Crossing the big "O"

[thoward]

How long does it take to cross Lake Okeechobee? Is it best to stage at entrance and start early? If so any suggestions where to stay on the West coast with a 60' conv. and a 5' draft?

 

[StratPlan61]

As I recall it took me about 5 hours entering from the St Lucie Canal transiting from the '2:00 o'clock position and exiting to the Caloosahatchee Canal at the 8:00 o'clock position'. Kind of a lazy 'S' sailing line as I traveled east-to-west. I was cruising around 12 knots. You can only go so fast in the perimeter canals at the southwest side of the lake. I stayed at Moore Haven on the western end just past the lock. Good seawall, the local harbormaster walked down and collected my dockage, reasonable rate as I recall. Hope it helps.

Bear'
1984 61' MY Strategic Plan

 

[Pascal]

it's really just a couple of hours accross the lake (at 9kts) but you also have a good 2 or 3 hours in the canal portion on the SW shore.

I spent the night at the cty dock on the SW side, was it La Belle ? dont' remmeber for sure, right before the lock. overall at 9kts it was a 2 day run across. at higher speeds you can do it in one day... there are a few no wake zones near marinas but no too many.

 

[67hat34c]

We went from Palm City to Captiva 2 yrs ago. lake crossing is fast, watch out for Rocky Reef on the west side. You should be able to easily make Ft Myers. Stay at the Ft Myers Municipal Marina, Very Nice and you can walk to down town from there. Good resteraunts etc. Labelle is a toilet, dont recommend staying there. there is a muni dock, not a marina, that is lousy. the thing that takes the time is the locking, 5 locks,

 

[Brian Degulis]

We did that trip in April of this year with a 61' MY 5' draft from Lauderdale we used Saint Lucie Inlet plenty of water there. The first night at Indiantown Marina easy in and out then through 4 locks and lake and to Fort Meyers Municipal pretty un eventfull very easy navigation. Be sure to check the Army Cor of engineers website for lock operations and lake water levels.

Brian

 

[67hat34c]

they have web site with daily lake levels.also status of locks etc. i believe with the amount of rain we have that it will be at its max.

 

[Kerry Alexander]

This is the link to the ACOE for the Lake O area.
It has the lake level and good info.
We have made the trip across from FT Myers to the East Coast 5 times at about 8 knots with no problesms. The olny thing to watch is a strong wind out of the North.

http://www.saj.usace.army.mil/sfoo/index.html
Kerry Alexander
Diamond Sun
1969 50MY

 

[ThirdHatt]

We took the ICW up to Stuart from West Palm Beach, entered the Lake Okechobee waterway and got to the lake around 4pm. We crossed the lake in a couple of hours and stayed at Roland Martin's Marina that night. What a place! They have a Tiki Hut bar and it was big fun. The next morning we headed out around 7am and got to Ft. Myers around 3pm. We decided to cruise a little further since it was still early and went all the way to the coast and stayed at Boca Grande so we would be very close to the inlet to hop offshore and run up to Clearwater the next day.

There is some skinny water between Stuart and the entrance to the Lake Okechobee waterway, and also between Ft. Myers and the coast. Follow your charts! We stayed STRICTLY in the channel and still had a fairly high pucker factor several times. We cruised most of it around 10kts with a few short planing cruises at 15kts in the waterway when nothing was around. It is an easy cruise and you may see manatee and alligators along the way like we did. Plenty of playful dolphin around Ft. Myers as well!

 

[67hat34c]

the worst water is between stuart and I95 bridge. very common for the channel markers to be knocke down so be careful. as you know shoals will be on the inside down stream of all turns in the river. when you go past American Custom Yachts, besure to get your worship rug out and bow towards them and repeat we are not worthy, we are not worthy.