Tourist Chronicles: Caloosahatchie

One week ago we untied Tourist from the dock and headed east along the Caloosahatchie River. Our destination, River Forest Yachting Center located in the middle of nowhere between LaBelle and Moorehaven. Two towns that are not likely to pop into your mind when your thinking of places in Florida!

We passed by rural homes.

Abundant greenery.

Cattle. This one with a bird companion.

Heading East.

Approaching the Ortona Lock. The smoke is from the sugar cane fields being burned off.

Just past the Ortona Lock we made a 90 degree turn to port and headed into the basin at River Forest. Somewhat to our surprise the basin was nearly full of boats. Most waiting to be hauled out for summer storage.

Fortunately there was an open spot near the well where the boats are hauled out of the water. We were assisted in docking by Kathy and Terry from M/V Green Door who we had met in January.
It wasn't long after that I heard conversations on the vhf of a couple more boats who were coming into the basin. The scramble began to move boats closer together to make room for the others. Once the dust settled a total of four additional boats had arrived and were able to tie up. Among them were our friends Rick & Deb from M/V Broulee and Bob on Istaboa who had wintered at Legacy a few years ago.

Broulee on the opposite wall. (3rd white boat from the left)

Istaboa in the well.

Our reason for being here was to have an intake cover installed and a prop switched out.

There should be another cover over the hole on the right.

The ding in the prop wouldn't have happened if the cover hadn't come off and hit the prop while we were underway.

Of course as things usually happen they didn't have the correct cover in stock but were able to get a new one overnighted. The prop was sent out and our spare put on and by Wednesday we were on our way.

One of the perks of our stay was being able to re-connect with Rick and Deb and catch up on what's been going on in each others lives since we last saw each other. Of course this mostly happened over docktails!

Pam and her new friend Izzy. Actually Izzy was suckering Pam into giving her a treat. It worked!

Izzy sharing her seat with Rick & Deb.

Just for size comparison. That's a 42' Silverton sitting in the rear of the building.

River Forest does come complete with wildlife. There's a gator in the water just off the rocks in front of the boat.
We also had a water moccasin ride out of the water on our trim tab and fall off on land. One of the workers smacked it with a pipe and flipped it back into the water before it could attack Pam.

As I stated earlier we left River Forest on Wednesday and headed back west to overnight at Franklin Lock before going back to Legacy. Shortly after we locked through Ortona Lock we met M/V Seagull heading east. Harry & Mary were getting ready to store the boat for the summer and head back up to the great white north.

M/V Seagull underway on the Caloosahatchie.

When we arrived at Franklin Lock the docks were nearly full. We secured Tourist in one of the remaining slips and got the dinghy out. We took a little ride along the river and through some of the small oxbows looking at homes and any wildlife that dared peek out at us. Unlike last year when Mike and Nancy were here we failed to spot any gators in the water or on shore.

Heading into one of the lilly covered oxbows.

The docks filled up causing this guy to anchor overnight.

When we first pulled into the dock we heard a loud screeching sound. First on one side of the canal and then from the other. Back and forth, back and forth. It was obviously a couple of birds that supposedly were mating or at least negotiating a future date. Fortunately they gave up at nightfall but by 6 a.m. they were at it again. I have no idea what type of bird they were but I did get a picture of one Thursday morning.