Under the Lake

“Oh, great, you’re coming East to visit us?”

“Yes, this weekend.”

“Cool, are you going Under the Lake?”

We have a quaint way of talking about traveling in South Florida, because we have this massive lake in the middle of the State.  It is called, Lake Okeechobee, and that word means, big waters.  The lake is so big across, you can’t see to the other side of it.

According to Wikipedia,  “Lake Okeechobee (US /oʊkiˈtʃoʊbi/),^[1] locally referred to as “The Lake”, “Florida’s Inland Sea”,^[2] or “The Big O”, is the largest freshwater lake in the state of Florida.^[3] It is the seventh largest freshwater lake in the United States^[4] and the second largest freshwater lake (the largest being Lake Michigan) contained entirely within the contiguous 48 states.^[5] However, it is the largest freshwater lake completely within a single one of the lower 48 states. Okeechobee covers 730 square miles (1,900 km²), approximately half the size of the state of Rhode Island, and is exceptionally shallow for a lake of its size, with an average depth of only 9 feet (2.7 metres).^“

When driving from Fort Myers straight across to places on the East Coast, you will hit the Lake, so you have to make a choice:  you can go, “over the Lake,” or you can go, “under the Lake,”  to get there.  Honorable Shamans, what Journeys does this bring to mind?  Is it possible to use the Lake itself as a journeying portal?

Looking Southeast across Lake Okeechobee at Lakeport, May 2015

If you go to the North, you go through the towns of  La Belle, Moore Haven, Buckhead Ridge, Okeechobee, Indiantown, and reach Jupiter.  Takes  2 hours, 57 minutes, and is 146 miles.  Or, you can go South through La Belle, Clewiston, South Bay, Belle Glade, Wellington, and then up to Jupiter.  This trip takes 2 hours, 43 minutes, and is 141 miles.

You could also circumnavigate the Lake, going around from Moore Haven, Clewiston, South Bay, Belle Glade, Pahokee, Okeechobee, Buckhead Ridge and back to Moore Haven.  This loop will take 2 hours, 26 minutes and is 116 miles.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this little Journey with me.  Share your Peace with Mother Earth and Father Sky and all the Big Waters around us.

(c) 2017 to present, Whale Maiden for the Earthways Shamanic Path.

 

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