Back in Satellite Beach

Dotted line path showing clockwise journey around Florida, and the locations where we stopped each evening.

Manatee Pocket

Under Yamaha 8 hp power from Indiantown to the St. Lucie Locks; give the little engine a bit of exercise and in fresh water too.

Today we arrived in Manatee Pocket in Port Salerno and thus completing our loop of southern half of Florida. We anchored in the ol' spot off Pirates Cove Marina at 1:20pm. 73F, sunny and wind brezzy out of the west at 27 mph.

Indiantown

Heavy and continuous rain today so we'll be staying put in Indiantown marina. Between rain showers we walked around the boat yard for the following photo 'essay'.

Indiantown

Rim route with wind on the nose.

Entered St. Lucie canal waterway after route 2 or the rim route passage of Lake Okeechobee. Saw lowest depth near Port Mayaca of 4.1 ft. Army Corps of Engineers publishes a detailed sounding survey on their website (conducted in 2009) of the complete Clewiston-Port Mayaca rim and lake route. They don't recommend any vessel with over 4.65' draft to attempt the rim route with the current lake level of 13.25 feet.

Clewiston

In Clewiston at Roland and Mary Martin Marina. Spotted a good number of gators along the rim route around Lake Okeechobee. Best weather yet on this trip. 80s, sunny and dry.

La Belle

Left this morning from an old college friend's home in Fort Myers.

Anchored along the Okeechobee waterway near La Belle in 21 ft of water. Dinghied to town dock: free water and power but have to med-moor if you want it. Finally a warm 78F day. Cross paths with Jan & Steve on Jessie M earlier in the day on the waterway as they headed West on their counter-clockwise circumnavigation of southern Florida.

Cayo Costa

Motored over to  Cayo Costa State Park docks this morning.

Anchored in behind Cayo Costa. Tucked in south of a sandy point with winds NW at 15 kts but sunny and upper 60s. Great pot luck dinner on Robert Sidney this evening.

North Captiva Island

We saw 2 feet at the 'choke point' when entering--eye-ball navigation required because the GPS chartplotter(s) had me directly over the 3 foot marked location. On departure the next day Robert Sidney and Pecan sounded the way out for Polynya, we never saw under 3 feet (good thing for Polynya with their 3'10" draft!)

Anchored in Fosters Bay off North Captivated Island next to fellow Rosborough owners Dave and Barbara on Robert Sidney. Met their fellow Canadian friends John and Lees on Polynya, a NorSea 27. NW around 10 to 15 knots, low 60s, sunny.Tamara is in heaven with the quantity, diversity and size of the shells on the gulf-side beach.

Fort Myers Beach

They were having a nice sail as we entered San Carlos Bay.

Entered San Carlos Bay (Fort Myers area) todat at 10am after leaving Naples mooring field at 6:45am with 44F and clear conditions. . A little bumpy run up from Naples. Grabbed moorings ball at Mantanzas Harbor off Estero Island at 11:50am after a fuel fill at Salty Sams Marina

Brezzy Naples

We moved to the a City mooring ball after a day in the slip.

Enjoying our time in Naples. A strong cold front has pushed thru and we've had several days of strong NW winds, now moderating to 18 knots. High is59F but sunny.