5.27.10

Here are some of the sights and sounds of the Glen last evening. I had to cut part of the video…the music they were playing was XXXX rated….If they play that when there are families camping or touring the State Park….I can understand why the Ranger running the place wants to stop boats from coming in. It only takes a few to ruin it for everyone. This is one of the few places you can go in a boat and have a place to swim or socialize in the water….the big gators don't seem to bother with this end of the spring run….at least during the day.

I think Jim counted 44 boats on this swing through.

This morning everything was peaceful again.

I made coffee early, we took a cup with us when we took Raisin ashore. Once back aboard we stowed everything for travel and hauled the anchor. George is taking his little boat to town and visiting his daughter for the weekend. He volunteered to take Jim to the store for supplies. Great!!!  another week or two on the water.

The sun was just coming up as we neared the lake.

We passed two big houseboats headed for the Glen….and numerous cruisers with their generators and dingys stowed on deck. It will be a wild weekend.

We’ll be back on Tuesday when things quiet down. Tonight’s anchorage is behind Lungun Island, marker G3. The sun is hot…just a slight breeze. We’re going ashore and cook hotdogs over a campfire.

So far, it is peaceful and quiet. Lots of boat running the river but no one camping on the island yet.

5.26.10

Great night at anchor at the Seven Sister’s Islands. We had a short rain storm…just long enough to put up one of the vinyl side curtains and take it down again…

We decided to head straight to Silver Glen Springs. Try to get down the lake before it gets too bad….it was pretty bouncy…wind was from the wrong direction for the springs but we managed. We were watching a boat in the distance that was headed to the same place and thought they were getting a real nice smooth ride.  When we talked to them later they said the same thing about us…so I guess we were both being bumped around a bit.

Boats are starting to come in for the weekend.

Weekends are busy..but holiday weekends pack the place. There are already over 30 boats here.

This dog was enjoying his trip….I think he’s watching all the fish swim under the boat. The water is so clear you can see them swimming past is big schools.

We passed this Nimble Nomad on the river a couple of days ago. What a nice boat….made us think of Larry & Diane, they used to have one and we cruised the Tenn- Tom Waterway and the Black Warrior river, Grand lake, OK and the St Johns River and the ICW to Key Biscayne with them. Sure miss their company out here.

We enjoyed dinking around and looking at all the boats….then went back to ours…took a quick dip to cool off, then supper and a movie.

5.25.10

The Sterling Lady III got off to an early start. This is the sunrise that greeted us.

We were not far behind. Finished topping off the water tank and headed over  to Corkey Bell’s dock and a hike to the grocery store. Hot wings from Corkey’s for lunch.

Most of the markers have Osprey nests on them. One of the pair flew away…probably to distract us….but I got some pictures as we passed slowly by.

Can you see the little ones?

How about in this one?

She was talking to us all they way by.

 

Here is the mate coming in for a landing. We’ll do a slow cruise and anchor in The Seven Sister’s Islands. Just S of marker R 31 we found a nice spot that should give us a good breeze most of the night.

5.24.10

We had a nice breeze most of the night and some rocking at the dock. Made for good sleeping. Awoke to a beautiful sunrise.

You can see how flat the water is….we moved around to a slip on the other side of the dock. This was the view from there.

We wanted to leave the long dock space for Sterling Lady III….and it wasn’t too long when we were hailed on the VHF radio…they were on their way. Here she is at the dock.

The Sterling Lady III is all they said she was…a beautiful and comfortable cruiser. We could definitely live there.

We hiked into town and had lunch with Sterling and Judy. Very nice people.  Drinks and conversation aboard the “Lady” topped off the day. 

5.23.10

We left 6 Mile Creek and headed S. towards Palatka. We need to fill the water tank. Sterling Lady III gave us a shout…they are spending the night at Green Cove Springs and will be in Palatka tomorrow. Great!!! Jim has been looking forward to seeing the “Sterling Lady !!”  She is for sale and sounds like a good investment.

The river was flat all day until we got near Palatka…then the wind kicked up and we anchored on the N side of the dock instead of in a slip…we’ll wait until morning when the water is flat again….no sense taking a chance on damage with a strong cross wind when it isn’t necessary.

No photos today…

5.22.10

We left Black Creek and headed for Trout Creek to do some exploring.  Jim picked up a few souvenirs when the creek got too narrow and we had to turn around.  Snagged some small limbs before I could get the antenna down.

He did a good job of turning and not catching the prop or rudder on underwater snags…Join us on a short tour of Trout Creek.

Once we’d gone as far as we could on Trout Creek we headed up 6 Mile Creek to the dock at Outback Crab Shack. If you dine there you can spend the night. They have a very looooooooooooooong dock. We were tied up in the middle.

We had dinner and spent the night. The next morning, just before we left. This fisherman got a hook stuck in his finger, trying to unhook a catfish…I supplied paper towels an band aids.  This Blue Heron was waiting for him to toss it a fish…..

5.21.10

Nice night at anchor…breeze most of the night…but by morning the water was like glass…not a ripple in sight.

Last night on the way back to the boat we spotted a Yellow Crowned Night Heron with it’s nest. We tried to get pictures but it was too windy. This morning it was perfect. The nest is only about 6’ off the water.

It’s a beautiful bird. But talk about a bad hair day!! Arn’t they darling?

We were drifting up under the branches for the pictures.

They don’t look impressed with us. Something about them makes me think of the movie “Jurassic Park”.

Jim was a good sport trying to keep the dingy in the right spot. There was only one opening where I could see this bird without lots of branches in the way.

I took this shot out of the video. I think it must have been trying to frighten us off. When it realized we meant no harm…it continued with it’s grooming.

Once we finished taking pictures & videos (over 130), we weighed the anchor and headed N to Green Cove Springs city dock to meet Ed.  He took us to lunch and we were joined by Gordon and Susanne. Gordon has an Albin 25 and Susanne has a 44 ft sailboat.  WOW..wouldn't it be great to live on that? Ed just sold his Albin 25 to some nice people…hope we get to cruise with them one of these days. He flew out the same day and we will look forward to several meals at the Shrimp R Us restaurant in Welaka with them next winter when they return.

The city dock at Green Cove Springs is really pretty nice. Floating docks with elec and water for $10 a night. We didn’t spend the night and headed over to check out Trout Creek , it got pretty narrow and Jim picked up a few souvenirs when we made the turn around. I had to drop the antenna to keep it out of the trees. Next was a trip to Six Mill Creek… Outback Crab Shack has a looooooooooooooooong dock that customers can tie up to over night….so we had supper…and did just that. We’re in the middle of the dock.

We did see a gator swimming around just behind us. First one we’ve seen in over a week…so they are here.

5.20.10

We decided to spend the day on Black Creek.

I took these on the way to shore with Raisin. Looks can be deceiving..

The beach is on the other side….and from this side the view isn’t so pretty. I wonder how much water is inside? We see many boats along the river that need a lot of TLC.

It’s 13 mi to the S Fork and N Fork of Black Creek. We took the N fork first.  1.6 mi up the fork you come to the Rt 21 bridge. There is a BP Gas station within walking distance if you need something. We went another 2 miles then turned around…getting shallow. Lots of homes, many on high ground.  It’s not often you get to see a long set of steps down to the water in Florida. I took the pictures from inside…we were closed up with the screens because the deer flies were so bad. Once out of the narrow forks they were gone.

We followed the S fork for a little over 3 miles…much wilder and less expensive homes.

We spotted these ducks sharing a log with a turtle.

Once in the main creek we started seeing the wake boarders.

There’s an island just up the from the entrance and we’ve decided to anchor behind it where we can watch the action. I think this is a hydro-foil….and boy…could he do some tricks!!!

We had a lot of fun watching them…..it got really exciting when we took the dingy around the island to the main river side.  The wake boarder, 2 bass boats and the hydro-foil all criss-crossed in front of us and we got to ride some nice swells in the dingy.

5.19.10

We took our  time getting underway  this morning. ….It will be a short day. We ran up Julington Creek a bit. This boat was anchored just at the entrance. It’s kind of an odd one but looks to be set up for full time living. 2 Wind generators and trackvision TV. There are 3 or 4 windows that tip out on the stern. Probably the master cabin. I really like that…they can be open in the rain. Not fancy but I’ll bet it’s comfortable.  We headed for Black Creek to anchor for the night. I spotted an old dock when we were there a few days ago…near the small beach where we walked Raisin. Gotta go “detect” it…..

These 2 sailboats were headed N. I really like the red one.  I like the shorter masts.

This one is pretty nice too….probably has more room in it.

I just love those “in the diamonds”…

We’re anchored near the bridge on Black Creek….and are watching all the boats headed up with water skiers or wake boarders.  This creek has deep water and is like a slalom run with lots of bends that make it a fun run for them. Luckily there is a marina just the other side of the bridge that sells gas and drinks.

Sounds like a few more days in the 90’s and then it will cool down a bit. Hi 60’s at night and 80’s during the day. That will seem much cooler than the temperatures we’ve had the last few days.

5.18.10

We arrived in Doctor’s Lake around noon…..anchored and took the dingy ashore for Raisin and a few minutes on the beach with the metal detector….no big finds today.

Hot and muggy but we had a nice breeze in Mill Cove. We’re anchored here until it’s time to shower and head to Whitey’s Fish Camp for supper and Texas Holdem.  They have a tournament every Tues night.  Free..and you can donate $1 and get extra chips.  Guess they play for points and prizes.  We didn’t make it to the end but had fun. We’ll keep this in mind when up this way again. We had the Whitey’s Favorite Fish Sandwich.  Great!! There is easily enough to split if you are light eaters. We should have but it was soooooo good we were glad we didn’t. I couldn’t finish my fries the sandwich was so big.

It was after 9 but the sky was still fairly light so we headed back to Mill Cove to anchor.

The only photo today was of  an Osprey on the sign as we entered Mill Cove.

I thought I saw a little one with her….and she made sure it stayed low as we circled the sign trying to get a good shot.

5.17.10

Spent the night at anchor in Deep Creek, ( just N of G37). We traveled up the river to a wide bend where we could get a good breeze. It was calling for thunderstorms overnight so all cushions were stowed and ports closed. The ones in the sleeper have rain shields so we were able to leave them open.

Morning had showers forecast but the wind was down so we headed out. Once on the river, which at this point is very wide, almost like a lake, Jim turned on the radar so he could keep track of any other boat traffic.

He saw this one coming before we could see it thru the rain. The radar even picked up his wake. We are the dot in the middle and the dots that fan out are the wake.

He also had fun watching for the squalls to come across the water before they hit us…this is what it looks like when a shower hits us. The vertical green lines are the shoreline.

This was the visibility when it hit.   Another nice trawler passed us.

Our screens sheeted the water nicely….keeping most of it out….