Crossing Florida

On April 23rd we pulled out of Legacy Harbour in Ft. Myers and turned right for the first time since we'd been there. Destination.....the east coast of Florida to prepare for crossing to the Bahamas.

A short 10 miles up the Caloosatchee River we arrived at our first of three locks for the day which lifted us up to the level of Lake Okeechobee. The locks are fairly small and fill or empty by cracking open the gates to let water in or out. After the lock we were in the Caloosatchee Canal for the rest of the trip to the lake. It was "scenic" with the typical, rural mid-Florida flora and fauna. Things like....

Horses

And Cows

And Orange Groves

And loooong straight stretches of canal

So it was an easy travel day and good for getting back into the swing of boating (and locking) again. Once through our last lock we were at the level of Lake Okeechobee and traveling along the marshy edge toward Clewiston. The scenery was much more interesting along this stretch. Unfortunately it began to pour as we got into the most scenic parts but Jill still managed to get some good pictures.

We arrived at the marina after hours but it is a very long face dock and we got in and secured easily. 1 Yeti cold beer later we declared day one a success! Unfortunately day 2 was a no-go due to storms forecast in the afternoon about the time we would be arriving in Stuart on the east coast. It was a good call as the storms arrived as predicted and were very strong. Not pleasure boating conditions.

The following day we got an early start and were on the lake within 30 minutes of untying. The lake is very shallow and we wanted to get across before winds picked up in the afternoon and made it choppy. It was a beautiful morning and an easy crossing.

On the east side of the lake the Port Myaca lock is unique as it's a pass through if the lake is at normal levels. They only operate the lock when the lake is high and they need to control the run off. You still contact the Lock Master for permission to pass through. We had to wait a bit for a westbound boat to clear before it was our turn.

After the lake it was pretty much the same scenery until we got near the coast. We had a few delays as we had to wait about 45 minutes for the last lock and stopped for fuel. Jill had been calling to find a marina once it became obvious we wouldn't make Palm Beach before sunset. She was able to find one a bit up the ICW from Stuart so we had a few mile detour. It turned out to be a nice detour. As we entered the marina I saw the Chanticleer docked on the T-Head. A beautiful yacht with a great history. Check out the link for more details.

The next morning we decided to run outside to get a feel for the Atlantic conditions (and avoid the bridges on the ICW). It was a great day and the run down to the Lake Worth inlet was smooth. It was good to enter the inlet since we then had an idea of our route for the next morning.

After a surprisingly good nights sleep we were off the dock by 8 and heading for an Atlantic Ocean crossing....okay, only 60 miles or so but really, really deep (like over 2000') we still had to cross the scary Gulf Stream!!! The crossing was smooth and we were checked in through Customs & Immigration by 4:00 and had our first Bahama Yeti cold beer!

We're now in Great Guana Cay (key), Abaco. If we have another rainy afternoon and wifi maybe we'll get out another post before we return to the US.