Calhoosahatchee Trip Post Script

Bob and I at first couldn't remember the unusual name of the teak boat that passed us on the river that was later a "lock buddy" with us.  It finally came to me, "Solipsys".  We had wondered what the name meant, so I googled it, and to my delight, there is an entire web site about this custom made water craft.  You might want to check it out, too. Here's the link www.mvsolipsys.com    BTW, I should have remembered what the name meant.., an acronym for "solutions for information processing systems" from my user acceptance testing days at Florida Family!  

Down River Thurs April 18 2013

This time I remembered the bait, not that it did us any good.  We launched the boat about  9, and headed to the locks.  You pull a rope to signal the tender to open the locks.  When the green light comes on, you can motor in.  The lock doors are closed at the opposite end.  Once you are moored to the side wall by holding on to one of the hanging ropes, the lock doors behind you close and the ones in front open.  Water pours out from the lock, and your vessel drops about 3 feet.  Once the right level is reached, you can continue on your way.  The process is reversed on your return trip, and this time,  water from the east rushes in and you rise up about 3 feet.  There were a lot of beautiful homes on this side of the river, but not as many or as spectacular as east of the locks.  There are more older homes and mobile homes, especially on the Rt 80 side.  We tried about 4 places to fish, but no luck at all.  We did see several tarpon rolling, which was exciting, but they were too quick for me to photograph.  Once again, around noon, we headed back to the park.  Tomorrow, we will pack up and head back home.

A view of the west end of the campground

 

 

 

This mansion extended past the yacht at the dock and had a mansard screen that ran the entire height and length of the rear of the home.

 

 

 

 

This is a 1.4 acre island that's up for sale.  Would be our luck  that after we bought it we would find out that the foliage was protected and couldn't be removed.  BTW, river front properties go for about $110K an acre.  Wonder what river islands run?

 

It might not look like one, but this is a donkey.  I was surprised to see how wooly he was.

And this is one of two Shetlands that was on the same property.

 

Back at the approach to the locks.  On the right is another section of the park that has a picnic area, playground and beach.  The entrance is off Rt 80.

 

These 3 boats sped past us, yet here we all are at the lock waiting for the water level to rise.

Sailing up river - Wed April 17, 2013

This morning we launched the pontoon from the park's boat ramp and headed west toward LaBelle on the Caloosahatchee River.  I had packed a lunch, but forgot to pack the frozen bait, so we decided to sight see instead of fish.  There are beautiful riverfront homes along the banks, many of which are cattle and/or horse ranches.  We passed under the Alva bridge and went as far as Ft Denault bridge, about 20 land miles.  We had used half the tank of gas by then, and although Bob had extra tanks, we decided to head back.  It was nearing noon, the breezes had stopped, and it was getting hot.  Tomorrow we will head east through the locks and head towards the Gulf.  Hopefully, we'll remember the bait.

This house had cattle in the front yard.  Guess that makes it easy to decide what's for dinner!

Alva Bridge

This is a calf that we thought had fallen from the bank above him.  It looked as though he was trying to find a way back up.  We didn't have any way to help it.  Bob was sure the rancher would discover him later.  So, we continued on our way and just a little further down, we saw another calf at the river's edge. We were relieved to see a trail that led back to the pasture.

 

 

 

We were in a no wake zone here.  Evidently this boat didn't think the rules applied to him.

 

Workers were painting the draw bridge tender's office on the Alva Bridge on our return trip

A view of the locks before returning to the campground boat dock.

 

Tuesday April 16, 2013 - Trip to WP Franklin Campground North Ft Myers

Toward the end of February, we bought a used 20 foot pontoon boat, thinking we could get more use out of it than our little john boat that we almost capsized in.  Bob spent several weeks getting it seaworthy.  We had the maiden voyage the week after Easter, and when it didn't sink, we decided to take her up to WP Franklin Locks Campground in North Ft Myers...the location of photo on the front of our blog page.  It is about a 50 minute ride from home.  So, it is very convenient to take the boat up in one trip, and then go back for the trailer.  The campground is quite popular, and there was only one site available for the time we wanted to go.  The campground is run by the Army Corps of Engineers. It is part of the Okeechobee Waterway lock system that was established in 1937 to connect Ft Myers (Gulf Coast) to Stuart (Atlantic), part of the intracoastal waterway.   We will be here for 3 days.  Temperatures have hit a record high, 94 degrees, but with the winds blowing off the river, it was comfortable, especially inside the unit with the a/c blasting!

 Those of you who followed March Madness might have heard about FGCU, 15th seed.  This sign was on I-75 on the way to N Ft Myers

The campground sign and entrance off SR 78

Our campsite...not on the river this time, but no one nearby!

Tomorrow we plan on heading east on the river.