Lake Okeechobee is the big lake in the lower part of Florida. According to Wikipedia it is the 10th largest freshwater lake in the U.S. But it is also pretty shallow. So we had to follow a channel when crossing through the middle of the lake. The crossing was 26 miles from where we entered the lake at Clewiston, to where we exited the lake at Port Mayaca.

We had two more locks to contend with. These lowered us back down to sea level. The first one at Port Mayaca was opened on both ends so we could just pass through. But the final lock at St. Lucie dropped us the entire 13 feet. Also, there was a manatee in the lock chamber with us, which was cool.

We spent the remainder of the day traveling at 8 knots through the narrow channel.