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.