3 February, 2020 Lake Okeechobee (big water)

Two locks, boat yard, 40 SM and 6.7 engine hours (2+ at idle/no wake)

46 and clear.  Slept good at LaBelle free dock--bridge noise began early this morning.  Headed toward Lake Okeechobee.

Uw 0740--wispy fog on the water.

Glassy water

New alternator/external regulator putting out 53 amps at idle after start up.  Intentionally brought down house battery bank yesterday while spending the day at the Free dock.  Really pleased with the new system and the rapid recharge and topping off the house batteries while underway.  Amperage does drop while holding voltage constant as the batteries top off and regulator goes into a float mode.

Nice amperage at start

POC at helm for her first time entering lock--Ortona lock at mm 93.8.  She did well.  8 foot lift.

these locks fill/empty by letting water in or out.  No pumps

Exiting we continued East, next stop Glades boat storage mm 89 (boat storage).  Large DYI yard with both work areas and boat/RV storage.  Large travel lift able to take up to large yachts out of the water.  Room at face dock so we tied up and walked around the yard.  Friendly folks and boat yard dogs.

Underway again, next lock at Moore Haven mm 78.  This time, POC’s second lock entry and exit.  Piece of cake.  Continuing East the waterway narrows as we get closer to Lake Okeechobee.  

Osprey in cypress tree along waterway

Bird population increasing, lots of herons, egrets anhinga and swallows.  Even two alligators. We intend to take the rim route around the southern shore at mm 65, but since we are here we took the across lake route into lake O to say we were there--no t-shirt, then u-turned and found a spot off the lake channel in 5 feet of water and anchored at 1530 on soft mud.  (map) I also put out stern anchor to stay out of channel.

Lake O anchorage--looking NE

Would not anchor here with wind but it is supposed to be 5 mph or less tonight.  Clear skies forecast, it should be a spectacular night.  Wild grass everywhere and lots of birds.

what a view

1353.9 Hobbs; 1695 SM elapsed