We departed the campground early in the morning to hopefully avoid the afternoon thunderstorms. The waterway was smooth as glass as we eased back into the channel.

We did see quite a few gators, and possibly one manatee, although since we didn’t get a picture it can’t be confirmed.

We saw plenty of interesting sights. A wide variety of boat traffic was present on the waterway and we had to avoid one barge and tug.

Today was a big day because the Ortona Lock, which has been closed for the past two weeks, was finally opened back up. We were anticipating this for the whole trip so far, expecting it to be open but with the slight fear that it would still be undergoing maintenance when we arrived. So it was great when we arrived at the Ortona Lock to find it operational.

This lock is different from the first one because it raised us up by over 8 feet.

Finally past Ortona, we eventually reached the second lock of the day at Moore Haven. While inside the lock chamber, we met another couple doing the great loop.

I guess this lock needs repair as well because one of the doors was inoperative. We still had plenty of room to exit the lock.

After leaving Moore Haven the Okeechobee waterway becomes far less interesting. It was pretty straight, so it was a good time to use the autopilot.

Our destination was Clewiston. The lock here is currently always open, so all we had to do was drive slowly through the chamber to the other side, where we docked at Roland Martin Marina.

We ended up meeting two other boats who are also doing the Loop: Blue Horizon, and Lazy Daze. The picture above shows all three boats docked. We had dinner with these couples, and ended up having a lot in common.