Heading east

We left Ft Myers on Tuesday, the 9th, and traveled eastward on the Caloosahatchee River which becomes the Okeechobee Waterway. The river quickly becomes more of a canal, and although less than 40 miles from downtown Ft Myers, one finds a curious mix of large homes and cattle grazing. This was and still is cattle country, with a history of the 'cracker' cowboy still visible. Three locks (3', 5', and 2' rises, which are small) take us up to the level of Lake Okeechobee. At the locks there are clusters of pilings which are called 'dolphins'. They line the way into the locks and at some one can tie up. (See pict) We stayed 2 nights at a free dock :) in Labelle, a nice little town, where we bought honey made there, and ate out with fellow cruisers. We celebrated Jack's birthday with a candle in his breakfast danish, and then 4 candles that night in his extra-chocolate brownie.

We then moved on to MooreHaven, on the edge of Okkeechobee, and ended up staying 4 days in order to avoid storms. Also a nice but small little town. We also worshiped at the local UMC and got a nice welcome and then followup emails from the pastor.
We left there after church on Sunday, traveled only 12 miles to Clewiston on a very sheltered canal. At most, it is an extended bird sanctuary. The land between us and the lake was brown, barren, and scarred by what looked like a fire on the tree trunks. Also, around here, they burn off the sugar cane (?), making huge black smoke on the horizon. Startling to those who don't know what it is. And, the fires make black ashes that float around and land on boats, as well as make the water grayish. Yuk. Nothing to see on the waterway, but calm waters. Then Monday we traveled on the same sheltered waterway. This time it was greener, and with many fishermen. Can you see the birds in the tree?

We arrived at Pahokee on the eastern shore of Okeechobee and stopped at the new marina there (rebuilt after Wilma in 05). The marina--which was nearly empty--- and adjacent campground are run by KOA. You can see the pict of the marina with one of the black-smoke fires in the background. Monday night the winds kicked waaay up, and by 4am we were rolling and bumping at the dock.
That continued all day and all the next night (Tues). We had hoped to leave this morning (Wed) but the winds were again too strong to venture out. The upside is that we went to the Shrove Tues pancake supper, and tonight we're going to the supper and Ash Wed service at the UMC. Overall Pahokee is depressed and depressing. Really nothing here, and what is, is just about in ruins. A sad situation.
The weather forecasters are saying temps in the 70s and 80s by the weekend, and of course we're hopefull. Right now, all we care about is less wind! Once we get moving, we will be passing another marker: arriving at the Atlantic coast (Stuart).
Right now we're feeling pretty isolated from other loopers: many are in the Keys, or have traveled this part already and are hanging out on the east coast. But that will change as we get to the Atlantic. Thus far we have traveled 1356 miles.
Thanks for your emails and blog comments. We hope to have less and less picts of us in sweatshirts soon.
Safe sailing!
nan and jack