On to Ft. Pierce...

Leaving Clewiston and entering Lake Okeechobee, looking back, we must not have fully extinguished our campfire. Linda thinks it must have been the tiki torches next to the propane. The follower is "Wally World," a couple from Michigan that crossed the Big O with us.

Yes - that is an alligator quietly passing in front of us as we enter the lake. As if we weren't worried enough.

The vastness of Lake Okeechobee - this scene in all directions - and never more than 8' deep - and much shallower in most areas. It took about 2 1/2 hours to cross and it is about 27 miles on the route we took.

After reaching the far side of the lake we entered the St. Lucie canal at Port Myaaka - greeted soon after by this guillitine (sic) bridge - the first of its kind that we have seen.

The "hurricane hole" marina that we stayed at last night. Note the climb to get out of the boat - Cory was humiliated with being carried up and down repeatedly. This is just a concrete lined inlet from the St. Lucie canal that you can see at the top of the picture. It rained soon after this picture was taken. Linda asked for the rain for the people of Clewiston, next time she should wait until we are out of the area.

The St. Lucie Canal - 10 ft. deep and this wide for about 25 miles. Some areas that are developed and many that are not - we like the not developed areas because then we can go faster. Lots of fish jumping from the water 3' into the air - we were told that they are mullet and are used for bait. They're about a foot long - I don't know what they're using them to catch!
Ospreys and herons and hawks, oh my!

The St Lucie lock was opened just for us - we even had an audience of people on the top of the lock from New Jersey. I watched the depth gauge and we were lowered about 7 ft. in this lock. Going down is much faster than going up. We were the only boat because traffic is so light across the big lake.

This bridge, in Stuart, did not have to open for us - we squeezed behind a HUGE Hatteras, brand new, and went thru after they opened for him. They started to close the bridge before we were through.

Cory met Julio at the Harbor Town Marina in Ft. Pierce where we are staying tonight and tomorrow night. Neither liked the other but no fight.

Tucked into our slip - safely resting in 3' of water. We're staying here until Sunday. We've made about 175 miles in the past three days - only 1400 more to go! But we are now on the ICW heading north - we are officially at Mile #965. The main ICW, which we were only on today, is crowded with boats - both power and sail. My first impression is that sailboaters and power boaters do not play nicely together. The radio is full of sailboaters yelling and reporting powerboaters with too much wake, and power boaters responding by making bigger wakes. Some very unhappy people on the water - but not us!