Where is the Best Spot to See
Lake Okeechobee?
So you want to see Lake Okeechobee, Florida's largest lake and the 7th largest lake in the United States? But you can't find the lake? Don't feel bad, neither can anyone else. The lake is hidden behind a massive dike, that's why you can't find it.
The best place we've found to view Lake Okeechobee is from atop the Port Mayaca Dam and Locks on the east side of the lake, above the St. Lucie River Canal.
Lake Okeechobee has been extensively engineered, damned, ditched and diked. The current dike around Lake Okeechobee is an average of 30 feet (10 m) high and encompasses the entire lake, making it impossible to see the lake from the road that circles the lake. Getting atop the dike to see the lake is another challenge.
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Phillip, checking out how the dike is constructed, my back facing northwest.
At the Port Mayaca Dam and Lock.
There is no port. There are no fishing boats. There is just a massive
public works-type project built to protect Florida east coast cities from the
waters of Lake Okeechobee.
At the Port Mayaca Dam and Lock.
There is no port. There are no fishing boats. There is just a massive
public works-type project built to protect Florida east coast cities from the
waters of Lake Okeechobee.
The view from the bottom of the dike looking up to the top of the dam.
From this perspective the dam is much more imposing.
From this perspective the dam is much more imposing.
The coral, coquina and other rocks and shells that make up the Lake Okeechobee dike are held together with an intricately woven metal net of what appears to be something like chain link fence. Imagine the effort to put this mesh over this entire 100s of miles long, 30-foot high dike. This project was undertaken after devastating hurricanes in the 1920s and again in the 1940s flooded and killed thousands of people living on the east side of the lake. While the dike may have been well-intentioned, at the time, the architects of the Lake Okeechobee dike likely had no idea that it would kill the Florida Everglades by cutting off their supply of fresh water. The dike also spurred massive, unsustainable growth on the southeast coast of Florida by implying a safety that really does not exist. While the lake may not be what eventually floods the megalopolis of southeast Florida (because of the massive dike) some future storm coupled with climate change will.
It is hard to imagine a public works project of this size in today's America where nothing gets done. It is also ironic that two of the leading Republicans who ran for President of the USA this year were Cubans (Rubio and Cruz) who both support public flood control projects like the Lake Okeechobee dike and corporate welfare for the sugar farm barons who have set up their modern day plantations all around the now-presumably safe Lake Okeechobee.
There are a lot of navigation markers, but no boats.
All of these images were made around the St. Lucie Canal detailed in the aerial photos of Lake Okeechobee, below.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Cyanobacteria in Florida Waters. Accessed July 5, 2016.All of these images were made around the St. Lucie Canal detailed in the aerial photos of Lake Okeechobee, below.
Massive Algae Bloom in Lake Okeechobee
This year there is a massive algae bloom in the lake caused by the sugar farms that were aforementioned, big supporters of Rubio and Cruz and who pollute the lake with runoff from their enormous tracts of drained swamp farms.
In early May 2016, the algae bloom grew to cover 85 square kilometers (33 square miles) of Lake Okeechobee. The conditions that gave rise to the bloom have persisted into July, and have been blamed for affecting water quality downstream all the way to the Atlantic Ocean.
The blue-green algae bloom is visible in these images of Lake Okeechobee, acquired on July 2, 2016, by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on the Landsat 8 satellite. The natural-color image combines red light, green light, and coastal aerosol (blue) light (bands 4, 3 and 1).
A green and blue algae bloom has overtaken a neighborhood marina and other parts of the St. Lucie River (canal) in Stuart, Florida
Photo: Greg Lovett/Palm Beach Post, AP
A rancid smell penetrates the area around the St. Lucie River (really nothing more than a canal from Lake Okechobee) in this area that bills itself as "America's Happiest Seaside Town."
Blue-green algae, also known as cyanobacteria, are single-celled organisms that rely on photosynthesis to turn sunlight into food. The bacteria grow swiftly when nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen are abundant in still water. The bloom pictured here may contain blue-green algae, as well as other types of phytoplankton; only a surface sample can confirm the exact composition of a bloom.
Algae blooms are a regular phenomenon in Lake Okeechobee during the summertime. Pollution, such as runoff from farms, and lake water that warms through the summer, create an environment favorable for growth. This year the bloom grew large early in the season and it affected more people than usual, showing up far beyond the confines of the lakeshore.
Water managers started discharging water from the lake early this year to counter the large amount of winter rainfall. That discharge flows through St. Lucie Canal—visible on the lake’s eastern side—and enters the Atlantic Ocean near Stuart, Florida. The river outflow carried nitrogen and phosphorous from the lake; it also freshened some downstream areas that are usually too salty for much algae growth. On June 29, Florida’s governor declared a state of emergency in Martin and St. Lucie counties after the blooms appeared in local waterways.
According to news reports, water samples collected from the lake and from the river near Stuart tested positive for high levels of toxins produced by the algae. The algae and their toxins can disrupt ecosystems. They also pose concerns for human health, as ingesting algae-tainted water can cause nausea, vomiting and, in extreme cases, liver failure.
Related Stories
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Blue-Green Algae (Cyanobacteria). Accessed July 5, 2016.
National Public Radio (2016, July 2) Thick, Putrid Algae Bloom Overwhelms Miles Of Florida Coastline. Accessed July 5, 2016.
The New York Times (2016, July 1) Reeking, Oozing Algae Closes South Florida Beaches. Accessed July 5, 2016.
Orlando Sentinel (2016, July 1) Florida's biggest lake fouls coastlines. Accessed July 5, 2016.
Rick Scott: 45th Governor of Florida (2016, June 9) Gov. Scott Declares State of Emergency in St. Lucie and Martin Counties Following Algal Blooms. Accessed July 5, 2016.
TCPALM (2016, July 1) Lake Okeechobee discharges into St. Lucie River will go up before they decrease. Accessed July 5, 2016.
TCPALM (2016, May 17) St. Lucie River algae could be blue-green and toxic microcystis type. Accessed July 5, 2016.
The Weather Channel (2016, July 2) 2 Florida Counties Added to Algae Bloom Emergency; Government Reducing Water Releases From Lake Okeechobee. Accessed July 5, 2016.
The lake's beach is composed of a coquina like mix of shells and sand.
So how do you get atop the dike? It should be easy, the Florida National Secnic Trail (1,300 mile, 2,090 km) runs the length of the dike on a 100 ft (30 m) wide paved trail. At most of the trail entrances along the lake there are scary homeless encampments which make parking or scaling the dike sketchy, at best and parking one's car for any length of time risky.
At this NENA trailhead north of Belle Glade and south of Port Mayaca I encountered a homeless encampment and plenty of human waste and trash. It was not a desirable place to try and see the lake.
NENA
NENA is the Northeast Everglades Natural Area. Located mostly in Palm Beach County on the east side of the lake. Visitors should be careful traversing the area, especially alone. Port Mayaca is more desirable as it is open, near the main road, and there might be some help around if one were accosted. We never saw anyone while at Port Mayaca but there was plenty of traffic on nearby Hwy 98.
Port Mayaca
Using Google Maps I found this nice, relatively safe spot at Port Mayaca. Port Mayaca is a sparsely populated area north of Belle Glade located on the east side of Lake Okeechobee at roughly 26°50' N 80°30' W on Hwy 98. From the east coast take Hwy 76 west out of the Stuart-Jupiter area and you'll run directly into Lake Okeechobee and the Port Mayaca Dam and Locks. The area was named for the Mayaca Indian Tribe. Don't expect to see any Mayacans, however. There are none.
Hwy 76 meets Hwy 98 and several other signed roads at this point (SR 15, US 441) but there really are only the two roads (Hwy 76 and 98). There are few houses, no stores, no boats, no port, no post office. Nothing. Nearby (to the east) on Hwy 76 is the Port Mayaca Cemetery which is the location of the mass burial ground for 1,600 unidentified people who died in Palm Beach County during the September 1928 unnamed hurricane when Lake Okeechobee's then-earthen dike collapsed. The cemetery is operated by the City of Pahokee.
The light was just about perfect on a recent afternoon when we visited.
I like how the lake's water shimmered purple in the shot below.
There is a large bridge over the St. Lucie Canal at the Port Mayaca Dam and Locks. Exit the highway just north of the bridge and drive onto the top of the dike along the Florida Trail. It is at that point that these images were made.
Rim Canal
There is a conspicuous absence of boats in this massive lake, in part because the waters are currently so shallow (as in many Florida lakes) due to many years of below normal rainfall and human intervention (ditching, diking, and pumping) which has accelerated as Republicans have controlled the Florida legislature and decimated Florida's Water Management Districts in recent decades. Navigation is easier in the Rim Canal.
During construction of the current dike, earth was excavated along the inside perimeter, resulting in a deep channel which runs along the perimeter of the lake. In most places the canal is part of the lake, but in others it is separated from the open lake by low grassy islands.
Even when waters are higher than today navigating Lake Okeechobee can be tricky, whereas the rim canal is easily navigated.
From atop the dike you can see for miles across the lake.
In these shots, looking west, a large thunderstorm develops.
Below: Looking southwest, toward The Everglades.
Below: Looking northwest, toward Up the Grove Beach.
St. Lucie "River" (Canal)
Below are two different view of the St. Lucie River (really nothing more than a big ditch).
The first view is from the Port Mayaca dam looking east toward Stuart. The second is from atop the bridge looking back at the Port Mayaca Dam and Locks.
Below: A distant view of the Port Mayaca Dam and Locks from atop the Hwy 98 Bridge over the St. Lucie Canal (or "river"). Interesting how small the structure appears depending on
which perspective. Presumably there is a tender who works at the dam and locks but we did not see them.
which perspective. Presumably there is a tender who works at the dam and locks but we did not see them.
Belle Glade
We drove through Belle Glade, to get a look at this town that Big Sugar built. It is a miserable shanty town displaying some of the worst abject poverty to be found in Florida. It is disgraceful that Big Sugar and Florida Republicans have let Belle Glade become what it is today. The City of about 17,000 is often referred to as "Muck City" for the muck (former lake bottom) in which it's sugarcane is grown. The City also has at times had the infamy of hosting the highest violent crime rates in the USA and the highest AIDS infection rate per capita.
Big Sugar = Corporate Welfare
Sugarane (Saccharum officinarum) fields spread for 700 square miles around the south and east side of Lake Okeechobee mostly from south of Belle Glade to Clewiston, 16 miles to the north. These modern day plantations represent one of the most blatant examples of corporate welfare that currently exists in the United States.
About 450,000 acres of what should be Everglades is now dedicated to sugarcane monoculture heavily subsidized by the US Federal Government through farm subsidies and tax breaks. Irony-of-ironies that federal money then then flows into the pockets of rich Republican politicians who have a stranglehold on Florida governance. Imagine what this area would be like if sugarcane subsidies were eliminated and we bought sugarcane from Cuba or wherever else it is grown (much cheaper).
Of course Big Sugar paints a different picture. One of their propaganda websites flows endlessly with slick talk about their rich, environmentally friendly crop.
If Big Sugar's 700 square miles of heavily subsidized monoculture of sugarcane were allowed to die off, The Everglades, and Lake Okeechobee would be a much healthier place.
Forbes' analysis of Rubio and Sander's Big Sugar lust: The federal program that resembles a Soviet Union relic, strongly supported by Bernie Sanders and Marco Rubio, works as follows: the U.S. Department of Agriculture guarantees a price floor for American sugar, below which it spends hundreds of millions of dollars to buy up excess sugar and bump the price back up to the minimum. Uncle Sam then sells the sugar at a steep discount to ethanol producers. Limits on imports also artificially prop up the prices that domestic sugar producers can charge.
The Wall Street Journal details how the Senator and former Presidential candidate, now new Senate candidate, even though he swore he was through with public life, defends what may be the worst farm subsidy ever.
Sugarcane stands about 9 feet tall (3 m).
I stand in a field of cane above for scale.
Every few thousand feet there is a canal slicing through the sugarcane fields,
destroying the natural environment.
Muck
The muck that once was the bottom of Lake Okeechobee is technically soil made up primarily of humus from drained swampland. Muck farming on drained swamps was once an important part of Florida agriculture that has been scientifically discredited and blamed for destroying the Florida Everglades. Muck farming destroys wildlife habitats and results in a variety of environmental problems. It is unlikely that any more muck farm lands will be created in the United States because of modern environmental regulations.
Miles and miles of muck farms are found to the south and east of Lake Okeechobee
Bloomberg's analysis of payouts by the US Government to Florida Sugar Barons.
Typical farmland in the area looks like this. . .
When we were finished exploring the big thunderstorm was starting to fade, like so many others this summer, it was all noise and promise but delivered little in the way of cooling rain.
We've Watched:
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| Reverend Paul Harris (Julian Morris) as a wildly entertaining con-man, meth addicted preacher in Hand of God. |
In Hand of God a morally-corrupt judge suffers a breakdown and believes God is compelling him onto a path of vigilante justice. While most professional reviewers panned this Amazon Original Series it gets nearly 8 of 10 stars from viewers. Garret Dillahunt steals most of his scenes as an astonishingly delicate and nuanced KD, an answer-seeking ex-con hired to do the murderous dirty work of corrupt Judge Pernell Harris.
For our money, however, the real breakout performer is Julian Morris (above and below) who plays a con-man, meth addict preacher who seduces the judge with his crazy Christian babble, and in the process becomes an unwitting accomplice in the murder and mayhem that drives the series. Why is the good Reverend Paul Harris so often naked? You have to watch. . .
 |
Reverend Paul Harris (Julian Morris) and Bishop Bruce Congdon (Obba Babatundé). |
Olympic Freestyle swimmer Nathan Adrian is used to showing a lot of skin in front of large crowds, so perhaps it's no surprise that he agreed to pose for this year's Body Issue. But, we discovered, the three-time Olympic gold medalist is still full of the unexpected. Click the link above to discover 8 things we learned about Adrian in the ESPN Body Issue.
Reigning World Champion
Abdulrashid Sadulaev
was the only previously announced
representative (86 kg, 189.5 lbs)
The Russian Team
57kg: Victor Lebedev
World No. 7
Two-time world champion (2010, 2011)
2015 World bronze medalist
65kg: Soslan Ramonov
World No. 2
2014 world champion
2015 World bronze medalist
74kg: Aniuar Geduev
World No. 2
2015 World bronze medalist
Three-time European champion (2013-2015)
86kg: Abdulrashid Sadulaev
World No. 1
Two-time world champion (2014, 2015)
The only team member previously announced was 86kg (189.5 lbs) representative Abdulrashid Sadulaev. The 20-year-old, who is currently ranked No. 1 in the world in his division, is a two-time reigning world champion and gave up a total of four points over all his world championship matches in those two tournaments combined. Considered by some to be the best pound-for-pound wrestler in the world right now, he will be favored to win gold in Rio.
97kg: Anzor Boltukaev
World No. 1
2013 World bronze medalist
2016 European champion
125kg: Bilyal Makhov
World No. 2
2012 Olympic bronze medalist
Three-time world champion (2007, 2009, 2010)
2015 World bronze medalist in 125kg freestyle and 130kg Greco-Roman
Oh No, He Didn't
Can it be Accidental?
The Donald stuck with boring typography for his new logo.
Boring, if it didn't look like his gigantic 'T' was energetically penetrating Pence's little 'P'
Even CNN is calling it "off color"
others suggested that it looked like what Pence and Trump
would do to America if they somehow won
others suggested that it looked like what Pence and Trump
would do to America if they somehow won