PORT MAYACA, FL

17 to 19 January, 2005. We tied up to the dolphins (large pilings) here for three days. They are just before the Port Mayaca lock that leads into Lake Okeechobee. Apparently, the lake can get pretty mean, pretty quick since it is so shallow so we were waiting out the waves. At one point, we put the 6 HP engine on the dinghy and took it back to Indiantown Marina that we had passed on the way. We needed smokes. We din't realize that it was 10 miles behind us so when we arrived after 2 hours, it was already getting dark and we were quite cold. We stopped at a small inlet just before arriving at the marina that had some very nicely formed whelk (I think) shells. It was hard for me not to collect them for either my mom, Gail or our friend Mary in Colorado. The tiny inlet is on the north side, just west of Indiantown Marina if any of our fellow boaters are interested. When we got to the marina, they welcomed us into the clubhouse and made us coffee. One of the men even gave me 2 beers. He ended up driving us into town so we could do some shopping. We decided that bthe trip back would be grueling in the cold and dark so we threw $70 we couldn't afford at a hotel room. We dinghyed back the following morning. We finally received an agreeable report on Lake Okeechobee waters and headed into the lock.