ACross the Lake (Day 151)

Masts on display from the cow pasture at Glades Boat Storeage on the Waterway

FROM: Tied to Dlophins @ the east end of the Port Mayaca Lock Lock, Okeechobee Waterway, FL
TO: Tied to Dlophins @ the east end of the Port Mayaca Lock, Okeechobee Waterway, FL

Distance Traveled: 53.7 Hours Underway: 9.6 Average Speed: 5.6

Weather: Varying amounts of sun and clouds; temp range 63 – 84; wind variable mostly less than ten knots out of the east, but we had some sustained gusts of 15 knots

Burning the Sugarcane Fields

Comment: We had no problem disconnecting from the dolphins. It’s nice to add another option to our docking/anchoring repertoire.

Gator!

The word for the day is GATORS! That’s right, GATORS!! We saw lots and lots of them. So many that we actually lost count. We believe we saw over 75 of the creatures. Most of the gators were about four feet long, but we saw larger (much larger) ones and some that appeared to be perhaps two feet long. Besides gators, the waterway is filled with bird life. It is a bird watchers dream. There were many species we could not identify, particularly some of the smaller waders.

Entering the Lake

We crossed the 25 mile Lake Okeechobee in fours hours. The wind strength and direction allowed us to motor sail a bit, but not all the way across. At time we experienced gust of 15 knots when the boat speed reached 7 ½ mph. More often than not, we were cruising at about 6 mph in about 10 knots of wind.

On the east side of the lake, the Port Mayaca Lock was opened. It is usually open when the lake water level is high. We motored through and tied up to the dolphins on the east side of the lock. Tomorrow we will hold our breath as we pass under the 49’ RR lift bridge. We have not had any issues with the depth of the water on the waterway. We have read that if the lake level is high, the clearance for the RR Bridge is less. We’d like to have more (not less) clearance at the RR bridge.