tender asleep at the job. Apparently he had turned the gain on his radio way up and could not hear us hailing him. Luckily at some point he looked down from his perch and saw us pirouetting south of the bridge and hailed us. He was very apologetic as he opened the bridge.
Most bridge tenders are uncannily skilled at their jobs. The conversation basically goes as follows, on channel 09 or 13 depending on the state:
Us: XYZ Bridge, XYZ Bridge, XYZ Bridge, this is Whisper.
XYZ Bridge Tender: Yes, vessel hailing XYZ Bridge, this is XYZ Bridge.
Us: We're the north bound sailing catamaran approximately 100 yards south of XYZ Bridge, requesting an opening.
XYZ Bridge: Maintain speed and continue approaching and I'll open the bridge for you.
XYZ Bridge (Apparently Optional): Can I get the vessel name and home port?
Us (If requested): Whisper, Deltaville, Virginia
Us: Thanks, Whisper standing by on 09 (or 13) and 16.
Us (after passing under the bridge): XYZ Bridge, thanks for the opening.
XYZ Bridge (also, apparently optional): Have a good (sometimes "safe") day (sometimes "trip").
One of the reasons I have been impressed by their skill is that if we maintain speed, as requested, they are able to time the opening of the bridge pretty perfectly.
All the bridges (either fixed, or opening) are marked in one of the guidebooks, with both the bridge name and ICW mile marker. I have been keeping track of when we pass each bridge, and it makes it easy for us to keep track of where we are in relation to marinas and anchorages also in the guidebooks. Since we've hit Georgia, we've only gone under two bridges: Jekyll Creek Highway Bridge (fixed, 65 ft, mile marker 684.3) and MacKay River/Lanier Highway Bridge (fixed, 65 ft, mile marker 674.5). This makes it pretty disorienting since it's really hard to tell the progress we've made in ICW miles, although we are able to follow along on the chart plotter.
**Later that night: We're now docked at Isle of Hope Marina in northern Georgia. We passed one more bridge since I wrote the entry this afternoon - Skidaway Bridge (Double Bascule, 22 ft, mile marker 592.6) which is restricted between 4:30 pm and 6:30 pm and we showed up at 6:11. The bridge tender also deviated from his script with a little Bob Barker (or should I say Drew Carry), saying "Come on thru captain" right as he opened it at 6:30.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
No comments:
Post a Comment