Colleen forgot to mention a fun time when we were back in Vero in January. She again had an opportunity to judge in the elementary division at the Indian River County Science and Technology Fair. This year I was promoted up to fifth grade and was so impressed with the projects and with the
level of organization on the part of the foundation that manages the Fair each year. The students' projects ran the gamut from studying angles that govern keeping roller coasters on their tracks to investigations of proper fertilizing for plants. It was so interesting to talk to the young scientists as they explained their experiments. As you may know, I have a special place in my heart for science fairs. Wayne and I met at one in Orlando 49 years ago.
Stuart, Fl
We finished out an enjoyable week in Stuart, getting to know new friends from Wilmington, NC, Howard and Joanne and their friendly dog, and meeting up with some of the Vero Beach Loggerhead Marina residents who boated in for supper at a favorite restaurant here. We enjoyed a superb meal at Sailor's Return two years ago and repeated it again. Howard and Joanne also introduced us to a tasty supper, adding sausage to Zatarain's Red Beans and Rice.
Hooray, a quilt show! The Port St. Lucie Crazy Quilters held their bi-annual show while we were in Stuart. Colleen enjoyed attending it. Interestingly, their featured artist was a member of my quilt guild in North Carolina, Susan Brubaker-Knapp. Susan specializes in thread sketching. Check her website at www.bluemoonriver.com to see some her beautiful pieces. You won't believe what she does with thread and a sewing machine.
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| An unusual landscape, composed of thread and fabric |
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| Lots of work in this quilt. |
On to Fort Myers
On Monday the 10th we left Stuart traveling to Ft Myers via the St. Lucie River, the east leg of the OWW (Okeechobee Waterway). The OWW wanders through a raw and untamed part of Florida. It travels 145 miles from Stuart on the Atlantic coast to past Ft Myers on the Gulf coast.. Our three day journey to reach Ft. Myers was 135 miles, 5 locks, one manually operated bridge, three railroad bridges, and several low bridges that we passed through after requesting an opening. In all, our average speed was 6 mph for the 135 miles. Our second overnight stop as we moved around the southern rim of the Big Lake was in Moore Haven, a tiny town with a welcoming city dock charging only $1/foot, What a deal! We were lucky that there was a book sale going on at the Moore Haven Library. Books were selling for $1.00/pound. We added five-and-a-half pounds to the boat.
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| Starting down the St Lucie river towards Lk. Okeechobee. 35 miles to the lake. |
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| The St Lucie canal |
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| We waited 40 minutes for the RR bridge just past this bridge to open after a train went by. |
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| Finally getting going again |
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| Some of the very limited boat traffic |
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| In the first lock along the Okeechobee waterway. Ready to go up. |
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| The St. Lucie lock, on the eastern side of the Lake, elevated us up a whopping 15 feet! |
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| The wind was building and we were being pushed around by stern seas on the 10 mile jaunt along the shoreline as we proceeded to the protected rim route around the south portion of Lk. Okeechobee. |
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| Once behind the protection of the grass flats, we were in "the ditch" bordered by the 13 foot high Hoover dike on our port side and the vast grass flats to our starboard. |
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| Just outside the channel line we anchored early for the night among the fisherman. |
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| Our back door view that night |
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| See that man on the bridge. He pushes that pole round and round and the bridge rotates open for us. |
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| Next morning Many airboats in this area but they are usually out in the grass flats where we don't see them. |
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| This is the land of the beautiful palms. |
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| And the land of constant construction to control the waters of the Okeechobee. |
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| The Corp of Engineers has piled rocks of assorted sizes along the waterway several miles apart. Apparently they want to be ready for a breach. Two years ago the Corp was increasing the height of the dike by 3 feet. They must know something that the original designers did not. |
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| One of the many water gates of various sizes that drain down the lake in the wet season. |
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| This is ash accumulation that rained out of the sky as the cane fields were burned. We had to dab them carefully to wash them off. They were sticky sugar. |
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| Cane fields being burned off after harvest. |
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| I read an alert in Cruisers Net that said to hug the coffer dam that was placed on the OWW to facilitate the building of a new spill gate. |
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| This guy had not read the notice and he was fooled by the red ball next to the green on the left side of the coffer dam. He was hard aground and begged us to pull him off. Going against my instincts to assist on the waterways, I had to refuse due to the high winds and the close proximity of the steel walls of the coffer dam. |
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| We spent a night tied to the city dock in Moore Haven, just past the last lock on the lake. Only $1 per foot dockage with electric and water. This is our view at 6:30 AM as we left the dock |
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| Moore Haven temperature when we arrived |
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| These two boats were together. A captain and crew were transporting them for the owner. They left Moore Haven after us by 20 minutes, caught and passed us in a cloud of black smoke. We caught them again at the next lock. This had occurred the day before also. The captain told us that he was the hare and we were the tortoise. |
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| We arrived in Ft Myers at the City Marina just in time to miss this mess caused by 30 mph winds. |
There are many varieties of birds everywhere you look and the towns and houses are few and far between. We see a few alligators but they steer well clear of our boat, which suits us just fine. The Lake is a fisherman's paradise.
Ft. Myers - Will we be lured to linger here again?
You may recall that two years ago our plan to travel Florida's west coast was stymied when we stopped for a few days in Ft. Myers and then couldn't tear ourselves away for a month. This year we planned to stay for two days and were able to "escape" after four. Ft. Myers celebrates Thomas Edison's birthday all the month of February so there are many things to see and do. Our first night we attended a marina pot luck with a Valentine's Day theme. We adapted Howard and Joanne's red beans and rice a bit, supplementing it with a rice blend that includes wild rice. It didn't last long.
Four winters ago we met friends Jann and Gary at the mooring field in Marathon in the Florida Keys. They have gone on to make The Great Loop trip and we've stayed in touch but haven't been able to meet up very often. It was Jann who helped me to start a Stack n' Whack quilt two winters ago. I stacked and she whacked. Lots of fun. Jann brought her sister Jill, who is also a quilter, by the boat for a quick visit on the 15th. What a treat that was.
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| Jill, Colleen, and Jann |
We stayed in Ft. Myers long enough to see the yearly nighttime fireworks and parade. Appropriately enough, the parade honors its famous winter resident, Thomas Edison, with a big display of electrically enhanced floats and parade participants. On Sunday, Feb. 16, Wayne made a quick trip to the car show and then we fueled up and set off west on the Caloosahatchee River to connect with the GICW (gulf intracoastal waterway). Eeek! We've calculated that we're getting 1.63 miles to the gallon of diesel fuel on our most recent leg.
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| Fireworks before the Edison Light parade in Ft Myers |
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| One of the many floats in the parade |
Heading for Bradenton
We are anchored tonight a little north of Sanibel Island, just off Cabbage Key.
We traveled only 32 miles today after choosing to cross Charlotte Harbor tomorrow. During our travels Sunday we saw more boats on the water than anytime in the previous 3 winters. The water here is a lovely green as opposed to the brown color on the east coast. Inlets and passes are many and the water is constantly flushed. Dolphins accompanied us all day.
Where we are today Monday Feb 17th
The sunset was too pretty for me not to take a photo while writing the blog tonight.
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| I just snapped this photo from tonight's anchorage just off Useppa Island, inshore and north of Sanibel Island. Look at Useppa Island on Google Earth. Cabbage Key is just to our west 500 yards. Two sailboats and one powerboat are anchored near us tonight. |
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| One of the locks opening for us to enter |
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| Early morning view on the rim route around Lake O |
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| Hey. I got my butt soaked sitting on this deck waiting for the lock doors to close. |
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| What? I should be watching the charts? Can't you navigate a canal w/o me? |
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| Many different sites on the Caloosahatchee River portion of the OWW. |
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| There were a number of horse farms along the river. |
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| Alpacas?? |
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| The last lock coming up |
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| Most of the power plants on the waterways are no longer oil & steam plants. They are rebuilt as turbine powered natural gas units. |
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| Waiting for another of the 5 locks |
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| He wants to beat us to the locks. Or he has plenty of $$ for fuel. |
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| Sailboats are limited to a 46 foot mast height by this RR lift bridge. A local marina will strap water filled barrels to boats up to 55 feet tall to tip them under the bridge. |
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| Ah! the lock to lake O. |
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| Sometimes the view did not change much |
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| No one but us most of the time around the bottom of the lake |
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| Our view much of the time around the lake. |
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| A broken motor on a lock door caused an hour lock through |
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| All kinds of palms in Ft Myers. Edison and his wife started planting palms in the early 20th century here. |
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| Lock opening for us to pass into Lk Okeechobee |
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| Lake O lock |
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| One of the many Corp of Engineer projects on the lake |
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| Cattle along the Caloosahatchee River |
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| Notice the speed - 18mph and up on plane to clean the injectors and turbos on the engines and clean the hull. Fuel $$$ up in smoke!!! |
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| The hare in front of us. |
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| High winds in Ft Myers |
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