# Do any navigable waterways bisect Florida (east to west)?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-navigable-waterways-bisect-florida-east-to-west/371775>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 7, 2006, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-navigable-waterways-bisect-florida-east-to-west/371775 "2006-09-07T12:29:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-navigable-waterways-bisect-florida-east-to-west/371775/1 "2006-09-07T12:29:49Z")

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Please settle a bar bet. A friend claims that a path exists for boats to travel east-west through Florida. He claims that boats can actually travel via canals/lakes/etc. from the Atlantic to the Gulf, near the Orlando area. I’m dubious, because I’ve never heard of any locks (you’d _have_ to have locks, right?) or a trans-florida canal. A search via googlemaps doesn’t reveal such a passage in that area either. So I turn to the board for information on this.

Floridopers: Is there a waterway through the Florida penninsula? Or does my friend buy the drinks this weekend?

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**Author:** ![RTA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b4bc9f/32.png) [@RTA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTA)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-navigable-waterways-bisect-florida-east-to-west/371775/2 "2006-09-07T12:40:23Z")

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That would be the Okeechobee Waterway; pay up.

[http://www.takehersailing.com/articles/FL\_Okeechobee.htm](http://www.takehersailing.com/articles/FL_Okeechobee.htm)

> **[Okeechobee Waterway Boating Information & Directory](http://www.sailmiami.com/Okeechobee/index.htm)**
>
> A guide to traveling down the Okeechobee Waterway with marinas, locks, bridges, fuel docks & more.

[http://www.saj.usace.army.mil/sfoo/images/maps/owwmap/owwmap.pdf](http://www.saj.usace.army.mil/sfoo/images/maps/owwmap/owwmap.pdf)

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**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-navigable-waterways-bisect-florida-east-to-west/371775/3 "2006-09-07T12:40:50Z")

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They tried to build a [canal](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-Florida_Barge_Canal) at one point, but it was never finished.

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**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-navigable-waterways-bisect-florida-east-to-west/371775/4 "2006-09-07T12:45:37Z")

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Dang!

(He wants Guinness, he says) 😛  
Thanks everyone. I knew someone here would know the answer.

Note to self: Check with SDMB, _then_ place bet. :rolleyes: