Day 6 April 10 @ Indiantown, FL

We left Port La Belle on Friday, April 9 not too early in the morning, around 10:00 and continued heading east. Followed the west canal and did three locks. The locks were the Ortona lock, 20 miles east of La Belle and the Moore Haven Lock at the town of Moore Haven, and finally the Port Mayaca Lock on the other side of Lake Okeechobee, right at the entrance to the St. Lucie Canal.



The day before we had to open the Fort Denaud swing bridge at Denaud which has a 9 foot clearance which we could not get under. It it carries the traffic across the river for the town. The lady bridge operator was very country and was very helpful and found the point in the traffic flow to give us an opening. Her controls are in the open at the center of the bridge and it was fun to see how things can be done without being complicated.


When you hit Moore Haven you encounter a T intersection where you can go to the right or the left but you must make a decision. There are signs at the intersection, just like traffic signs that says what is in each direction. We turned right because, among other things we knew, the sign said Clewiston to the right.


The crossing of Lake Okeechobee was a delight, the chop was a foot or less and we were able to set the boat up on plane and made it across the entire lake in just over an hour at 22 knots.


The St. Lucie Canal is much different than the Caloosahatchee. The Caloosahatchee has a high boating and jet ski and water sport population and in other areas there is a lot of agriculture while the St. Lucie reminded us of the River system in the movie, "The African Queen." No sign of development anywhere along and woods and brush right down to the banks. It had a slight meander personality that was different from the Caloosahatchee canal.


We were able to make our way to the Indiantown marina which is a neat place to hole up. It is a very large very full service marina with lots of boats with lots of boaters. Boats from all over the world are here, as far away as Australia. We met a looper who arrived today, two ladies running a Mainship 34 around the loop for the second time.


When we arrived, we were both exhausted so we decided to spend an extra day here. Great choice.


Tony n Pat