Melbourne to NASA Causeway (aka. Addison Pt Bridge)

The next morning we left Melbourne and headed for the NASA Causeway Bridge. The forecast was for south and west winds at 25 to 30 knots for that evening and the next day. There was a chance of thunder storms with 40 knot winds as well. So we anchored by ourselves on the northeast side of the NASA Causeway Bridge. There was not enough water on the northeast side. We found a spot with swinging room with a few shoals and a small island around it. The causeway was very low so would not provide much wind protection, but would offer protection from the waves--which is more important. I set out about an 8 to 1 scope of all chain, and we backed down hard to make sure it was well set. We always do that anyway. The winds were around 30 knots when we anchored and stayed that way when I went to bed at about 11:30. Lisa woke me up (she's my watch dog) at about 1:00 am because there was an enormous black cloud over us that did not look good. So we fired up the chart plotter/radar and turned the engine on to make sure it was warmed up in case we needed it. Sure enough the wind and boat clocked around to the north, and we got winds in the upper 40s. But the anchor either held or reset with no problem.

Strong storms were still in the forecast for the next day, so we stayed where we were at. I prefer the known to the unknown, and we felt we were in a secure spot.

At about 10:30 am, we got hit with strong winds, hard rain, a little bit of hail (not much), and tons of lightening. We put the computers and some spare handheld GPSs in the oven because of the lightening. I didn't fit. The winds were in the mid to upper 40 knots, with some gusts in the mid 50s. This storm blew out in about 30 or 40 minutes. It did a thorough job of cleaning our boat of all the Lake Worth soot. It also cleaned a lot of old salt off to make room for new salt.

Lisa was able to get a radar image on her Kindal (sp?) that confirmed we were not out of the woods yet. At around 2:00 pm we got the next wave. This one lasted for almost four hours. During the morning storm, Lisa tried to get a picture of the wind instrument showing the 50 knot gusts, but every time the camera was ready it would go back to the 40s. The afternoon storm pretty much stayed in the mid 50 knot range. There were 3 gusts in the 80s, and a few in the 60s and 70s.

64.9 Knots.  The pictures show the anemometer (the middle wind instrument) wind speed readings at the bottom. These are in knots, so multiply the reading by 1.15 for miles per hour.


77.8 knots.

 

83.4 knots = 96 miles per hour.

 

Can we go to sleep now?

 

As usual, the calm after a storm.

 

After the sun went down, the sky was incredible.

 

Here' another one.

We are thankful the strongest storm came during the day, and did not bring lightening. We are glad we stayed anchored for the day even though we may have been where the winds were the strongest. That evening and night were beautiful and calm.