Kristin Noelle's Coastal Confessions: Crossing Florida...Okeechobee Waterway

After almost three weeks in the Ft. Myers area, we provisioned our boats and headed out Wednesday, 7/9. Said goodbye to some new friends and left around noon. We went about 33 miles toward Okeechobee, through our first lock and stopped at the free city dock in LaBelle. We met a couple from Texas that have been living aboard and traveling for 6 years. It was a cool evening and we enjoyed the relaxing evening. There were lots of fish and some small turtles swimming around our boats.

We got up Thursday morning (11 weeks since we left!) and walked about 1/2 mile to Big V's for breakfast. It was noted on the bulletin board as a great place for breakfast/lunch and the reviews were not wrong. I had a great ham and cheese omelet, Hoppy and Annette had bacon and eggs, and Barney had biscuits with sausage gravy and corned beef hash. Everything was good and lots of it! Good thing we were walking...

We dropped our dock lines at noon and headed east. Then it rained... Passed through some small towns and another lock, which we shared with 8 manatees (and another boat that did not know what they were doing...a real circus!). One of the manatees was bigger than our dinghy! Next lock was Moore Haven (about 16 miles further) and went through with no issues, then dropped anchor just outside the lock area. We shared the anchorage with a few alligators! We also picked up thousands of mosquitoes. The boat looked black when we got up...but they did not bite...weird!

Anchors up at 7 AM on Friday morning. We crossed Lake Okeechobee and continued on through another lock and then on over to Indian Town (about 52 miles) where we stayed at a marina/boat yard. After washing off all of the bugs that hitchhiked over from Moore Haven, we sat under the palm trees on the patio to enjoy the afternoon. Talked to some of the other boaters, walked around the boat yard and headed back for dinner and an early evening. Tomorrow is our last leg before the east coast and Atlantic Ocean.

Dropped the lines this morning at 7 AM headed east the last part of our trip across Florida. Our last lock dropped us about 15 feet. So cool! Made it to the Atlantic Ocean at 11:37 AM. It was a crazy Saturday, boats everywhere! Note to self: only travel on weekdays!

We went 53 miles today (about 8 hours) and we made it to our new "home" at Harbortown Marina in Ft. Pierce, Florida, for the next 3 months. It is protected and we can have our boat hauled in case of a hurricane. We will spend our time exploring the area and hope to enjoy some time anchoring in and around the area.

Arrived on Saturday, 7/12, at 3:00 PM.

First view of the Atlantic Ocean!