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February 10, 2013 Day 275

At Anchor
South Bay, FL
Total miles to date: 4702.7

Sunrise at Moore Haven

The Moore Haven dockmaster knocked on our boat at 7:10 this morning to collect the fee for docking, and apologized for not stopping by last night. Fortunately we were up at that hour! 

We departed the city dock wall at 8:00 and a few minutes later entered the Moore Haven lock. We had the lock to ourselves and were raised two feet. We were on our way about fifteen minutes later, leaving the Caloosahatchee Canal and entering the Okeechobee Waterway.  We followed this to the town of Clewiston.


At Clewiston, boaters must choose to cross Lake Okeechobee or follow the Rim Route on the southern border. The Rim Route is ten miles longer, but more scenic and was our choice.  We continued on this route, primarily a canal bordered by a levee.  We spotted many birds along the way, including herons, egrets, and pelicans.  We were passed by several fishing boats and an occasional motor yacht.  The wind was gusting to over 20 mph and we decided to stop after four hours and anchor in a protected basin at South Bay.  Other than the occasional fishing boats that came and left, we had this quiet anchorage to ourselves. We did share it with many birds and one alligator.  We spent hours photographing and watching them through binoculars.


The waterway splits here - the Rim Route goes to the right
and the lake goes to the left

In flight



The resident gator at South Bay anchorage

Sunset at South Bay

After a spaghetti dinner we spent a quiet evening at anchor!  Tomorrow we will go as far as Indiantown, which is beyond the lake on the St. Lucie Canal.