Thursday, April 19, 2012

Headed out early again in order to make the 5th lock by the 1PM opening. As we made our way to Ft. Myers, we were now on the Caloosahatchee River, which was very scenic with many different sights along the way. 

As we were approaching the W P Franklin Lock (5th and last lock), I looked to our starboard & could not believe my eyes.  Believe it or not, the first thing I saw was this camel just enjoying himself so much that he decided to sit down & relax!  We were passing by (will have to stop next time) at the Rialto Harbor Docks, a one-of-a-kind marina providing you with an individual dock, your personal small deck area, BBQ's that will be lit for you, a flower delivered to the ladies, restrooms & showers that are almost like being at home. The harbor master will drive you anywhere you need to go & is happy to provide both camel & horse rides! Now that's a marina with everything!

Wednesday, April 18

Left Sunset Bay Marina in Stuart at 7:30am to make our 1st lock (the St. Lucie Lock) by the 9AM opening. The first leg of our crossing was up the St. Lucie River about 7 miles.  Upon arriving at the lock there were two other boats making the crossing.  At the St. Lucie Lock we had an 11 ft. rise. The Okeechobee is dropping daily because of lack of rain & was at a level of 11.8 ft. when we crossed, which provides a reported depth of less than 6 ft. in the west channel as you leave the lake.

Due to the low levels, the first and last lock have restricted their openings to every 2 hours.  When the Lake drops below 11.5 ft. they will open the locks only 3 times per day.  Our experience of following the GPS line across the Lake showed we were in 11-12 ft. of water, but when we reached the  west channel, we experienced shallow waters following the GPS, so we changed our course & visually stayed in the center of the channel, which kept the levels at the 7 + or - ft.  The picture below is the Okeechobee Waterway on the west side of the lake with 20 + ft. depths

Okeechobee Channel

After hearing all the reports of boats going aground in the lake, we were relieved to find sufficient water depths. First stop on the west side of the lake was Clewiston, FL.  We found dockage at the Roland Martin's Marina & Resort.  Roland Martin was a professional fisherman who moved his business to Clewiston to take advantage of the reported best bass fishing in the U.S., checkout the web site www.rolandmartinmarina.com .

We witnessed the fishing first hand after we docked as the marina sponsored fishing tournament concluded with over 30 boats coming for weigh-in.  We really enjoyed watching all the fishing boats come filing in one after another with boat loads of fish!  We heard one of the participants yell out to someone on the dock that they had caught 61 fish, not sure if he had the biggest!  If they didn't win, they had to be very close!  All fish were keep in water and released after weigh-in.

While we were settling in for the evening, I started noticing that there were at least 3 alligators swimming very close to the docks.  Then I noticed this photo of one sunning himself on the shore directly across from our dock.  I also noticed, people walking their dogs about 2 feet from where Mr. Alligator was resting, pretty scary!  They say if you can run faster than 22 mph then you won't get eaten, so I'm guessing that the dogs knew they could outrun the dude & certainly could run faster than his owner, so who cares!

Just gotta love those sunsets!  Had to take a few last photos of our great stay at Sunset Bay Marina in Stuart, Florida.  We owe a great deal to our good friends, Cherrill & Jerry who graciously lent us one of their cars, not to mention having us over for dinner many, many nights during our stay.

Thanks a million, we love ya bunches!