The day has come to cross the feared Lake Okeechobee. Seems trivial compared to crossing the Gulf, but this lake has a reputation that is well earned and regularly provides new lessons on why it should be respected.
We were slower off the dock than our new friends on the Pride of Maui and caught some nice shots of their ship as they departed. Love the picture of Keith Turner (a captain and the owner’s bother) waiving madly at us from the bridge.
We stopped at Roland’s Marina in Clewiston for gas and a snack before venturing onto the lake. Five years ago Mandy, my dad and I stayed at this marina. Back then the dockhand was Sam – a fixture. He’s still there and still lives in a small sailboat on the dock. He’s a trip.
I asked Sam if the Lake would be a problem. He looked at our boat and laughed. He assured us it would be a nice ride. We appreciated his confidence.
Sure enough, the lake was a non-issue that day.
We’re entering new territory now and didn’t have any compelling destination in mind. So we just cruised figuring when we got tired we’d stop and drop the hook. We made it to the last lock on the system – the St Lucie lock, but it was closed for the day.
There were rentable slips on our side of the Lock but all were taken. We strung ourselves between two dolphins and were quite proud of our ropework. We even got a group of young kids who were cruising around in a decent looking Whaler to put a second bow line on the dolphin for us. Sweet! Nice and secure for the evening.
While we were getting all this sorted, a guy who had set up a tent near us was videoing our progress. He seemed annoyed. We couldn’t figure out if we had invaded his privacy, or if he knew something we didn’t. He was pacing and speaking on his mobile. Teri thought he was sure there would be carnage (…Karmage?) and wanted to record it.
Not long after getting settled, both of us began to wonder how in the heck we were going to get unhooked from the dolphins 🙁 Shit! We conjured up a solution and then 20 reasons why it would fail! Then my mechanic informed us that it wasn’t legal to moor to the dolphins. Shit!
Worrying about people in tents, nasty Lockmasters, and how we’d get untied, we didn’t sleep well.
We decided to get up at first light and as quietly as possible lower the dinghy and paddle it to the dolphins to get unhooked. At one point during this escapade, I thought the PDQ was going on the rocks and at another, it looked like Teri would be adrift without me. Heart attack! What a fiasco! All because we didn’t want to disturb anyone.
After getting all that behind us, the Lockmaster happily locked us through without a peep about the dolphins. LOL!
So, off to the Atlantic ICW where we finally turn north! Woot!!
