2011.4 - Okeechobee Waterwary

LOG OF THE TOP CAT

MARCH 26 - APRIL 1, 2011

CROSS FLORIDA CRUISE ON THE OKEECHOBEE WATERWAY

Springtime chronic winds preclude a lot of small boat offshore cruising this time of year, but it is just about perfect for an inland waterway trip like this on the Okeechobee Waterway, from Ft. Pierce on the Atlantic coast to Ft. Myers and Charlotte Harbor on the Gulf coast. The route runs down the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway from Ft. Pierce to Stuart, then up the St. Lucie River to Lake Okeechobee, and then down the Caloosahatchee River from the lake to Ft. Myers. The "up" and "down" here is appropriate, because we go through two locks to lift us 12 feet or so to the level of Lake Okeechobee, and then through 3 more locks to drop us back to sea level on the west coast. We are traveling with friends Bret and Sandy on Blue Heaven, with no very fixed plan in mind, other than that we want to spend a couple of nights at anchor in one of our favorite places on the west coast, Cayo Costa Island in Charlotte Harbor. Total distance covered will be just over 400 miles round trip.

March 26

We depart Ft. Pierce at the civilized hour of 10:30, planning to make the 1:00 opening of the first lock on our journey, the St. Lucie Lock. Due to low water in the lake, the openings of the locks at both ends of the waterway are restricted to every odd hour between sunrise and sunset (the others open on request). This gives us time to browse through the farmers market in downtown Ft. Pierce before we leave, and get some last minute produce and treats. We get to the lock at 12:45, right on time, and are raised about 10 feet. Then it is a long, straight and fairly dull run to the Port Myaca lock on the east side of the big lake. This lock raises us only another foot or two, and then opens out on the lake. Lake Okeechobee is BIG - you cannot see across it - but fairly shallow at 10 feet or so, particularly with the low water. There is a marked channel across the lake that takes you through a couple of doglegs to avoid some shallow rock ledges. It is a beautiful afternoon; the lake is flat calm and full of rafts of white pelicans, winter visitors to Florida. Having crossed the lake, we enter a narrow channel to the town of Clewiston, which is protected by a hurricane gate, a lock-like structure that remains open unless there is a big storm coming. Flood control is a big deal here - after a hurricane that killed over 2000 people in Clewiston and Belle Glade in the twenties, a huge 110 mile long dike was built around the lake and locks and flood control structures constructed. This project also allowed for a navigational waterway to be built connecting the east and west coasts. It has become too shallow for large commercial vessels, but recreational boats use it as a very convenient shortcut to rounding the south end of Florida to get between the coasts. We spend the night at Roland Martins Marina in Clewiston, a total distance traveled today of 88 miles. Roland Martins is a funky little place owned by the bass fishing legend of the same name, and has a couple hundred feet of face docks along a canal just off the "rim ditch," the route around the south side of the lake. A bar and restaurant overlooking the dock is the happening spot in town. We were told the bar gets pretty loud, so we tied up at the very far end of the dock. The place fills up fast in the afternoons with transient cruisers making the trip either east or west. We grilled up some amazing sirloin burgers on Blue Heaven and relaxed with one of Bret’s signature cocktails in our lawn chairs on the dock.

March 27

We had some rain overnight and the weather is a little unsettled and windy. After a morning walk, we went out for breakfast at the Sunrise Restaurant for some huevos rancheros and other Mexican goodies. Heading west, we pass through the Moore Haven, Ortona, and Franklin Locks, making the 3:00 opening of the Franklin Lock. It's a very pleasant trip, protected from the wind by the high banks on each side, watching the cows up on the bank watching us go by. The Caloosahatchee River widens downstream of the Franklin Lock, and then we have some interminably slow manatee zones to endure on the way down to Ft. Myers. The wide open river was becoming very choppy, and we were happy to pull into the maze of residential canals in Cape Coral to look for our anchorage for the night, a little gunkhole called Bimini Basin. Bimini Basin is just a wide spot in the Cape Coral waterway, but it's perfectly protected and convenient, with a park with dingy dockage and a nearby grocery and liquor store. We anchor Top Cat, and Blue Heaven rafts up alongside. Total distance covered today is 85 miles, but with all the manatee zones and choppy water it felt like more. We cook up some island style chicken and rice and enjoy it with some bottles of wine. It was a nice cool night with moderate south winds, until about 4:00 in the morning, when a squall blew through with pounding rain and a 180 degree wind shift and gusts of 30 knots. I got up and watched anxiously to see if the anchor was dragging, but the little delta plow held like a champ, even with the load of both boats pulling on it.

Blue Heaven at Moore Haven Lock

March 28

Not too far to go today, just about another 30 miles to Cayo Costa. We went ashore to the Publix and liquor store for groceries, booze and ice to make sure we had all we needed for the next two days on the hook out in the wilderness. A few more miles and a few more poky manatee zones brought us to the south end of Charlotte Harbor and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. We transited the "miserable mile," an infamous stretch of the ICW, and made the turn north up the middle of Charlotte Harbor in gusty winds and a choppy following sea in a crowd of boats, many piloted by operators apparently suffering from brain damage. The traffic thinned out once we got past Sanibel and Captiva Islands, and then we passed Cabbage Key (more about that later) and pulled in to the Pelican Bay anchorage at Cayo Costa State Park. This anchorage is a favorite among cruisers, and it is easy to see why - roomy, good holding, decent shelter from winds and waves, and best of all, just offshore of a wonderful state park with beautiful beaches and miles of trials to explore. We got anchored up (again rafting together) and launched the kayaks and paddled ashore to the park. We had a bald eagle sighting on the walk over to the beach, where we dipped our toes in the Gulf of Mexico. After exploring a little more, we paddled back to the boats for cocktail hour and dinner.

Rafting up at Pelican Bay anchorage, Cayo Costa

The Crew ashore at Cayo Costa State Park

March 29

Today was a layover day, with nowhere particular to go. It was time to pump the head on Blue Heaven, so we left Top Cat anchored and all went on BH to the marina on Gasparilla Island, just a few miles to the north. The pumpout was $20, which I thought was a bit steep, but this was a very flossy little marina and I suppose we should have been grateful they let the likes of us anywhere near the place. After pumping out and shopping a bit at the gift shop, we noodled over to the courtesy dock for the Pink Elephant bar and tied up for an hour or so to walk around the town - all very upscale and elegant in an understated way. We then took off, still all aboard Blue Heaven, for the very south end of Cayo Costa Island. There is a nice spot to anchor just off the beach, and we have had some great shelling here in the past. But it seems like this spot has been discovered by others, because there were two big excursion style catamarans full of guests from the Sanibel/Captiva resorts ferried over here for a beachcombing day trip. It seems they picked over the shells before we got there, but we felt better when we found out that they were paying $300(!) per person for the experience. After a couple of miles of scenic beach walking and a swim, we were off to Cabbage Key for a late lunch. Cabbage Key is a very cool old fishing resort built on an Indian shell mound with a neat bar papered in dollar bills at least an inch thick. They were in between the lunch and dinner crowds and had a thin menu available - we had a couple of pricy pina coladas and an excellent cheeseburger to tide us over until dinner. Back at the anchorage, Top Cat was right there where we left her and we tied up alongside and just loafed around the rest of the day. Around 6:30 we were starting to make dinner, and felt a change in the weather - the wind was clocking around to the north and increasing, and was that a squall line in the distance? I turned on the VHF weather and started hearing about special marine warnings and severe thunderstorms hitting 30 or 40 miles north of us. It seemed like it all might miss us, but I kept an eye on the sky as the wind continued to increase and the temperature dropped. Our part of the anchorage had been great with the wind from the south, but it was exposed to a north wind and it was getting pretty sloppy. I finally decided we needed to move before it got dark. There was a much better spot for a north wind not far away, in the same anchorage but behind a point that would provide good protection. But I had waited just a little bit too long to make up my mind. Right after we got the anchor up, all hell broke loose, blinding rain and very strong gusts. We picked our way through the crowd of anchored boats around the corner to the other anchorage. It was like being inside a washing machine. We got into the other anchorage by luck and chartplotter, and I set the anchor and Bret pulled alongside. The whole time we were doing all this, Sandy was right in the middle of cooking fajitas down below on Blue Heaven. How she managed to pull that off I don't know. It was very much calmer and nicer here once we got settled, and we all crowded into Blue Heavens cozy little cabin for dinner. More squalls and wind shifts made for an uneasy night, as I was up several times to check our holding.

The Marina at Boca Grande Tree lined streets of Boca Grande

Entrance Channel to Cabbage Key Dollar bills on the Wall

Bret and Sandy on wilderness beach at south end of Cayo Costa

March 30

In the morning, the wind had settled back into the south at 15-20 knots as we prepared to start the long journey home. It was a choppy slog into the teeth of the wind down Charlotte Harbor, and we stopped at the Tween Waters Inn on Captiva to catch our breath and pump the head on Top Cat. Then back through the dreaded miserable mile and the manatee zones in Ft. Myers, and we made the 3:00 pm opening of the Franklin Lock. We decided to push on another 20 miles to the nice little town of LaBelle on the Caloosahatchee River for the night. The town maintains a small dock just downstream of the SR29 Bridge here where you can tie up for free (I like free). At this dock, you need to do what is called a "Med Moor," where you set the bow anchor and then back up to the dock, tie up the stern lines to the dock, then snug up the bow anchor line to hold you off the dock. We had never done this before, but it worked just fine. We had a good Italian dinner at the Forrey Grill, just a few blocks from the dock, and walked around the town, admiring the giant live oaks that form a canopy over many of the streets. About 75 miles traveled today.

"Med-moored" at the free dock in LaBelle

March 31

Today we had planned on a 74 mile trip across the big lake to Indiantown, which would get us most of the way home. But the weather report was full of warnings of severe thunderstorms and even tornado warnings in the area north of us, and it was again very windy and gusty. Lake Okeechobee is big enough to deserve a lot of respect in conditions like this, it can and does get rough enough to be dangerous for boats as small as ours. We decided to proceed up the river and through the rim ditch to Clewiston and make our decision there. While transiting the rim ditch, I slowed down so as not to wake out a small bass boat, and pulled over to near the edge of the canal to give him some room. I realized too late the wind was blowing me even farther over, and BANG! I hit bottom. Thankfully I was at idle speed. I trimmed up the engine to check the damage, and saw only a little ding in the propeller. There was no vibration or anything like that, so I figured I got off easy. I would find out later that the impact was just enough to bend the propshaft slightly, but enough that it needed to be replaced, about a $1000 job. That is the price of a moment's inattention. When we got to Clewiston we decided the wise course was to stay there and cross the lake tomorrow morning, so it was back to good old Roland Martins Marina for the night. There were the usual cruisers at the marina, but also a couple of brand new boats being moved from the Palm Beach Boat show over to the next boat show in Tampa. We tied up behind a Beneteau 52 fast trawler and were admiring the brand new million dollar boat. Talking with another captain, I found out I was not the only one to come to grief with the bottom. The Beneteau clipped the rocks coming in the Clewiston channel from the lake, and wrecked props, shafts, and rudders. His bill will be more like $80,000.

Back at Roland Martins Marina

April 1

Last leg today, 88 miles to go to Ft. Pierce and home. We got a fairly early start and had decent run across the lake, certainly choppy but not scary. We made the 11:00 opening of the St. Lucie Lock, which dropped us back to sea level on the St. Lucie River and then another 2 hours to Ft. Pierce. Jayne and I picked up our trailer, which was having some work done on it while we were gone, loaded up Top Cat and were back at home by 4:00.

Crossing the big lake, return trip