My wife and son and younger (13) daughter had been visiting her mom in
Ft Lauderdale and they insisted on joining Krista (my 23 year old
daughter) I for the trip across Lake. My 19 yr old son was more
interested in talking to girls at the pool in Lauderdale so he stayed
there.
So, wife and Katie met us at 7:30 am at Roland Martin's and we got
fuel and left. 10 kt wind from NE so were only able to sail for a few
minutes. The water in Lake Okechobee looks a lot like watery
chocalate milk and it is really a big lake but shallow, averaged 13'
over our course to Port Mayaca.
The Autohelm 800 auto-pillot which is about 20 yrs old did a great job
allowing us to relax but keep an eye on any traffic..
The Port Mayaca lock only dropped 1 foot, weird.
The infamous FEC railroad bridge with its 49' clearance was a tense
moment because I was not truly sure of my 46' mast height but we
cleared it by maybe 3'.
The next lock dropped 14' and the lockmaster was a young guy who took
his time because he wanted to flirt with Krista (feeling seemed mutual
much to our amusement) and he actually convinced her to look into the
army corps of engineers for jobs for her with a biology degree.
Got to Stuart about 5:30 and docked at the Martin County Marina ($10/
ft/month), a nice place..Unfortunately, all the car rental companies
were closed for the evening. Wife really wanted to be back in
Lauderdale for family stuff so I called an airport limo service to
take me to the Palm Beach Airport to get a car. The driver was a nice
guy from Venezuela and we had a great conversation about places we
both knew there. When we got to the airport I was shocked to be $30
short of cash for his fee($70) but he told me to just call him when I
got back to Stuart and got the money from my wife and refused even the
$40 I had in my pocket. Obviously, as soon as I got back to Stuart I
got all of the money together and a good tip for somebody with such
faith in humanity..
We drove back to Clewiston via back roads to get my wife's car and I
was amazed at the emptiness of the area. Being from N. Fl I see South
Florida as an overcrowded hellish place, clearly a misconception on my
part.
So, am not exactly sure when the next part of the trip takes place but
it will be from Stuart to Lake Worth Inlet and then across to West End
with Krista and her bf Jared.