1.30.12

Our last day on the water…..and it will be a short one. We anchored only an hour or so from Astor, FL, where we will be hauling out.

Larry and A Dollar More cruising off into the sunrise.

It was cool last night. The mist rising off the water makes for a nice picture.

I won’t be taking many more pictures of A Dollar More. She is headed back to OK. 

The Astor boat launch has 2 ramps. We take a little longer to load then most boats, though not as long as you would think, so Larry tied to the dock while Jim and I anchored. Jim put our dingy in the water and motored over to the launch ramp. He and Larry walked up to the Marina where the trucks and trailers were stored.

By the time they got back, I had all the vinyl side curtains down and stored. I will put the screens up when at home. Better air flow and less mold. If I left it open, it would fill with leaves, bird nests and mud dauber nests.

Larry has a long cable for loading A Dollar More. He has done so much single handing that his systems are all in place. Once the trailer is in the water, he walks back with the cable and attaches it to the bow eye, walks back and starts winching. He used this same system to load his Nimble Nomad. Works very well when working alone.

Once she’s on the trailer….all he has to do is haul’er out.  There she goes…..

I’m not partial to seeing Slow Motion on the trailer. Much rather she be in the water….but….when not in use it’s nice to have her in the yard. I usually climb the ladder at least twice a day, to open and close the sleeper and V berth for airing out, spray for ants and spiders if needed and generally enjoy being aboard. I’ve even been known to bird watch from there.

I never get the “hauling out” part in pictures….I usually back the truck in while Jim lines the boat up and drives it on the trailer. We made a rope and bungee cord set up that connects to the guide posts. It keeps the boat centered. Jim usually stands on the ladder at the front of the trailer and cranks it into position as I slowly pull it out. This time his cranking was off a bit and it was about 4” too far to the rear so I backed it back down the ramp into the water, so it could reposition and Jim cranked it up a little more. This time it was perfect.

A Dollar More loaded a little to the rear also, but when Jim built Larry’s trailer he used a lot of rollers..so if you want to move it a few inches….just drive forward and hit the brakes….Jim drove and Larry cranked. Worked like a charm.

Once home and the boat backed into place, I noticed a large flock of Robins taking turns at the bird bath. I leave a hose on a slow drip whenever I’m going to be away for awhile.

Winter is our dry season. I have a bird bath in the back yard and one sitting on the ground under the Tangelo Tree in the front yard. The raccoons, armadillos and other critters can get water too.

When we got back from NY we found a grey cat had taken up residence on our back porch. We weren’t going to feed her but she looked like she was going to have kittens or had just had some….so we started feeding her. A few weeks later she showed up with 3 kittens. We knew we’d be on the boat a month or more, so the neighbors said they’d feed them. Cindy wanted a kitten and I was hoping she’d tame one of these.

Here they are. No longer little kittens.

Cute little fellas. Don’t know if male or female. Need to gentle them and catch them up and get them fixed. Or we will be even more over run with cats. The hammock is a favorite place for dumping unwanted dogs and cats.

Is this a cutie or what? Looks like it has a butterfly stuck under it’s nose.

and this one?

This one is not as prettily marked…but seems to want to be friendly. I was able to pet it while eating. It’s a start.

What really surprised me was the number of birds still coming to the feeders. I’ve seen 2 male Painted Buntings, 6 green (either female or juveniles), Cardinals, Titmice and 2 Catbirds that bath in this same birdbath, and don’t forget the flock of Robins.

The kitten above, is sitting on the squirrel feeder and the squirrel came in later.

The cats hadn’t cleaned up their dry food last night and when I went to get the bowl, a Raccoon was finishing it up for them. I’ll have to get it sooner. I would rather not have the Raccoon coming onto the back porch. Though…it was a cute little fella.

I keep a blog about the critters and insects that frequent our back yard.   www.wildlifearoundus.blogspot.com   I’ve even posted some video of Monarch Butterflies emerging from their Chrysalis and the caterpillars pupating. When home I post there. Check it out.

Larry called yesterday to let us know that he and Diane had made it home safely with A Dollar More.

If you have a blog about your boating travels, please post a link in the comment section. I “boat” when at home by following others aboard their boats. Hira Reed has exciting travels aboard her Albin 25, Shatoosh  http://shatooshandpashmina.blogspot.com/   She’s another single hander. Though she does have a twin sister, and friends who travel with her at times. You will enjoy seeing some of the places she visits.

I just went to a blog from her site, people she met who live aboard http://mvvikingstar.blogspot.com/  I was surprised to see snow! So now I have other travelers to follow.

Fair winds to all you boaters. We’ll “see” you out there.

1.29.12 Silver Glen Springs, FL

It is very dark in the Springs at night. There are no street lights or house lights. You may see an anchor light or lights in the cockpit, but once everyone goes to bed, the only light is the moon and stars. It is beautiful.

That is also when the Bow Fishing crews come out. They have large generators and big spot lights. Even with our curtains up…they lit up the cockpit. I could see at least 2 different boats, but there may have been more, and they came in and out of the anchorage. Most of the time I could see their light closer to the entrance to the lake but they did cruise by us several times. I took this video. It isn’t very clear. My camera had trouble focusing on them. But I did see one catch a fish.

The bows have reels with line on them that is attached to the arrow. They shoot and then reel it in. I watched them for quite awhile. It looks interesting, but I don’t think I want to be out there in the cold, damp fog. I was inside with my heater going.

Jim and I slept in for awhile, waiting for the “solar heater” to warm up the boat. I don’t know how we manage to do it….but we are always behind the tallest tree. At least it didn’t have a lot of leaves and we did get some filtered sun.

After coffee and breakfast..(home fries, sausage & eggs) we went for a dingy ride. Captain Jim waited while I waded ashore with Raisin. It was too shallow even for the dingy. See how clear the water is?

 

I took a blank DVD over to Larry so he could copy the pictures and movies he took of us on the trip. While there we looked across the water and spotted this 5’ – 6’ alligator in the weeds. We were laughing because the lady with the dog in the dingy said she had been coming here since she was 2 and had never seen a gator in the anchorage.

So now we are on a gator hunt. We moved on down the spring run and spotted this nice one. When it realized we were watching….it slowly slid backwards into the water.

We circled around a small island and this one was sunning.

While we were drifting looking at the one on the stump…another one came swimming towards us.

We decided to run up the side creek and see if there was anything in there. I think this is a nursery. We saw 4 baby gators, only about 1 1/2 ft. long. Here’s 2 of them.

This is the one above in a different position. All the others disappeared right away. Jim doesn’t think this one will last too long. I guess it hasn’t been chased by anything yet and hasn’t learned to hide.

Here’s another look at the bigger one …it had come back out of the water while we were watching the babies.

This video is a collection of the video I took of the swimming gator, the one on the stump and the babies.

I also like turtles …this one was especially nice.

I think this might be the same one but it had moved a little between our run up and back.

I was taking this picture of a group of turtles. Several disappeared before I snapped the picture, but when I looked at it….I noticed a good sized gator’s tail in the photo.

I marked it with a red arrow.

It has been a great day. Around 2 pm we decided to head across Lake George to the S end and find an anchorage for the night. We are hauling the boats out in Astor, FL tomorrow. Guess it’s time to go home. Jim is already planning a camping trip to the Silver Springs area for a weekend with a couple of car shows.

1.28.12

When we left Murphy’s Creek, it was in a little fog. It had cooled down a bit overnight. Visibility wasn’t bad, but we had our running lights on. You can just see A Dollar More’s port side red light. On the starboard side (R) it is green. If you can see both red and green you know the boat is heading straight at you. There is a white light on top…if all you see is a white light and no green or red…then the boat is going away from you.

Some river pictures. This is near Seven Sisters.

The fog must have something to do with the red tint around the sunlight and reflection. I took several pictures and it is the same in each one.

This is looking up the entrance to the Barge Canal. I think it was started in the 1930’s, then stopped, then started again, stopped, etc. Environmental issues, they say. It would have connected the Gulf of Mexico with the east coast.

We made it to Welaka, FL for a sausage gravy and biscuit breakfast, then continued on to Silver Glenn Springs. Lake George was pretty calm but not flat.

This Pelican followed us all the way to the Springs. It would circle around in front of us ….land next to us and watch us go by….a few minutes later it would be back. Several times it checked out A Dollar More. Like I said…we look like a fishing boat.

It was pretty shallow going into the Springs. A Dollar More was in the lead and we could see bottom being disturbed every now and then.

The lake near the entrance was full of fishing boats. Don’t know if there was a contest or not, but several had been flying at a high rate of speed all morning. Larry saw one flying along…..come to an abrupt stop….toss out a line and pull in a big fish. Must have a high dollar fish finder to be able to do that.

I was on deck as we idled into the Springs. Jim gave a shout..”Raccoon”…it was washing something.

We passed a couple of men bow fishing. It is popular in the clear waters of the Springs.

This is looking back at the entrance. We came in on the L side of the island. You can still see the 2 men with the bows.

A Dollar More working her way into the anchorage area. There were a few boats already here, but not as many as we had expected on a Saturday.

There is a channel that runs around the outside. You anchor or beach in the center. There is a sandbar that runs down the R side, inside the markers, that only had a foot or so of water over it. That is where Jim and I were aground when we were here last. This time we put out a stern anchor so we couldn’t swing into the shallow water.

During the summer weekends, this is so packed with boats that you could literally walk from one deck to another. It is one big raft up.

This Bald Eagle watched everyone coming and going. I don’t think I’ve ever come in here and not seen at least one pair.

Once anchored, we went to work scrubbing all the salt off the boats. Mops, sponges, scrubbies and buckets. Larry is working on A Dollar More. Jim and I gave Slow Motion a good scrub and rinse. Jim worked from the dingy, I got in the water for a swim and walked around the boat getting what Jim couldn’t. Sure beats climbing up and down a ladder in the yard.

Slow Motion after her bath…

and A Dollar More…

After the clean up, we cruised over to see if they wanted to take a dingy cruise. Diane was still napping so Larry followed along in his dingy.

We stopped and visited with a few of the other boaters. One couple had a dog who liked to sit in their dingy.

After our visit, we journeyed on down towards the entrance to the Springs and headed into a side creek. This Anhinga was in the tree tops.

The Anhinga is sometimes called the “snake bird”. When it is in the water, all you see is it’s neck and head.

and one drying it’s wings…

Here’s Larry on his way back out.

Captain Jim trying to figure out just what I am doing staring at him thru the camera…he didn’t dare move….thought I was photographing something over his shoulder.  I can be sneaky at times.

No…..it’s not snow on the bushes….this is a favorite roosting place for Cormorants and Anhingas….the bushes are white with bird droppings.

I believe these are North American Coots. There are thousands of them in the area, up and down the river.

These were standing on a submerged log, preening themselves.

It started cooling off so we headed back to the boats, out of the wind. After supper we read for awhile then went to bed.

This is one of our favorite places to hang out.

It was a nice quiet evening…….then the sun went down and the bow fishers came out. They have big spot lights with a generator to run them. It lights up the Springs.

 

 

 

 

1.27.12

The trip from Green Cove Springs to our anchorage at Murphy’s Creek, was a very interesting one. The wind against the tide was creating some pretty good chop and for one long stretch of the river it was hitting us broadside and we had to do a lot of tacking to keep from having a rolly polly ride.

Jim commented it had been an unproductive day, I hadn’t taken any pictures. But, the reason I wasn’t messing with the camera is because I was doing most of the driving….and having a blast.

I guess he found it boring since he only got to drive when I had to make a trip to the head or take Raisin on deck when the water was smooth.

We rafted up in Murphy’s Creek, with a pretty sunset, a glass of wine and conversation with good friends.

Once the bugs came out and then the bats trying to catch them…the curtains came down and we buttoned up for the night.

I will finish “Wreckers Key” tonight.  It’s a good read.

1.26.12 Jacksonville, FL

We didn’t start out as early as we usually do…we were waiting for slack tide or at least as little tide against us a possible before heading into Jacksonville.

The city is beautiful in the early morning sunshine.

 

You have to look close…but right at the waterline in the center of the photo is a row of houses. They look so tiny with all the tall buildings in the background.

We are approaching Main Street Bridge.

Just beyond it, on the R is a Mall with docking space along the wall. We have never stopped there. I’m not much of a shopper so it doesn’t  have any appeal to me.

As we cruised past….we could see two boats tied up, and it’s not yet 0830.

The railroad bridge is down so Jim gave the bridge master a call on the VHF radio, asking when his next opening was…..1130 is the reply….they are closed for repairs.

So we circled back and joined those 2 boats tied to the dock. Larry is getting rid of trash, Jim is reading the sign that says you can raft up to 5 deep if the dock is full. I can’t imagine what it would be like. The current can be pretty fast thru here, and the outside boat has to have lines from it to the dock. Guess the first one in needs to plan on spending a lot of time shopping, cause there would be no way out until everyone else left.

I walked Raisin while Larry and Diane went in search of a breakfast nook. They found one, gave us a call and waited till we got there to order.

At 0930 we were back at the boats. The sailboat at the dock called Main Street Bridge for an opening. Here it is going thru.

I had to mail a letter and was just starting up the ramp when we saw the RR bridge go up…I ran back to the boat, Jim called to see if it was just a test or if they were open….it was a test….but they would hold it for us. We tossed off our lines and headed their way, with A Dollar More right behind us.

As we were nearing NAS Jax, we watched these big planes do “touch n’ goes”.  I caught A Dollar More just as one was landing.

I have been reading a book by Christine Kling, “Wreckers key”. In it, a couple of boats have run  aground because of possible faulty GPS systems….the lead character in the book thinks people depend too much on electronics….guess what happened…..our chart plotter quit…no GPS signal. It was working as we pulled up to the Jacksonville dock and shut down. No GPS signal when Jim turned it on to leave. I am really enjoying this book, and can’t get over the coincidence of this happening as I am reading about failing GPS units. What are the chances?!

When we got to the city dock at Green Cove Springs, Jim decided to stay aboard and see if he could find the problem, while Larry, Diane and I went to the Mexican restaurant for lunch. Jim had eaten his breakfast and half of mine and was still full.

Jim didn’t find the problem. He’ll check it out again when we get the boat home. I hope it is the GPS and not the Chart Plotter itself. The GPS is the cheapest part to replace….and that isn’t cheap.

We have a chart of the river, and Navigation Lite on the computer so we can safely get to where we are going, but really do enjoy having the Chart Plotter when it works. We’ve marked the entrances of our favorite anchorages. South of Lake George, we are very familiar with the river and could probably do with nothing but daylight, and the channel is well marked.

We anchored near the dock for the night.