Pulled out of Clewiston, heading for Moore Haven in a dredged canal that extends westbound from Clewiston to the Caloosahatchee River.
There was one narrow spot, probably about 19' wide -- the deal is, you stay as close as possible to the metal wall here, because the channel shallows up dramatically to the east of the red marker buoys:
It had a very "you're in the Glades now!" look to it whenever there were trees instead of grasses:
Transited the Moore Haven lock (a drop of only about 3')
Along with thick mats of floating weed:
Chugged west along the Caloosahatchee River past still more attractive houses:
And past several places that only store boats on the hard for hurricane season:
Pulled into
Rialto Harbor Marina late afternoon. The proprietor, Bus Hamilton, helped us on the dock, signed us in, and gave us a tour of the place. It's lovely, with a pool and a guest cottage and each dock is separate and private, with rocking chairs and a grill.
One of the Rialto Harbor Marina's private docks with rocking chairs
It's very quiet water, on an oxbow of the Caloosahatchee river, so no current to speak of:
And your dock has its own little entrance to the grounds:
We could not do the place justice, as we were tired and just wanted to rest and move on the next morning; they brought us flowers for the table, even. The Hamiltons are competitive horse-and-carriage racers, with international standing as such.
In the morning, we moved along down the Caloosahatchee:
We passed through the Franklin lock (which only opens on the odd hour) after a short wait:
The Franklin lock-keeper was very friendly and nice and had a little golf-cart-like vehicle to help him get from one end to the other quickly:
Also, the Franklin lock has shaded viewing stands so that local families can watch boats locking through with their kids.
Both reviewing stands had families in them when we went through, and we told them where the boat had been recently and about the lock on the other side that went up 12 feet!
The next lock from there into Okeechobee was kept open, so that whole eastern end of the St Lucie canal is at lake level. Franklin lock at the moment only goes down one foot, and Moore Haven went down about three. This seems like it violates conservation of energy, but there is a longer distance of river on the western side, so the land can drop slowly, allowing the river to flow without locks or rapids and make up for the "missing" eight feet!
We passed through the bridges and passed downtown Fort Myers, and farther along we reached Gulf Harbour Marina, a bit west of downtown and in the midst of a gated community, but with very competitive monthly rates and good features.
And that's where we are now. Today, Derek picked up a rental car and took us around the campus of FGCU, where he will be working. We take the cat to the vet's to get her blood checked tomorrow morning and set up boarding, then we shop for Grant's summer camp necessaries, provisions, and do laundry. Derek has a project he needs to do aboard also.