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

02/02/2020 the first palindrome in 909 years. In Labelle, FL too

Today's date is 02/02/2020, the first palindrome in 909 years. A palindrome is a sequence of numbers that reads the same forwards and backwards.

Welcome

In honor of today's special occasion and because God gave us such great gifts and today is truly gratitude, we have parked the day in LaBelle Fl.  We weighed anchor at 0930 after a beautiful chilly sunrise in an excellent anchorage.  We listened to Mending fences cowboy church on YouTube while we had eggs and hash browns on Serenity.  I had ordered dehydrated potato flakes and they arrived via AMAZON while we were in Ft Myers.  Not too bad actually.

We only intended to briefly stop at the free docks in LaBelle, but upon arrival, there were two other boats secured and they helped catch our lines in a stiff cross-wind.  A very nice couple from Ontario Canada, piloting a Nordic Tug chatted for a while.  Intending only to go to dollar general for ice and fresh items and stretch our legs, it was such a nice day and a very nice old Florida town we decided to enjoy the day here.  There are 8 slips at the free dock, a few have water and electricity.  We took one of the smaller slips in shallower water.

Serenity at free dock

Nice and safe place.

Amazing you can stay 3 days.  Really nice park/dock.

Serenity was secured at 1015 and off we went walking to 1) goodwill, 2) dollar tree, 3) save-a-lot and finally 4) dollar general market.  Mostly just to look around, but did not find the automotive window screens we were looking for.  Returning to Serenity we fixed lunch and just enjoyed the bright clear skies and warming temperatures.  Auto zone was only a mile away, so off we went and found the window screens we were looking for.  Passed a very nice memorial park.

LaBelle memorial park

Grilling out tonight, chips and salsa to listen to the big game on the internet if we can stay awake long enough.  Planned early departure tomorrow--Lake Okeechobee dead ahead.

Tasty good at the end of the day