St Johns River FL 5.9.15

 

Had our coffee then headed down the river to the St Johns River

About 11am we found a nice spot…dropped the hook and fixed lunch…not in a hurry…so enjoying the nice day.

This tour boat full of kids came by..

Good looking gator…

It wasn’t long and we were back on the St Johns.

Normally when a gator sees a boat …it dives…this is the attitude that keeps us from using our dingy very often during breeding season. They may not bother you but it’s not worth taking a chance in an inflatable.

Even with all the boat traffic we were able to spot a few gators.

There is a deep spot by Drigger Island….there were several fishing boats there so we didn’t get to cross the really deep spot….but 50’ is pretty deep for Florida. You can see where we are …little red boat shape.

Here is a cute little baby gator.

Female Anhinga…you can see why they are sometimes call the “snake” bird. They swim with their body completely underwater with just the neck and head above. See her webbed feet?

More side creeks…

Nesting Herons put up quite a ruckus…

Jim thought there were 3 babies in the nest …all competing for food from the parent.

This nest was in the same tree….could be 3 babies and a parent or 2 and both parents.

It can get pretty loud when they all get vocal.

back out to the St Johns and on to Butcher’s Bend. We are anchoring there for the night and hauling out early Sunday morning.

This guy caught a big fish just as we passed by and held it up for a picture….then tossed it back in the river.

Two nice gators cruising Butcher’s Bend but no good photos. Also had Manatees just as we anchored but none of them either.

5.10.15

This is our morning view with coffee. We had already taken the screens down.

Everything stowed for travel …bimini folded and covered…trolling motor and battery aboard. We try to get as much done as we can so we don’t take extra time at the dock.

We had a good time and the weather was great. We spotted several lakes (Mud Lake) and tributaries that we’ve not been up so next time we’ll bring poles and leave the dingy at home. Since we have to tow it …backing up can be a problem.

Look forward to the next trip. 

Jim is checking batteries to see if one is bad…didn’t seem to be holding a charge as well as they should and we need to replace the rear deck floor.

Next trip…..this weekend with the ‘49 Hudson and our Scamp…Going to Tavares for a Hudson meet.

St Johns River 5.8.15

I think he has breakfast in mind….

making sure we're safe…don’t have to worry about anyone swimming up and coming aboard.

Just cruising by…

After coffee we hauled in the anchor and headed down Blue Creek.

After crossing Lake Dexter I spotted this Osprey…look at the size of the nest.

This one was on the sign at the entrance to De Leon Creek. We are going to have lunch at the Old Sugar Mill in De Leon Springs. It’s not often we can get in here because of depth. That was one reason we decided to skip Salt Springs.

Met at least 4 kayaks….and here comes the tour boat.

As they spotted this one they headed to the opposite shore.

Tied to the dock and headed for the Old Sugar Mill.

The falls is water coming out of the springs.

Inside the mill…

Jim cooking his first pancake.

In 1982 I spent each afternoon here…at that time it wasn’t so commercial and they had Peacocks running around. Heard they got rid of them because they aren’t native. Shame …they were beautiful. I always took a box of raisins for them.

The spring hole is big enough for scuba divers. First time I realized that… I was swimming and all of a sudden they were popping up next to me…

The gator was still there.

This Osprey was just leaving it’s nest.

We left De Leon Springs and had a nice trip down Norris Dead River.

Our anchorage is a small lake off the Norris Dead River.

We anchored here the first night we had the Adventure Craft….late at night we heard a lot of go fast boats running the river. It is a slow speed zone but evidently they didn’t care. We actually expected to find a few boats in the trees the next morning…but didn’t.

This small 5-6 footer cruised us.

We took the dingy for a ride…had 3 huge splashes as we passed by…took that as an indicator we should not be out and about….so headed back to the boat.

It’s very pretty and quiet here. Did have one pontoon boat with a couple of dogs go past. He fished at the far end and then left before dark.

Once back aboard we had supper and then wine on the rear deck…we spotted this guy. Definitely not the 5-6 footer…glad we took the hint.

Started to cool down…still have all windows open but did need a light fleece blanket before morning. I could get used to this weather..

St Johns River 5.7.15

A nice quiet night….cool breeze and lots of frogs singing us to sleep.

We got up early…had our coffee and donut then headed for Lake George. Blue Creek was flat but there was a little wind on the lake and it was starting to get choppy. It was a nice ride but glad we didn’t wait a few more hours.

The group of Cormorants was our welcoming committee to Silver Glen Springs.

This sailboat was anchored here on our last trip…no one aboard and didn’t look used for awhile.

The entrance to the springs is to the R of the island.

As we slowed down to our anchorage Jim spotted this big guy in the woods. We anchored about 200 feet away.

We  took a dingy ride into the springs….we used to have a MacGregor 26X like this one….had a great trip around the tip of Florida with it. Larry was on a 26’ Chrysler with 2 other friends. First of many cruises with Larry.

This little guy decided to sun itself on a log behind our boat. It might be 1 1/2 ft long. Just a baby.

Here comes the parade…about 6 boats came in together…safety in numbers crossing Lake George when it’s getting rough.

We anchor in this cove just outside of the springs….no one else anchors here…nice and quiet….but we don’t swim here…not with that big one so close.

We’ve dubbed this little side creek the “nursery”….usually several little gators in here.

This one might be 2 ft long.

here’s another…couldn’t get it’s head.

Had to throw in a turtle….

Same gator as above…look at the width of that tail in the above photo. Sure wish I could see just how big it is.

Supposed to be a nice bright moon tonight…so I wanted to head to Salt River Springs after dark….by 7:30 I was ready to travel. The sun is just setting.

Water was kicking up a bit…and we had to head right into the waves so we “U” turned and headed S. Going to spend the night on Blue Creek with the gators…then head to Lake Dexter.

We are always flexible…had the lake been flat we might have continued on. We’ll do that next trip.

Another night of cool breezes. So far…this has been the best weather we’ve had for boating. It’s either cold or hot….this in between stuff could get habit forming.