March 25, 2015

Norris Dead River, Lake Woodruff, Lake Dexter, St Johns River 3.23.15

Jim woke me up during the night when he started closing windows….it was raining…a nice light spring rain but splattering in the windows. The kitchen window that Jim put in is the only one that cranks out and can be left open.

Still raining this morning so we decided to head up to Lake Woodruff anyways.

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We weren’t the only boat on the water…but at least we had cover. Some people just love to fish.

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The entrance to Lake Woodruff. Hope it is not weeded in.

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We got across Lake Woodruff ok…got into shallow water (depth gauge showing 1 ft) but we weren’t churning mud. Finally spotted the locals channel markers and got into 4 ft of water.

Going up Tick Island Creek I spotted a place where Jim and I, with our Adventure Craft and Larry and Diane with their Nimble Nomad beached for the night, several years ago. Jim noticed a lot of sideways lightening but we spent the night fairly comfortable. The next morning friends from Oklahoma called Larry and Diane and asked how everyone was….there had been a big tornado in the area. When we got back on the St Johns River there were helicopters flying everywhere. We were told we could travel the river but very slowly and to look for people in the water. We cruised around Lake Beresford and couldn’t believe the destruction and debris in the water. Luckily we didn’t spot anyone in trouble in the water.

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Liked this tree…..

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Especially the Osprey in the top….

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This Pelican flew along in front of us…Lake Dexter was a little choppy …

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We stopped at 3 marinas and all were out of gas…we might have enough to get back but Jim decided to take a 6 gallon can and hike to the station in Astor.

The boat on the far side of the river has been there for months….looks like it has been abandoned. Saw one in the same area several years ago and it finally sank and broke apart…looks like this one might do the same. Shame…since it floats it could be offered for a buck…as is…and give someone a chance to fix it up.

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And here comes Jim over the hill…with gas and lunch.

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He said it was about a mile each way.

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We headed south on the river and finally spotted a little gator.

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A little farther and we spotted another….it’s a bit bigger…might be a 6 footer.

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We are going back across Lake Dexter…..looks a little different now.

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Jim put way points on the chart plotter for our next trips…here is one of the “locals” markers for the entrance to Lake Woodruff.

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As we were setting our anchor in the spot we were in last night…a big dark cloud and strong wind came up.

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Before the anchor set we were blown across the river..it’s not very wide so it didn’t take much. We hauled it in and headed to a more protected area. Sometimes things work out for the best. This gator spent a lot of time looking at us…and not far away.

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We never did see it’s tail but judging from the size of it’s head and back it probably is at least 10 feet. We have a guard gator…no one will be swimming over to board us in the night!.

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The cloud blew over and out came this rainbow.

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Because we were backed into the weeds and close to trees I didn’t think we had a chance of seeing any bats….but I was wrong! Shortly after we turned out the lights I had one fly right up to my window. I watched it for a few minutes then it left. I looked out several times during the night and saw it again. Guess that big black cloud was telling us we needed to be in this spot.

Another nice night on the water.

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