Monday, 20 April 2015

April 13-14, 2015 Indian Town and Lake Obeechobee


Time-2-Go and Moonlight Maid


for sale


still with the foresail on


Indian Town dock


picked up the parcel for Snow Bird


a visitor at the dock, along with an alligator


giving Modaki a good fresh water wash


washing down the sails


we had a visitor … actually 3 Russian Blue cats from the boat beside us


the 49 ft bridge … did we make it


we had one foot to spare … we did go slow


passing thru the lock that is under repairs and has limited openings


a ship wreck on the passage across the lake


one of the Lake Okeechobee channel markers … not the usual looking kind


a lighthouse on the lake


the west side is very marshy and shallow


our free dock for the night


black vultures


these are government employees with all the safety gear on, lifejackets, ear protectors etc. etc.


now the locals, no gear to be seen


our free dock


I got bite again by fire ants …not a pretty sight


one of the shore birds … not too sure of the name


Ibis


these pillars are called dolphins and there is cleats that you can tie bow and stern to


lots of herons


construction on the water way


cyprus trees with the moss hanging


another lock to transit


there is a good anchorage close to this old sunken boat

April 13-14, 2015 … Stuart, Florida

We had 2 good days at Stuart.  We met up with Moonlight Maid again, Allan and Heather and Time-2 -Go, David and Anne Wilson from Port Elgin, Ontario.

Joe placed a phone call to customs at the marina office, and then used my IPAD, thru Google + and Hangouts to phone Rogers back in Canada to get his phone plan re-installed.  This took most of the morning.

Finally out on the Okeechobee Waterway, and in and out of the Lucie Lock. We where the only boat that shut off their engine.  Boy was it hot and stinky with fumes down in the well. Then it was 5 fixed bridges, all around 56 ft, less than the ICW, 65 ft.

We stopped at Indian Town for the night and picked up Snowbirds solar panel that was not working. We will bring it back to Ontario in the car. While we where there we washed the deck and sails and filled our water tanks. This is a very busy marina, a lot of boaters haul out here.  A lot of Canadians.

We left at 8:45 am to make the next lock opening at 11:30, but got there one hour early and anchored to wait for the 1/2 hour opening. Our crossing of Lake Okeechobee was long and hot.  Both of our auto helms refused to work, so it was hand steering for 4 hours.

Joe had read about a possible free dock on the other side of the lake and lucky for us it was available.  It was at a boat launch area, and around 3:30 pm a steady stream of boats entered the water, even at 10:30pm and then they returned at 2:30am with a catch of 14 something, frogs, turtles, but not alligators, closed season at the moment.

There was a lot of different birds here.  We both said it would be interesting to stay a few days, just to watch the water fowl.

APRIL 15-18, 2015 … Turkey Creek

Since July 21, 2014 to April 15, 2015, we have travelled 3,249 KM.

Gold River, Nova Scotia to Lake Worth, Florida, across to the Abaco, Bahamas. Back to Lake Worth, travelled inland on the Okeechobee Waterways to Turkey Creek near LaBelle, Florida

we are at a dock of a friend Mike Ashmore, and summerizing the boat

So far we have removed the diesel tank and waiting on a new one to be made, removed the sails, folded and sealed them in 3ml contractor plastic bags, washed salt out of all the lines, summerized the outboard, cleaned inside and out of the BBQ, cleaned all the stainless outside the boat, washed rain gear and vacuumed packed all lifejackets, bedding, charts etc.,cleaned all anchor chain and rode and repainted the markers, sorted out what goes home and what stays on the boat. We made a road trip to Fort Meyers to buy Vacuum seal bags and Damp Rid etc etc.

It has rained every afternoon or evening since we arrived, and we collect all that we can for our washing and cleaning up, jobs.  The mosquitos are bad at dusk. Did i mention the heat and humidity?  It is over 30 C or high 80 F everyday with not a breath of fresh air .. welcome to Florida in the summer.

stayed tuned for the next adventures ….


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