Our trip from Cape Coral, Fl (West Coast) to Stuart, FL (East coast)
June 4, 2019- June 7, 2019
Total trip: 16 1/2 hours – 120 nautical miles
Day 1 (1 hour): We got a late start trying pay up, provisioning, kids naps, etc. Once on our way, only an hour down the ICW, we had to duck into a nearby Marina when a storm started developing right over us. It was a beautiful night however and we are SO glad we stopped. There was an awesome restaurant with some of the friendliest staff; Pinchers. Did I mention Capt Steve rocked the tricky docking here?? Btw, apparently everyone was watching us dock and walk up because they knew exactly who we were when we got there. Capt Steve loved the attention, me not so much.
Right next door are both Ford and Edison’s historic coastal homes. I really wished we weren’t on a time crunch and could’ve stayed in the morning to visit these 😕, but since we got such a late start, tomorrow was going to be loooong. But, mother nature does know exactly when to tell you to slow down and take in your surroundings. The sunset here was amazing!
Day 2 (7 1/2 hours): So we decide to “leave when we leave“. Not waking up at the crack, but taking our time in the morning before heading out. Not sure if I mentioned, but we are NOT morning people. If we have an option to wake up later, we typically take it. We had just 2 Locks (Franklin and Ortona) to get through before staging for crossing the Big O tomorrow. Anyway, we must’ve wiped the lil monster out by staying up late last night, because he slept like a champ during this days stretch. With engines running and air flow moving, he is usually out like a light. Besides we have gotten wise and moved the pack n play into our bedroom, which is pretty dark.
We were a little nervous about Lock #1 (Franklin), just because it was our first and despite reading what to expect, you still don’t know exactly what will happen. Here’s the run down of what to do:
- Call the Lock operator on the radio and let them know who you are and which direction you are coming from (East bound vessel Abeona).
- Operator will tell you which side to tie up to, so I get Port or Starboard lines and bumpers set up accordingly
- ALL passengers need life vests, he says. Crap!!! I panic as we pull in Where are ours?? Phew, I knew I didn’t stow away those annoying orange vests on the flybridge (that Ive been starring at with discontent) all these months, for a reason. I two out for Capt and I. Our daughter and son were inside, so they were good.
- Next, all engines need to be shut down. We ask the Operator if we can leave our generator on because we have a sleeping baby on board and he said that was fine. Phew!! It was starting to get HOT and it might take 20-30 mins.
- The operator comes out and throws us his lines that we tie up to our mid and bow cleats. We have to monitor them though, because the water level has to rise in this lock.
- The doors of the Lock open slowly to allow water in. Takes only about 15 mins but sun was starting to beat down and it felt like hours.
- Once the lock is fully open, we wait for the all clear from the Operator to untie his lines and throw them up to him.
We didn’t plan as well as we thought and missed the next Lock (Moore Haven) before the Big O, by hours not minutes. We found a cheap, 1 dock Marina to tie up to for the night. Bonus, there was a playground and splash park within a stones throw. Capt took the kids while I cleaned up and tried to take a nap. We grilled out on our back deck for dinner, but the swarm of mosquitos made it a short night for us all.
Day 3 (7 hours): Right off the bat we go through Lock 3 (Moore Haven). When we call the Operator, he tells us to just come on through, the Lock is open, so that saved some time. As we navigated our way through the Okeechobee Waterway, we had never seen so many gators before….and I grew up in FL!! Most were hiding in the mud just beneath the shore line and it wasn’t until our wake came by, that they became uncovered. It was kind of creepy, honestly. And get this……just 10 mins before that, our daughter asked if we could go swimming and we googled “swimming in the okeechobee waterway” and one of the main reasons we said no to her was because it said their was some bacteria in the water and it wasn’t advised. HELLO??? Why the heck didn’t they mention the 530,000 gators inhabiting the waters as top reason not to swim?? Anyway, our solid No to her was later backed up when she saw all the gators herself. Even saw a massive dead one, flopped on some rocks being offered as a feast to some 20 vultures.
As we navigate down the rim of the Okeechobee the water is very skinny (shallow) so we both had white knuckles through this stretch.
We planned on taking Route #1 (across the lake route), as it was the easiest and fastest, but there is only a very narrow area of the lake that is deep enough for us to travel. Capt Steve checks our fuel situation one last time. As we approach the open water of the Okeechobee, all we can think of is, “This is it! No looking back”
We saw only 2 boats pass us crossing the Big O, which took about 2 1/2 hrs. It was tough to see some of the channel markers on the East side where we need to made a left. I had to bust out the binoculars for these. We then approach the Lock (Port Mayaca) on the East side of Big O. Operator tells us it is pretty shallow and when Capt Steve tells him how deep we draft (3’6″), he tells us we will have just inches of clearance. If that’s not enough to wet your pants, not sure what is. Capt Steve carefully steers where the operator told him to and he swears he felt us touch bottom.
We thought we planned a little better this day, but we missed the last Lock (St. Lucie) by 15 mins. UGH!!! Capt Steve even called 2 times to ask if they could make an exception and stay open for us. They didn’t budge. Oh well. There was a storm coming anyway, so we were glad we didn’t press on. We literally anchored just outside this Lock. Our AC’s this day were struggling to keep up. But thankfully the storm brought some cooler temps and the night ended up being beautiful. We got some great drone footage of the Lock, our boat and a creepy gator who was swimming right for shore where there was a small campground. Big sis got to fish off the bow. Lots of fish but no bites. We accomplish ALOT this day.
Day 4 (1 hour): We actually wake up at the crack (for us that was 6:45) so we can be the first ones through the St. Lucie Lock. This Lock was different because the water level had to lower so we needed to make sure to let the lines out as we went down 10+ ft. Lil monster slept through the whole trip. We searched a few Marinas in the area and decided to end our trip in Stuart at The Harborage. Staff was excellent and they had a little pool that the kids loved. Since we got such an early start we were able to relax a little before the car shuffle (Capt Steve ubering to get our rental car) then our miserable drive to MIA airport. Overall, awesome trip, the kids did amazing and we now can relax knowing we can focus on just moving the boat North a little each time we come back.
