Jan 8/9 - Lake Okeechobee

This is one of our longest days, 9 hours of travel. Three Locks and the lake to cross and into Stuart. We got an early start at the first lock in Moore Haven, then crossed the Lake. The Lake is larger than Simcoe and is the 2nd largest freshwater lake entirely within the US and is completely bordered by a 32 foot wall and water control stations. The start was pretty much a man made channel and at Clewiston we turn into the Lake itself. The water is almost black and averages about 10 feet deep. We must have stirred up fish or something as we had seagulls following us across the lake. Once across we had the Mayaca and St. Lucie Locks to travel down to Stuart Florida. Once in Stuart we headed to Kitching Cove  up the St. Lucie  River for our first anchorage on the east coast of Florida. The most pleasant surprise was anchoring beside our good friends Sheldon and Cyndi aboard C-Shel II. We decided to stay two nights here after a long day previously, and had the opportunity to dinghy with Sheldon and Cyndi to a great restaurant in Stuart for dinner.