Day 4 On to Franklin Lock
This morning we are traveling east on the Caloosahatchee River past Ft Myers and under the 5 bridges that span the river. Was fun to motor right under the bridges when the cars were almost at a standstill on the road above us!
As we cruised the sea gulls decided to search for their breakfast in our wake. Also Bill caught a dolphin jumping in our wake.
The river gets narrower once past Ft Myers with some homes and mangroves lining the shore. We are now traveling in fresh water as we cross through the state via the Okeechobee Waterway.
As the river continued to narrow, we entered the dredged canal portion of the Okeechobee Waterway and continued onto Franklin Lock, the first of five locks on the waterway.
Here is Bill readying us for the locks and a few pictures of the lock.
Settled into a dock and campground next to the lock after traveling 20.4 nm today.
Day 5 On to Moore Haven 36.2nm. Trip so far 130 miles
We continued east on the Okeechobee Waterway past a scattering of homes, eventually the scenery changed to include orange groves, fields of soybeans and cattle ranches. The closer we got to Moore Haven we also saw sugar cane fields.
We transited our second lock (rising 8 feet ) and another swing bridge on our route.
As we left the lock we followed the boat Wind Shift and settled in next to them at the dock in Moore Haven. Enjoyed sharing experiences on cruising the west coast of Florida and they shared their experiences of traveling the Great Loop.
Day 6 On to Port St Lucie 54.2nm. Trip so far 184 miles
We left Moore Haven and locked through rising 2 feet to lake water level. All together we rose 12 feet from Ft Myers to Lake Okeechobee.
At first, we traveled SSE along the lake rim route about 15 miles to the town of Clewiston. The route has a berm on the land side of the canal, built for flood control. The lake side of the canal is marsh filled with land and wading birds- ibis, egrets, roseate spoonbills, osprey, gulls, limpkin and anhingas. And of course alligators! Counted 12 decent sized ones on the surface and many more that dove under the water as we passed, leaving a swirl and air bubbles.
At the end of the rim route we turned east into the lake proper and traveled northeast 25 miles across the lake to the Port Mayaca lock. The lake level was the same as the eastern canal of the waterway so we were able to motor through without having to lock down from lake level.
The Okeechobee Waterway is narrower on the east side of the lake and both side often have berms covered with palms, oaks and pines. There are also a number of nursery farms and cattle ranches along the way.
We settled in for the night at a dock just west of the last lock - at Port St Lucie. Will tackle that lock first thing and head a short distance to Stuart tomorrow.