St Johns River & Blue Creek 3.9.13

Somebody messed up….and I know who it was…I forgot to pack the coffee. Bummer…no hot coffee this morning on the rear deck…so we started early. There was a light fog so we had to use running lights.

The dingy tows great with the battery and trolling motor aboard.

Several fishing boats on the river, but not a lot of pleasure boats this early in the morning.

We anchored across from the boat launch in Astor, FL. Jim took the dingy ashore and hiked to the BP gas station and picked up a can of coffee.

So nice to just haul the dingy alongside and jump in…no fuss no back pain…but he did have to take a half hour hike ..each way.

Coffee was late..but better late than never.

Continued down the river to Blue Creek. This is a beautiful little side creek that brings you back to the St Johns just before the S entrance to Lake George. Always a nice ride but what a surprise today.

Jim spotted a gator but it was down before I could get the camera.  Then this one. Look at the size of the “scoots” behind its head in the middle, then see how worn down the ones on it’s back are. Maybe this is a female…not sure.

I counted 18 turtles on this one log.

Then I spotted these two…now we are tied. We considered anchoring here and dinking around for awhile…but when you see two gators together it’s a good bet you’re close to breeding season, and they aren’t very friendly…decided to move on.

Glad we did….look at this fellow..we saw it at the same time but I called it first so claimed it. Jim’s not too happy about that.

A beautiful ride.

There is a nice little island on a bend just before you leave the creek and we saw a gator there the last trip. We’ll anchor there for the night. Here’s the island.

and look what is on it…… Bubba…according to the locals. Another big one….but probably the biggest we’ve seen today.

another angle…and you still don’t see all of it’s tail. Looks like 4 turtles sunning with him.

A closer look at his claws.

There must have been a dozen boats go by and he just kept on sunning. Must be used to being the local tourist attraction.

We saw a total of 6 gators on Blue Creek. We knew they’d be in here just never saw any until the one on the last trip.

Jim is working on the outboard. Thinks the bulb on the hose is weak so changing it out.

Bubba is in the water….sure hope he’s not hungry for inflatable dingy.

We took a short ride around the island.

Not sure if this is Bubba or his girlfriend lying on a submerged palm tree.

Jim had seen several people pointing at an area …..we cruised over to see what the attraction was….didn’t see anything, so we decided to see how many turtles we could sneak up on with our quiet little motor. Managed to get close to several.

There was a flock of these little birds. Must have been getting insects on the water and plants.

 

Then back to the boat for a hot shower and supper.

St Johns River, FL 3.8.13

Launched mid morning. Not a lot of people at the ramp.

Headed North, and took a pass thru one of our anchorages. Here’s “Cruiser”. Affectionately nicknamed because he always cruises around us when we anchor there.

We are testing the new to us, Honda 50, 4 stroke…..the dingy with the trolling motor and the new Yamaha 2000 generator. Our Honda 1000 runs great and was all we needed on the Albin 27, Slow Motion. But we now only have a house battery bank of 2 instead of 4 and the outboard doesn’t have a big alternator like the Albin. It also heated water when cruising and the water heater aboard Meander uses 1500 watts.

The Honda runs great. Forgot just how quiet a 4 stroke is compared to a 2 stroke. Jim redid the gas can and generator area. We may not need the extended run on the Yamaha, it has a 1.1 gal tank. Should be enough to run a heater on low overnight if needed, but that shouldn’t be a problem this time of year.

So much easier to put the trolling motor on the dingy. Jim made a battery box out of a small cooler and we can tie it in place on the floor of the dingy. Everything stays in the dingy while underway…so much easier when you want to stop, anchor and do a bit of dinking around.

Our anchorage for the night is by marker R 36, just off the St Johns River.

 

Had a nice cruise, hot supper and enjoyed the evening. Took Raisin ashore in the dingy….ohhhhh …it works so nice and quiet.