November 18, 2009

Deep Creek (off St Johns River, FL)

After a hearty breakfast of sausage gravy and biscuits..we headed downstream and for once the tide was going our way.

A perfect day…the sun was warm and the air cool. No breeze to speak of and the water was flat all day. Most of the time the only movement was our wake.

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We stopped in E Palatka at Corkey Bells Seafood & Steaks at Gator Landing.

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They have a nice floating dock (no overnights, but the free city dock is nearby) great deck for outside dining, and a menu that doesn’t seem to be as pricey as you might think. We had hot wings for lunch. Very good. This eating out could be habit forming. There is a grocery store, Dollar General and an auto parts store..all within walking distance. So….stop for lunch and go pick up everything you need.

Jim works even when he’s supposed to be relaxing.

003cs  I wish I had a “before” of this bell. He wet-sanded and then polished it. What a difference. It was brown and green. Is that beautiful or what!!!

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We decided to anchor in Deep Creek.  Just past G37 on the chart. Very nice ride up the creek and again..the current was headed our way.

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We traveled quite a ways up the creek before we found a good spot to do Raisin and less than 20 ft of water to anchor in.

This looked like the perfect spot…but it was taken.

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The water is high and this is low land. It is hard to find a dry spot that you can get to with the dingy. But we finally found what we needed.

We are planning to head for Doctors Lake, in the morning.

I try to remember to put the markers in so that anyone with a river guide or an East Coast Chart book can follow along.

Last time we anchored here…Larry and Diane were with us. Kinda lonely with out them. We miss you guys. You should have wintered on the water with us.

Welaka, FL

We had a nice anchorage and took our time getting started. 

I splurged and spent $7 on a small toaster for the boat. Now we can have toast with our eggs..and we did. We’ll only use it while underway.

I sometimes think we only make plans so we can change them. We were going to stop at Silver Glen Springs but decided to keep on heading N. There are a bunch of lakes and rivers we’ve not spent any time on.

What a day for gator watching. Look at this beauty.

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And this one…what a nice reflection… They all look like they are smiling at me.

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It was also a good day for Bald Eagles. We saw at least 8.

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This one sat on the marker…flew off as we went by and circled back after we passed.

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Here he comes….

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We are at the Welaka, FL city dock. (free). had a good supper and will be heading N in the morning.