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April 2018 Lake Okeechobee Trip
Carey and I enjoyed a shake down cruise to Roland Martin Marina on the west side of Lake Okeechobee 13-16 April 2018. After driving to Fort Pierce City Marina, where the boat is moored, Friday morning we got underway for Lake Okeechobee. Twenty miles into the trip, at Port St Lucie, the starboard engine stopped running while waiting for the Roosevelt Bridge to open. Ouch! We traveled to closeby Harbour Inn Marina, a small local marina with a fantastic restaurant, The Deck. With the help of our mechanic, who was luckily available, we found out the starboard engine had run out of diesel. A clogged vent line had prevented a proper fuel fill-up the last time and the fuel gauge was not working properly. We unclogged the vent line and were ready to fuel early the next morning. So, one problem found and fixed. We celebrated with a great dinner at The Deck. Up early on Saturday morning, we fueled and traveled 50 NM to Clewiston, home to Roland Martin Marina. We'd heard about the marina and wanted to see what's up with the place. On the way we passed an old paddle wheeler tour boat headed toward Stuart. We had to lock through the first of two locks on the east side of Lake Okeechobee then simply drove through the second located right at the lake. Carey was on the bow enjoying the ride. On the Lake, we had an easy transit at 22 knots for just over an hour to Roland Martins.
Later that day we were safely tied up at Roland's in the midst of a bass fishing tournament ... over 100 bass boats were getting their catches weighed, which was fun to watch. Later, we enjoyed an OK dinner and retired to TV and cocktails. On Sunday we relaxed and stored stuff on the boat, simply getting acquainted with the new Apolonia. A very big downsizing of boat and of labor! Monday morning, while walking Maddy, I took pictures of the grounds and Tiki bar, then Carey and I got underway for the east coast. We decided to take the direct route across the Lake again and were surprised by 3 to 4 foot seas and 15+ Kts of wind. A bit rough but we learned the boat handled the seas very well. The more we are aboard the better we feel about the decision to buy her. Back through the locks we passed a beautiful Burger named Mandala. We fueled to verify our mileage and decided to return to Fort Pierce for the evening. Tuesday we cleaned the boat and relaxed knowing we've probably bought the right boat for our next adventures on the water.
