June 12, 2009

4 Days on the St Johns River

We launched on Monday. The weather was calling for afternoon thundershowers but we didn’t have any for the 4 days, and we were hoping for some. It was hot. We don’t use an air conditioner. If I’m going to be shut up for AC…I’ll stay home.

We went to Salt Springs. No problem with water depth, but the Hydrilla was pretty thick. Once in the springs I put on my snorkel and mask and dove down to pull it off the shaft of the prop and the rudder. We had done the forward/reverse thing on the way in a couple of times to help clear it, but it was wrapped pretty tight.

We spent a few hours in Salt River. Had a good swim. Then we headed for Silver Glen Springs to spend the night. Part way across the lake I had to do the snorkel thing and clear the prop and rudder. Lake George and the St Johns River are the color of dark tea from tannins. I thought I would be able to see once I was under the boat but I had to do it by feel. I couldn’t see anything. I used a dockline to keep my bearings and not float away from the boat. Kinda creepy not being able to see what is swimming with you.

Look at the beautiful Osprey we saw. After seeing a close up of it’s talons, I can understand why it can carry such big fish.6.9.09 040cs2

The Glen had several houseboats tied up. We’d forgotten about summer vacation. So we spent one night and left the next morning. I had a great time trying to photograph the River Otters. This is one of the youngsters they were supplying with fish.

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This one has a piece of fish in it’s mouth.6.11.09 015c  The adults didn’t seem to mind the boats until they realized they were being watched.

That was the fun part of the trip. Now for the bad news. The boat still smokes!! Unbelievable! After a second set of injectors. So Jim has removed the fuel pump (rebuilt) and is taking it back to them. When he called and told them what it was doing they said to bring it back for them to check out. It sounded like an internal governor might not be working? So Jim spent most of the day on that. Maybe by Tuesday we’ll know if it need replacing. Keep your fingers crossed.

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