Hontoon River, St Johns River, Norris Dead River, 3.22.15

Peaceful Sunday morning on the Hontoon River.

Once we got back on the St Johns River things started picking up. There were several rowers out today.

And here come a few more….must be practicing. One of our favorite houses on the river is that white one on the R. They store their pontoon boat under it. Looks like they are driving into it now.

This Osprey watched us go by.

At the entrance to Driggers Island there is a deep hole that is a favorite fishing spot. It shows 32 ft on the depth finder.  If you hit the right spot it is over 40 ft.

I wouldn’t mind having this motor sailor. Looks like plenty of head room for Jim and the mast is not too tall.

Since there were so many boats flying up and down the river we decided to take the Highland Park Canal to the Norris Dead River. We like these back waters.

When the Herons fly they tuck their long neck up.

I enjoy this kind of travel.

There is always something beautiful just around the bend….and at times you wonder if you can pass through…

This female Anhinga tried to look big and scare us off.

As we were looking for a spot to anchor we spotted this gator cruising the side of the river.

Another Osprey watching the water.

No bats tonight either….saw a couple gators in the water from a distance but they never got out to sun themselves or pose for pictures.

Another good day on the water.

St Johns River 3.21.15–3.26.15

We never put in on a weekend….since we are retired we try to leave the ramps open for those who work all week.

Our launch date was Monday but a friend called and her husband is having surgery on Friday and she wants me to check her Aviary while she is gone, so we changed it to Saturday.

When we got to the Park, it was full….we needed to top off the water tank and wait for Jim’s brother, Carl, so the manager told us to take our time. It was afternoon and boats would be pulling out. We launched Meander and a couple of boats headed to the ramp to load up. We now had a parking spot.

I got the screens on while waiting for Carl.

Carl brought subs for lunch so we headed onto Lake Monroe to eat. During lunch we noticed there were sailboat races at the other end of the lake. We got closer and watched them for awhile then took Carl back to the dock…moved the truck into long term parking and headed north.

Just past G 109 the side of the river was pretty busy. This is just a small portion of boats beached there.

Love this canal. We are going to anchor for the night on the Hontoon River.

Last time we anchored there, several bats visited the anchor light to feed on the insects that are attracted to it.

Our dingy has a leak….while anchored we pulled it up on the bow..took all the air out and rolled it up. No dinking around tonight.

My camera doesn’t do pretty white birds well.

I don’t usually see this many White Herons together….must be time to choose a mate.

These little Blue Herons usually fly away but he came right next to us to hunt.

We saw two gators in the distance but there were so many boats passing by that we never saw them again.

No bats either….but just before sundown a huge flock of swallows flew around us and that was interesting to watch. Many of them skimmed the water. They must have been heading for their roost because they just kept coming. We had a show for about half an hour. There were hundreds of them.

After the boat traffic quit we took a quick shower and relaxed with a glass of wine.

The night was perfect. All windows open, light sheet, and lots of bullfrogs to sing us to sleep….well….sing might not be the perfect word…but they kept us company most of the night.