Once again, the authors of this blog have been derelict in their attention to it. We apologize. Guess we’ve been having way too much fun!
 |
| Dinghy fun! |
 |
| Sunrise in Fort Pierce (Carol is not usually awake to photograph sunrise!) |
We enjoyed our time in Fort Pierce, had some excellent family (Carol’s sister Maureen and brother-in-law Fred) visits, and took care of all the necessary repairs (injection pump, port engine throttle cable, dinghy’s motor.)
 |
| Twilight Time at J Dock, Fort Pierce |
 |
| Fred at the wheel |
It had been our plan to go to the Bahamas, but after giving it considerable thought and for a variety of reasons (Maui no ka oi) we decided to go to the west coast of Florida instead. Mal had never been there and Carol had only visited briefly in Tampa.
So, along with Carol’s sister Joan, we took off across the Okeechobee Waterway. For those not familiar with it, it cuts across the middle of Florida, so one doesn’t have to go down south and around the Keys to get to the west coast.
 |
| The Okeechobee Waterway |
It’s a 3 day trip, with some very narrow canals connecting the St. Lucie River to the Caloosahatchee. The new experience for us was the 5 locks we had to go through, because Lake Okeechobee is higher than either coast.
 |
Locking through
|
It is also the second largest lake in the US (740 sq miles) , second only to Lake Michigan. The interior of Florida is very different from the coasts - much more rural (cattle ranches, cowboy country and sugar cane fields.)
 |
| Crossing Lake Okeechobee |
 |
| Joan in dinghy of TT (best view is on top.) |
We arrived on the 6th in Fort Myers. We drove Joan to her daughter’s in Tampa and on the way back stopped in St. Petersburg and Sarasota to look at a couple of marinas for future reference. We will be heading north (on this coast) in a couple of weeks, with our friends Barbara and Roger Garcia, from Arizona.
