We headed out of Ft Meyers at 10 a.m.. Just as we cleared the inlet an alarm sounded off. It was the Starboard engine over heating. We shut the engine off and turned towards shallow water so we could drop the anchor and check it out. Once in the engine room Chip looked the sea strainer, it was ¾ full of debree, so I cleaned it and he reinstalled it. We started the engine up and looked at the water flow….still no water coming out so we immediately shut the engine off and Chip went back into the engine room. After a quick look around he discovered the problem….the impeller had absolutely NO blades left on it! It was a mystery how it could have just self destructed, since we had no indications until now. Anyhoo, after changing out the impeller we were on our way.
We encountered our first lock at 2:30. From here we would start looking for dockage for the night since it was obvious we were not going to make Moore Haven today as planned due to our earlier delay. A few miles down the river we passed what looks like a….well….I can’t really describe it. It’s a boat with two outboards, one pontoon and loaded down with kayaks. Your guess is as good as ours, but it was interesting.
(Note: we are 1/3 the way across the Okeechobee and I still have not seen any alligators)
We reached the Labelle Bridge and saw a few places to tie up for the night. There were a few finger piers at the base of a boat ramp, so we tied up to the last one available. No power, no
water hook up, but it was free! (Holy crap, I’m starting to think like a sail boater!!) Ha! We spent a quiet night listening to crickets and the occasional splash of something feeding on fish and frogs. We actually saw one small frog swimming across the water and all of a sudden disappeared (..and it did not dive). I think it was a small gator, but Chip and the guy on the sailboat next to us thought it was a Tarpon or Snook. We spent an hour or so casting in the direction of the splashes, but no luck.
In bed early, had to get up at 5:30 so we could get through the bridge before 7:00 (they were on restricted hours from 7-9).
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