Happy New Year

As planned we spent a quiet NYE with friends at W.P. Franklin Lock campground.  On our way there on NYE we saw the most interesting floating house between Ft. Myers and Cape Coral.  Just as we were passing by a boat was docking there.  I bet they all had a fun NYE in the floating house.

Floating House near Ft Myers / Cape Coral area

New Year's Eve aboard Simplified

To cross the state of Florida through Lake Okeechobee, a series of locks must be navigated.  The locks are small compared to the locks coming down the river in the fall of 2012.  They also work a little differently in that the locks empty and fill by the doors at either end of the lock being opened slightly to let water in or out.  The other locks we've been through filled and emptied using chambers in the bottom of the lock.  We've "locked up" through three of the five locks so far and will finish by "locking down" the last two today.

Ortona Lock on Caloosahatchee Canal

Front bays of the lock opening to let water in and raise us 8 feet

Regardless of the direction of travel, boats lock up to Lake Ockeechobee and lock down to either the Gulf or the Atlantic.  The trip from Franklin Lock to Clewiston  was very uneventful and a bit boring.  Much of the trip through the Caloosahatchee River and Canal is either desolate or man made by the Army Corps of Engineers.   It was a day spent "in the ditch".  The most exciting thing were cows and a few alligators.  

Cows on the Caloosahatchee River

The trip on New Years Day was a shorter day at 55 miles and we arrived mid-afternoon.  That gave us time to go split a hamburger for lunch off the boat at the Tiki Bar that is part of Roland Martin Marina.  Yes, Roland Martin the famous bass fisherman.  A neat little resort compound.  Across the canal while docked we saw a rather large iguana just hanging out.  He was pretty active and possibly trying to court a female the way he was throwing his head around and showing off his large beard.

Iguana at Clewiston at Roland Martin Marina on  Lake Okeechobee

This morning we are crossing Lake Okeechobee and plan to dock in Stuart this evening.