Delayed departure this morning so I could catch up on some cabinet work... pulling anchor and underway at 1000. This was a very calm and pleasant anchorage but the chain came up with this clay/mud residue on it like glue... came off but took a little extra hosing.

As we exited the St.Lucie River at the ICW we met the Dredge Currituck working they call the "Crossroads"... St Lucie Inlet, St. Lucie River and the ICW... it always is a problem area for shoaling... glad to see them making things "deeper".

It was another beautiful day on water... 10 knot winds and calm water... only waves we saw were from passing boats.

We normally go from Stuart to Cocoa, FL... takes about 12 hours... today we decided to split the trip in half... running about 6 hours today and 6 hours tomorrow... we ran to just a few miles north of Vero Beach to Wabasso, FL... on Active Captain there was an anchorage called Wabasso Anchorage and was right in the middle of our trip.

We reached the anchorage and were securely anchored at 1630. Our location for the night N27°45.585', W080°24.973'. We traveled today for 6 hours and 30 minutes covering 42.5 nautical miles averaging 6.5 knots.

Alarm clocks set for 0600 this morning... need to get an early start to make all the last lock before 1630... the last lockage eastbound.

Sun just starting to light up the eastern sky as we departed Moore Haven at 0645 heading to the Moore Haven Lock that opens at 0700. Forecast for was for a sunny day with NW winds 5-10 knots... light chop on Lake Okeechobee... Perfect!

We had at most 5 minute wait to enter the Moore Haven Lock... only boat in the lock but we did meet a large steel vessel tie to the fenders as we exited the lock... guess they missed the last opening yesterday and tied there for the night.

Last few trips around the rim of the lake we have not seen many alligators... today was totally different... we saw a LOT of them... nothing real big but 40-50 smaller ones between Moore Haven and Clewiston. They are very skittish and drop under the water as you pass close to them. I like alligators that are scared of me...

Leaving earlier than normal we expected to not see so much boat traffic... had a lot boats pass us going east and west... always nice to have other boats moving around you.

We reached Stuart, FL around 1715 and decided to anchor east of the Roosevelt Bridge rather than west of it. The railroad bridge adjacent to the bridge can be very busy in the early morning and have you waiting hours to get through... wanted to bypass that and anchored in Hoggs Cove about 2 miles east of the Roosevelt Bridge... we were securely anchored for the night at 1745 at N27°12.954', W080°12.816'. We traveled today for 11 hours covering 64.1 nautical miles averaging 5.8 knots.

Decided no alarm clocks and but still woke up fairly early around 0700... a bit foggy but forecast was good... sunny with NW winds 10-15 knots that would have no effect on us in the ditch crossing to Lake Okeechobee.

Pull the anchor about 0845 and were underway toward the Franklin Lock at 0900. We just missed an eastbound lockage so we had about a 150-20 minute wait before we could enter the lock. We were joined by a small power boat about 20ft long in the lock.

We were soon underway and headed east across the Okeechobee Waterway. There was a Krogen Trawler "LALI" just ahead of us that left the Franklin Lock State Park Marina just as we exited the lock. We followed them for the entire day. Going through several bridges and the Ortona Lock together. We were joined by an 82ft Burger "INDEPENDENCE" in the Ortona Lock... felt a little cramped for space with them beside us in the lock.

We parted company with "LALI" at Moore Haven... we stopped for the day at Moore Haven and they continued on planning to stop in Clewiston.

We arrived to our normal location the River House Marina for the night N26°49.884', W081°05.423' at 1515. We traveled today for 6 hours and 15 minutes covering 36.6 nautical miles averaging 5.8 knots.