Jan 6 - Okeechobee & Franklin Lock

We have decided not to do the Florida Keys on this trip and will save that for future years. So this year we will head across Florida via the Okeechobee River and Lake system. To get there we start up the Caloosahatchite River from Fort Myers to the first lock of the Okeechobee waterway. We continue to see the destruction from the Hurricane as we head up the river.

Our first lock is the Franklin lock and Dam. This was  a relatively long day and we decided that we would stay at the top for our first stop. Not much in the way of anchorages at the lock, but there are some small docks by the park from the Corp of Engineers, which were a little small for us and then there are the barge dolphins that we can tie to if unused. This is were we decided to go. Well turned into quite the gong show. The dolphins are either way to far apart for us to tie to correctly or just the wrong distance that we cannot quite use two together. It was a stressful attempt to get tied on, and had to use many fenders on the rear dolphin to keep far enough off so the poles would not rub the hull under the boat since these things are angled in the water. AS the evening set in we had our first alligator visit as he swam by the boat.