Clewiston, FL

Day 130, December 9th, 2009

Just as we were finishing breakfast another boat arrived at the dock. An elderly gentleman of 86 with his son, on his Endeavour 37. His son was helping him move his boat from summer storage to Marathon where he would spend the winter. They've been doing it this way for about 8 years. Although this gentleman never actually told us, John heard from the local guy the previous evening that this was Mr. Garmin of the well known Garmin navigational GPS products. A charming old fella, he talked about his visits in the past to Thunder Bay and also to Collingwood!!

We had to go through a couple of locks. At the second lock the lockmaster called out that there was a manatee in the lock with us. We looked and looked but couldn't see it. As we left the lock I called out to the guy to say "I didn't see it". "Right behind you, he just came up for air!" I rushed back to the stern but couldn't see anything. Just my luck!

I looked all day for alligators too, but my luck didn't change there either. It was a pretty quiet day, more levees either side and not a whole lot to break the monotony.

We arrived in Clewiston and looked for the free dock but couldn't find it. Ended up taking a slip at the marina there. Kind of a fun place with a Tiki Bar right beside the dock. We went up for a Margarita and saw an alligator swimming across the basin right adjacent to the marina. Finally!! Also, on the far bank there were 3 iguanas, a male and two females. The male was a very fancy looking fella - perhaps you can see him at the base of the tree.

We had a nice chat with another couple, Kjell and Luanne, who were land cruising in their fifth wheel around the US. They were from Washington State. Land or water cruising sounds much the same!!