December 27-December 31 Stuart to Ft. Meyers via Okeechobee Waterway

The 2 ring leaders who were the loudest

We began our normal processing for leaving a dock by unhooking shore power and cutting over the boat electrical system to the inverter, starting all the navigation systems and untying dock lines.  This however seemed to irritate the gaggle of annoying pelicans surrounding us and they became unusually ardent in their disapproving squawking and fluttering around.  Tuff!

Through all the pelican commotion we eventually did leave the dock  and ran up to the fuel dock for fuel and a pumpout.  The fuel price was cheap.  But of course the one time I dont read the details ... It didn't include tax so the 150 gallons we bought cost us about $14 more than another fuel stop further down the South Fork of the St. Lucie River.  Oh well.

Leaving HarborTown Marina in Ft. Pierce

We made the uneventful 3 hour journey to Stuart down the now familiar ICW.  The Crossroads (Satellite picture below.  Ft. Pierce is to the top.), is where the St. Lucie Inlet meets the ICW and St. Lucie River .  It, as usual, was busy and all the markers were re-arranged which is typical of this area.

Ocean to the right St. Lucie River to the left, ICW top and bottm

And, of course, we got waked (when a boat passes by leaving a large wake which rocks and rolls your boat sometimes dangerously) by a huge sport fishermen that blew by us in typical south Florida fashion.

And for the curious, the story of St. Lucie (or Lucy) is here.

We called Loggerhead Marina and they found a spot for us to tie up alongside instead of going into a slip.  This afforded us the ability to get our dinghy down.  I wanted to run it for awhile because it wasn't doing too well in Fort Pierce.   And we will be using it quite a bit now that we can anchor out frequently.

Tied up at loggerhead

We were in the little fuel dock basin, all alone actually.  Steve the dockmaster is still there and so is Tommy and a new dock master, Jim.  Loggerhead has stumbled into a weird situation where you cannot stay on board your boat for 5 consecutive days because that violates the marina's live-aboard license issued by the state.  Seems the condo owners (the marina is really in a condo complex) are pushing this and the marina has no choice but to enforce it.  So the marina was forced to ask 48 boats to leave earlier this spring.  Many of them ended up in Ft. Pierce at Harbortown.  In any event our stay is limited to the 5 days.

We did get the dinghy down again and sped around Stuart simply to run it for a while.  And ended up going to Sunset Marina for a drink and then went down the south fork of St. Lucie River to check on the shallows where we have to head in a few days.

I really like Stuart and took several walks around the town along familiar routes.  We're just hoping Loggerhead gets everything straightened because we'd stay here over the winter next year. Well, for a little while since the Keys are the best place to be!

Happy breakfast eater at roosevelts (owner in the background)

While we were in Stuart we hit Uncle Giuseppe's Lil-Bit-A-Brooklyn, our favorite pizza place.  We also stopped and had breakfast another favorite place, Roosevelts.  It's this little dinner owned by a family.  Its cheap and good!

After breakfast at Roosevelts we walked about 6 miles to various stores obtaining fabric for curtains.  So here I was carrying a bag and a 5 foot roll of fabric down Highway 1.  Stuart doesn't have a lot sidewalks along this stretch of the highway so were pretty much walking in the road.  Quite a sight I'm sure.

And we did make the obligatory stop for frozen yogurt at this yogurt place we discovered, Hoffmans.

The day we left, Monday, we had a diver over to clean off the bottom.  Nothing badly overgrown with barnacles and the pronouncement was the bottom and running gear were in good shape.

The day before, Brent and Susan along with Quimbee went by us heading down to the Okeechobee Waterway.  We planned on leaving a day after.  Steve and Liz had a starter issue and will probably be delayed a day after us so it looks like we'll be alone for a few days.

Map of Okeechobee Waterway

The Okeechobee Waterway provides a short route over to the est side of Florida from Stuart.  It runs through the St. Lucie River, and Lake Okeechobee and eventually into the Caloosahatchee River .  For anyone wishing to sample a bit of old Florida, this provides a good taste.  And its only about 120 some miles from Stuart to Fort Myers so a 2-3 day journey at our speeds.

While the diver was at the boat, I biked a few gallons of used oil to a re-cycling place.  I had changed the transmission oil while we were here and also did all the on-engine fuel filters. I already swapped out all 4  Racor Fuel filters while Mary was at Church the other day in Ft. Pierce

So we left around noon with 22 miles to go to Indiantown Marina.  But we had one lock to go through which can be a cause for delay in some instances and we wanted to get into the marina before dark.  Its a rather small place and we're a big boat so having a few dock hands around is always a good thing.

Loggerhead marina (not visible) is around and to the left of the large bridge.   The railroad bridge is raised and behind the Roosevelt bascule bridge in the foreground.

We headed out towards the Roosevelt Bridge (one we've walked across several hundred times in the past) but before we could go through it there is a railroad bridge about 20 yards in front which has to be open.  This is a railroad bridge which opens only when trains are on the way.  A horn blows and the lights at the waterline turn yellow.  This action is repeated for 10 minutes, the interval slowly growing shorter until the bridge finally squawks one loud blast and starts to draw down.  I've seen this numerous times from shore.  Luckily this time the bridge remained open so we could go right through.

 We called the bridge and they opened and we went through and heading down the south fork of the St. Lucie River.  The indicated shallow spots were indeed really shallow.  At times we had maybe 2-3 inches between the bottom and our hull.  It was dead low tide though so at higher tide levels I'm sure it wouldn't present an issue.

St. Lucie Lock (note the gate partially open)

The St. Lucie Lock was actually ready for us so we slid right in.  It took a few seconds remembering how we did the other 150 locks we've been through.  But it came back,  This lock raised us up 14 feet.  The locks on the Okeechobee Waterway fill and empty their chambers by opening the appropriate lock gate a small amount to allow water to spill in or out.  There can be some substantial current generated as we found out in the St. Lucie lock.  But it was manageable.  This lock had the highest lift/drop of all the locks we'll need to negotiate.

We slowly cruised through the St. Lucie Canal and on into Indiantown Marina.  The canal is simply a very straight and rather narrow waterway lined on either bank with mangrove and swamp.

They are kinda cute aren't they?

 And yes, I saw two gators out sunning themselves.  I'm guessing this isn't a popular waterskiing area.

Entrance to the marina

Its almost too easy to miss the entrance channel to Indiantown Marina it's so small.  But we turned in and it was tight!  wasn't sure where I was supposed to go as all the docks were filled ... except the one right off pur port which, as it turns out, is where we were suppsoed to tie up.  Thats why all the guys were stading around waving at us!

I spun the boat around and nestled it into the dock and we tied up in no time.  Paid ($1 a foot) and we enjoyed a quiet evening.  Very calm inside and they had a neat little outdoor gathering area there for us to use.

All settled in.  Delightful place

We left Indiantown marina early, 7:30am.  Luckily it was calm and no tidal current because we had very little room to navigate in the basin. I pushed the boat off the dock and we made to hard right turns and were in the canal again!

Turning into the channel leaving the marina

In the canal leading up to Port Mayaca

Got near Port Mayaca and Port Mayaca and the Port Mayaca Lock but we were  confronted with a lift bridge.  It's actually a railroad bridge that, when I looked through the binoculars a few minutes previously, was high and in its 49 foot open position.  Now though when we were were right in front of it, the almost imperceptible downward movement caught my eye.  So we stopped and sure enough the darn thing was slowly moving down and made it the water level in about 5 minutes.  Then, as we waited, a train lumbered its way across the bridge.  That took 10 minutes.  And finally, after several more minutes of waiting after the train passed, the bridge began to rise at an infinitesimally slow pace.  We were idling around for 40 minutes before being able to proceed to the lock. 

Railroad Lift bridge

The Port Mayaca Lock connects the canal to Okeechobee Lake.  We were able to drive right in and get lowered 2 feet to the lake level.   We went right through and out into Lake Okeechobee.    The lake was wonderfully flat and calm but fog obscured much of the shoreline.  Visibility seemed to be about 1/2 mile so I lit off the radar and we immediately saw several boats a few miles out from us.  So we weren't all alone in this all encompassing grayness.

Lake Okeechobee is huge.  And shallow, with depths anywhere from 7-15 feet and numerous shallow spots.  Its all soft mud.  We even toyed with the idea of just anchoring in the middle of the lake.  It's a viable option if its calm.  But any northerly winds have a long fetch and can make the lake here on the south end untenable.

Port Mayaca Lock

Entering Lake Okeechobee

In the middle of Lake Okeechobee

Channel into Clewiston 

It took us several boring hours to to finally get across and into the entrance channel for Clewiston.  There is a lock there but its only used if you want to visit the city.  Actually this time the lock was open so the water levels were equalized. 

The Army Corp of Engineers manages the lake levels.  When we crossed it was 15.8 feet.  In practical terms that meant the route we took across the lake, route 1, could accommodate a vessel with a draft of 9.2 feet. 

As we approached the Clewiston lock there is a channel off to the right which is the route to Moore Haven and the next lock in the Okeechobee Waterway.  No signage and no buoys either. You just have to know. 

Long straight canal to Moore Haven

So we took the hard turn right and found another 10+ miles of ditch and flat swampy shoreline.  This channel runs along the Lake shore, in about a mile.  It was very calm, smooth.  And boring!

Moore Haven Lock

We came up to the Moore Haven Lock and called them on the radio.  We were told we'd have to wait about 20 minutes.  Once inside the chamber we dropped 8 feet.

Free docks in Moore Haven

We ran out of the Moore Haven lock past the city of Moore Haven which has some varied and free docking facilities.  Many people stop here because of that but even though they were all empty we wanted to push on closer to Ft. Meyers.

I throttled up so we were doing 8.2 mph as we boggied on down the river to the Ortona Lock.  When we arrived there was no response from the lockmaster on the radio.  Even after repeated calls on the radio and sounding our horn no reply or anyone on the lock.  We finally dug up a phone number for the lockmaster and he promptly answered citing radio problems.  I didn't ask we he couldn't hear the boats pretty loud horn even though it seemed to register with the campground on the opposite shore.

He came running down and got the gate open so we could enter.  It was a quick 8 foot drop.  The lockmaster did tell us that all the locks would be open tomorrow, January the 31st so we didn't have to wonder of we'd be stranded in the middle of no where with just the alligators, birds and a few snakes for company.

Ortona Lock

Being delayed another 20 minutes isn't normally a cause for concern.  But by the time we exited the lock it was late and the sun was on the horizon and the only place near enough for us to reach was this free dock I heard about.  Or a certain marina which, when we called, had a message making perfectly clear they were closed until after the new year.  There were not many other other options so we pushed on towards the free dock.  If that didn't work out we could always just toss the anchor in the center of the channel until dawn.

The free dock 

Approaching the Free Dock

 Luckily though, as we came up to this free dock we saw it was unoccupied so we just slid in and tied up.  It was just shy of the town of LaBelle and seems to be in an area of subdivision development.  So the term "free dock" might be a stretch.  However no one was around and it was in a deserted area and well, what the hell.

Tied up at the free dock

The dock itself was only about 40 feet long so we stuck out on both ends and the depths were around 5 feet.  But it was easy to tie up there and we are relatively protected from wakes and any bad weather.  Only downside was the darn cows mooing in the background as it got dark.  

Tomorrow we'll be in the Ft. Meyers anchorage!

We were under way around 8am and ended up backing out the of the dock because the depths were 4 feet up towards the bow of the boat.

Once Upon a Time and Quimbee

After a few miles down the channel we went through the bridge in LaBelle.  As we cleared the bridge I was trying to take a few pictures and noticed one of the boats on the free docks looked very familiar.  Before it finally registered it was Brent and Susan we were passed them but Mary called them on the phone and we made arrangements to meet them in the anchorage.  Quimbee was with them on the free docks there in LaBelle. 

We got to the Fort Denaud railroad swing bridge and the nice lady got us through in record time.  Then to the Franklin Lock were we were again able to tie up on our port side.  Port side is the side we prefer to tie up on because the stairs to the bridge are on that side and it makes it easier for me to leap up and down.

We went up 8 feet, the second highest lift/drop we experienced and we drove out into the Caloosahatchee River.  Right after the bridge is Sweetwater Marina where Bad Bob, one of the people we traversed the inland rivers with the previous year was staying.  Alas, no sign of Bad Bob's boat.

We wound our way down the river as the cows and farms gave way to subdivisions and large houses.  Went by the Ft. Meyers power plant where we passed by a manatee sight seeing boat.  The power plant is reputed to be one of the favored congregating places of Manatees although we didn't see any.

Narrow channel

We eventually came to the three bridges where the  Ft. Meyers City Marina is located.  The very (and I mean very) narrow channel is between the 2nd and 3rd bridge right near the marina.  We're a fat boat, 15 1/2 feet wide and we saw only a few feet on either side of of the channel markers as we went through to enter the anchorage area. 

 Its a very big anchorage with 7 widely dispersed mooring balls.  We picked a spot and dropped the anchor and were securely stuck to the bottom.  We quickly took dinghy down and went into the marina office to pay $10 for the privilege of using their (glacial) wifi and showers (door codes).  Still a nice place.

Once Upon a Time (Brent & Susan)

Brent and Susan came in a few minutes after us along with Quimbee.  We end up going over to Quimbee who were cruising with Once Upon a Time for cocktails and dinner.  Happy New Year!   Em, and Bev are great people.  Really nice boat (Solo 43).  We eventually came back to our boat and went right to bed.

We'll be spending a few days here as we get organized for a jaunt into Punta Gorda next week to see some friends, Don & Carole and Greg and Dona,