Great Loop Statistics to date:
Statute Miles 168.0
Average Miles/Day 42.0
Total Hours Underway: 25.7
Average speed (mph): 7.8
Total Days 6
Travel Days: 4
Locks: 5
Days at/Layover
Marinas: 2/2
Anchor: 1/0
City dock: 1/0
Free Wall: 0/0
Mooring: 0/0
We typically can cross the Okeechobee Waterway in 2 long days to get from either coast of Florida to the other. This time, starting in Fort Myers, we wanted to stop in Labelle, which made for a short first day. This, then, led to taking two additional days to get all the way across due to lock schedules and the crossing of Lake Okeechobee.
Partway across, the forecast was for a nor’easter to pass through the area in a few days. We decided to stop in at Vero Beach, which is well protected from the northeast wind, and wait out the front for a few days. We had not visited the town previously.
Due to the prevailing northeast wind, when we got to Stuart, we anchored in the northeast corner of the turn south in the St. Lucie River (at the end of the purple track above). This was a very good anchorage for us this time, but would not be fun in an easterly or southerly wind. The bottom had great holding, but was made up of a thick, black, “goo” (technical term) that made a mess of the deck when hauling anchor.
Vero Beach City Marina was a comfortable place to hide out from the weather.
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Great Loop Travel Days (GLTD):
001: LaBelle FL from Fort Myers FL
002: Clewiston FL from LaBelle FL
003: Stuart FL from Clewiston FL
004: Vero Beach FL from Stuart FL
Map of our Great Loop travel:
TWO Years of Waiting to Embark on the Great Loop:
We had planned to begin our loop adventure in the spring of 2019, starting in the Southeast. Some medical matters interfered, and we had to skip that year. We attended to the medical issues in northeast Florida.
Almost coincident with our second attempted departure for the Loop in 2020, COVID-19 struck, and we were, once again, prevented from leaving.
So, for the past two years, we have been bouncing around Florida and have completed two “Florida mini-loops” – one winter in the lower keys (red) and the next in the upper keys (aqua):
White Looper Flag is Flying: Finally, while docked in Fort Myers, we hung our “white looper flag”. We purchased the burgee from America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Association (AGLCA). This helps fellow loopers find each other along the route.
When we “cross our wake” in Fort Myers – when we complete the loop, we will have the option purchase a “gold looper flag”, to indicate we are “loop veterans”. Boaters who have completed more than one loop may fly a “platinum looper” flag.
GLTD001 LaBelle FL (from Fort Myers FL): We left early – under the full moon – from Fort Myers for the short cruise to LaBelle.
We only had to pass through 1 lock for this travel leg.
Boater Tip: The Franklin Lock operator gave me a line handling tip: To keep the line from slipping off the cleat, half-X over the cleat instead of half-circle.
💲 LaBelle City Dock offers free slips with power & water for 3 days; you can stay again for 3 night after a minimum of 8 nights away.
Boater Tip: All but one of the free slips appear to be only 16 feet wide. SCOUT, with a 16-foot beam, got wedged between the pilings of the slip we first tried!
As we arrived early afternoon, there was almost no wind and it was hot! 97 degrees that feels like 104 (at the end of March)! (Ignore the date and time; I finally fixed it. We did not arrive at 2:00 AM.)
We did not get to check out the LaBelle Heritage Museum, which was closed for renovations (and is also usually closed on Sundays). But we did see one historical element, an experimental Rotary Steam Engine originally [built in 1938 by Edward Christopher Warren, former associate of famed inventor Nicola Tesla to install in a 114 ft. shuttle yacht ‘Navette’]. Warren planned to [use it to test his rotary steam engines].
Ref: LaBelle Heritage Museum plaque.
Based on my internet search findings, this may be a controversial claim since Tesla had already patented steam engines by that time. (I gave up searching.)
As soon as Ray got the dock lines secure and the power and air conditioning turned on, we “scootered” 1 mile to LaBelle Brewing – a nice venue with outdoor & uncrowded indoor seating. The outdoor patio overlooks a pond across the street, so you feel like you’re near farmland. There was a food truck with good BBQ, mac & cheese, and other goodies.
Recommendations: Milk Stout and Hazelnut Coffee Porter.
GLTD002 Clewiston FL (from LaBelle FL): The sun was rising through the fog as we departed LaBelle.
The fog got thicker for a while. The “Fog Horn” setting on the VHF radio will sound the PA horn every 2 minutes to alert nearby traffic. Since the fog horn was not working, Ray manually sounded the regular horn periodically, and referenced radar instruments to watch for approaching traffic.
📞 Same-day marina planning: I called early morning to reserve space in Clewiston, FL, for the same night at Roland Martin Marina (face dock only).
📞 Future stay marina planning: I also called to reserve space in Vero Beach to wait out a forecasted cold front. Ray said, “This is what’s exciting to me!”, referring to the spontaneous planning. Is that an oxymoron?
📞 Future stay marina planning: I also reserved space in Jacksonville to layover for a few weeks so we could get our 2nd COVID-19 shots.
Once the fog lifted, the short cruise to Clewiston was uneventful. We navigated two locks for this leg – not counting the small lock leading to the canal to Clewiston. Clewiston Lock was open on both sides, as it usually is (I think), so we sounded the horn and proceeded through.
Roland Martin Marina: Captain Sam, an icon in the looper circle, greeted us at the face dock and helped us tie up. We had an early dinner at the Tiki Bar, onsite, and went back to the boat to relax. It was quiet, just as Captain Sam said it would be, since there is no entertainment on Mondays.
I saw a few iguanas sunning at the Army Corps of Engineers site -- across the canal.
GLTD003 Stuart FL (from Clewiston FL)
We left at first light to pass through the small Clewiston canal and were re-entering Caloosahatchee Canal by sunrise. We had a beautiful, but windy, crossing of Lake Okeechobee. Gates at the first lock on the eastern side of the lake, Port Mayaca Lock, were open on both sides. The red signal light was flashing for both travel directions, so that the lock operator could manage which vessels were clear to travel through the chamber.
We saw several of these gorgeous white-needle trees. (I have no idea what they are. I hope they aren’t just dying!)
The water level seemed higher than on our last passage a year ago. I remember feeling bad, last year, for the home owners whose floating docks were sitting on the bottom.
I found a photo, taken last year, of the height board from Moore Haven Lock (western side of the lake), showing lake level well below 14 feet.
The photo, taken this year, of the height board in Mayaca Lock (eastern side of the lake), shows lake level at 18 feet.
⏱ Small delay at Mayaca Railway Lift Bridge (just east of Mayaca Lock). We watched a train pass, then waited about 20 minutes for the maintenance crew to lift the bridge and clear us for passage.
⏱ 90-minute delay at Indiantown Railway Bridge: The maintenance crew had just closed the bridge to begin maintenance – said they wanted to “try something” that would take about 15 minutes. After 25 minutes, Ray hailed the bridge (on VHF radio) for an update; the bridge tender replied he had just stopped the bridge-opening to call in a fire he noticed nearby. We saw police cars and heard fire trucks. After another 15 minutes, Ray radioed the bridge for an update (no response). I called the bridge on the phone (no answer). The bridge tender soon hailed us on radio and requested we quickly “move our boat away from the bridge” since there is a gas pipe under the bridge -- in danger from the fire!
At this point, we began assessing the situation.
There is 1 more east-bound lock, on the other side of this bridge delay, to get us out of the Okeechobee Waterway to Stuart FL. The lock ends operations at 5:00 pm. It is now 12:40pm, so we decide we would need to make alternate plans if there was no bridge opening by 2:00pm.
Fortunately, there is a marina less than a mile backward. Beyond that (backward), the closest anchorage is 9 miles back at the lock, just east of Lake Okeechobee. 😟 And, don’t forget the upcoming weather we want to “wait out” somewhere safe.
Travel Estimates if stuck at this bridge overnight:
1.25 hours BACK (west): to anchor near the previous lock (Port Mayaca), plus
9.5 hours FORWARD (east): 2-hr to the next east-bound lock (St. Lucie), then 7.5-hr to Vero Beach
It was our LUCKY DAY! The Tender hailed us at 1:05pm to report that he was opening the bridge, and we passed through shortly thereafter.
We noticed the area where we saw cattle “at the watering hole” last year is now a housing development.
The cattle egrets are still around.
They must be wondering where their cow friends went.
⚓Anchored. Hoggs Cove in Stuart provided good protection from the E and SE winds. The holding was good and was an easy set, but rated 8/10 on Ray’s anchor-cleaning scale (10 is the worst) – black & sticky.
GLTD004 Vero Beach FL (from Stuart FL): We hauled anchor before sunrise and “made the turn” northward at the ICW, after crossing Florida – west to east. (Actually, we headed south down St. Lucie River, then east (at the inlet), then north on Indian River.)
The sunrise was blinding on the water, making it difficult to see the small day markers (red “cones” and green “cans”) marking the shoals.
Can you spot the markers?
I see at least 4 cans/cones, in addition to a piling marker. (I had to zoom in, as if using binoculars.)
There are pretty homes in this area of Stuart.
Ray stepped away from the helm (quickly) to get a photo of me after one of our routine underway engine room checks.
This “Bird Island” is on Indian River in Stuart. I saw Wood Storks, Pelicans, and a few Roseate Spoonbills.
Zoomed in, you can see the wings spread on a Wood Stork and pale pink Roseate Spoonbills (lower left).
We got to Vero Beach City Marina around lunch time. Vero beach is a nice town with lots going on. Our friends call it “Velcro Beach” because a lot of boaters that come here get stuck and never leave. 😊
After we docked, connected power, and checked in, we walked a few blocks to have a late lunch at Riverside Café. Later in the afternoon, we scootered about a mile to the beach. The next day the winds REALLY started to blow, so we stayed in much of the time and got some chores done. It was a good safe spot to wait out the nor’easter.
This is a huge tree at the marina; there are many of these long, low branching trees on “Orchid Island”, here in Vero Beach. I think maybe they are a type of live oak (but not sure).
Our last night in Vero Beach, we made an excursion downtown on the free Vero Beach coach bus.
Boater Tips: The marina had told us when the bus would stop right at the marina (hourly), but the online map schedule indicated half-hourly (at the quarter-hour). We called the bus line and learned the marina is considered a “special” stop and the bus will only come to the marina at the other quarter-hour if you call ahead to request it. (When planning, use the bus time the marina indicates.)
We got off the bus about 0.5 mile away from the brewery (the closest bus stop) – and that was after riding the entire beach-side loop before crossing the bridge to downtown. Since the bus stops running at 7:00 pm anyway, we grabbed an Uber for the short ride back to the marina. (We would probably skip the bus ride downtown in the future, and either walk, scooter, or Uber the 3 miles.)
America Icon Brewery opened in 2017 in the historic Vero Beach Diesel Power Plant, built in 1927. One of the generators, added to the plant in 1937, is now the centerpiece in the brewery – the main bar. The other diesel generators were reportedly sold to the Bahamas, and some of them are supposedly still running!
A closer look at the “iconic” Lady Liberty beer taps.
This is an interesting venue with a lot of seating inside and on the patio, as well as a few outdoor sofas “lazy” chairs around the fire pit.
There is a large selection of beers, and Ray enjoyed all 6 he selected for his flight.
We shared a delicious burger and creative deviled egg appetizers, then waited for the Uber by the unlit fire pit.
Shortly after our return to the marina, we watched a gorgeous sunset over the nearby mooring field.
The wind was still howling, but the peak for the few days was probably earlier in the day -- around 33 mph.
What’s next?
We’ll continue north – but not out of Florida; we need to get our 2nd COVID-19 shot. 💉 🩹