Wednesday, October 30, 2002
We left our anchorage early (for us) at 8 am and headed south across Charlotte
Harbor. Kay decided that she was tired of the dust coated venetian blinds,
so while Pearce guided Kibon, she cleaned the cabin and the inside of the
windows. We stopped at the intersection of the ICW and the channel south
to Sanibel Island. Several past commodores from Narrasketuck Yacht Club
live there, and one, Myton Ireland has a marina and sells trawlers. We
wanted to say "hi" to him, but he was over in Fort Lauderdale getting
ready for the boat show. As we were about to continue on our way, we
spotted Seaburds behind us. Since they had left Sarasota a day before us,
we're not too sure how we passed them.  Pearce contacted Howard on the
radio. Their destination was Moore Haven at the edge of Lake Okeechobee.
We were headed for Fort Meyers.
We tied up at the City of Fort Meyers Yacht Basin to get some milk. The
wind was bouncing Kibon all over the dock, and we decided that we preferred to
look for a calmer and less expensive place. Their milk was $2.89 a half
gallon (we bought it) and their dockage was $1.25 per foot (going up to $1.50 on
November 1). We passed. Pearce decided he wanted to fish. No
bait was available at this marina, so we headed into the Caloosahatchee River where
we found a bait store several miles up river. We went through the Franklin
Lock. The lockmaster threw us each a line. They prefer a starboard
tie up for the eastbound vessels. The doors behind us closed, and the
doors in front of us opened a foot. It was a bit un-nerving, but luckily
the rise was only about 12 inches. We headed 100 feet or so up stream,
turned to port, and entered a fabulous marina maintained by the Army Corps of
Engineers. There are 8 boat slips for "boats up to 35 feet" but
we fit in there fine at 38 feet (bow in). The price? $16 per night,
or $8 for those with a Senior Golden Pass. Because we didn't have
reservations we could only stay the one night. There was a group of boats
coming in for Halloween and the weekend.
While Pearce was walking up to the office to register for our slip, he met
Howard Nicholson, the owner of a runabout that had locked through with us.
"Nick" said he lived just around the corner and had plenty of dock
space if we couldn't spend the night in the marina. We were able to
register, but he invited us to come visit anyway. His wife Barbara  drove
up just then with the boat trailer, they loaded the boat on, gave us directions
to the house, and drove away with a "don't forget to bring your bathing
suit." After a late lunch and a brief nap, Pearce unloaded the
bicycles, and we went for a ride. We enjoyed visiting the Nicholson's
house. He said he's thinking of opening a bed and breakfast by boat for
those people who want a night on land with a swimming pool and hot tub
handy. We left with an invitation to stop any time we're traveling from
the east to the west coast.
Thursday, October 31, 2002
Happy Halloween! Kay said it's the first time in 20 plus years that she
didn't have to dress up in a costume. We reluctantly left the marina at
the Franklin Lock and headed out on the Caloosahatchee River/Okeechobee
Waterway. It is a beautiful river flowing through palm trees, live oaks
dripping with Spanish moss, orange trees, hibiscus and other flowering
plants. Boaters don't like the water lilies and hyacinths that can clog
propellers, but they are certainly pretty. We watched fish jumping and
looked for Manatees. Kay had already spotted an alligator in the marina
this morning. The houses lining the waterway range from manufactured
homes to colossal estates. This is horse country and it's not unusual to
see horses on land and boats in the water on the same property. The land
was originally cattle ranches and there are still cattle along the
way.
 We
went through two more locks. The method of raising the water by opening
the upstream lock door is a bit daunting when you see the  surge
of water rolling toward your boat. The Ortona Lock raised 7 feet, and the
Moore Haven lock raised the water level 5 feet. At that point we entered
the part of the Waterway that rims Lake Okeechobee. We had read that the
Army Corps of Engineers had killed off the Casurina trees which were brought to
Florida from Australia. All that is left of these feathery trees is their
ghostly trunks. Palm, bamboo, and other greenery edge the waterway while
the dike rises on the right side. Birds are the only wildlife that are
evident, but the water roils and bursts with something every so often.
We stopped at the marina in Clewiston. On our trips by car across Florida
we had stopped at the Clewiston Inn for lunch, and we thought we'd like to have
dinner there. The Tiki bar at the marina was gearing up for a
Halloween Party as we left to enjoy dinner at the Inn.
Friday, November 1, 2002
Last night the Clewiston Inn lived up to its reputation again! The Prime Rib was
more than superb as were all the trimmings and the service was true Southern
elegance. The Inn had sent a car for us and the ride was interesting. Being
Halloween, we were treated to a slow ride through crowds of little devils
and angels and clowns... (Kay wanted to join them, but, of course, she didn't have a costume).
We headed out through the lock at Clewiston, which was an easy pass through with
no locking, and continued straight out to the passage across Lake
Okeechobee. The day was sunny, the wind was from the north but diminished
from an early morning 10 to 15 to a mid morning under 10. Since we prefer
to leave docks about mid-morning, we were fortunate to have an easy
passage. We were all alone on this passage -- did not meet any boats and
did not pass any -- but as we approached the Port Mayaca Lock we encountered
eight boats exiting and starting  their passage across the Lake. We
continued along the Canal through Indiantown and past the homes along the
waterway. There were various enterprises along the way -- sugar cane was
the prime crop in the early miles, followed by cattle and citrus. This
still continues to be a beautiful passage.
As we approached the St. Lucie Lock, we heard Howard Burdick talking to the
lockmaster as they were locking down. We had to wait until the lock could
be turned around for us, so Kay walked up to the campground/marina office to get
the reservation number for the campgrounds run by the Army Corps of
Engineers. If you want to stay at the $16/$8 sites, contact 877-444-6777
or on the internet www.reserveusa.com. Howard invited us to follow him to his
brother's marina at Stuart Yacht. The entrance is very convoluted -- more
so than on the Tombigbee or the Mobile Rivers -- but we arrived safely and spent
a quiet night. The marina contacted a diver to look at our props. He
would arrive tomorrow morning.
Saturday, November 2. 2002
The diver arrived soon after 9 am and within an hour had removed our old props
and installed the new ones we had carried from New York. He also removed
many feet of crab pot line that looked just like the line that Pearce had taken
off the props in Cedar  Key. It really looks like the vibration that we had
been experiencing came from that time. One of the props had a really
pretty lacy look on one side, but the other one was good. We left them to
be reconditioned, said our good-byes to Howard and Jane Burdick, and continued
back out through the loops and turns to the St. Lucie Waterway. The passage
through Stuart and across the St. Lucie Inlet to head south on the East Coast
ICW takes an alert captain and crew. We motored around a sailboat race and
avoided boats zooming from all angles. We had just passed this area and
were passing the State Park at the required "slow, little wake"
. Buoy #18 allowed us to increase our speed, and as we made a line
to the next Red buoy, we ran aground! Pearce landed on the wheel, and
luckily, Kay was on the cabin floor putting garbage in the can in the
bilge. Everything flew past her head and landed against the galley
walls. Lucky, the bird, ricocheted off the windshield, but was soon
chirping and asking, "What happened?" Apparently a new shoal had
decided to ease its way out into the channel. The local folks seemed to know
about it, but we were in the dark. After setting the anchor, Pearce
waded out into the water to assess the damage. He couldn't see our new
props, but he was able to feel that they were in the mud up to the shaft.
That is the bad news, the good news was that we had just passed low time.
High tide was due about 5 pm. We sent another aft anchor and waited.
What does one do when at anchor just off the channel in an area lined with
mangrove swamps? Fish! Pearce caught some very big catfish which he
filleted for our dinner. After 3 hours we had come up enough to get off
the shoal -- we ought to name it "Baker's Shoal"!! Daylight was
fading, so we continued a mile or so to Peck's Lake on the eastern side of the
ICW. There were many boats already anchored there that had taken advantage
of the dinghy dock that provides access to the Atlantic Ocean. We spent
the night with all the windows and ports open so we could enjoy the sound and
breeze from the Ocean.
Sunday, November 3, 2002
The sun arose on schedule, but since we hadn't closed any blinds last night (who
is going to look in at us?) we awoke to the bright rays coming through the aft
door. We headed out from the  anchorage early and
 proceeded south through
Hobe (one syllable says the guide book) to Jupiter. It is a shame that so
many people have to live in such splendor. The houses are bigger than four
or five normal rich homes. That does not count the out buildings! We
also saw some boats that could hoist ours for their dinghy. We proceeded
through the many bridges. Our advice is, if you do decide to come south on
this ICW, do it on the weekend when the bridges open on demand.
Otherwise, you may sit for 15 to 30 minutes (or wait forever during the rush
hour).
We finally arrived at our dock in the marina at Palm Beach Yacht Center, tied
up, and took a taxi to our condo in Boynton Beach. We had to call AAA
because the car battery was dead, and we decided that it was too late in the day
to transfer everything from boat to condo. So we decided to spend another
night on Kibon. After a side trip to see Kay's mother at her Assisted
Living, we returned to the boat, had dinner, and are headed to bed.
Tomorrow we move into our condo, say goodbye for a while to Kibon. We'll
rest this web log, maybe add a thought or two over the winter. We'll then come back
with daily reports for the remainder of our loop back to Long Island in the
Spring. In the meantime, Kibon is up for sale. She's a great ship who
"won" the race down the rivers, but we're looking for something
slower... a trawler type like Howard's and Jane's. Hope we can find it. We're
starting our look tomorrow at the Ft. Lauderdale Boat Show.
See you all in the Spring.
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