Cruising Again! Day 156 - Moore Haven, FL

February 16, 2016
Day 156


Last night we had severe thunderstorms in Stuart, but awoke to nice weather.  The weather window for crossing Lake Okeechobee appeared to be Wednesday, but the winds had died down sooner than expected, so we decided to give it a try today.  We left Stuart Yacht late, around 11:00 am, and headed up the St. Lucie Canal toward Lake Okeechobee.  The lake has been very high this winter due to record rainfall, so the Army Corps of Engineers has been letting water out of the lake in an attempt to lower the water levels before the summer rains.  We entered the first lock and were raised 14 feet to the level of the canal.  The whole way through the canal we had a current against us due to the water being released from the lake.  Below is a picture looking back at the St Lucie Lock as we were leaving it into the canal.

Most of the canal was just straight and featureless, but it did pass through some very pretty "old Florida" landscape.

At the end of the St. Lucie Canal, we approached the Port Mayaca lock which was wide open to Lake Okeechobee beyond due to the high water being released.

Our crossing of the 25 plus miles of open water on Lake Okeechobee went smoothly as the winds were low and the lake water was practically flat.  On the way across we saw about a half dozen smoke plumes all around the lake.  Apparently it is wildfire season around Lake Okeechobee and in the Everglades and this is a common occurrence in January, February, and March in Florida.

On the way across the lake, we saw our first white pelican.

Once on the other side not too far from Roland Martin's marina we saw a number of boats bass fishing the weed lines.

Jake and Kimi enjoyed the breeze and the scenery once we were near shore again.

Below we are approaching our last lock of the day at Moore Haven which lowered us down from Lake Okeechobee into the Caloosahatchee River.

 We arrived at the municipal dock at Moor Haven just beyond the lock at about 4:30 pm and the library sign across the street said it was 78 degrees!

The city has built a nice dock facility here with a park alongside to walk the dogs.  We tied up and paid our very reasonable dock fees for the night.  The dock has power and water which are included in the fee.

After arriving, we found out that the thunderstorms we had experienced last night in Stuart had generated a tornado on the way across Florida which destroyed some homes in Moore Haven.  I'm glad we did not arrive yesterday!