Crossing Florida On The Okeechobee

March 1 - 4, 2013

After several false starts we left Stuart on Friday, March 1^st headed for the Keys via Lake Okeechobee.  Brian misplaced his credit card on Monday.  Tuesday morning we called to cancel it and ordered a new one that was to be overnighted to the marina.  When it didn’t arrive Wednesday, we called to see what the problem was.  Because it was a lost card, being sent to an address other than our billing address, it went to the fraud department.  No sign of it again on Thursday.  Another call tells us that it is still in the fraud department.  We give up!  ‘The Plan’ was to leave two days ago.  Send the card to our billing address and we will have it forwarded to us.  There is too much out there to see and do – we can’t wait any longer. 

On the waterway, we didn't find any alligators.
These are the best views I could come up with.
Cement being pumped to the road bed of a bridge
and cows walking along the river.

While on the west side of the Okeechobee, we passed a catamaran that radioed us.  It was Pat and Mark on Catrina.  We had docked next to them at the Green Turtle Marina in Grand Rivers, Kentucky in 2010.  He surprised us by commenting on our trip to Hawaii.  First of all, the boating world is small.  It still amazes us when we run into people we know.  Secondly, it is fun to find out who is reading the blog.  I can see how many pages have been read, but have no idea who is reading it.  Most of the time I am surprised at who continues to plow through my rambling tales.

It is almost dusk as we pull into the Moore Haven city dock for the night.  A fellow boater comes to assist us.  He notices that we are from Afton and mentions his sister-in-law lived there.  She was a former client of mine twice (and, a favorite).  Plus, we know their next door neighbors in North Carolina!   

On Saturday we continued across the Okeechobee to Fort Myers.  To cross the state, boats have to go through five locks.  We have gone through many locks in our travels between Minnesota and Florida (close to 400 on multiple trips – one with a drop of 110 feet) and we think we are pretty good at it.  But, these are different.  Once the boats are in the chamber, the doors on the exit end are partially opened and the water pours in or out to equalize.  Sounds simple, but if the lockmaster opens the gate too far, the water rushes past, causing turbulence which makes it extremely difficult to hold the lines that attach us to the wall.  The first lock was a drop of only 15 feet, but when that gate opens and you see 15 feet of water pushing through the opening it is scary! 

Sunday was a short 35 miles to Naples where we met up with Bonnie and Jon.  We  made it by noon and had the entire afternoon to eat a late lunch, walk around town and talk about last month's travels.  Tomorrow we are looking at houses and townhomes with a realtor.  It will be fun to be on the other side of the table.  We are just riding along.  Bonnie and Jon are the ones considering a purchase.  Famous last words...........   

 Gotta smile -- we're lovin the ride! 

We finally saw an alligator today!

 

 PS:  It happened again!  We met with the realtor and her husband today.  While at lunch we discovered that his uncle lived two houses from us in Minnesota!