We made our way across Lake Okeechobee in fair weather. This lake is very shallow and staying in the channel is necessary. The route starts out with a few bends and twists to get around reefs and then takes a straight shot to the Port Mayaca Lock and the entrance to the St Lucie Canal. Not much to say about scenery along this route. After passing through the lock we came upon a railroad bridge with a 7' clearance with the bridge down and 47' clearance with the bridge open. While crossing the lake we passed a sailboat with a 53' mast. We had met the owners of this boat a few days ago while at a marina and had a discussion about the bridge clearance. They said they made arrangements to have their boat 'tipped' to make it under the bridge. We were well ahead of schedule so we decided to witness this event. We hung around and had lunch until the sailboat approached the bridge. A small work boat pulled alongside their boat and loaded 50 gallon plastic drums along starboard rail of the boat, filled them with water which caused the boat to tilt far enough to lower the mast height enough to fit under the bridge. A neat trick. The work crew said they do this for about 100 sailboats each year.
We are in a very small marina under a beautiful full moon getting ready for tomorrows adventure. We will finally make it to the FL east coast.
Y'all stay vertical,
Capt John and First mate Sue
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