St Johns River 5.7.15

A nice quiet night….cool breeze and lots of frogs singing us to sleep.

We got up early…had our coffee and donut then headed for Lake George. Blue Creek was flat but there was a little wind on the lake and it was starting to get choppy. It was a nice ride but glad we didn’t wait a few more hours.

The group of Cormorants was our welcoming committee to Silver Glen Springs.

This sailboat was anchored here on our last trip…no one aboard and didn’t look used for awhile.

The entrance to the springs is to the R of the island.

As we slowed down to our anchorage Jim spotted this big guy in the woods. We anchored about 200 feet away.

We  took a dingy ride into the springs….we used to have a MacGregor 26X like this one….had a great trip around the tip of Florida with it. Larry was on a 26’ Chrysler with 2 other friends. First of many cruises with Larry.

This little guy decided to sun itself on a log behind our boat. It might be 1 1/2 ft long. Just a baby.

Here comes the parade…about 6 boats came in together…safety in numbers crossing Lake George when it’s getting rough.

We anchor in this cove just outside of the springs….no one else anchors here…nice and quiet….but we don’t swim here…not with that big one so close.

We’ve dubbed this little side creek the “nursery”….usually several little gators in here.

This one might be 2 ft long.

here’s another…couldn’t get it’s head.

Had to throw in a turtle….

Same gator as above…look at the width of that tail in the above photo. Sure wish I could see just how big it is.

Supposed to be a nice bright moon tonight…so I wanted to head to Salt River Springs after dark….by 7:30 I was ready to travel. The sun is just setting.

Water was kicking up a bit…and we had to head right into the waves so we “U” turned and headed S. Going to spend the night on Blue Creek with the gators…then head to Lake Dexter.

We are always flexible…had the lake been flat we might have continued on. We’ll do that next trip.

Another night of cool breezes. So far…this has been the best weather we’ve had for boating. It’s either cold or hot….this in between stuff could get habit forming.