On the 5th, we continued across the Little Bahama Bank to anchor on the lee side of Mangrove Cay, which is very small. The wind was still blowing out of the southwest, and the waters continued to be choppy. Upon our arrival at Mangrove Cay, we were pleased to find another trawler anchored there - Freelance... folks we had met earlier at Tilloo Cay - Darryl and Jennifer. They were headed back to their home in Stuart. Darryl told us the St. Lucie Inlet had recently been dredged and remarked, and it was safe to enter. We changed our route plan to cruise across with them to Stuart rather than heading to Lake Worth. Of course, we couldn't leave Bahamian waters without experiencing another thunderstorm with lots of lightning during our last night.
Well before daylight on the 6th, we hauled anchor and headed west with Freelance. We cruised for about three hours on the Little Bahama Bank to Memory Rock. No sun - just dark clouds all around with more wind and choppy seas! On the VHF radio, the National Weather Service announced severe thunderstorm warnings for coastal waters of Florida for the areas for which we were headed; they were moving northeast toward us. Wonderful! Just what we were hoping for!!
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| OMEGA HEADED WEST ON THE LITTLE BAHAMA BANK |
CIRCUMNAVIGATING LARGE STORM AS WE LEAVE THE BANK FOR DEEP WATER
Capt. Bill said we were turning back if it was rough when we got off the Little Bahama Bank and into deeper waters. But before we got to that spot, we were surrounded by another thunderstorm. Fortunately, he was able to skirt around the edges of it, so it wasn't too bad. Much to our surprise, once we passed Memory Rock and moved into deep water, the wind subsided some and the seas got calmer. No need to turn back, but the skies still looked threatening. About 6 pm, we arrived at the St. Lucie Inlet and proceeded through it into calm waters. Hoorah!! We are back in the good ole USA!! We picked up a mooring ball at Sunset Bay Anchorage at mile 7.9 on the Okeechobee Waterway and said farewell to Capt. Darryl and Jennifer. Fourteen hours and 108.6 miles...we're so thankful it's behind us!
Sunset Bay Marina/Anchorage, built just three years ago, is a beautiful marina. We enjoyed having lunch on the 7th at the marina restaurant and then went for a walk-a-bout through the restored downtown area. It's a very nice area with some very interesting shops.
Early on the 8th, we headed west on the Okeechobee Waterway and locked through the St. Lucie Lock at 9 AM. The locks at each end of the waterway have restricted openings to conserve the water in Lake Okeechobee. They open every two hours on the odd hour. Between Stuart and Lake Okeechobee, you are on the St. Lucie River and canal. East of the lake after you pass Moore Haven, you pick up the Caloosahatchee River. The skies were still totally overcast - where, oh where is the sun?
As we neared the Port Mayaca lock, which is just before the east side of Lake Okeechobee, we were again surrounded by thunderstorms. We were beginning to think we were the center of attraction no matter where we were! It rained most of the way across Lake Okeechobee (25 miles), but we missed the brunt of the thunder and lightning, thank goodness.
However, little did we know what we would experience ahead! About three miles before reaching the Moore Haven lock in a very narrow section of the waterway, we came to a construction site with huge steel pilings next to each other. They reduced the width of the waterway by at least a third. There was a warning sign stating "Stay close to pilings for deep water." On the right side, there were a number of big orange balls. One of these balls was out of place and was right in our path. We couldn't get between it and the steel pilings, so Capt. Bill slowly inched to the right side of it. Suddenly we heard "CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH!" as we hit rocks! It was after 5 PM on Friday, so no one was at the construction site. Two other smaller boats were ahead of us, so when we got to the lock, we got the name and phone # of one of the captains. The lockmaster gave us the name and phone number of the Army Corps of Engineers Operations Manager, so we can contact him on Monday.
MISPLACED BUOY AT CONSTRUCTION SITE
We tied up at the Moore Haven City dock for the night and tried to calm down!
We continued west on the Okeechobee Waterway on the 9th. The sun finally decided to come out, and we were able to be up on the flybridge to enjoy the scenery. There are lots of nice homes with beautiful lawns and landscaping, especially from east of LaBelle until you get to the wide open waters of the Caloosahatchee River near Ft. Myers.
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| A NICE GRAZING SPOT ALONG THE WATERWAY |
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| ONE OF THE PICTURESQUE HOMES ON THE WATERWAY |
Because Capt. Bill needed to dive under OMEGA to assess damages from hitting the rocks, we decided to go to our friends' dock (Jim and Shirley Chapman) in Cape Coral where the water is clearer rather than to Marinatown in N. Ft. Myers. Fortunately, it looks like the keel and stabilizer are okay, but we dinged three blades of our starboard prop. Bill will have to pull it and get it repaired again, the third time in seven months! Joy!
This concludes the blog of our trip to the Bahamas. It was great even though we didn't have good weather most of the time, and we are thankful for the memories!
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