The Caloosahaatche Bridge at Ft Myers, the MidPoint bridge and the the
Cape Coral Bridge on the Caloosahatcee River just west of Ft Myers are 55 feet clearance. The Edison Bridge in Ft Myers is 56 feet.
A Caliber 40 mast is 59' and mine needs 60' 5" with the wind instrument on top.
A sister ship made three (3) tries to get under the
Cape Coral bridge. Finally, on a minus tide, they hung a
dinghy full of water from the
outboard end of the boom which was almost at right angles to the boat and two big guys crawled out on the boom.
They measured over 4 degrees of heel and SCRAPPED under the bridge. They then repeated the stunt three more times and barely made the last bridge because the tide was coming in.
The tides on the river are not of much use - the January minus is -0.4 and the January high is 1.4 so it is a rare minus tide that will be useful. February is about the same.
It can be done BUT - a new owner?
My friends had been cruising full time for four years from
Annapolis thru all of the
Caribbean down to Trinidad and back.
My experience with
advice such as "there is good clearance there" or "the rock to be avoided there" should only be accepted from someone that can tell when they were "there" and exactly what they did.
We tried to buy a house up river from the Cape
Coral bridge where we were going to keep our Caliber 40. We visited the local yacht club and talked to owners of boats similar in size to Mirador and to two local dock masters. They all confirmed the 55' height.
WHY are those bridges allowed on the ICW?
The Caliber 40 is advertised as an ICW boat and we assumed that meant EVERY fixed ICW bridge - or is the Calooshatchee/Okochobee not part of the ICW?
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