Pine Island to St Augustine, FL 12.31.09

The engine compartment supplied all the heat necessary for the night. It must have been in the 50’s. Jim finished stowing the generator and extension cord for travel, while I got the curtains down. While he was hauling up the anchor our company cruised by. What a beauty!!!!! Definitely the way to travel.

I was lucky to get a picture of a couple of dolphins..they are so fast..guess I need a better camera.

There didn’t seem to be as many boats on the water…even though it was a holiday. This one was kicking up quite a wake until he spotted me on the foredeck and then dropped his speed and gave us a slow pass.

As we came into the anchorage at St Augustine, we spotted this shrimp boat. I like the dog in the doorway.

We are anchored near the Fort and had a good view of the “firing of the canon”….

We have a nice view of the city waterfront. It is all Christmas lights and some distant music. I think I just hear fireworks. A nice way to end the year.  Happy New Year everyone. May the coming year bring you good health and happiness.

Doctors Lake to Pine Island 12.30.09

We had gone to bed early so we could get an early start. We were underway before the sun was up.

A beautiful sunshine all day. Very warm and cozy inside our cockpit. shorts and short sleeved shirts until the sun went down.

The trimaran caught our eye.

Jacksonville is a very pretty city from the water.

The Modis building looks like it’s hollow from a distance. There is a mall, restaurants and plenty of room for boats at the dock.

Now here is a nice home away from home.

We saw this ship coming towards us, just before the junction to the ICW…

I was glad we were able to make the turn off before we had to pass it.  There was a strip of land between it and us and we headed S. I waited until this sailboat passed between us for a photo.

The sun set to the W of us….

While the moon rose in the east…

We were only a mile from our anchorage and most of the markers have blinking lights so we had no trouble finding it. As we rounded the island a sailboat turned on it’s mast light so we had company for the night. We made 60 miles today. I think that is a record for us.

and on to Doctors Lake. 12.29.09

Another nice sunrise got us up and moving about.

The sun was welcome…and we were glad we spent the night plugged in…you northerners will recognize this…FROST…welcome to sunny FL.

We walked down the dock to Mel and MaryLou’s boat…a 21’ Trophy Pro, with a cuddy cabin. they trailered it down from Michigan….for  a month on the St Johns River. From here they will trailer it to the Okeechobee Waterway for another month or two. We are going to keep in touch …maybe we’ll cross wakes again. Very nice people with a wealth of sailing knowledge..

After breakfast and some pleasant conversation…we headed for Doctors Lake. The sun stayed with us all day and it was a pleasant run, even though the air was cold. We made 43.6 miles today, and got into our anchorage just as the sun set.

Palatka City dock 12.28.09

SUNSHINE!!  We woke up this morning to a beautiful sunrise.

The Seagulls have taken over the end of the dock. There is a launch ramp nearby. When a fishing boat came past…I was able to get a good photo of them in flight.

There is a freeze warning for early a.m tomorrow, so we decided to spend another night. The cold front is due in this afternoon bringing high winds with it….small craft warnings for later today. So we will stay here, plugged in..nice and warm.

Jim unloaded our “dolly” and we took it and a 5 gal. gas can with us to the restaurant for breakfast. Then a short walk to the gas station. We should have enough  to run the generator for at least 5 nights, if need be. When we leave here, we’ll be anchoring out at night until we get to Palm Coast.

It was warm inside most of the day even without the heater. The sun was beautiful…but as soon as it dropped out of sight it turned cold. We are fairly comfortable but not as warm as last night. Having a warm engine compartment..even when closed …makes a big difference. I think spending the night here will have been a good idea.

One more trip down the dock for Raisin’s final walk and we will be tucked in for the night.

There is a gentleman aboard a 25’ sailboat and I saw no electric cord running to it.  Brrrrrrrrrr  hope he has more than a candle.

Palatka City Dock 12.27.09

Jim has the generator set up for extended run…and we needed it last night in Welaka. It Ran for 12 hrs.

We started out fairly early this morning…no sausage gravy and biscuits today…still stuffed from last night.

No sunshine so the interior of the boat was downright cold…ran the small heater for a few minutes at a time to get the chill out. It’s hard to believe…but heat in the boat might be a good idea …even in Florida!!  We listened to the weather and looks like several nights in the 30’s are due here. Might stay right here in Palatka…plugged in!!

We stopped at Corky Bells…tied up to the floating dock…went inside and ordered hot wings…while they were fixing them we hiked over to the grocery store and picked up a few supplies. After stopping for our wings…we headed back to the boat to stow the goodies. We then decided to go to the city dock and hook up….and eat our lunch there….with a heater going…so here we sit….heater going full blast…water tank topped off and part of the wings gone.

Don’t know what the temperature is outside…but it definitely isn’t shorts weather…so I’ll have to change when I walk the dog.

This is the entrance to the dock. They did a lot of work on it last year and it is very nice.

There is a small park. It makes a nice place to walk…and the last time we were here there was a concert.

No ice on the windows or snow on the dock…so I know you northerners aren't feeling a bit sorry for us…..we aren't either….we could be home with central heat….but we’re not…..we are right where we want to be…..on the water.

Welaka, FL 12.26.09

We left Silver Glen Springs around 10 am.  It was pretty cold last night. Lots of mist rising off the water this morning. The water felt like bath water but the air outside and inside the boat was too cold for a swim. No nice warm spot to get rid of the chill…so we passed on the swim. The sky was overcast and without the sun it stayed pretty cold inside the boat.

We arrived in Welaka with a bit of sunshine to warm us up.

 

Once the boat was secured, curtains in place and the engine compartment opened to warm the interior….and the dog walked…we hiked up to the Shrimp R US restaurant for a delicious shrimp dinner.

This is a free dock but no electric hookup or water so we’ll spend the night and head to the Palatka city dock  tomorrow.

Christmas Day ‘09

We had a pleasant Christmas Eve….by late evening there were several large houseboats anchored. We enjoyed the Christmas lights and music.

This boat was beached near our dog walking area…..the music sounded so nice over the water. We hung out and listened for a bit then headed back to our boat.

We awoke to a light rain…by 10am it had stopped and a bit of sunshine warmed the morning enough for a swim….Jim was first….

He checks the prop for weeds that may have drifted in during the night. We have about 1 1/2 ft of water below the keel.

I decided to join him. Jim says the easiest way is to just jump in and get the shock over with..so I tried it…

 

the water is so clear that a snorkel is a must….you can swim right up on fish and turtles.

All in all it was a nice day.

We just got back from our last trip ashore with Raisin….the night is beautiful…the moon has a huge ring around it. There are few lights in here ..other than the Christmas lights on a couple of boats so the sky is very visible.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Christmas Eve day 12.24.09

We had a great night ..never used the generator…just the opened engine compartment. The sun was shinning in before it got too cold in here this morning.  I heated the water bottle (bird cage warmer) at 1am and it held most of the night.

We anchored near shore so we would get the sun as early as possible. It looks like we are really in the bushes ..but we’re not.

I am trying to train Raisin to use a carpet on the front deck for her daily business.  Many times we have to anchor where there is no place to go ashore.  The carpet is from the front porch at home…and  she has used it when it was raining, so it’s already scented. I thought I was in for a long sit and was getting prepared to out wait her…..she used it before i could get my coffee and cushion in place. This will be our daily routine. …and a trip ashore later.

Jim was over-board for a swim about 9 am. …air cool..water invigorating….at least that was the term I used until I got in…COLD..was more like it…but once in it was nice…so a good scrub and shampoo was in order. Now we are both squeaky clean.

We watched to see how the sun came over the trees and decided we’d only have to wait 15 min more if we moved to the center of the run. No phone signal or internet this close to the trees… so Jim used the dingy to push us into place.

I spent an hour or so cruising in the dingy while Jim was on the computer.

These buzzards didn’t mind my picture taking…

but I had to follow this heron down the run before he allowed one.

The sun is down…and it’s cooling off. I need to start closing up. Merry Christmas every one. May this one be the best every.

Hontoon Island, Fl 12.22.09

We arrived at Hontoon Island before dark. There wern’t any boats in the slips so we decided to try backing in. It might not sound like much to those with to engines or bow thrusters but a single engine is lots of fun and learning.  Jim did a great job..didn’t dump me in the water or bang the dock..he’s really getting the hand of this thing.

We had a nice warm night. So glad Debbie reminded me it was going to be cold again.

I was up early and walking Raisin so I took a picture of our boat…I told Jim I was labeling these photos  “our boat”  and

and “our next boat”    a Marine Trader 36S.  Only 9 ft longer than ours..but what a beauty.

The only way onto Hontoon Island is by boat.  Here is the electric ferry that brings all the visitors over. A large battery bank and solar panels keep it running.

After visiting with the owner of Bold Eagle, we headed to Silver Glen Springs.

We saw a few nice gators on the way…this one wouldn’t even look at us.

but this one looks like he’s grinning…

It is so peaceful in the springs…only one other occupied boat here. All the big houseboats that were here all summer have gone. I wonder if anyone will be in tomorrow.

We have the generator all set up for extended running if it gets cold tonight. I don’t think it’s supposed to be too bad.

Merry Christmas….from Slow Motion..on the river

We launched at lake Monroe Park on Tuesday morning. Everything went well..the adjustments Jim made to the trailer worked the way they were supposed to.

Jim took the truck and trailer to the house and our friend and neighbor, George, gave him a ride back to the boat. By the time they arrived..I had all the vinyl sides in place and the dingy aired up. Jim had already loaded the bike, gas cans and “grocery dolly” while i was was filling the water tank and jugs.

We only one bike so one will ride and one walk. The bike can tow the dolly. Last time in “No Name Harbor” in Key Biscayne, FL..we had at least a 3 mile hike to get groceries…to the store isn’t bad..but lugging 4 bags each got pretty tiring. ..so we’ll give this a try.

We got underway about 1:30 pm…not much wildlife on the river today. We spotted one Manatee…You can just see it’s nose as it came up for air…

 

and then it’s back as it submerged again.

We spotted the flat wide ripples before we saw it. We just shut down and drifted until it broke the surface. Once we were sure it was completely away from us we continued on.

Did see one nice gator..

We’ll be stopping at Hontoon Island for the night. Going to be cold and we can plug in and run a heater.

New Glow Plugs

The engine was starting a little rough, but smoothed out after 15 seconds of  warm up….Jim figured one of the glow plugs must not be doing its job…. so he pulled them  when we got home. One was in pretty bad shape….and tested no good. (can you guess which one?)

The rest showed a lot of wear so he is replacing them all, even though they tested ok.

Portable dingy running lights

When we were cruising the ICW last year, we didn’t have any bow running lights for the dingy. We did have a white light for the stern.

Jim has a problem sitting still and doing nothing…so he started work on a running light. He used an old 6v flashlight.

My sister, JoAnne, had given us the red/green  light, but we needed a way to hook it to a battery. Since this is a waterproof case he decided to use it.  I normally ride on the port side, near the front and I will be able to turn it on and hold it when we have to run Raisin ashore.

It’s small, lightweight and easily loaded into the dingy when we might need it.

Home again….bummer

Well, we woke up to a beautiful morning on the water. The loading of the boat on the modified trailer went fairly well. Jim has to make a few adjustments to make it easier. But…all in all…it worked OK.

We traveled 352 miles in the two weeks we were out. Not very far, but it was still a lot of fun.

I didn’t get any pictures today…so here is one of the gators we saw yesterday….he looks glad to see us.

And one last look at the beautiful Manatee Mom with the 2 little ones by her side.

I hope they made it safely to Blue Springs.

We are now planning our next trip…..see you then.

Last Day on the River

We were nice and warm last night. Up early for a short walk. Most of the over-nighters were still here.

We had an outside slip. Too shallow for us in any of these.

I spotted this little Blue Heron on the weeds, looking for his breakfast.

It looks like a spray of feathers on it’s back.

We had plenty of time to get to our anchorage at G109 so stopped and dropped the hook just outside of Blue Springs and looked for Manatees. We had seen at least a dozen on the river between Hontoon Island and Blue Springs. It was a busy place. Lots of kayaks (they have canoes and kayaks for rent) and boats of all sizes. Most just nose up to shore. We have a keel so anchor out. Blue Springs is a must stop and see during the winter. There could be 100 Manatees in the springs. I saw a couple nose right up to a kayak..just checking out the visitors.

We took our dingy for a ride and this one looked us over. She might even be saying hello.

Here are some of the others we saw.

 

Unfortunately…they keep track of them by their prop scars. Most have names if they come back each year.

This is the disturbance of the water made by a Manatee. We watch for those…then stop and shut down, if possible. Several times they’ve come over to the boat and looked at us.

These two were in Blue Springs. You can see the difference in the water. Nice and clear where the river is a dark tea color.

We cruised into our anchorage…spotted a nice gator sunning itself. He is currently cruising the area. Guess we are safe….no one will be swimming up on us in the night.

Tomorrow we will see how well the new trailer works for pulling the boat out.