Port #52: LaBelle, FL...Dropping Lines to Finish Loop #2

Great Loop II Date: 04/12/2015

Day #254 (Sunday):  44 miles (3381 total miles)

Locks: 1 (26 total locks)

Bridges: 1 (1 total bridges-these are lift bridges we have to wait to have open)

Port #52: LaBelle, FL

Marina: Free Dock – Okeechobee Waterway

It took some time for us to cast off Sunday morning.  There were last minute things to accomplish with closing the house for 6 months.  Our neighbors, Karen and Brian, are so very good to us when we leave.  There’s always leftover food and garbage to be dealt with.  They are so gracious to take care of both for us as well as keep an eye on the house and the pool.  We’ve been blessed everywhere we’ve lived with caring neighbors, all of which are in our ‘email blog group’.  THANK YOU, Karen, Brian, Ann, Dennis, Lyn, Kevin, Roger, and Donna.  ALL of these folks have kept an eye on either our house in Findlay or our current home in Cape Coral.  I can’t say enough about how deeply we appreciate each and every one of you!

 

Good bye Cape Coral home.

Goodbye Karen and Brian...see you in October.

We pulled away from Sea Dock (our home dock) at 11:30AM and officially started the second half of Great Loop #2.  It’s always a little sad to leave our home and friends in the rearview mirror.  However, beginning new adventure is exciting and a little intimidating as well.  This first part of our return north is all new territory for us.  Additionally, we’ve never gone as far out into the Atlantic as this adventure will take us or left the safety of home shores.

Today’s trip was the shortest of the days ahead.  Todd planned it that way, knowing we’d be leaving later than usual on a travel day.  All of the waters were new for OB at this point.  As soon as we passed the power plant in Fort Myers, it was new territory for us as well.

The first day on the Caloosahatchee River and the Okeechobee Waterway was pleasant and sunny.  We spent most of the trip on the bridge (top section of OB) where it was cool and had a nice breeze.  We were held up at the Franklin Lock and couldn’t make the Ortona Lock before it closed.  We planned to anchor in the Big Bend past the Ortona Lock so we had to adjust our plans.  Active Captain directed us to a free dock near LaBelle, FL.  It was listed as ‘half burned down…but the pilings were still adequate’.  We found the dock, tied up to the pilings just before a rain shower came through cooling things down.  We spent a very pleasant night in quiet, star lit surroundings.

Scenes along the Okeechobee Waterway.

The free dock at LaBelle...part of the dock was burned away.

Sunset after the storm.