By 7:30 am Gale was in the dinghy and out looking for the big fish that got away the day before. Two hours later, he was home with one large bass and several smaller ones.
While he was out, he made friends with an immature black crowned night heron that did not seem to have any fear of him. When a Great Blue Heron tried to fish nearby, however, the night heron puffed himself up, squawked loudly and the blue heron flew off to find another spot.
Maureen joined Gale in the dinghy and went back to where he had been fishing earlier to take some pictures and try to catch another fish. While there, we noticed an alligator swimming across the little lake a few hundred feet away.
Back on the big boat we cleaned the fish, had some lunch, took care of some insurance business and called marinas in Tampa for information. Shortly after 1 pm we picked up the anchor and left Okatuppa with a destination in mind at mile 100.0 called Old Lock One. We had never stayed in this spot but had talked to other cruisers who had said it was a good place to drop the hook.
At 2 pm, we stopped at Bobby’s Fish Camp to top off our fresh water tanks and enjoy a frosty mug of ice cold beer. There was no waiting at Coffeeville Lock, our last lock on the river, so we kept on going and cleared the lock at 3:15 pm.
At 4:45 pm, near mile 107 on the right declining bank, we sighted the biggest alligator we’d seen yet – it looked like it might be 12 feet long. He was a granddaddy but camera shy and was quick to slide into the water before we could get the lens focused.
We anchored at Old Lock One at 6 pm just past the public boat ramp but out of the way of the small fishing boats that might want to go through the lock chamber. It was a lovely setting for a lovely evening.
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