On to Moore Haven. March 26. Day 4. Miles 36.3. Total miles. 159.6

Day 4

As we unmoored Crustacean and continued our travels east on the Okeechobee Waterway, we watched the beautiful sunrise with a crescent moon also on display.

The river past the lock becomes fresh water and the homes that line the shore become fewer, replaced by Pine, Oak and Scrub Palm forests, and lots more oxbows.

We also had our first alligator sighting! We ended with a count of 9 alligators today!

It is such a beautiful day to travel. Here are some shots the river.

We passed through the largest town on the river, La Belle, which had several marinas and lots of home along the shore.

The closer we got to the lake, the more agriculture /farming is evident. Crops raised around the lake are oranges, sugar cane, sod, tomatoes, beans, squash and peppers. There are also cattle ranches.

Bill liked to "moo" at the cattle as we went by. Many steer responded to his call by looking up and following the boat. Bill says they were fascinated by such a strange "Cow" going by.

Further upriver the waterway narrows and a man-made canal allows us to continue our journey towards the lake. Along the canal we come to the Ortona lock which will raise us 8 feet. But when we approached the lock they informed us that required training was under way and we would have to wait a little over an hour for the lock to open for us. Not great news, but we used our time to get chores done on the boat.

Two hours later, we cleared the lock and continued on our way east to Moore Haven where we will tie up to a dock for the night.

As a side note, I am using Cornell University's Merlin Bird finder as we travel. Most are common birds like jays and cardinals and osprey. Although I have encountered birds I had not heard of, such as the Blue Grey Gnat Catcher and the Boat Tailed Grackle.

June 4-5. Day 63-64. On to Cape May New Jersey. 53.4nm. Total 1534 miles.

Left Delaware City at 5:35am to be able to take advantage of the strong currents going with us while traversing Delaware River and Delaware Bay. The Delaware River goes south about 15 miles and flows into the Delaware Bay. As we travel south, New Jersey is to the east and Delaware is to our west. We are traveling just outside the shipping channel and are really moving at 10.9 knots. That is three knots faster than we normally travel, as the outgoing tides are pushing us along. Nice to have Mother Nature helps us save on fuel. The Delaware River is about 8 miles wide so there is plenty of room for the freighters and the pleasure boats. So far, we have not encountered any commercial traffic, but there is a large freighter behind us that will eventually pass us as they travel at 14 knots. The Delaware Bay proper varies from 23-29 miles wide and 26 miles long. There are five lighthouses on the Delaware marking the shipping channel. We went by Ship J...

Reflections on the Bahamas

Reflections on the Bahamas Over the past 10 weeks, we have traveled through Abaco, Eleuthera and Exuma Islands and enjoyed the hospitality of the Bahamian people. We have learned all about the islands, its unique geography - limestone, caves, blue holes and chalk cliffs; and colorful history-pirates and rum running, salt ponds and cotton plantations, boat building and wrecking/salvage. Traveling over 1300 miles through narrow cuts and wide bays to vast depths of ocean, we negotiated the islands and found safe harbors, calm coves for anchoring, bays filled with moorings and marinas large and small. This trip required us to pay close attention to the weather, the tides and currents as we traveled between and through the islands. The Bahamian people are warm and friendly, willing to give us rides, advice and directions, as well as some secret recipes!! We enjoyed hiking trails, walking the beaches, snorkeling the coral rocks and reefs, discovering ruins and ol...

Day 64-65. May 25-26. On to Peck Lake, Jupiter, FL and then on to Indiantown/ Okeechobee Waterway. Miles 63.5/ 29.1 Total Miles 1122.1/1142.0

Day 64 We started early to get ahead of the holiday boat traffic. Weighing anchor at Lake Sylvia in Fort Lauderdale, we traveled on the Intracoastal Waterway past the iconic Pier 66 Tower and Bahia Mar Marina. We then turned north and passed the older sections of the city - Las Olas( older homes), Galt Ocean Mile (one mile of condominiums on the beach), and the famous miles of beaches on the Atlantic. I used to live here in the early 70's and the biggest change I see is the older smaller homes on the water are being replaced with larger versions and a few more condo towers have been built. As we go further north towards Commercial Blvd, North Fort Lauderdale, and Pompano Beach and its Lighthouse at the cut, there is less reconstruction. The next town we traveled through was Boca Raton with its Spanish architecture, Camino Real and its landmark tower. The sand bar at the cut was just beginning to fill up with Memorial Day revelers as we went by. Next were t...

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