Lake Okeechobee

Lake Okeechobee, informally referred to as Lake O, The Big Lake, or simply The Lake is a freshwater lake in the U.S. state of Florida. It is the second-largest lake completely within the United States.¹ Okeechobee covers 730 square miles (1,890 km²) and is relatively shallow, with an average depth of only 3 m (9 ft). The lake covers land in Florida counties of Glades, Okeechobee, Martin, Palm Beach, and Hendry.

The floor of the lake is a limestone basin and the lake varies in depth from 1 to 12 feet (0.3 to 4 meters), its water being pure and clear. The surface is above tide level, and the lake is enclosed, probably on all sides, within an outcropping limestone rim, averaging about 10 feet (3 meters) above mean low tide, and approaching much nearer to the Atlantic Ocean on the east than to the Gulf of Mexico on the west. There are several small outlets, such as the Miami River, the New River on the east, and the Shark River on the southwest.

The Joe Overstreet Road access to the lake is an internationally known area for birds, with Sandhill Crane, introduced Whooping Crane, Bald Eagle, Black Vulture and shorebirds.

¹ – After Lake Michigan; Lake Okeechobee is roughly one-tenth the size of Lake Ontario, smallest of the Great Lakes, but roughly half of Lake Ontario is in Canada.