Lake Okeechobee to Moore Haven

Up before dawn, we set out from Indiantown at sunrise to make the voyage across Lake Okeechobee.  The Port Mayaca lock is the entry point to the lake. With all the rain the eastern side of Florida received, the gates of the lock were open and we were able to pass through without delay.  When you depart the lock, you are in open waters.  The path across the lake is southwest, so it is a 25 mile or approximately 3 hour trip to the other side.  Our weather planning was perfect and the lake only had a slight chop. We made the crossing with "Last Chance" and "Indecision" in great time arriving in Clewiston around noon.  Then up the coast through the inside channel to Moore Haven and through a lock that dropped us about 3 feet.  Moore Haven is a very small town, but it has an authentic Mexican Restaurant.  If we were driving by it in a car, it would not be a place we would stop, but in a small town with limited selection it was looking good to us.  We went with Dave and Pat from "Indecision" and ended up having a wonderful time.  While we were underway crossing the lake we had a return call from one of the Marina's we were trying to get into when we get to Ft. Meyers.  We are really excited as we made multiple calls and all the Marina's in the area were not accepting extended stays.  Tomorrow, we are off to see how close we can get to Ft. Myers.

Approaching the bridge and lock at Port Mayaca.  We followed "Indecision" across Lake Okeechobee.

 Passing through the open lock at Port Mayaca.

 Exiting the lock and entering Lake Okeechobee.  The lake is big enough that you can't see the shoreline to the west or north. 

Exiting Lake Okeechobee with what looked like sugar cane growing in the water.  This is what we thought the Everglades would look like.

Exiting the lake you travel about 10 miles north through a canal that borders the lake next to the levee.