Visited Moore Haven, Clewiston, Indiantown marina yesterday and today.
My delivery, a 34' Mainship brought from Arnold MD en route to Punta Gorda FL
is the hard at Indiantown marina, where I put it on Friday 10/21 to wait out
Hurrican Wilma.
With official word from Clewiston Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) office early
yesterday morning that the lock system would be open and ready for westbound
transit by yesterday 10/28 or early today 10/29, I returned to the boat,
provisioned and arranged for dropping in the water. By late Friday, Clewiston ACE
reported "not sure if locks will open by Monday 10/31", so we did not splash the
boat.
When I left Indiantown at 10:30 am this morning to drive home again,
Clewiston ACE office reported that Port Mayaca lock MAY be open by Thursday 11/3.
LOTS of boats are anchored outside of Indiantown marina waiting to proceed
westbound. Indiantown marina is full beyond capacity trying their best to
accomodate stranded boaters. Good news is that Indiantown has electricity, so the
restaurants and stores in town are open.
As of today, St. Lucie lock is open to allow transit between Stuart and
Indiantown. Boats cannot proceed further west, as Port Mayaca lock is closed,
blocking transit to the lake.
Clewiston has a lot of damage and did not have electricity yesterday. Roland
Martin marina docks and roofs over covered slips are "upside down", with docks
on top of the roofs. At least 5 boats are docked at Moore Haven, with that
lock not yet open to east or westbound transit.
So - for all those planning a complete cruise across Okeechobee waterway, it
looks to me like it may be up to a week or maybe more before the whole system
is open and running smoothly.
Capt. Calvin