On the West Coast of Florida

Saturday we left Stuart and traveled the St. Lucie Canal to Lake Okeechobee.  There were 2 locks and a couple of draw bridges, all drama-free.  It was a long day and we spent the night in Moore Haven - population, ummm, maybe 30 people.  Distance covered: 62 nautical miles in 10 hours.

 

We crossed the lake at the south end and it is so big, we couldn't see the north shore.  I took some pics of Lake O, but they aren't very interesting.

 

Here is the beginning of the Caloosahatchee River on the west side of the lake. There were lots of herons, cormorants, egrets, and hawks, but no gators :-( 

 

We left Moore Haven early the next morning and this is what it looked like....

 

for 2 HOURS! We could see both sides of the bank but had to go slowly. It was so cold and damp we had to put on socks and coats.  I know, poor us.

 

 

Once the fog burned off it was beautiful.  This part of the Caloosahatchee River is very rural and we loved it. The town of LaBelle was lush with beautiful homes, orange groves, cows, and horses.  We only saw one gator though, and it was swimming so we didn't get a good view or pic.

 

 

There were 2 more locks before we reached Fort Myers. 

 

The Sheriff boat got to leave the lock first, then us...

then this tugboat that was headed to New Orleans. 

 

This leg of the trip we covered 50 nautical miles in 7 1/2 hours.  1.15 statute miles = 1 nautical mile (John likes to share the stats).

 



When we arrived at the Fort Myers Yacht Basin, we saw that the couple who created and runs Active Captain was also there on their boat.  If you are a boater, you understand that Karen and Jeffery Siegal are rock stars in the boating world.  If you're not a boater, just Google Active Captain and you'll see what it's about. John got so excited he was nearly jumping up and down in fanboy glee.  He made me take this picture of their boat. 

We went over to see if we could meet them but they weren't hanging out, and we didn't want to intrude.  I hope they didn't see us being super nerds outside their boat....

We are now at Mile Marker 135 on the Lake Okeechobee waterway.  Downtown Fort Myers is really nice.  We took a free trolley ride around the River District. The library was very impressive - looked like new construction. 

 

 

Tomorrow we leave for Fort Myers Beach which is west of here.