Putt, Putt, Putt, Across Florida

Ahhh, entry #3, slowly but surely we are making our way across Florida, on her inland waterways, trying to get to Melbourne, on the east coast of Florida.
After gladly leaving that Sanibel anchorage we started heading east, into the Caloosahatchee River, through Ft. Myers and onward and onward.  Well, it feels like onward and onward to us but, in reality, we do not go very far in one day.  Remember, we cruise around 8-9 mph, and sometimes there are slower portions, so we might travel anywhere from 50-90 miles in a day.  Much, much different from traveling along the highway in a car!  When we were deciding on a name for the boat, we held a little family contest and had some very terrific names suggested.  My mom, knowing that a full displacement trawler does not go so fast and, since one of our sons was in China for a year, suggested "Slow Boat to China!" 
Along the Okeechobee Waterway there are several locks to go through:  the Franklin, Ortona, Moore Haven (ask Thad sometime about his first time, last year, through Moore Haven!!), Port Myacca and St. Lucie. Each is a bit different, you go up/down maybe 2-10 feet, grabbing and holding onto their lines, which can be clean as a whistle or dirty and slimy.  The Port Myacca lock's lines were hanging down in the water and when I brought the bow line up numerous crawly little things swarmed the deck - yuck!  That's when you are glad you have gloves and shoes on when locking through.  Locks were accomplished with no real problem.

We anchored out a second night after heading east on the Caloosahatchee, which happens to be quite a pretty river.  We have a book on board which lists anchorages and found one called the Lollipop, right where we wanted to end up for the night.  As you motor along you cannot just pull over to the side of the waterway, any old place, and stop for the night.  If you do you will quickly run aground.  You must be very diligent in your planning, whether it be at anchor or in a marina.  So the Lollipop was a canal, about 100 yards wide ,running about 1/2 mile north off the waterway, ending in a small round lake, hence the name.  Absolutely nothing around us but a herd of cows!  Thad was a wee bit nervous because it was so isolated.  Cue the dueling guitar/banjo music here: 

Felt like we were in "Deliverance" territory!

But the only "wild" life we had visit us were the cows, a couple of alligators, a couple of water snakes (a big "eek," here, from Thad) and myriads of insects on our deck the next morning.

Next up was crossing Lake Okeechobee.  This is where Thad discovered how wonderful our autopilot is!  14 miles across and the autopilot made it a breeze. 

Entrance to Lake Okeechobee

We tied up at a marina at Indiantown that evening and Eloise was sure glad to get off the boat and rendezvous with real grass!  We have a mat

on board, a door mat made of soft nylon, with two holes with grommets at one end, and a rope that threads through the holes.  Christened the "potty mat." It is easily dunked into the water after certain activities occur. 

It took a little doing to get Eloise to use it but she has become quite accustomed to it, though she much prefers solid ground.  The first few times she would use it she would turn in circle after circle after circle.  I mean a lot of circles!  It literally made me dizzy to watch her.  Now she just grins and bears it (no pun intended, really) and enjoys the treat she gets each time she goes.

This will look familiar to those of you who know Eloise's proclivity for potty acrobatics!  I decided a video was going a bit too far.

 



Okay, one last stop before we got to Melbourne.  Told you this boat was slow!  We left Indiantown and headed on to Vero Beach, where we picked up a mooring ball at their city marina's mooring field.  Got to meet up with Chris and Alyse Caldwell, since Vero Beach is their home.  We dinghied to the dinghy dock and they picked us up right at the marina and took us to dinner.  Dinner happened to be at the home of their dear friends, Kathy and Ferd Becker.  How incredibly kind were they to let us crash their dinner plans!  Lovely people and a great evening.  Vero Beach, aka "Velcro Beach" because it is so lovely people come and never leave, was a treat.  We had a good night's sleep, securely attached to our mooring ball and it was a beautiful morning the next day, as we headed up to Melbourne - hooray!

                                                                                Our Vero Beach view