Monday, February 11, 2013 – Indiantown (St. Lucie Canal) to Lollipop anchorage off the Caloosahatchee Canal – 62.5 miles:

            Yikes! This was a long day!

            But first, as we were thinking of settling down for the night yesterday afternoon, a couple on another boat who was traveling across Lake Okeechobee, came by our boat and said they had talked to another couple in the marina who were also crossing Lake Okeechobee tomorrow and they were planning to get together for drinks around 5:00 p.m. and would we join them.  So we said, “Of course,” and at 5:00 we walked over to a little outdoor area near the office where they had tables with umbrellas and comfortable chairs and had a lovely evening with our new “Lake mates.”  We all brought our own wine, and swapped stories about our travels and plans for the future, and we all had cats, so we had lots of cat “tales” to tell.  We enjoyed the camaraderie of each other until about 7:00 p.m. when we all headed back to our boats for the evening.  Everyone said they were planning on leaving early in the morning, so it would probably be an early night for all of us.

            One interesting note – I learned that those gigantic vehicles we saw in Indiantown were called “swamp buggies,” and they sure looked like that’s where they had been – in the swamps!  Most of the tires on those things looked larger than airplane tires.  I don’t have any real desire to take a ride on one of them, but I bet I know some people who would!

            So the morning came early, and we were up at 6:30 a.m., and we were out of our slip and on our way around 8:00 a.m.  One of the couples had already left, and the other couple had to stick around for some fuel and a pump-out.  So, basically, we were by ourselves.  The St. Lucie Canal is 45 miles long, and we were at mile 29 when we left Indiantown Marina, so we had about 15 miles to get to the Port Mayaca Lock where you enter Lake Okeechobee. 

            The St. Lucie Canal continued to be pretty remote and uninhabited.  We saw eagles and osprey, and all the various and sundry herons, egrets, and ducks – and then – WE SAW AN ALLIGATOR!  He or she was swimming right in front of us then turned and swam down along the side of the boat!  You really thought you were out in the wilderness!

Alligator swimming across our bow

           A little while after that we approached the Port Mayaca Lock.  The lock was open at both ends, and we just had to wait for the lock tender to give us the “green” light to proceed on through.  It was quite a sight to look out of the lock and see nothing but water, but there we were – in Lake Okeechobee.  I never thought I would do anything like this in a million years.  It definitely gave you the impression of being out in the ocean.  The weather was sunny, the wind was about 12 knots out of the S/SE, with just a light chop to the waves which were on our port bow and water everywhere you could see!  Actually, we could see land over to the south, and in that direction we actually never lost sight of land even though it seemed awfully far away.  The Waterway Guide warned you to be aware of a shipwreck off to the starboard, which was plainly visible as you got closer.   We always saw about 14-15 feet of water as we crossed the lake so depth was never an issue.  Bob and I were both thankful that we had the autopilot fixed and both of the chart plotters were indispensible.  I like the Raymarine chart plotter because of the clear graphics, but, horror of horrors, that chart plotter did not have a “magenta” line going across the lake, only going around the rim route!  But the Furuno chart plotter had the magenta line going across and that and the autopilot was a great assist in getting across confidently.

The lock as you enter Lake Okeechobee

            There were no other boats except one yacht type boat who flew past us and then we were all alone again, except for the flock of sea gulls who were taking a break by flying in our slipstream, and they followed us all the way across!  Lake Okeechobee is the 2^nd largest fresh water lake in the U.S., and is 25 miles across where we crossed.   We entered the lake at 9:20 a.m. and got into the channel approaching Clewiston at 11:45 a.m.  It was basically no trouble at all to cross the lake, but I can see that you wouldn’t want to make this trip in bad weather.  We did get a little roly-poly for awhile, but it was really never bothersome.

            The approach to Clewiston (which is the town you come to as you leave the lake) is through a well-marked channel, but you definitely don’t want to wander out of the channel.  There are rocks, and the Waterway Guide warns you about fishnets and traps, but we didn’t see any of these obstructions.  There were quite a few bass boats zipping around, but we had no trouble in the channel.  If you don’t actually want to go into the town of Clewiston, you don’t have to go through the lock at Clewiston, so you just make a sharp right-hand turn and head up the rim route of the Lake to the Moore Haven Lock where you enter the Caloosahatchee Canal. 

Bass boats in the reeds near Clewiston

            I suppose that when you get to the Moore Haven Lock the tenders there figure you have enough experience with locks that they don’t need to help you, because after we touched base with them on the radio and they gave us the “green” light, we never saw them again.  We grabbed the lines ourselves and when the water level went down and the locked opened to let us through we tossed the lines up on the dock (it was too tall for me, and the lines went in the water, but, oh well, they should have been there to help us!).

            Actually as we were travelling up the rim route to Moore Haven we saw a second alligator at Liberty Point, so my alligator sightings have been fulfilled!

            Along about this point, we were starving, so I went down to make lunch and realized we were now out of bread, so we actually had to eat a bit healthier – apples and cheese and crackers.  We just couldn’t find that grocery store in Indiantown!

            The scenery along the rim route and in the Caloosahatchee Canal was interesting if not terribly varied.  The rim route must have been a birds’ paradise – we saw countless birds, roosting in trees and stumps, wading along the banks looking for a meal and flying overhead all around us.  The landscape was covered with dead and dying cypress trees, stripped of bark and branches and only skinny trunks left to stand in the swamp.   There were water hyacinths everywhere plus other beautiful plants growing in the water.  The landscape was just oddly wondrous.

Scenery along the rim route

Scenery along the rim route

            Finally after about seven hours of travelling, we anchored in a little place called Lollipop.  I guess it’s because the canal that leads to the anchorage looks like the stick and then the water opens up into a little harbor like area that must look like the lollipop on the end of the stick.  It is really deep in here – 30’.  It is lovely, and Lucy couldn’t wait to come out from under the covers and head outside as soon as the engines stopped.  She came right up on the flybridge with us and basked in the sun.  We ate an early dinner as we had been warned that the mosquitos were quite bad in here.  Bob grilled the pork tenderloin, and I baked a sweet potato to go with it.  It is now almost 8:00 p.m., and we are exhausted.  As I finish this missive, I can hear all kinds of night creatures on the water.  It is really nice to finally anchor out instead of always going into a marina.

            We will be up early tomorrow again, because we have another long way to go to Ft. Myers.  This was a fascinating, interesting day, and thankfully, we had no problems with any part of our trip even though so much of it was unchartered territory for us (at least for me!). 

            Good night for now, but more tomorrow! 

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