Salt River Springs

Yesterday was a cool drizzly day so I didn’t get any photos.

We slowly made our way into Salt River Springs. Our depth gauge showed 2’ at one time. Sure hope that meant below the keel. We didn’t put the gauge in and  are not positive how it’s been set, so this morning we dropped a weighted line overboard while I went down to see when it touched bottom.

That  distance to the waterline read about 2’ more than the gauge. That’s about the best we can test it. If, in fact, we do have 2’ below the keel we may be able to get in here more often.

Jim spent most of the morning scrubbing on the boat. Getting rid of that “river smile”, and then did some snorkeling.

Thanks for the bailer, Larry!!  Works great!!

Larry has a nice motor mount on his swim platform…that the dingy motor can be mounted to for emergencies. Jim made one for ours and we tested it this morning.

Does it look like we are a bit underpowered?  Some one has to stay back there to steer..guess it doesn’t put enough water past the rudder to steer….but it does move the boat along. Hope we never have to use it that way.

So far there have been no manatees in today.

Palatka, Fl (heading S)

We spent the night at Doctors Lake and were treated to a beautiful sunset.

There was just enough motion on the lake to gently rock us to sleep.

Jim was up early and made coffee. We enjoyed a hot cup of coffee and a beautiful sunrise while waiting for Raisin to get up.

We left a bit before slack tide, but it eventually caught up with us and we had a nice push all the way to Palatka.

We don’t see many barges on the S end of the river but you can see barges and very large ships once you get up near Green Cove Springs.

It was a white bright day with a bit of haze. I took my turn at the wheel.

I have to sit on a couple of float cushions in order to see well so the placement of the radar didn’t make any difference. We already like it better.

We pulled into the city dock in Palatka and tied up. We both took showers and then filled our fresh water tank and jugs. We got there just in time for a concert in the park.

It was almost over by the time we hiked over, so we headed back to the boat and untied. We are going to Corky Bells for supper.!!!

We had a wonderful meal. Jim’s 1/2 rack of ribs & grilled shrimp were great!!!..only  $9.95  I had blackened Maui-Maui..$8.95. Both had more than we could eat. We sat out on the deck and enjoyed the band. Good place to spend a Sat night.

After supper we walked to the store and picked up a few supplies. We’re good for another week.

We’ll spend the night at their dock if they don’t send us on our way.

We should both sleep well tonight.

Doctors Lake

Last night we anchored near a road that came to the waters edge so we could get Raisin ashore…then Jim found a tree limb in the water,..(connected to the tree)..and tied a line to it ..and back to the boat. He then pulled the back of the boat towards shore...That way we could sit facing the center of the river and take the wakes on the bow, instead of broadside. It worked great!!!  Only boat creating a big wake went by before we were tied off!!!

Jim was up early…had the coffee all made and was reading when I got up. We hoped to get an early start to catch the tide flowing N…the direction we needed to go to get to Doctors Lake.

Everything went well until we tried to haul up the anchor. Must have snagged something..in 20’ of water. Evidently the one we tied to wasn’t the only one on the bottom. We tugged one way..then the other with the boat and then we both started hauling it in together…boy..it’s amazing what team work can do. Got it up!! I was sure thinking about the windlass Larry has on his boat.

Once on Doctors Lake we started looking for a possible anchorage with shore access. Most of the lake shoreline is residential.(Doctors?) In Mill Cove we found a launch ramp and dock. We’ll spend the night here.

Once that was decided we headed up to Whitey’s Fish Camp, and tied to their dock.

They have nice docks…I saw a couple of electrical outlets..but forgot to ask if they were for over-nighters.

Whiteys is much larger than you first realize. Plenty of inside and outside seating. We were there at 10:30 and they didn’t open until noon….so Jim found something to do. He moved the radar unit to the dash.

It had been mounted on a bracket where the chart book is standing. It stuck out into the cockpit..made a great head banger when working in the engine compartment…and made it impossible for me to reach the starboard window to wipe it down. I think we’ll like it much better where it is. And the cockpit looks roomier.

We had a great lunch at Whiteys. It is a definite “must” stop if you are in the area. Not too pricey and the food was great. There were at least 20-25 people in there for lunch and still arriving. It looks like it would be a fun place to visit on a Fri night.

I think we had 5’-6’ of water in Swimming Pen Creek to  Whitey’s dock.

We are at anchor in Mill Cove. Jim is working on the dingy motor. It was running a bit funny last night. We are going to cruise in…walk around a bit and get rid of some trash. Maybe just loaf around the rest of the afternoon.

Cruising N on the St Johns River, FL

We had a good night at anchor on Deep Creek. Our trip down river (N), worked well for us. We had the tide in our favor most of the day. The St Johns is fairly wide in this area, almost like a big lake. You don’t see much wildlife this far from shore…but when we got to G 25 a beautiful Bald Eagle greeted us.

For you non-boaters…these are channel markers. They  correspond to the markers listed on the charts. That way you can tell where you are. When you are headed toward the ocean, you keep the Red markers on your L (port) side and the Green on your R (starboard) side. The old saying is “Red..Right..Return”. Meaning..Red marker on your R as you head home, or when returning from the sea. The lights flash at night and the chart tells you how often. You can see the battery box and the small solar panel. These also make great Osprey nest platforms. I am surprised there isn’t one here.

We decided to do Doctors Lake tomorrow. by the time we got to the entrance to Black Creek, the current was against us…but would be pushing us up Black Creek if we went that way…so we did.  We traveled 13 miles up the river…it goes from wild to residential and back to wild etc. Here are a few of the waterfront “cottages” that we saw.

Notice the high ground and terracing around them.

I think all this dock work was for one house.

If you are looking for a piece of land for a place on the water…want to have a fast boat…then this is the place to be. Other than a few houseboats…every boat we saw was designed to go fast. We never saw a “no wake..manatee zone” sign…they did have a couple of “no ski” zones..but there were short and few. I don’t think we want to be on Black Creek on a weekend, with Slow Motion. It is definitely not a “slow” type boating area…water skiing, jet skis, and cigarette boats abound.

We saw very little wildlife. A few birds…no gators. Whether that is because of the 20+ ft of water that runs in Black Creek..or the fast boats, I don’t know. There have been days on the St Johns when we never saw a gator..so they may be in there. We saw one Manatee area sign on a side creek, Peters Creek.

Black creek continues on past our turn around point. We made it to the split at Middleburg, but wanted to anchor near the entrance to the St Johns River for an early start with favorable tide, in the morning, so headed back without checking any farther.

This is the only wildlife I had to photograph today.

We anchored…walked the dog…had supper and a beautiful sunset.

We’ll explore Doctor’s Creek and Whitey’s Fish Camp tomorrow.

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.

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

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.

  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!!!

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

Here he comes….

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

Launching with the remodeled trailer

We had a beautiful morning for a launch. Sun was shining but the air was perfect. We live to the L..back behind the boat. Our neighbor is to the R.

This is the drive out.

Before we brought the boat back the last time..Jim limbed the trees and brush hogged the side. We have a good neighbor and we’re both at the end of the road.

 

The launch did not go without a few glitches.  Once the boat started to float a bit..the anchor was in the way for cranking the winch handle. So that had to be put on deck so he had some clearance. Not a big problem but one that will have to be solved. The safety chains were a bit short and Jim had some trouble getting them unhooked…but get it done he did.

We figure it will take a few trips in and out of the water to get the boat to sit where it needs to. Once we have that figured out…Jim can work on the other stuff.

Great day for gator hunting. We saw 3 big ones and several small ones. I have a couple of videos that I will post on www.riverwildlife.blogspot.com , as soon as I get them shortened up a bit for posting. I like this combination….turtle, gator and white heron.

 

All in all…it was not a bad day. We are anchored by Driggers Island at G43. We are just off the river and had trouble finding a spot for Raisin to go ashore. We did find a nice spot on the back side of the island and that is where we will anchor the next time we stop here.

The air is cooling down. We got the enclosure zipped and the ports closed, early, to save what heat we could. I think it’s only supposed to be in the mid to hi 50’s tonight so it will be good sleeping.

We should be in Silver Glen Springs tomorrow. Time for a bit of snorkeling.