Wow, there’s all sorts of great cruising info in Captain RB’s message below, concerning both the Okeechobee Waterway, and cruising the Western Florida coastline from Fort Myers south to Boca Grande!

Subject: Fl trip
Cruising News: I just got back from a spring break cruise with the family and thought I would share my observations. We left Stuart at 10AM and arrived at Ft Myers at 8PM. We stayed at the Ft Myers Yacht Basin which was an easy and pleasant walk to the happening Downtown seen. Had a very good meal at Delicious things. Left the next morning for Boca Grande and had a beautiful ride and found the Miserable Mile not so miserable. Stayed at Boca Grande Marina and while it was expensive it was nice and clean. I draw 5 feet and am very concerned with running aground and I did not have any issues with the channel. I went 50 feet past Green 7 and made my turn to Boca Grande Marina. You can see the shoal which helps. We then enjoyed Boca Grande for 2 days. Rode bikes and dinghied to the north end of the island where Uncle Henry’s Marina is. The water is beautiful there but it is a ways from the village and might be a challenge for the first timer bringing in a deep draft boat. We left Boca for Tween Waters on Captiva and stopped at Cabbage Key for lunch. Plenty of water for a 5 foot draft. They do not allow dogs on the island which is an issue for us. We ate lunch and walked the trails (without the dogs) and it is a really beautiful/natural island. Then we went to Tween Waters. There was a shallow spot by Red 4 but you can see the shoal on each side of the channel and at least can have the boat at idle speed. I believe we carried 6 feet through that spot. Tween waters is a long walk from the shops and restaurants but if you have a dinghy you can dinghy towards Sanibel on this mangrove lined creek and end up at a beautiful pass/inlet. Also I called Bailey\’s Grocery and Hardware(on Sanibel) to see if they would pick us up at Tween Waters and let us shop and bring us back and to my surprise they were happy to do so with no charge for the ride although I tipped the driver. Very good fresh seafood and bakery. On the way back to Stuart we stopped in Clewiston at Roland Martin’s marina and ate at the Clewiston Inn (they picked us up and the food was delicious and surprisingly reasonable.) Martins Marina was very friendly maybe a tad run down. Overall the Okeechobee had plenty of water. The worst section is between the Stuart bascule bridge and Riverwatch Marina. We fueled up at Harborage Marina and pumped out and the staff is very friendly and didn’t mind if we hung out to wait for the tide to come up for my white knuckle journey up the Manatee Pocket to A&J Boatworks for some work. I recommend A&J they did a fair amount of work on my boat and did it on time and on budget. Hope this info helps others as others info on this website has helped me.
RB