Jensen Beach to Okeechobee

12/08/2014 - Departed Jensen Beach this morning with Caroline sicker than a dog.  So she will remain in bed or cuddled up with a cup of tea all day long.  As we left the anchorage, the fog was so thick we could see only about 1000 yards ahead.  The winds were calm and temps in the low 60's.  We are thankful we have a chart plotter, radar, and AIS (which identifies commercial boats by name, speed, and location, and recreational boats if they have transponders aboard).

We made the turn west and then north onto the Okeechobee Waterway,  but found the chart plotter way off.  We were able to see the markers on radar as we were unable to see many of them visually, but our location on the chart plotter appeared to be 30 or so yards off of our selected path.

We had an interesting time when we arrived at the St. Lucie Locks at the St. Lucie South Recreation Area.

This is the largest rise in a lock I have ever experienced.  The water level rose 14' to the level of the Okeechobee.  It was impressive!

From here to Port Mayaca, on the East entrance to Lake Okeechobee, where we encountered our next lock, the waterway reminded us of the inland waterways and canals we traveled through North and South Carolina on the way north to Annapolis earlier this year.

 North Carolina (Sailboat)

Okeechobee Waterway (Trawler)

At Port Mayaca, we passed right through the open locks and into Lake Okeechobee.  By the afternoon, the temps had begun to drop into the low 60's again.  As Warren and I spent most of the day on the upper deck exposed to weather, we were dressed warmly and the ladies would make a quick trip out to make sure we were doing okay!

Of course, with two dachshunds on board, getting them ashore was a challenge.  You don't call this part of Florida Alligator Alley for no reason.  So the dogs either held it, or wandered around the foredeck looking for relief!  Actually from here a, most of the way to Houston was a challenge as the North end of the Gulf Of Mexico suffers from the same issue.

We finally docked at Roland Martin's Marina on the south side of the Okeechobee after an excellent crossing of the lake.

I didn't realize that Lake Okeechobee is the 2nd largest freshwater lake in the United States surrounded by US territory.  When we spoke with the DockMaster, he said that yesterday the lake had been 5-7 foot waves - Whew, that wouldn't have worked for us.

So stop by the boat tonite.  We aren't hard to find.  Come join us for Sundowners - oops, the sun has already set.  We only have 10 hours a day of travel as we won't do the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) after dark.  It is getting cold tonite!