Motor Yacht Cruising On The Okeechobee Waterway

it is a lovely crisp morning as the sun rises here in moorhaven slash labelle and we have our first official departure day of the season which is really exciting [Music] generator operative that makes me happy generators warmed up gotta switch over to shore power it's funny you go nine months without doing this stuff not that you have to relearn it but you want to check your work twice shut down our major loads switch off the mains and we'll switch over to the generator and i don't see generator power no so i will go down to the equipment room now and make sure the switch is on you know when i did the generator check i thought should i make sure it's throwing power i've never had an issue with that before of course i have no power so my 120 volt light down there doesn't work take two nothing so what am i possibly forgetting what am i forgetting all right so i'm just going to point out what we turned the camera off for a second and and tim said is everything switched here the right way and this load switch was switched to two which maybe the technicians had done when they were working on stuff so now we have our full 240 volts problem solved power power low load load load load load and now we will disconnect the power cable [Music] this is going to be a nice quick easy disconnect here okay powering down the 50 amp power cable nice and short perfect just the way you like we've already cleaned off the cable so it's good to go back it's a little chilly going in a little stiff yeah couldn't be easier if you were ready i'm going to fire up the engines yeah we'll get going day number one back on the water [Music] okay the ritual of testing everything making sure it works we will bump the engines testing the bathrooster testing the steering thruster and it works good i'll tell you what i'll make my security call now okay security security security motor vessel olo preparing to drop lines at riverforce 60 foot motor yacht will be exiting the channel any and all concerned traffic motor vessel holo monitoring 13 and 16. all right all right i'm very professional hey i don't want anybody in there when we're in there and you're about to see why yeah all right let's let's do this let's do this we are off the docks and on our way [Music] i can't wait for that first cup of coffee yeah no kidding your headphones i know how's it going cat it's good this isn't you know i know bigger boats come through here all the time but this is a little bit of an intimidating passage because i know that it's very rocky on that side of course you got that hazard area all right where am i supposed to go well we are the dukes [Music] [Music] just after clearing the river forest yachting center canal and entering the okeechobee waterway you come upon the ortona lock it's one of three locks west of lake okeechobee and the first of two we'll encounter today we're total lock or toner lock motor wrestle hello [Music] sir go ahead good morning ortono we are westbound motor vessel approaching the lock arrival area requesting westbound passage [Music] wait for a green light you will have choice of sides to die good copy although we'll be standing by one of three of them all right we're waiting for the green light maybe we'll get lucky it will come quickly so if you're wondering what the red light is let me see if i can zoom in and you can see it there it is that is the red light that we wait to turn green before we approach the locks we've traveled all of what a half a mile or so from the river forest yachting center in labelle or moorhaven depending on who you ask and we're at the ortona lock waiting for a green light looks like they're opening the gates right now right yeah and we're going to proceed and we're having our first day underway so far everything is going as planned one potential crisis averted we just have to remember how to do everything it's been nine months there we go red to green let's do it [Music] so here are a few things to know if you're transiting the locks on the okeechobee waterway the lox monitor vhf channel 13 hail the lock with the name of your vessel as you approach the arrival area the rival area is marked by a sign and when the locktender responds let them know which direction you're traveling and that you'd like to lock through they'll let you know if you should proceed or if you should wait for the green light and they'll tell you what side of the lock you should plan to pull up to very often they'll tell you you'll have your choice of sides be sure to enter at very slow idle speed and have your fenders deployed at your rub rail now in olo we use what we call our dirty fenders for the locks rather than our dock side fenders which have nice protective covers on them the walls and the locks can be kind of rough and slimy lines are provided we like to wear gloves because the lines can be slimy from sitting in the water now don't tie off your boat just use a cleat to keep tension on the lines and take in or let out slack as the lock fills or empties everyone aboard is required to wear a life jacket and once your boat is secure you must shut down your main engines unless you're otherwise advised it really is a straightforward process and there is no reason to be intimidated if it's your first time locking through so with your toenail lock behind us it was finally time to really start cruising as we made our way to fort myers thank you i love my outfit don't you now right along the caloosahatchee river part of the okeechobee waterway is 35.5 nautical miles or about 41 statute miles navigation is as straightforward as it gets and now it was time to run up the engines to our typical cruise speed just to make sure everything was working as it should be all right i'm going to bring her up to our normal cruise rpm to 1200 good feel for any vibrations we just have the shafts and propellers done they should feel great it's always a little nerve-wracking smooth as can be right look at that very nice check our loads engine load 28 that's right how would you like some coffee we're doing 10 knots we're burning 11 gallons per hour with fully full tanks that is exactly right i would love some coffee [Music] that guy was anchored right in the middle of the channel is that a surprise no [Music] it's like we're coming up on a bridge we are the fort to know swing bridge i was just marveling at the fact that it's uh 9 38 in the morning we're listening to casey's countdown by the way what is this the last thing from the young wrestlers copyright you know but we've been on the water for just about two hours now i haven't passed a single boat may have something to do with the fact that it's 46 degrees outside but everything's going well everybody's at church i got a little anxiety first time running on the boat and all i have zero anxiety good i'm making breakfast that it smells good for to know bridge fortune oh bridge motor [Music] hey vessel morning fort to know we are the westbound motor vessel about a half a mile out requesting an opening when it's available [Music] good copy from ola we'll be standing by on zero awesome proper bridge etiquette is to wait outside of defenders and in fact [Music] thank you sir thank you have a good one i believe that's the first boat we have passed since we began this morning it's called bones and that is the proper etiquette for passing other boats in the relatively narrow canal back it down and minimize your wake of course not everyone gets that like the captain of this prestige corporate office who is either clueless or didn't care one bit we will always still slow down for other vessels even if they don't reciprocate because well it's simply the right thing to do okay i'm whipping up breakfast we're having a little maple bacon i'm going to get that turkey bacon actually i'm going to get that crystal on top and we're going to whip together a little nellie's frittata and start with caramelizing the onions because that's what we like [Music] next up for us the alva bridge but can we clear it without an opening the sort of noted level for the bridge is 23 feet and we can clear 23 feet with our antennas down particularly that's the lowest height so in the center it's typically more but depending on water levels water levels seem pretty consistent with what they're supposed to be as we get a little closer here we'll get an eye on the white board which i'm sure i can't see now even with our stabilized binoculars i got 23 and a half oh no kidding perfect so i need to get the antennas down we could drop the antennas down just you know confirm that for me but i think we're going to be good should take it nice and easy so we got a little closer and i looked at the height board again and on the height board it says 23 and a half at center usually it's 23 at the lowest steel but that's at the center that's still good for us though antennas are down and we're about to go through the alva bridge so tim climbs up top with a radio to eyeball the clearance but what the heck is that sitting on the hard top we top uh pretty classy yeah right down the center that was tight we're good any chance you can explain what that was up on the hardtop i'm very embarrassed yeah see this is what i mean we're just back on the boat and i'm a little scatterbrained so i was up there cleaning our clears up on the bridge yesterday and i used my novus product and typically when i am retreating from the hard top i throw my towels down i stand up the cleaning product and then i get down from the hard top and then i reach over and grab it and i apparently forgot to do that that's what i'm gonna go do right now oh it's still up there yeah yeah i guess you weren't in this how many things do you think i could do once well i think you should do everything yeah well i'm going back up to put the whips up and then i'll get that off and then i'll come down and fix more food so demanding the admiral was obviously just kidding i think anyway we pressed on past the orange groves and horse pastures as we closed in on the last lock of our westbound trek the franklin lock lock is open boat just came through so we get to breeze right on in sir winston that's a big boat that comes and as we were pulling in the lock tender let us know that a manatee was in the chamber and would be locking through with us and that got jasper's attention thank you sir casper is keeping an eye out man once he sees something in a lock now he's gonna think he's gonna see it every time one of the fun traditions in boating is leaving your mark in different acceptable places like some lock walls it was cool to see our sticker from nine months ago still hanging out and of course we had to add a new one after an easy three foot drop it was time to leave our last lock of the trip and put away those dirty lock fenders next stop fort myers okay that was awesome that was awesome easy docking easy lock experience easy [Music] lock [Music] all right let's call the fort myers yacht base try my low power first not everybody needs to know we're going into fort myers fort myers yacht basin fort myers yacht face captain you have four magazines now switch and answer please roger that almost switching 6a fort myers yacht basin fort myers yacht basin this is zola 16 hello on six eight um this is slip is gonna foreign um on uh a doc uh it's gonna be on d-doc it'll be slip number 39 or 40. i'll meet you out there do you know uh are you familiar with the marina a good copy on 39 or 40 on the vdoc it looks like we'll be making a turn to port right into the east basin after the second bridge and then a starboard turn into the basin where d-dot is going to be a port side tie if we pull straight into a head that correct that is correct yes that is absolutely correct i'll meet you at the doctor can you hear me now it was easy docking at the yacht basin where we got a warm welcome from arena staff member mike as well as the chasing 80 crew and our friend brian who was there on his boat brian and his wife own the fantastic donovan shady harbor marina on the hudson river in new york and brian has also known jasper since he was a puppy so our boy goes a little nuts when he sees him you got this motley crew over here i see you know where the office is correct yeah all right thank you appreciate it bye guys thank you very much sir hi hello what the hell's going on [Music] but we know what jasper was really excited about the all-important trip to the marina office what about you such a big what a hog [Music] jasper you can come in any time for treats oh god he's so messy first day of the new season in the books you know there was concern for for me that not everything would go smoothly because the boat's been sitting for nine months it's been looked after and all the things have been looked over and we went through everything but you just never know it's a boat it's a nature boating right yes yes but it will it is the nature of boeing 30 almost 36 nautical miles and we did it in what did i say about five and a half hours or five hours total about a half hour sitting in locks and waiting for locks and all that but we made it so cheers it's good to be back cheers and we ring the bell it is good to be back voyage fort myers we're here for just a little longer yeah i think a night and then we're moving on moving up i just spilled my delicious drink nice we really hope you enjoyed being along for the ride if you did kindly click the like button and be sure to subscribe and whack the notification bell so you don't miss a minute of the continuing adventures of olo

Channel: Adventures Of OLOH

Views: 201,744

Rating: 4.9308743 out of 5

Keywords: Motor Yacht, OLOH, M/Y OLOH, Yachting, Yachtlife, Boating, Rescue Dog, AJ Hammer, Adventures Of OLOH, saltlife, Jefferson Yachts, Jefferson Motoryacht, Jefferson Marquessa, Motoryacht, River Forest Yachting Center, City Of Fort Myers Yacht Basin

Id: nlTMtU0PSLs

Length: 19min 50sec (1190 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 06 2021