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.

Hontoon Island

We had a nice quiet night behind G3 island. This boat came in later. I believe it’s an American Tug.

We left the anchorage around 10 am and took our time heading up the river. Our plans were to tie up at Hontoon Island….they’ve done a lot of work on the island since our last visit. It should be on your list of places to stop. Be sure to visit the museum and hike to the Indian Shell Mounds. Boat slips with electric and water. 1/2 price for FL seniors over 65.

Since we only had about a 4 hr run we slowed or stopped for every gator we saw. While drifting up on this one…..

Jim spotted a Manatee. So we shut the motor down and drifted. Look what came over to check us out.!!!!

Momma and her twins….at least they look like they are the same age.

They swam over to us….then under us…and moved on up stream. We just kept drifting until we were sure they couldn’t be any where near our prop. I am so thrilled to have gotten a picture of  the 3 of them together.

It was  also a bad day on the river for wildlife. We saw 2 dead turtles floating. And then spotted this dead gator.

Farther up stream we spotted a gator swimming in front of us. I didn’t bother to get the camera since they always dive before we can get close enough. This one didn’t…so we knew something was wrong. We slowed down and looked him over.  It looked like he was having trouble moving…and if you look close…it looks like possible prop marks on his tail…but it could be from fighting with another gator.

He finally made it out of the center of the channel and we continued on our way.

Most of the slips were full when we got to Hontoon Island,  but we were able to get one and tied up for the night. Our hike on the trails brought us to this Barred Owl. What a beauty!!

They are very large owls. I think he’s looking at my little dog with a lot of interest. She’s about the size of a small rabbit….I think Rabbit is on their menu.

Such a handsome bird.

The trails take you through some beautiful country.

 

They also have cabins for rent.

Lots of wildlife here. I even saw a bear last year.

Tomorrow we have another short run, so will anchor near Blue Springs for awhile and watch for Manatees, maybe even go into the springs and talk to the Rangers and see if the Mother and the 2 little ones made it in. Then we’ll anchor behind the island at G109.

It’s Friday and we’re heading S

We picked up Jim’s brother, Carl, in Silver Glen Springs yesterday morning. It took us a little over 3 hrs to get to the Welaka  city dock. A short hike and we were at Shrimp R Us and had a great Thanksgiving dinner. The only bad part….no leftovers. Even the pumpkin pie was homemade.

It was a shorter ride back to the Springs…wind at our backs and we made good time. We got Carl back before the park closed and he was able to head home. It was a fun day.

A very cold night, but we survived. Ran the heater until we went to bed…hot water bottle for the bird..sweater and blanket for the dog. Started the generator about 7 am and cranked up the heater again. Sun didn’t hit the boat until after 9am. Then it was toasty inside. The air outside was so cool we decided to skip the morning swim.

Look how clear the water is…It’s only about 5’ deep here.

We didn’t have a lot of company yesterday…but the boats started coming in this morning. At least 8 showed up fairly early, and we met 3 on our way out.

We are the last boat you can see in the middle of the picture.

While we were dingying around at the upper end…I spotted this “bobber” and line in a tree. Got it out….no bird will get this tangled in its legs. I guess because they are Styrofoam and cheap…they don’t bother to try to get them back..just cut them loose. There’s at least 20’ of line there.

I don’t know how Jim did it….but he spotted this doe on the side of the river after we left Silver Glen .

This one was standing near by.

We are anchored behind the island at G3. It’s going to be in the low 40’s tonight. We have the engine compartment open a bit…making use of all that heat. May have to start the generator before the night is over.

We are slowly making our way up the river (S) and towards home.

Silver Glen Springs

We arrived here yesterday morning. A short run from Salt River Springs, so our batteries did not have a full charge after sitting for 2 days.

This Anhinga and turtle were sunning themselves when we got here.

  2 beautiful Bald Eagles were having a discussion at the top of a tree. They sat there together for quite some time and seemed friendly….so maybe there were discussing where to build a nest.

They are both there again today.

We do have a nice neighbor… this Nordic Tug looks so much larger than our Albin, yet it is only 26’.

I know all you northerners will feel sorry for us….it’s probably in the low sixties..a cool and drizzly day.

We started the 1000 watt Honda generator to charge the batteries and run a small heater to get the damp chill out. We wanted to have a nice warm place to come back to after our swim. Jim wanted to check the weed cutter he made. The trip in and out of Salt Creek is full of grass. Evidently it worked….it was clean and free of weeds.(  last time I had to go overboard in the lake to clean the shaft and prop.) It is made out of steel, but once he is sure it works and is happy with it…he’ll fashion one out of stainless.

As soon as the rain lets up we will take the dingy for a ride.

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.