Captain's Choice blog: Okeechobee to Ft. Myers

When we did the loop we did not cross the Okeechobee Waterway because we traveled the west coast of Florida down to the keys and then back up the east coast. This time we wanted to get from the east coast of Florida to the west coast and the Okeechobee Waterway starts in Stuart on the east and ends in Ft. Myers on the west, which is perfect considering Ft. Myers was our next destination.
When we left Roland Martin Marina on Wednesday the 28th we had to follow the rim canal to the Caloosahatchee Canal which had us looking up some interesting facts about the lake and the waterway.

The Okeechobee hurricane of 1928 was one of the deadliest hurricanes in the North Atlantic basin. After starting off the west coast of Africa it strengthened and moved through Guadeloupe, Martinique, Puerto Rico and Bahamas before making landfall near West Palm Beach. The effects were most severe around Lake Okeechobee where the storm surge caused water to pour out of the southern edge of the lake flooding hundreds of miles with depths as great as 20 feet. It is reported at least 2,500 people drowned and damage was estimated at $25 million (remember we are talking about 1928). This storm lead to improved state and local building codes. It also lead to the construction of floodway channels, control gates, and major levees along the shores of Lake Okeechobee.
There are actually 2 ways to cross Lake Okeechobee, route #1 across the open lake or route #2, the "rim route" follows the southern shore before meeting up with route #1 in Clewiston. The waterway was opened in 1937 to provide a water route across Florida instead of having to travel around the southern end of the state. It is relatively shallow, has 5 locks and dams and is 154 nautical miles long from Stuart to Ft. Myers.

We traveled 37 miles and went through 2 locks as we made our way from Clewiston to our anchorage in La Belle where we dropped anchor in 20' of water next to the La Belle Bridge. Due to the strong winds we also had to use a stern anchor to keep the boat from swinging into the channel. We dinghyed over to the town dock, walked around town and stopped at Forrey Grill where we enjoyed some delicious chicken wings. We haven't had wings since leaving Buffalo and although we usually don't order them out unless we are in Buffalo we were craving them. They were delicious...but we did have to let the waitress know that blue cheese is the only "Buffalo approved" dip!

Thursday morning had us traveling 32 miles and 1 lock from La Belle to Ft. Myers to Legacy Harbour Marina. Captain's Choice will be at home here until the end of December.
There are a lot of loopers that stop at this marina, some for only a few days, some for months. There are current loopers, gold loopers and platinum loopers here. We met up with fellow gold loopers from the class of 2017 Shell Belle and Hour Plan and Piglet from Canada Friday night for dinner. It was great to catch up and we look forward to more time shared with them and others during our stay here. The location is fantastic with downtown about a 1/4 mile away with restaurants and shops along with close proximity to the grocery store.
We also have many hometown friends from Buffalo that have homes and condos in Ft. Myers that we were looking forward to seeing. The Hakes, Dussings and Martins have told us in the past about the boat parade that goes in front of their condos near Ft. Myers Beach so we joined them Saturday. The parade was great, we couldn't believe how many boats were decorated and the extent of the decorations.