After spending two nice days at Franklin Lock Park we departed this morning at 0800 headed today for Moore Haven.

It was a beautiful morning that soon turned to overcast and windy by mid-day. Winds were gusting up to 27 knots and steady at around 20 knots.

Had three bridges and one lock to deal with today… two of the bridges… Alva and Labelle we can clear by lowering the antennas and mast… Fort Denaud is a swing bridge and we have to have it open to get through. Ortona Lock is after all the bridges and was no issue today… lifting us I would guess around 8ft to continue on to Moore Haven.

We did see a huge alligator just before the Alva Bridge crossing the waterway in front of us… estimate it was about an 8 footer. It’s neat to see them. Tried to get a photo but he ducked under the surface when we got close enough to take the shot.

We arrived to our destination for the night and were secure with power connected at 1400. Riverhouse Marina. N26°49.857’, W081°05.445’. We traveled today for 6 hours covering 36.13 nautical miles averaging 6.02 knots.

Layover at Franklin Lock Park so I could do some cabinet design work.

We awoke to a very gray dreary day... very hazy and very very HUMID. We had hoped it would burn off but forecast for cloudy day... Not far planned for the day with destination being Franklin Lock Park. I made a reservation for 2 nights a few days ago... it's a great place to stop and I have some cabinet design to catch up on that always seems to pile up when we start moving... it's ok... helps pay the bills... :)

We departed at 0800. It was not as windy as it has been the two days we were anchored off Cabbage Key which made the trip south much nicer... and the bottom cleaning made a huge difference in speed... we were back up to the normal speeds for RPM... the props were covered in barnacles about a 1/4" thick... and I had not done anything but the props before we left CT last November so I spent a little extra time cleaning the entire hull of barnacles... there were some big ones... anyway, made helped tremendously with our speed.

With the weather conditions... CRAPPY... we figured the boat traffic would be minimal... were we ever wrong... you would of thought it was the weekend still... must still be spring break for some kids.

We did have one surprise today... just past the I-75 bridges on the Caloosahatchee River a boat passes us... the lady aboard was waving a little more energetically than most people wave as they pass. I wave back,,, next thing I know the boat has turned around and is running along side us with someone yelling my name... I go out on the deck of the pilothouse and who do I see but one of good friends Brenda Harkey... never expected to run in to her out on the river... was very brief encounter but nice to see her.

We had one bridge to go under... Wilson Pigot Bridge... 23ft on the sign board...charts say 27ft clearance at center... we might of cleared with antennas down and mast up since I removed the lightning rod on the mast... but figured I lower the mast to be sure.

After the bridge our next obstacle is the Franklin Lock... hailed the lock and entered without delay as we arrived... 15 minutes later we were exiting the lock and turning into our destination for the night.

We arrived to Franklin Lock Park at 1445 and were secure at the dock with power connected and AC on at 1500. Our location for the next two days is Slip B08. We traveled today for 7 hours covering 42.69 nautical miles averaging 6.1 knots.