Lake Okeechobee means "big water" in the Seminole language, appropriate for a body of water whose opposite shore can't be seen from the water's edge. Okeechobee is the largest lake in the southeastern United States. Despite its size, the lake is shallow at only 9 feet. Okeechobee and its wetlands are a part of a much larger watershed, the Everglades. Lake Okeechobee is also a key component of the water way that moves boaters from the gulf to the Atlantic through a series of canals and locks, built by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Despite an aging system the locks are active primarily for pleasure boating for 16 hours everyday and 24/7 during a risk of hurricane, because the lake provides protection from the damaging winds and sea. After the locks were completed the work areas were turned into campgrounds. You really got to want to go here, because these campgrounds sit 10 miles or more from the nearest town. Once here, it's a nice quite place to hang in the winter watching boats move through the locks and even an occasional river otter which we watched playing along the waters edge.
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