Peace and Perils of the ICW

A second coffee pot shattered to pieces on this trip. The first was on the Atlantic Ocean’s savage seas, this one by a speeding go fast boat.

Motoring peacefully and lawfully at eight miles an hour in the intracoastal waterway just south of Sanibel Island and —Whoosh! Where did he come from? No warning! No AIS!  Just sheer unadulterated speed! Went around us like a cheetah in heat.

Drying dishes flew everywhere along with the French Press carafe and the bananas. Fortunately, I had the important things like computers and liquor secured and I have a spare coffee pot. It must have been this offending boaters first time driving; at least that is what Denny said when he called him on the radio.

Denny lied to me! He told me we only had one lock to go; the Okeechobee waterway.

Apparently it turns out that the Okeechobee has five locks in its system. He misled me into thinking that the five locks are really one. I should have done my homework and checked up on him.

East of the W.P. Franklin Dock and Dam on the Okeechobee Waterway is a small but attractive Army Corps of engineers marina with full facilities. The peninsula, lush and green, surrounded by water, includes, RV slots, marina slips, treed picnic areas, fishermen and an occasional alligator.

A Gold Looper met us on the dock and helped guide our 49 foot trawler into a slip meant for a much smaller boat. The sunset and the weather were breathtaking! Two days from home!!