Saint Lucie Locks and Campground

A few years back, we were introduced to the COE parks here in Florida along the Caloosahatchee River that runs from the Gulf of Mexico to Lake Okeechobee and then on to the Atlantic Coast via the St Lucie Canal. There are at least 4 locks along the way to control the water levels, all under the control of the Army Corps of Engineers. Along with controlling the "intra" coastal waterway, the Corps has three wonderful campgrounds. We have now stayed at all three and they are the best!

The first two pictures below are from the locks and campground on the Saint Lucie Canal....the first looking towards the locks and east from our campsite. This spot is one of only 9 at the campground, but as you can see it provides everything you might need.

This West view from the campsite shows the canal with a sample of some of the beautiful pleasure boats that travel from coast to coast.The locks themselves are really quite interesting and our stay at this campground gave us some great views of the different pleasure boats while they traversed through the locks.

The seal on the lock gates are not exactly water tight, but that doesn't seem to present any problems. At all of the locks along the way they pay special attention to any passing Manatee's that pass through. There is even a volunteer that tries to keep track to protect the animals from boat traffic and injury from the locks.....Hmmm! Seems like a good job! Pay is a free camping site for the time period you volunteer.
Right now with the water level being high there is about a 13 foot drop in each cycle of the lock. It does take a considerable amount of time, but it seens to go quickly and it's fun to watch.The locks are not only for the many pleasure boats, but occasionally there are commercial pushboats and tugs with their working barges, like this one pictured below.
This one first pushed the barge through the locks on one trip, then left a smaller push boat with the first unit, and went back for a second barge, reconnected and then moved on towards the coast.The locks draw a lot of visitors and besides the obvious amenities like the campground and locks they have a park for children and nature trails to see.

Oh! did I mention how nice the weather is down here......