As Jim and I were coming across Haines Creek yesterday, we spotted this Osprey trying to catch a fish. It is amazing that they can get so far underwater and still fly away.
Once we joined the rest of the boats we traveled to the north end of Lake Griffin and found a wide spot to anchor.
This power boat came down to look over Avitoon. He and a few others had been waiting at Nelson’s Landing for us to come past. Another boater had reported seeing the line of houseboats headed that way. Unfortunately…we found the anchorage before we got to them, so they jumped aboard their boat to come check it out.
This morning we had our coffee on the rear deck and watched as a thin layer of fog drifted past the boats that were rafted up.
Looks like another beautiful day. The water is like a mirror.
It didn’t feel as if there were any breeze but the boats still turned around.
Looks like everyone is up and enjoying the early morning Florida sunshine.
After breakfast and the anchors weighed…we headed up the Oklawaha River.
They are all back there….
and here they come…
Our motor ran well up the river…then after we stopped for lunch we had a hard time getting it running again. We met a couple hikers that reminded us of a lock just ahead of us that takes a long time to get through….so we did a “U” turn and headed back down the river to Lake Griffin and anchored for the night. It was getting too late to make it up Haine’s Creek and through the lock. It closes down at 6pm and you have to be there with this many boats by 5:30.
Jim and I dropped anchor and ended up in the weeds. Had a tough time getting the motor running but did manage to get farther out in the river before it quit but couldn’t get up to the other boats that had rafted up.
They decided that if we couldn’t come to them…..they’d come to us. They were sneaking up on us until Jim called on the radio and asked if anyone had marine gas that we could try. We had filled our tanks with ethanol and he thought that might be the problem.
Once they got to us…Gaetan handed Jim the can of gas he had just bought at Nelson’s when we came by.
Bud told Jim about a little trick with the choke and the motor started and idled beautifully. We decided to head back to Nelson’s Landing and top off the tank we borrowed and another empty that Bud loaned us.
Here’s the other half of the “raft”. Can you believe that trolling motor on the front of Big Duck moved all 4 to us? Notice there are 2 cute second mates. ( white fluffy ones)
We got to the “no wake zone” and as soon as Jim idled the motor down it quit and didn’t want to start. It would run but quit when put in gear. He finally nursed it to the dock.
We decided we had to pull out in the morning and didn’t dare try getting back to the others so we called and asked Bud if he would come pick up the gas cans in the morning.
Jim explained our situation to the waitress in Nelson’s and asked if it was alright to spend the night at the dock…..so we did.
12.3.14
This White Heron was standing on the dock in the morning …looks like it is missing a foot. We’ve seen this before. Always wondered if a gator grabbed it but the bird managed to get away.
Bud and Michelle picked up the tanks…and shortly after Carl showed up with the truck and trailer. All we had to do was walk the boat around the corner and onto the trailer.
I wasn’t crazy about spending our last night on the boat tied to a dock but guess we were pretty lucky to have made it there under our own power …without having to call our friends for a tow.
12.4.14
Jim has the motor apart…and is working on it now. He has built street rod engines and engines for his dragster….now he’s learning how to be a Honda 50 4 stroke mechanic. Not sure he really wanted to add that to his resume at this late date.
We are going to take the ‘49 Hudson and the Scamp to Silver Springs to visit friends over the weekend. Our plan is to stop at the Lake Griffin State Park on Saturday and visit with everyone while they pull their boats out.
Glad we got to meet Gaetan and look at his Hobo. It has a lot of head room and I like the layout. 2 people could manage in there. It’s in the process of being redone inside.
I visited with Doug and Elaine and checked out their Parker. It has a lot more room below deck than you would think. Sounds like they do some traveling with it. They’ve been to Lake Powell on the Utah/Arizona border. We spent some time out there in 2007 with our Adventure Craft, “Lingerawhile” and would love to go back.
See all that nice red rock on the left? We did not know at the time that big chunks break away and fall on boats if they happen to be sitting under the overhang, that is why it’s red and not white like the rest. It happened in another spot while we were there and killed 2 people. Had we known….Jim would not be sitting there posing for a picture.
We cruised the St Johns River with Bud and Michelle and their Avitune and Jeff and Sue with their Land n’ Sea, Big Duck, last year. Now….if you are looking for a boat with lots of comfort?….that is the one you want and it is trailerable. But down here it would have to have a screened deck to make evenings outside enjoyable. As soon as the sun goes down the mosquitos zoom in.
Hope we can get together with you guys on another boat trip some place.
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