Another Great Anchorage

 TRAVEL DAY 4 - Cabbage Key to Cape Coral

February 19, 2023

3.3 Hours/26.8 Miles

    We pulled out of Cabbage Key at a little past 9 am and headed to Cape Coral/Fort Meyers. This was by far one of the prettiest days yet, with little wind and mild temperatures. We untied, chugged out of the basin, turned to the south and headed out. As we turned east we entered "The Miserable Mile". Appropriately named since it is narrow, has quite a strong cross current at times and is absolutely littered with boats. We were traveling on a Sunday and since the weather was fantastic the number of boats coming at us was incredible, I felt like a Salmon swimming upstream.

I've only seen this many boats on the first day of Scallop Season!

    We pushed our way through the gauntlet of boats and made our turn to an anchorage in Cape Coral called Bimini Basin. The approach was simple but the last marker showed us less than 4' of water. It was low tide and I pulled the boat out of gear and drifted into the 7' deep channel back to Bimini Basin. On each side of the the canal we could see the remnants and devastation of Hurricane Ian. Even after after 5 months, every 5th house or so had a blue tarp on the roof and we could see so many destroyed docks and boats still laying onshore. 

    This was a beautiful neighborhood with canals that spread in all directions with small homes and large mega mansions.  At the end of the main canal was a large basin with a few boats anchored. We set the anchor and dropped the dinghy to motor over to the nearby park. 

    On our way over to the dinghy dock, we saw another Loop "Volition" that dropped anchor. We boated over to them and introduced ourselves, chatted awhile and then continued to the dinghy dock to tie up. 

    

    We filled our drinking water jugs, put them back in the dinghy and walked the .9 miles to the Winn-Dixie to grab a few supplies. Back in the dink and back on board we settled in for a quiet evening in a very quiet anchorage. We had a very quiet, uneventful night.

TRAVEL DAY 5 - Cape Coral/Fort Meyers to Labelle

February 20, 2023

6.14 Hours/44.1 Miles

    We had planned to pull out at around 10 am, as we were sipping our morning coffee we noticed our new friends were motoring out. "Wondering why they are moving so early?" Then Beth chimes in "the tide!" She was right, I checked the tide chart and it was almost low tide. We were like fireman on our way to a 5 alarm fire. Dead low tide was in about 1 hour and it was predicted lower than when we came in, we needed to move. And move we did, we had the anchor pulled and were motoring out in less than 15 minutes. 

   

    It was a good call and we slid over the shallow spot and back out to the Caloosahatchee. Now breakfast. Beth made some toaster waffles, bacon and fresh coffee. Now this is a cruise, another beautiful day. We motored on to Fort Meyers and all along the way we could see more sunken boats and damage. 

    This was pretty easy boating with plenty of depth, very little boat traffic and light wind. Perfect. As we made our way east and to our first big challenge. Our first lock. We approached The Franklin Lock. We called the Lockmaster on VHF 13 "Franklin Lock, eastbound vessel requesting a lift". We were asked to wait  at the Dolphins until he could lock trough a westbound vessel. Dolphins are a set of pilings pulled together in a pyramid and spaced every 40' or so and used for waiting boats and barges to use to tie off to until it is their turn to lock through. We maintained our position, put on our life jackets and deployed our fenders. Once we saw the green light, we moved into the lock chamber and placed our boat on the wall. We informed the lockmaster that this was our first lock. The lockmaster handed Beth a line and I grabbed a stern line. He was very helpful and gave us advice about not only this lock but the others down the canal.  We held them in hand, keeping the boat in place as the large doors behind us shut and the forward doors partially opened flooding the lock and raising us about four feet. Once the level was raised, the forward doors fully opened. We dropped the lines, pushed off the wall and slowly proceeded out of the lock. Easy! 

    With our first lock behind us we proceeded across the Caloosahatchee Canal to Labelle. Not having a firm idea where we would stay, we anchored up at the boat ramp dock in Labelle and walked next door to a motel with some empty slips. We asked if they were taking transient boaters and they were, so we grabbed a slip. It took me a little time to realize how much easier this type of docking was. There is no tide between locks, except for the wind, the boat stays put. No need for spring lines that allow for a tidal change. 

    Once we got tied up, we unloaded the scooters and headed into town. Naturally we made our way to the Labelle Brewery where we got a couple of beers and some food. We made our way back to the boat to settle in for the evening.

    These brand new docks didn't have power but it was a cool night and great sleeping weather with all the hatches open. The next morning, the river was covered with fog and Osprey's screeched out a morning alarm. 

Labelle Sunrise

TRAVEL DAY 6 - Labelle to Clewiston

February 21, 2023

5.6 Hours/37 Miles

       We tidied up the cabin and pulled out of our slip and headed for Lake Okeechobee and Rowland Martin Marina. 

    Not sure about my fuel consumption I pulled into the next marina down the canal to fill up the tanks. The price was good at $4.75/gallon and a super easy tie up. The dockhand was a young girl with a great attitude and super helpful and friendly. Once we got tied up we were greeted by a little tabby cat that was intent on jumping on to our boat for a cruise down the river. Only the "don't you even think about it..." from the dockmaster stopped her.  We took on 40.5 gallons of fuel and I was happy about the apparent 1.5 gallon per hour consumption of diesel. 

    With a full tank of fuel we proceeded down the river to the next lock at Ortana.  This was our second lock and we felt like we had mastered this skill already. With a short 3' rise in level, we moved on out and down the canal. 

    There is a whole lot of nothing in this part of the state and at the same time there is an abundance of beauty. The land stretches on forever as we passed immense cattle fields and farms as well as houses and docks along the canal. Birds of all sorts and the occasional gator kept us entertained as we cruised east.

    Just when we thought we had gone through our last lock and on to the lake, we had to lock back to get to Rowland Martin Marina. This was the smallest lock yet and as wide as it was long. As soon as we exited the lock we were immediately at Roland Martin Marina. A channel 16 VHF call and a man with a red shirt waived us in. Sam the dockmaster, who lives on his sailboat at the marina was an interesting fellow with a calm demeanor and a stark contrast to the "crusty dude" a few days back. "no hurry here captain" he said as we settled up starboard side to the long old floating dock. 

    Just after tying up we looked down the dock and saw our new Canadian Looper friends on "Volition" and fifteen or so minutes later another Looper "Irish Hurricane" pulled up. "Docktales" were scheduled for just before sunset. A Looper tradition is getting together on the dock with a beverage and a folding chair, meeting and chatting with other Loopers and discussing who we were, where we came from and other experiences on and off the Loop. A fantastic evening that was only ended by darkness and a lot of Clewiston mosquitos.

    Onward to Lake Okeechobee!