Back Across Lake Okeechobee - Day 192

March 23, 2016
Day 192

Last night there was an American Tug 41 on the Moore Haven dock behind us.  We had first seen it earlier in the day when we passed through a lock with it.  The owner is single handing for this portion of the loop and is from Canada.  He told me that he was going straight across the lake in the morning on his way to Stuart.  We heard him leave about 7:00am before we were ready to get up.  We finally got away from the dock a few minutes after 9:00am and immediately locked through the Moore Haven Lock and onto Lake Okeechobee.  As soon as we passed through the lock we saw a number of manatees feeding right around the lock canal but were unable to get any pictures of them.

Since the lake was still windy we decided to take the "rim route" around the southern and eastern edges of the lake rather than going straight across.  While the rim route is about 10 miles longer than going straight across, it is much less exposed to today's east winds and the resulting waves.  The rim route looks like a canal most of the way.

We saw several alligators at a distance from the boat and I was finally able to get this so-so picture of one.

There were many fishing boats out and we also saw this air boat.

I took this picture for a doubter we met in Fort Myers.  When I told him our boat speed would be 17 to 18 mph at 3000 rpm on the engines he didn't believe me.  Here is proof, you can see my GPS speed at 18.5 mph and see the tachometer pegged right at 3000 rpm.  This was while we were on the way around the rim of Lake Okeechobee so current is not a factor.  During that trip, our speed varied from 17.5 to 18.5 mph at 3000 rpm. In knots, that's 15 to 16.

We had one bridge on the rim route that had to be opened for us to pass.  I had never before seen a manually operated bridge.  The bridge tender rode his bicycle from one end after manually closing a gate to stop traffic.  Then he rode to the other end of the bridge and closed the traffic gate there.  Then he went back to the center of the swing span and inserted a long lever into the opening mechanism and then began to walk the lever around in a large circle.  As he walked around the circle the bridge slowly pivoted around the center until it had moved 90 degrees, allowing our boat to pass.  Then the process was repeated in reverse to close the bridge again for car traffic.

The lake water level was still high so the Port Mayaca lock was wide open when we arrived saving us from having to lock through into the St. Lucie Canal.

Amazingly, the worst wind and wave combination we encountered today was in the St. Lucie Canal.  With winds from the east and the water flowing down from the west from the lake, the waves were very choppy even though the canal is only a couple of hundred yards wide.

When we arrived at the St. Lucie lock (almost to Stuart) we found Red Dolphin sitting there waiting to lock through.  We locked through together so in spite of leaving two hours earlier and going straight across the lake we arrived at the same place at the same time.

After locking down from the St. Lucie Canel we proceeded another 2 or 3 miles to Stuart Yacht Harbor where the boat will spend the next couple of days having it's bottom painted, zincs changed, and some other minor repairs.  We will have the luxury of a hotel for a couple of days while the boat is being maintained.