As pretty much all of us know by now, the Okeechobee Waterway is suffering from shallow water problems. One day, though, depths will be restored, and come those happier times, reports like the one below from concerning the Moore Haven City Marina will be of great interest to the cruising community!

One of the places I can give a plug to is the City Marina at Moore Haven (FL) on the Okeechobee Waterway (not directly on the  Intracoastal – down a small canal after the bridge).  I pulled into  Moore Haven just as they set the lake bottom afire to burn off grass (vid #9) so an unplanned overnighter, and went down the narrow canal to the covered fuel dock which looked as if it hadn't been used in 50 years.  4 oldtimers were playing cards and having some brew and I asked if it was OK to tie up there and walk to the IGA (groceries) and mentioned I could use some fuel and the executive decision was made that I could stay there as long as I wanted.  One of them said "son, living here is like being in a nonstop version of Deliverance — are you familiar with the movie?"  Indeed I was . . .  One of them volunteered to take me to the store in his golf cart (a story in itself) and when I returned there was a (real) manager there with a fifty gallon drum of fuel.  I thought uh-oh, here comes some water, but it turned out to be one of the few places I got clean fuel (I took on a big load of water somewhere up the pike).  Price: Circle-K + .10 a gallon (I have no clue if that's where he got it).  I got gasoline — but considering the atmosphere, they would probably get you anything you wanted, including a rather clear tasteless and odorless liquid that tends to make one want to sing "hidey ho."  I will deny all knowledge of such . . .
Matt Mattson

As pretty much all of us know by now, the Okeechobee Waterway is suffering from shallow water problems. One day, though, depths will be restored, and come those happier times, reports like the one below from concerning the Moore Haven City Marina will be of great interest to the cruising community!

One of the places I can give a plug to is the City Marina at Moore Haven (FL) on the Okeechobee Waterway (not directly on the  Intracoastal – down a small canal after the bridge).  I pulled into  Moore Haven just as they set the lake bottom afire to burn off grass (vid #9) so an unplanned overnighter, and went down the narrow canal to the covered fuel dock which looked as if it hadn't been used in 50 years.  4 oldtimers were playing cards and having some brew and I asked if it was OK to tie up there and walk to the IGA (groceries) and mentioned I could use some fuel and the executive decision was made that I could stay there as long as I wanted.  One of them said "son, living here is like being in a nonstop version of Deliverance — are you familiar with the movie?"  Indeed I was . . .  One of them volunteered to take me to the store in his golf cart (a story in itself) and when I returned there was a (real) manager there with a fifty gallon drum of fuel.  I thought uh-oh, here comes some water, but it turned out to be one of the few places I got clean fuel (I took on a big load of water somewhere up the pike).  Price: Circle-K + .10 a gallon (I have no clue if that's where he got it).  I got gasoline — but considering the atmosphere, they would probably get you anything you wanted, including a rather clear tasteless and odorless liquid that tends to make one want to sing "hidey ho."  I will deny all knowledge of such . . .
Matt Mattson