We awake near Lake Okeechobee and drive to Haulover Canal to gaze at the manatees and dream of one day getting the chance to dive with them and linger until someone else shows up and breaks the silence. The canal got its name from Native Americans, explorers, and settlers who hauled their small boats and canoes over the narrow strip of land between Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River. The first canal was dug in 1852 for steamboats and cargo ships until the railroad arrived in 1885.

A new and deeper canal was dug and has been maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers since 1927, who added to the dimensions and included a basin for launching boats. We stop in St. Augustine for lunch, and would have done some shopping had it not been for the rain; not the typical three-minute afternoon delight, but a downpour that would follow us north through Georgia and part of South Carolina.