Franklin Campground to Clewiston to Stuart

Kim’s Korner:
After leaving Franklin campground, we started our way across Florida. Beautiful homes turned into rural farms and citrus orchards. As we neared Clewiston, the surroundings became a marsh and all kinds of birds were everywhere. The Clewiston lock was open, meaning the water levels were the same so we didn’t have to “lock” through. On the other side was the Roland Martin Marina which is a long dock in a very narrow canal. Exhausted and starving, eight of us went to the tiki hut where we enjoyed fish and gator tacos. This was the first restaurant I’ve ever been too that had bug spray readily available – and we definitely used it!
We awoke in Clewiston to the sounds of many different birds as well as fisherman everywhere. We were traveling across Lake Okeechobee with four other boats (Maurice & Renée on le Marie Sophie, Dick & Phyllis on Wye Tug, Kent & Jan on Follow That Dream, and fellow Chattanoogans Kent & Jane Overbeck on Rising Tide). Lake Okeechobee is a shallow lake and winds can kick up some pretty rough water so we wanted to pick a good weather day to cross. We could not have asked for a nicer crossing – it was perfect! The waterway itself reminded me of the Tombigbee at times as parts were basically a manmade ditch. The bugs were out in numbers but thankfully, they weren’t biting – just annoying. We also had ash all over the boat – someone told us that came from farmers burning sugar cane fields; smoke can be seen in some of the pictures.
We had originally planned to stay at the Sunset Bay Mooring field in Stuart but high winds were predicted over the next 4-5 days. Since we didn’t want to dinghy to land in these high winds, we decided to stay at Loggerhead Marina which is about 1.5 miles further from town but no waves involved in getting there. Also, if you remember our first mooring ball incident, it was not pleasant and I still have one finger which is still painful even after 7 weeks. Needless to say, I wasn’t too upset about postponing my next mooring ball attempt.
We are looking forward to exploring the town of Stuart!

Pictures