You Never Know

With a gator bidding us farewell, we left Clewiston mid morning on Wednesday and crossed a choppy Lake Okeechobee under clear but hazy skies with smoke from prescribed burns in the distance. Lake Okeechobee is a bit of a conundrum--especially for a vessel the size of Katahdin. Lake "O", which supplies much of South Florida's drinking water not to mention its irrigation needs, covers 730 square miles, nearly the size of Rhode Island. But it is shallow. Even when it's full, the lake's depth maxes out at 9-12 feet and much of it measures only in inches. As a result, you cross this massive lake staying in a very narrow and by no means straight dredged channel--almost 30 miles in all. Once you leave shore, you don't see much--not even the other side!

However, once we passed through the Port Mayaca Lock leaving the lake and entering the St. Lucie River, birds and wildlife abounded. We saw Great Blue Heron, a variety of different kinds of Egrets, Ibis, Red Winged Blackbirds, Osprey, an immature Bald Eagle, Willets, Kingfisher, and several Tricolor Heron A Green Heron flew right across the river in front of us and lit on the opposite shore. But by far our most interesting sighting was a recently deceased gator that Black Vultures were beginning to pick apart. Wow, except in Africa, I'd never seen anything quite like that!

Amazing What You Come Upon

We were planning to spend the night at Indiantown Marine Center. When we got there though, because of low water, their steel and concrete face dock was impossible to tie up to. They kindly offered us the opportunity to tie up to a dock on wooden pilings next to their travel lift which we did. But, having done that we realized that it would be like climbing the Matterhorn to get out of the boat onto the dock--not easy for the Admiral with her hip challenges. And, to be honest, it didn't really look like there was much to get out for anyway. We called Sunset Bay Marina in Stuart where we were planning to spend the next night. Yes, they could accomodate us for two nights. And so, we pressed on.

With an extra day in Stuart, the Admiral got to work scheduling our time and soon I learned that we would be visiting a museum, moving on to lunch, going to the beach, and finally doing a grocery shop at Publix. She allowed Ubers to the museum and back to the boat from Publix but otherwise we hoofed it.

The Elliott Museum pleasantly surprised. While they featured reproduction exhibits of King Tut and Farberge Eggs, we found their permanent exhibits more intereting. They had approximately 100 antique automobiles, 55 of which were housed in a three story automated facility. You told the attendant which vehicle you wanted to see; he entered it into the computer, and the system retrieved it, brought it to the ground floor, put it on a turntable, and displayed it to you from every angle. This system captivated the Admiral; she can't stop talking about it. She especially appreciated seeing a Volkswagon only several years newer than the one she and her sisters drove in high school. You know you're old when you remember driving antique cars that weren't antique then!

A Ford Woody on the Turntable Display

Another vehicle I found interesting was a 1914 Detroit Electric Five Passenger Opera Coupe. With a range of 80 miles, it was a marvel back in the days when you had to hand crank noisy, smelly internal combustion engines. Hard to imagine that they had electric vehicles way back then.

Detroit Electric Opera Coupe

Harmon Elliott established the Elliott Museum in honor of his father, Sterling Elliott, a serial inventor. The elder Elliott held 125 patents, perhaps the most famous of which was a steering knuckle that revolutionized automotive steering. Among other things, he also invented an addressing machine, a knot tying machine and the first women's bicycle.

Elliott's First Women's Bicycle

Not related to Elliott so far as I could tell, the museum also showcased some Evinrude Outboard history. I learned for the first time that Evinrude and Elto were both founded by Ole Evinrude and that Elto stood for Evinrude Light Twin Outboard. As a boy, an Evinrude powered by grandmother's 12 foot aluminum boat which I used a thousand times more than she ever did and I've owned several Evinrudes as an adult. And, in our basement in Maine, I still have my great-grandfather's Elto from the late 19 teens or early 20s which he used primarily on Chickawaukie Lake in Rockland, Maine .

So Much History--Some of It Personal!

When we got museum "head", we went next door for lunch and then hiked a short distance to a surprisingly busy beach. Even more surprising, the water was a lot warmer than it had been just a couple of days before on the Gulf. The Gulf Stream apparently does make a difference. We didn't have bathing suits with us so made do with wading. A lot of shorebirds, intent on pecking whatever it is they eat out of the sand joined us including this Sanderling.

A Sanderling on the Beach in Stuart.

i won't bore you with our trip to Publix or our ho hum supper at the Riverwalk Cafe and Oyster Bar. I will tell you however that, yesterday, we traveled 45 miles up the ICW in the rain and heavy spray from 1-2 foot waves on the beam. We saw a lot of the usual suspect birds but a Roseate Spoonbill who flew very close overhead and an Osprey feeding her chicks at the top of a day marker we could have reached out and touched were the highlights.

Enough for now. we're giving up on doing laundry and going to the beach.