Event of Day:

Travel: We left at 06:50 this a.m. to cross L. Okeechobee and had a great travel day with minimal winds, some pleasant cloud cover, all the way to Sunset Bay Marina in Stuart, on the East coast, 57 miles away; took us 6.5 hrs and we were anxious about getting tied down before a major TSM and wind was to hit at 3pm. I confess it has been a fatiguing day, stressful from obsessing about staying in the narrow channel with depths mostly around 5 ft [under the keel] but occasionally down to only 2-3 ft!! We are becoming a bit nonchalant about running in 5-10 ft of water most of the time lately.

Photos: Added a pile, including the Ft.Myers to Clewiston leg and then everything today. All of L. Okeechobee is surrounded by a levee/dike and there are several showing that. Some good sunrise shots starting at Clewiston marina and onto the Lake. A lot of the west side of the lake is almost marshy. The real estate varies from obviously wealthy properties [including the one showing how many homes try to keep all manner of critters out of their patio/pool/deck areas - snakes/gators/bugs- with huge screening affairs] to a few trailer park hardships.

Cruising down canals becomes quite tedious after awhile - the only excitement was the cows; and the second group were trying to get cool by having a skinny dip - hopefully there weren't any gators lurking. Included shots of the swing bridge, which hasn't been used a long time it appears, but gives you an idea of what I described yesterday. Also, one of a RR lift bridge with the lift fully up. Friend and one of our boat teachers, Jay Martin, sent us a photo of the Legacy Harbor Marina taken from the high rises - a nice perspective. The Clewiston Lock was open, and usually is apparently, so only the one shot of us departing. The Port Mayaca Lock was also open, because the Lake is so low, but it is manned and you have to call on the radio for permission to pass through, because it is so narrow and he needs to control traffic to prevent accidents.

Of note, we were docked in Clewiston behind Sanctuary, a 36 ft. Monk trawler, operated by a looping legend, Jim (and his Admiral Peg) Healey. He has written what amounts to an encyclopedia about boating and I have read a great deal of it on his website; his comments on the Loopers Forum are always appreciated by everyone. They left about 06:30 and we followed them shortly thereafter and went through the locks [only the one, St.Lucie, actually dropped us to another level - 9 ft down, and it is usually 13-14'] together after cruising across the Lake at 7-8 mph. They were planning to anchor about 5 miles north of our marina.

On another similar note, in Ft.Myers, at Legacy Harbor, another icon of boating has been living on his boat, with his family - Ben Stein, of Panbo fame. He and his family [2 daughters home-schooled by his wife] have completed the Loop and are live-aboards full time. His business, Panbo, is marine electronics, and he tests everything from chartplotters to remote monitors, and writes reviews on the website. He too is highly regarded and his comments much sought after; he and his wife lead seminars at the Looper conferences. They joined one of the docktail evenings we had at Legacy.

The Sunset Bay Marina staff are all practicing distancing, wearing masks, and have signs everywhere regarding numbers limited in a room, etc. The two dockhands who helped us dock, in the wind, wore masks.

Update: The stbd belt in Clewiston was perfect; no signs of dust/shredding/etc. The oils, etc were equally good. Today, also no issues. The orange paint remains on the belt and the belt remains within the appropriate grooves. Do need to clean the strainers for the a/c pump and the genset - will do tomorrow.

PS from Marg

Ernie, thanks for the heads up on alligators on the swim platform. As the stern lines person in the locks I have more opportunity to observe the swim platform. There it was, smiling up at me!! Had a bit of a tussle, but with the aid of the boat pole, won the battle and saved my sweetie from a nasty surprise when reorganizing my lines. A large dose of Janice's hand sanitizer helped calm my poor frazzled nerves. 😁😁😁

Comments:

Janice  •  19 May, 2020:  Very pleased to be of help Marg😉!!

Ernie R  •  20 May, 2020:  Marg, you have indeed spoiled your sweetie, I suspect he had his hands full of ale, deviled eggs, and Gelato and was unwilling to share with friend Gator! Safe travels!

Janice  •  20 May, 2020:  Drat, you’ve spoiled my mental images of you as an admiral version of Crocodile Dundee, wielding a big deadly knife, in order to save your deck hand!!