Clewiston to Stuart Yacht Builders

Day #111; Loop Miles = 1,520

Roland Martins Marina in Clewiston was a very convenient and easy stop. It is a small marina, located in just the right spot for folks who want to travel across the Okeechobee Waterway in 2 days. Luckily for us, we were there on a Sunday night so the Tiki Bar was quiet by about 8 pm. We understand that other nights of the week, and especially on Friday and Saturday, it can get quite lively...and the transient slips are very close to the Bar. But for us, it was perfect.

Our marina for Sunday night.

The Army Corps of Engineers manages this waterway, and they had an office and dock here near this marina.

Resident Iguana presiding over the comings and goings. This guy was probably 3 feet long.

We did everything right in our trip planning...with light winds predicted for the actual crossing of the lake. However, Mother Nature did not entirely agree with the forecasters, so we had a bit more wind than anticipated. It wasn't awful (2'-3' seas) but it certainly wasn't as calm as we had hoped. We cranked the engine up and cruised faster than we typically do...this actually helped to smooth out the ride a bit, and of course made the transit a bit shorter.

As we crossed the lake, the seagulls mistook us for a fishing boat, and followed us the entire way (20 miles or so).

You can see our wake here...and 2 things to note. First...it's pretty big, signaling that we had the engine running at 2400rpm. And second, look at how dirty the water is. The days before we crossed were really windy and rainy, and this lake is very shallow...thus leading to remarkably murky water for this fresh water lake.

We enjoyed the remainder of the day, cruising along the more typically narrow waterway. We encountered a number of boats traveling west bound, and transited 2 more locks. Our end destination was Stuart Yacht Builders, where we have some planned maintenance and boat projects being performed. The added bonus is that our friends on InSpeyered2 are here as well! They've actually had their boat here since before Christmas, and are anxious for the completion of the many projects that they are working on. It was great for us as we arrived...they dinghied out to greet us, and led us back a rather tricky channel to the boat yard's location. It's been wonderful to catch up the past few days, and it has yet to be determined if we'll leave together or not. We plan to be here through the weekend before moving on. In any event, we will be cruising with them at least off and on for the next few months we expect.

More to follow on our boat projects...the list grew by a couple of items once we got here, and the weather has been dreadful since we arrived, slowing our progress some. But we are really happy with this yard and the people working on our boat.

Much of our journey on Monday was peaceful and serene...very enjoyable.