Our guests for the next leg of the trip were Stuart and Elizabeth Ann Bell. They met us at Ft Meyers Municipal Marina and I went with Stuart to turn in the rental car at the airport.

That evening we went downtown and found a very nice, brand new restaurant, Varian's.  I was not well dressed, so they would not allow us in the main dining room... BUT they did set us up with a special table in the roof top bar. We were served from the same menu as downstairs. Varian's features continental cuisine.  I had a pair of Lamb chops that were a "lifetime best" and you know I'm no spring chicken. We all recommend Varian's as a great choice. Rank **** Price $$$.

The roof top location turned into a real plus because it was the night of the total Lunar Eclipse. We got to view the eclipse.  The owner was apologetic about banishing our party to the lounge, and wanted us to have a good impression of his place. He offered us a free after diner drink, and we enjoyed the eclipse sipping Courvoisier.

The Waterway to Clewiston
 

The Caloosahatchee River is the waterway for the first half of the trip to Lake Okeechobee. Then in becomes a land cut canal.  There are four locks between Ft Meyers and our chosen overnight at Clewiston.  I had not planned for the additional delays these would cause; as a result we arrived at our destination after dark. Around 5:30 I called Roland Martin Marina and informed them we would be late and they assured me it would be no problem. "Just call when you are at the Clewiston Lock."

Sunset was 5:55. The marina office closed at 6:00 and my radio contact went home.

We had Radar, GPS and The Capt'n pointing the way. Stuart even tried the spot light. This was exciting because we were in unfamiliar waters after dark. There was no way we could get lost BUT it was a first time experience at night.

In the distance were a pair of red lights. As we approached them we could see the lights of the town behind the levee but there were no other easy landmarks. I cut speed to a crawl as we approached the red lights. I called the Clewiston Lock... no answer. I called the Marina... no answer.

My heart sank when we got to the red lights. To my right was a closed dam and the Marina was on the other side. I circled and called on the VHF again.... no response.  It was not in the plan to spend the night on the hook.

Earlier we had overheard a conversation between a 100 foot boat following us and the Moore Haven Lock. It said Clewiston would not open for him because of high winds on the lake. Maybe they would not open for us either, despite assurances from the marina it would be OK.

I slowly circled in front of the closed lock.  I was worried about the total lack of communication from lock and marina.

"Look", said Stuart, "the lock is opening."

Sure enough, it was like being in the land of Oz. A young lady, perhaps in high school, waved from a window in the lock tower to come into the lock. Then she disappeared. The lock continued to open. We moved in gingerly. She reappeared on the wall of the lock and called to us. "Move forward some more so I can shut the gate behind you."

The gate ahead was not far away. I moved to within 10 feet and she said, "Move up five more feet."

I did, and she began closing the gate behind.  Now it became clear why the 100 foot boat was refused entry. The lock was only big enough for about a 60 foot boat at most. At 48 feet we fit. At 100 feet the boat could only pass if  both gates were open.

Clewiston is the sugar capital, built by U.S.Sugar Corp. The famous Clewiston Inn was provided as a center of social and business activity for this one company town. We had the catfish and roast beef buffet dinner in their restaurant. Rank ** Price $$  Hospitality ****

Clewiston to Stuart
 

We were up early because we planned to take the southern rim route. Only 10 miles longer, it is more protected and more scenic. The ICW is wide along the southern rim. There is a high levee on the shore side and a continuous forest of dead trees along the lake side.

These dead trees are the nesting/resting perches of zillions of large black birds. I don't know the names of either the birds or the dead trees. My friend Jack Hardy told me the trees are dead because the government is paying to have them killed. They are a nuisance tree, that is drinking up too much of the lake and threatening the water supply. The trees were originally planted by the Corps of Engineers to provide fast growing protection for the ICW lake side bank.

The trees on the shore side have not been killed yet. This means you pass through a lush forest on the starboard and a dead forest to port.

"Torry Island bridge, Torry Island bridge, This is Remedy requesting an opening."

"Remedy, just pull up and park, I will see you in about five minutes."

While we are waiting Marion pulls out the waterway guide and looks up the bridge. "It's a man operated bridge," she quotes from the book.
 

Sure enough after a few minutes a burly looking guy walks from the island side of the bridge toward the center. Along the way he closes a gate over the road on the island side. He is the bridge operator. As he gets to the middle of the bridge he flags an oncoming pickup from the shore side to back off of the bridge. The truck backs up past the shore side gate.  The operator continues to the shore side and closes the gate. Next he returns to the center of the bridge, releases some latches, and places a 10 foot long crank handle in the deck of the bridge.

 Then he leans heavily into the crank and walks it around and around. This swings the bridge open about 20 degrees on each turn of the crank. Four turns and the bridge is open.

We passed through and could not contain ourselves from giving him a big round of applause. He waved us on cheerily.

There is no lakeside protective shore for the ICW for the last eight miles so we took a direct route to the Port Mayaca lock. We locked though with the Yacht Seneca. It is the 100 foot yacht that was denined passage the previous night into Clewiston.

The land cut canal leading to the St Lucie river was a boring passage. The lock at the end drops you about 14 feet .... very slowly.

We made it to Club Med at the north end of the river basin around 4:00 and just relaxed before going to  dinner and the show.  Still dieting, I was on my best behavior at the fabulous buffet, and avoided the bread,  potatos and rice. After dinner I was not on my best behavior, and got selected to be part of the after dinner entertainment. Five were selected from the audience. I got to play the Saw and Screwdriver in a musical skit. Toward the end of the composition I was reassigned to play the Step Ladder with Broom stick. It was a heap of fun. (anyone get a picture?)

Club Med to Singer Island

The next morning we slept in and left around noon. It was a short trip to Stuart and Elizabeth's house. We got our first taste of East Coast Sunday afternoon ICW traffic. There are many many areas where No Wake is permitted. In other areas the boats speed up, pass close, wake indescriminately.

For the next five days we were tied up at the Bell's fabulous canal side home in Singer Island.  We were right alongside Shearwater, the boat we were married on eight years ago. It was a great break after a week of moving every day. We got to see the town, ate out one evening and did some shopping for comfortable furniture for the aft deck. We found just what we wanted in a consignment store. Now there is a sofa comfortable enough for napping.

Our mail came and a shipment of charts came as well. There is also a service that will deliver fuel to your boat, so we took advantage of that to fill up the tanks.

Elizabeth Ann  (and Stuart too) are a great cooks as well as wonderful hosts. Marion and Elizabeth got up early and played tennis, I got some time to catch up on the web page. We look forward to having them aboard for the Dismal Swamp leg.