CLEWISTON, FL TO RIVER FOREST YACHTING CENTER

Monday, March 9th, 2015

Day 217
Miles Traveled: 49
Total Miles Traveled: 2763


  We left Roland Martin Marina at daybreak, wanting to get an early start on the day.  Within less than a mile on the channel taking us to Lake Okeechobee, we came upon the only barge on the entire Lake Okeechobee Waterway (at least that is what we were thinking).  Just our luck, we where going to meet this barge head on in the most narrow section of the channel.  Dan hailed the tow on the VHF and the captains response was "take your luck outside of the channel or turn around".  We choose to turn around.  So we did a 180 degree turn and went back to the beginning of the channel at Clewiston.  After the barge moved into the Caloosahatchee canal, we again entered this channel to take us across Lake Okeechobee.  Of note, we did not pass another tow boat/barge the entire day.

Tow boat leaving the channel to the lake and turning to enter the Caloosahatchee Canal at Clewiston

  Lake Okeechobee is the second largest fresh water lake located wholly in the continental United States.  The lake is completely enclosed by a levee system named the Herbert Hoover Dike.  This levee system was built after two disastrous hurricanes in the 1920's blew the lake out of its banks.  This is a shallow lake with normal depths from 7-11 feet.  With strong winds the lake can become choppy.  The forecast was for the winds to increase to 15 mph in the afternoon and that was why we wanted to get across the lake by noon.  Despite our little delay with the tow boat, we were successful.  Although the lake was not smooth, the waves were on our bow (front) of the boat most of the day, which made the ride much more tolerable.  The sun came out and we had an enjoyable cruise across Lake Okeechobee. 

Channel leading out into Lake Okeechobee - notice the vegetation on either side - this area is shallow

Lake Okeechobee

  When we arrived at the east side of Lake Okeechobee, we got a pleasant surprise.  The Port Mayaka Lock (which is at the east side of lake and gives access to the St. Lucie Canal or to the lake depending on which way you are going was open at both ends of the lock.  Two days in a row we had the fastest lock throughs ever - yesterday at Clewiston lock and today at Port Mayaka lock.

Port Mayaka Lock - both gates open and awaiting our passage

  The rest of the day we cruised on the St. Lucie Canal.  In the beginning, it was mostly undeveloped with vegetation on both sides of the bank.  Then occasional homes began to occur.  As we neared our final destination near Stuart, FL, it was becoming more residential in appearance. 

St. Lucie Canal - undeveloped section

  By mid afternoon we arrived at River Forest Yachting Center (Stuart location).  At the AGLCA 2014 Spring Rendezvous we won a free haul out, blocking, and pressure washing of the bottom at this establishment.  This center is really more of a boat yard for storage, bottom painting, and repairs.  However, it did have nice concrete walls to tie along with water, power, and pump out while waiting to have services done.  

Seahorse tied to concrete wall at River Forest Yachting Center