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Departure was on Sep 2, starting at Port Sanibel Marina in South Fort Myers, and since we were traveling solo we decided to make the entire journey to Stuart on the east coast in a single day.  Given our departure point in FMY, the trip through the Okeechobee Waterway to Pirate's Cove Marina (just outside of Stuart) covered 150 statute miles (130 nautical). The trip across was in perfect weather and took a total of 9.5 hours (0900 to 1830), but at least an hour of that was due to an unplanned delay at Port Mayaca because of divers in the lock making unannounced repairs.  The return trip (6 days later) was a little over 8 hours, with only a couple of small t-storms to plow through.  Folks departing from the PG area can add 1.5 hours to the one-way trip time -- so some may want to break the trip into two days.  (A good halfway stop is Roland Martin's at Clewiston.) 

One of the nice things about that inland ICW route is that the water is mirror-smooth; that's true even in ugly wind conditions, so even the smaller boats can cross in comfort.  The possible exception might be the Lake O crossing, but we only had light chop even there.  In the rare case of sloppy lake waters, you can take the rim canal vs. going straight across, and that only adds about 10-15 miles to the trip.  In total, there are 5 locks (although Mayaca is usually open at both ends) and 2 or 3 bridges that require manual opening for passage, and there is good depth the entire route. 

The first and last 20 miles of the route require vigilance for no-wake zones and/or Manatee zones limited to 25 MPH -- along with the locks, that's what makes the trip take as long as it does. But in between you can go WOT (or whatever fuel flow rate you're comfy with.)  While the river & canal portions are generally quite wide, folks will still want to know the protocol for passing slower boats.

Practically speaking, the only portions of the route for which you'll want or need GPS routes are [1] the miserable mile entrance to the Caloosahatchee, [2] the Lake O crossing, and [3] the Stuart / St. Lucie River arrival segment.  Once you get settled into the Stuart area (there are lots of good marinas), you will also want to seek out local knowledge before traversing anywhere near the St. Lucie inlet and out to the Atlantic ocean -- look at any chart you want, but you will not find that inlet charted....it shifts so much due to currents, wave action and tides, they regularly move markers and/or dredge.  (For these same reasons, that portion of the ICW that crosses north/south at the inlet also gets moved around a lot -- don't be surprised if the markers on your chart do not match the actual markers you see there.)  But the locals are friendly and will tell you exactly what you need to know and make it easy for you.

We stayed at Pirate's Cove Marina which is located in Manatee Pocket just inside of the St. Lucie inlet (http://www.piratescoveresort.com/).  It's a modern facility, with a nice hotel, pool, bait/tackle shop, fuel/diesel (gas was $3.45/gal), and good quality transient slips with sturdy finger docks (30/50 amp, water, cable TV and free wireless Internet.)  It is well protected nestled back into the pocket, with little current or wind to worry about, so the stern-in docking was as easy & uneventful as it gets.  Dockage was $2.25 a foot, they have a large fish-cleaning station, and ice is available in either 10 or 50 pound bags  Crew restrooms and showers are large & clean (although there was no AC in the shower, gets a little steamy in there, our only real gripe.)  Doug & Cat stayed at the hotel, and the rooms were large & clean, with nice water views and a balcony overlooking the marina and Manatee Pocket ($140-$150 per night, although sometimes they'll discount that).  The marina staff were helpful & friendly, and there are several fishing charters that sortie from there.  They also have a nice bar & restaurant on premise (live entertainment on weekends), and there are several more good ones within easy walking distance.  Haulout and repair services are also available at the marina, although a car or a cab is probably necessary for a trip to the grocery store.

Getting from the marina to the Atlantic fishing grounds is pretty quick....10-15 minutes to idle out of Manatee Pocket, and then 30 minutes to run about 10 miles offshore to what is know as the "Pushbutton" peaks....those are in 300 feet of water, and just a few miles further you can be in 500+ feet and in the middle of the gulfstream.  Just remember to get that local advice before running the St. Lucie inlet.  During our short 4 day stay the inlet was well marked and had been recently dredged and we encountered no problems.  Smaller boats should note that when a healthy east wind blows against a strong outgoing tide that the inlet can get real messy -- that only happened once while we were there, but it was a crappy weather day anyway. 

For those who have not boated the open Atlantic, it's a nice change of pace from the GOM or even the Florida Straits -- on fair weather days you'll find that the waves are more rounded and with intervals so wide you barely notice you're in 3-4 foot seas.  When the T-storms pop up, though, it's just as rough & messy as the gulf.
The fishing, unfortunately, was just like anywhere else this year -- lousy.  In 3 days of trolling we only kept 2 blackfins, although Doug fought and won a great battle with 7-foot sailfish -- which bent a rattlejet hook nearly straight by the time we got the leader touch. Several small tuna and a mahi went back in, as did a big bonito and a nastly looking, pissed off 3-foot barracuda (which really did not want to give back one of my rattlejets -- one of the best uses I've found yet for a good, beefy dehooker tool.)  We did not try the local reefs or bottom fishing, so can't comment on that.

One of the local charters posts weekly fishing reports for the area -- it's worth looking at if / when you head that way:  http://reelbusycharters.com/fishingreports/

Note that folks can also easily drive over to join any boaters who make the trip -- Doug & Cat made the trip by car from Plant City in less than 3 hours, and they were pleased with the hotel accommodations.  For comparison purposes, roughly speaking it's the equivalent of a trip to the Keys....by boat it's about the same distance and fuel burn, but a tad longer duration (due to the lock-thru time / slow zones); but it's about half the drive time by car.   Overall it was a great trip, and we definitely will do it again. 

Rick & Michelle Riordan / September 2010