Day 2 of our Grand Adventure!

Ready for a new day! We were up and off anchor at 8:00.


We got stuck at this railroad bridge because it was actually down for a train! You can see the train on the tracks up on the berm. Danny was just fascinated to see a train drive on the tracks over the water.


Danny decided he knows how to direct me to drive into the lock at Morehaven :)


Waving to the lockmaster at the Morehaven lock. We were the first boat of the day to lock through as it had been closed down because of the smoke and limited visibility from the fires all around the channel. We had hoped to see lots of alligators, but the smoke must be keeping them away.


Danny balancing on one of the boat bumpers. We had to leave them attached to the rails because we needed to put them out every time we went through a lock. He sat right outside the door to the salon so Victoria could watch his every move.


The fires were burning all over these spoil islands. The smell of smoke was overwhelming. We found ash all over the boat after going through this for almost two hours.


The channel out into Lake Okeechobee. This is the only area we touched bottom at all. We went slow the whole time. Where you see this tall grass used to all be underwater. The lake levels are so low it is incredible!


Danny lovingly doing his "chore" of helping his sister fall asleep. She slept for two hours just like this!


A look at Lake Okeechobee. There were NO boats at all on it anywhere. We were all byselves the whole way across. We were so nervous about the crossing but it went really well. Once into the lake we increased our speed till we were up on plane.


This is how Danny entertained himself during the Lake crossing and while Victoria was napping :)


Here we are entering and exiting the Port Myaca Lock. The levels in the lake and the waterway as so similar that this lock is now open and you just have to drive through.
Unfortunately we hit it just as some divers entered the chamber to do a fix so we actually had to wait an hour :(


This picture shows why so many people refer to the intercoastal waterway as the "ditch"


A little fixer upper just waiting for some loving :)


Waterfront property with a dock to nowhere! With the water levels as low as they are here what used to be waterfront is now beachfront or weedfront!


The kids were just facinated that the cows were right on the bank! We saw them in lots of places.


Everyone needed a little levity at this point :)

We knew we would not make the St. Lucie 3:00 opening since we got stuck at the Port Mayaca Lock so we anchored just north of the lock, had a wonderful pasta dinner in the cockpit and were all asleep by 9:00.
We traveled 63.5 statute miles in 9 hours. We traveled from Moorehaven to St. Lucie.