For this leg of our journey, we are accompanied by our friends, Catherine and Kirk. The plan for the next few days was to transit the Okeechobee Waterway. The waterway allows us to travel from the west coast of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico starting at Fort Myers, across 154 miles to Stuart on the east coast of Florida at the Atlantic Ocean. We start on the Caloosahatchee River, pass through three locks, then cross Lake Okeechobee, which brings us to the St Lucie Canal where we pass through two more locks before arriving in Stuart. The Okeechobee Waterway is an artificial waterway that is used both for travel and for managing flood waters, keeping salt water out of the fresh water rivers. It is maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers and they have a great map of the waterway.
We had an early morning after a noisy night. Sweetwater Marina is a little close to the highway and the trucks were loud and rumbling well into the night and again starting early in the morning. We were away at first light around 7 AM. The Franklin Lock was our first lock quite soon into our journey. As we were entering the lock, Catherine spotted a Manatee that was stirring the surface of the water. Then there were two Manatees, and then four of them swimming around while we were at idle waiting for them to clear! The lock master came out to keep track of them from shore and she told us when we were clear. She also told us that a brief kick of our thrusters would be enough of a signal to them that we were there and they would dive down deep. It was our first encounter with Manatees so we were not in a rush to get rid of them. It was sad that it looked like the word "Hi" had been scratched into the back of one of the manatees, but it could also have been random scratches. Manatees have to come to the surface to breathe regularly and they move pretty slowly so they are in danger of getting hit by boat propellers. There are hundreds of slow zones for Manatees all around Florida and Georgia too.
The lock lifted us two feet by just doing a controlled opening of the gates. We could feel the push of the water but it was manageable. These locks were different than the ones we've done before. There are lines hanging down the sides in the lock and we used those to loop around our cleats and hold the boat in. Then we just pull in the slack as the boat rises. Our second lock was the Ortona Lock. We locked through with a small boat of about 20 feet and it was their first time in a lock. We had a good visit with the lock master who seemed to appreciate our experience and preparedness in the lock. So far on this trip we had locked through 36 locks! He said he'd had some bad experiences with ill-prepared boaters. As ready as we thought we were, the lift was 8 feet and the water started rushing in with such force that I couldn't pull in the slack and the bow started swinging away from the wall. Catherine started pulling on the line to help bring it in but the wave of water had us pushed out about 8 feet and it was a real workout! Cam had secured a mid ship line and he was pulling like stink too! Kirk was doing well with the line on the stern. I'm not sure how we could have done this lock with just the two of us. We were beginning to wonder if the lock itself was the issue with the water filling too fast, not the "ill-prepared boaters"!
We arrived at the Riverhouse Marina in Moore Haven, Florida just after 1 PM. We walked into town for a few supplies and found a southern BBQ that we decided to head back to for dinner. Then we ran into James and Cathy from C. Marie who we hadn't seen since Gore Bay in Canada. They had already completed their Loop and earned their gold flag somewhere around Mobile Bay. We had a nice visit and invited them to join us for dinner at Essie Mae's Old South BBQ. We got a nice table and then dinner was delivered in plastic and styrofoam dishes! Apparently, water is expensive in Florida so it's cheaper for them to use disposable plates and cutlery. Sad! This was not our first experience with plastic and styrofoam in a restaurant. We went back to the boat for a YouTube video review of the next day followed by three more rounds of Rummikub!
While in Moore Haven, we met a man on a large yacht that was tied up at the Riverhouse Marina. There was a second yacht behind him. We learned that they were in Fort Myers when they realized that Hurricane Ian's trajectory had changed and was going to hit Fort Myers instead of further north. He decided he had to make a run for it with his boat and convinced the other man to do the same. They literally just pulled their lines and left. Later on the news he saw a video of his car floating away! Moore Haven usually only allows transient boaters but the two yachts have been stuck there ever since the hurricane as their marina was destroyed and they have no where to go!
The next morning when we left Moore Haven, we waved good bye to James and Cathy and promised to connect in Stuart. We were lucky to find the railway bridge open as the Sugar Train runs frequently. Then we got right into the Julian Keen Jr lock, sharing it with a 55' Fleming. Cam always says that's his next boat! We probably rose about 3 feet and it was a very gentle lift. Once out of the lock, we were dodging Manatees again. They really like to hang out by the locks. It's a very long ditch around the rim route of Lake Okeechobee as you work your way around to the point where you enter the lake. Another new phenomenon was that they were burning the sugar cane fields. There was ash blowing through the air and our poor Sea Clef was covered in sugar cane ash!
The route through the Okeechobee is in fresh water after you go through the Franklin lock and until you pass through the final lock at St Lucie. This means that the flora and fauna change. We are not well versed in the flora, although we did notice a difference. As for the fauna, we were looking forward to seeing lots of Alligators. We finally saw an Alligator's head cruising along the surface of the water, but that was our only Alligator. We were also blessed with Bald Eagles, which we hadn't seen since we were in the inland river system.
Just before entering Lake Okeechobee, we hit 3000 Nautical Miles on our Great Loop journey! It was fun to have guests along to celebrate with us which we did by ringing our bell. Our crossing was very good and only took us a couple of hours. It was getting beamy at the end but luckily we did not have to wait to get into the Port Mayaca Lock, which is right at the point of exit from the lake. Otherwise we would have had to wait in the open water which would have been uncomfortable. We did most of the crossing at speed. That was advantageous because we were able to determine that the little leak in our bilge was from the through hull fitting for the generator. We would later discover that we were wrong.
We planned to anchor at the top side of the St. Lucie lock, but we got chatting with Catherine and Kirk and realized that they wanted to get on the road early the next day so we decided to lock through. The lock master at the St Lucie lock was a bit cranky and we had to wait for one boat to go down and another to come up before our turn. With the wind it made it very challenging for Cam to hold the boat in position for our 40 minute wait. When we got in we had to tie up on starboard, instead of port, and the lock master handed us our lines and told us how to manage them. It was a 13 foot drop and the boat handled it nicely. Catherine and Kirk had quite a lively visit with the lock master while we dropped. I guess he just had to warm up a bit, but his cranky chatter on the VHF was off-putting.
It was a short journey past the lock to the anchorage we had chosen at Pendarvis Cove. We could practically see the marina that we were going to the next day. It was an absolutely perfect night. After 9 hours on the water we had a lot to tidy up and Catherine put a nice docktails together on the back deck. We had a lovely steak dinner and then enjoyed the evening under the stars on the back deck with drinks. It was so beautiful.
Stuart
The next morning, we had a big breakfast on the boat while we waited out the rain. We even played a couple more games of Rummikub. Cam turned out to be the big winner for the weekend. We started hauling the anchor at 11:30 as our goal was to make the 12 Noon opening of the Old Roosevelt Bridge. We were practically right at the marina after transiting the bridge. Once we were secure, Kirk and Catherine got ready to go. Sadly, their Uber bailed on them so they ended up having to rent a car. Very frustrating! One of the boaters in the marina generously drove them to pick up their rental car. Travelling by boat from point A to point B with guests can certainly be challenging for getting our guests back home again and we're sorry that Kirk and Catherine were so delayed in their travels.
This portion of our journey is covered in our video called Manatees and Alligators! Oh My! Locking Through Okeechobee. Click on the photos below to view the images in slideshow mode. Coming up next, we're going to the Bahamas!
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