Moore Haven to Stuart

3-4 to 3-6-2011

Early the next morning, we got ready to leave La Belle. Shay and I had decided to buy a bracelet from Mary Ann, and when we opened the door to go to her boat, there she was. She told us she wanted to give Lauren a bracelet for her birthday. We told her we were just coming to her boat to buy one. She insisted she wanted to give her one and suggested one with her birthstones. We accepted the gift, which indicated what a special boater she really was.

“Interlude” and “Escape” both left heading for Moore Haven. We made it through the Ortona Lock with no problems. “Interlude” went on ahead and we got to Moore Haven at 12:30 pm.

Dick and Lacey moved their boat “Confetti” to make lots of room, so we could get onto the dock with all the wind. We think Barry had told him we were inexperienced and we needed all the help we could get. More nice boat people. It’s a good thing we got there when we did, cause just as we were going in another boat came up to see if it could get in. We were full so they moved on. Lacy came over and told us about the town and that there was a rodeo that night and a parade the next morning. We all decided to go to the rodeo and had a great time. After watching the cowgirls and cowboys lasso the running cows, I knew for sure that a cowgirl or cowboy would definitely make a good boater. If they can lasso a running cow, a piling would be no trouble.

Shay and I went to a rodeo 30 years ago. Yes, that long ago. Who would have ever thought that we would go to a rodeo after becoming boat people? I guess that just shows you that moving onto a boat doesn’t restrict what you do. It just allows you to do different stuff in different places.

The next morning we left early, before the wind got up, since we had decided to tie up to some dolphins just past the bridge. Even thought Moore Haven was one of the least expensive marinas, it was still $50.00 a night to stay there. Since we didn’t trust our anchor we felt the dolphins would be a safe place with the forecast for high winds. Another first, tying to a dolphin. No don’t get upset, not that kind of dolphin. This dolphin is 8-10 pilings that are tied together and stood up in the water. They are really for big ships to tie to, but we can also. Well, the front of the boat was too high for me to reach the dolphin cleat from, so Shay came down and got us tied to it. Then the swim platform was too low for me to reach from, so he had to help with that also. Thank goodness the wind wasn’t blowing too hard when we tried or we would never have made it. We saw “Confetti” go by later that day going thru the lock and on the Clewiston. The wind was really rough today. We were glad that we were tied to the dolphins and not anchored somewhere, since we don’t have much faith in our anchor.

These are our bird friends sitting on the dolphins. We had to get close enough to the dolphin to run the line thru the cleat and stay far enough away that we didn’t run into it.

This is the Moore Haven Lock. See the dolphins lined up?

The next morning the wind was calm but it was very foggy. We went thru the Moore Haven Lock, we were headed for Clewiston and then across the lake. At Clewiston you make a 90 degree left turn onto Lake Okeechobee. There are 2 routes on Lake Okeechobee. One is the rim route, around the outer edge and it is 50 miles long. The other is the open lake and it is 39 miles long. The lake has been low lately, due to drought. The rim route is too shallow, so we will take the open lake route. The Corp of Engineers said there was at least 6 feet of water inside the channel crossing the lake route. Our boat needs at least 4 feet 7 inches of water. I guess it’s a good thing we have both lost some weight.

When we made the turn it certainly didn’t look like a lake. It looked more like a marsh. We saw some “skinny” water on that side of the lake. At times there was slightly more than 1 foot of water between the bottom of the boat and the bottom of the lake. That’s “skinny”. As we progressed, the water got deeper and it actually started looking like a lake. When we saw 3 feet, we relaxed. Then we got to thinking, in other places we have panicked when the water was only 3 feet deeper than the bottom of the boat. I guess it just depends on where you are and what the conditions are.

There had been some forest fires in the area and we kept getting black soot and ashes on the boat. The boat is wet from the fog we are running through and the soot and ashes are sticking to it. She will need a bath when we get to a marina.

Does this look like a lake?

The view from the fly bridge. See how the flags are blowing.

This is how rough the water was after we got out into the center of the lake. It looks like the ocean with the whitecaps.

                                              Captain Shay at the helm.

We got across the lake at about 1 pm and were relieved that we didn’t have any problems since we’d heard others talk about “bumping” the bottom. We went thru Port Mayaca Lock with no problems, then on to St. Lucie Lock. Because of the water shortage, this lock only opens every 2 hours on the odd hour. We got through about 5:30 and still had to go to Stuart.

Gator eyes as we crossed the St. Lucie Canal.

 The St. Lucie Canal from Port Mayaca to the ICW.

We made it into Pendarvis Cove at 7:00 pm. We had to anchor in the dark and of course we had problems. We had to pull the anchor up and since it was covered with mud we had to wash it off as it came up. Of course, we had to dodge the other boats and crab pots all this time. We finally got the anchor set and had a late dinner. We were anchored close to “Confetti” and the couple we met at Moore Haven.