Sometimes we surprise even ourselves. Take our current circumstances. For months, we have planned to board 'Bout Time in Charleston and take her south to the Keys and then back up the west coast of Florida and eventually home to Kentucky Lake. Our final destination hasn't changed, but our route definitely has.
When we arrived at Cape Marina in Port Canaveral on Sunday, Feb. 28, we learned that due to work being done on the lock through which we had just come, it would only open for traffic before 0700 or after 1700 Monday through Friday. We made note of that info but delayed making a decision regarding our departure time.
By prior arrangement, on Monday a high school classmate of mine and her husband drove over from Winter Park, and we spent the morning enjoying their company. It's always fun to have friends come aboard, even if just for a brief visit. After they left we began to talk about leaving and quickly decided that it was time for 'Bout Time to be back in the ocean.
We waited at the fuel dock for it to open at 0700, and after filling fuel and water tanks, quickly got underway. We motored the short distance across the inlet and soon faced the Atlantic horizon. What a great feeling! Anxious to try those new sails, we unfurled them both and admired our achievement. Alas, the wind was not sufficient for sailing, so we contented ourselves with motor sailing. Rolling seas provided reacquaintance with my old nemesis, seasickness, but Stugeron once again came to the rescue. Later in the day the wind shifted direction and came on our nose. With time as a factor, we needed to head straight down the coast to Ft. Pierce, so in came those new sails and the Iron Genny prevailed.
During the next few hours, one of us, and I honestly can't remember which one it was, brought up the idea of taking the Okeechobee Waterway rather than going all the way to Marathon before heading back up the west coast of Florida. The more we talked, the more appealing the idea became, and before we reached Ft. Pierce, we had agreed to that route. The two main drawbacks to this decision were not getting to rendezvous with cruising buddies in Marathon and foregoing a trip out to the Dry Tortugas. Both of these brought serious regrets, at the same time giving us something to look forward to on our trip farther south next winter.
Side note here. We entered the inlet at Ft. Pierce as the sun was setting, a nice touch and pretty view, but not fun as it quickly grew darker. Entering an unfamiliar harbor after dark is never fun, and this proved no exception to that rule. Lighted navigational aids kept me (relatively) calm as we located a suitable anchorage and settled in for the night.
The following notes are taken almost verbatim from my daily journal accounts of our days on the Okeechobee. I generally write differently for blog entries, but thought I'd share with you my "regular" accounts of these days. Not much stylistically, but I'm primarily interested in recording the who, what, where, when and how of our days.

Wednesday, March 2
Didn't get underway until about 9:15. Once underway, we realized that we did not have paper charts for the Okeechobee but decided to venture on anyway. I did call West Marine in Stuart, but all they could offer was a full chart kit which we neither needed nor wanted. Plus, there was the issue of transportation to their location.
We found our way to the St. Lucie River and were on our way. We knew when we made the decision to take this route that one bridge might present a problem. The bridge at Port Mayaca is a lift bridge, and when open, it's average clearance is 49'. Since 'Bout Time needs 48.5', we hoped for good news when I called the bridge for current information. Clearance that day - 47.9'. Slightly less than a foot below what we have to have. We already knew the solution to this situation from having read about it. The boat would have to be mechanically leaned over enough to clear the bridge structure. A call to Indian Town Marina put us in touch with Mr. Billy Olsen. He gave us his price, and since he holds a monopoly on this service, we quickly agreed and planned to talk early tomorrow to proceed with plans.
We anchored for the night on the waterway just past the entrance to Indian Town Marina.

Thursday, March 3
Because water levels can change daily, my first call this morning was to Port Mayaca Bridge to check clearance. Same as yesterday, 47.9'.
Captain called Billy to arrange for his services. Since he only accepts cash, we needed to go into Indian Town to an ATM. We filled our diesel tank at Indian Town Marina, and they were kind enough to let us keep 'BT tied up there while we walked to town.
We grabbed a quick breakfast burrito and located an ATM all in the same block. But I wanted to make one more stop. I had read about the Seminole Country Inn and since the address showed it to be just a few blocks away, we headed in that direction. The Inn and it's gardens are charming, and the prospect of returning for a visit sometime is enchanting. We'd love to do it with Wayne and Sandy. {My cousin and her husband with whom we enjoy traveling}
Got back to 'BT and on the OW. As planned, Billy and his helper were waiting for us just east of the bridge. The "Okeechobee Limbo" went off without a hitch and we continued our westward trek toward Clewiston.
Clewiston is actually behind a lock at the intersection of the Rim Route and Route 1 on the Okeechobee. We took Route 1, the shorter route directly across Lake Okeechobee and actually got to sail for about two hours. Johnny said how ironic it was that we had to get to an inland lake to do any real sailing on this trip!
As we left the lake, sunset was coming, and we didn't want to venture farther not knowing the area, so I called Roland and Mary Ann Martin's Marina and secured dockage for the night. It was less than half a mile from the lock to the marina. We had big boats fore and aft on the dock. The larger one was an 85' behemoth that pulled in after we did. He "parallel parked" that big baby like I would my car. Can we say bow thruster envy?!! They had placed a huge fender on their bow and pushed up against the closed gate to get into the lock. We went through just ahead of them and the lockmaster told us that she didn't think they would fit because the largest vessel she'd ever locked through before was 75'. Guess she has a new story to tell now.
We went up to the restaurant at the marina for dinner - a not so great seafood platter which we shared. Nothing like the seafood we've been having; more like Capt. D's! It was Karaoke night, so that's always interesting. By choice, we were out on the deck, not close to the performers, but that meant we couldn't see them, and that's always part of the fun. They went on until 11:00, but fortunately even though we were docked very close by, it didn't bother us when we went back to 'BT about 9:00.

Friday, March 4
As usual we had our coffee and went for a walk. Clewiston isn't very picturesque, but we did go in an authentic Mexican grocery store and bought a few things. Browsing was really fun (plus there was a clean restroom!)
Headed back to the marina and got underway. Had locks and bridges, but no incidents, except when we arrived at LaBelle. Contrary to info we had read, the bridge was on curfew from 7-9 and 4-6. We had arrived at 4:30. Nothing to do but wait. Found a spot to anchor and did just that.
Later, just after we cleared the bridge, our radio come on with, "36 foot Beneteau that just came under LaBelle Bridge." I immediately responded, and the result was info from "Gary" that we could tie up at a dock on the north side where he was. We could see him waving from the dock and headed over. He grabbed our lines and we were quickly secure. He's quite an old salt, but had lots of good info.
I cooked supper and we had our usual game of Dominoes

Saturday, March 5
After saying good-bye to Gary - he was moving to another dock for easier assess to drinking water - we went for a walk. We stayed on the north side of the OW and didn't really go into LaBelle. Another time... We walked about 2 miles out a private road to where a gated entrance noted that even walkers should be only residents or guests. So we turned and walked back. We passed abandoned orange and grapefruit groves. Tried the oranges, but they were far too sour to eat.
The only info we had before this showed the entire OW as 199 miles from end to end. Our conversation with Gary revealed that it's closer to 139 and that we were less than a day's travel to the western terminus. That meant we would be there Saturday night. Our buddy Gary also told us of a great place to anchor at Cape Coral.
The day was very pleasant UNTIL we reached the Cape Coral/Ft. Myers area. Power boat traffic there was horrible! Not only were there hundreds of boats of all sizes, but the larger boats showed absolutely no courtesy for slower ones. It was so stressful for Johnny, and I was certainly glad that I had taken the wheel earlier and given him a break.
We located the marker buoy leading to the anchorage, and after only a little "bump," anchored and settled in for a pleasant evening, beautiful sunset and all.
I called Sanibel Island Marina to try and get a slip there for Sunday night, but they were full and couldn't get us in until after noon. That would mean we'd be back out on that weekend boat traffic in the middle of the day. We considered our options and decided to save Sanibel Island for another time. We could stay put and leave Monday morning for points north, and that's exactly what we did.