Wednesday May 30: Hontoon State Park

NOTE: Blogger pictures are acting quite strange. Not sure how to fix. If you click ONCE on a picture, a series of all pictures will come up - but only when particular pictures are clicked! Today, for example, you can click on the first picture and see what I mean.

We spent a third night at Welaka as the weather was not very nice for traveling. It rained on and off most of the day (fortunately there was a window of opportunity to ride to Shrimps R Us for lunch without getting too wet). Storms were predicted so it was a good day to hide in the front cabin and read! Steve spent some time fishing but again - no catching! There are supposed to be fish around where we are tonight - we'll see.

Up early this morning as the weather is still a bit unsettled and we wanted to cross Lake George early in the day. This lake is the second largest lake in Florida at 10 miles long and 4 miles wide. It's only about 10 feet deep which makes it get rough very quickly. Ended up with 1 foot waves almost broadside but pleasant enough. The St. Johns River is now quite narrow as we are only about 15 miles from the end of the navigable portion of the river. Alligators were pretty easy to spot with some lying along the bank and others swimming in the water. The water hyacinth along the river is a serious problem as it continues to grow and close the smaller waterways. We think this guy was spraying something to control the growth but we're not sure.

Wildlife is everywhere. Alligators next to the boat, buzzards sitting on shore as well as sharing a tree with what we think were egrets. Osprey are everywhere - and Steve spotted a manatee to boot!

Our second water rescue (well, a tow, really) happened today. A couple of fishermen on a pontoon boat flagged us down as their engine wouldn't start. We ended up towing them about 8 miles up the river - saved them a $500 tow bill as the guy didn't have tow insurance. I think he was happy to see us :-)

So we are docked at Hontoon State Park - more on that tomorrow.

Monday May 28: Sitting in Welaka after Beryl Passes Through

The 21 mile travel from Palatka to Welaka (weird that the names of town around here rhyme with each other!) yesterday was very pleasant. Not sunny but no rainy which we consider a good day :-) On EVERY waterway marker (literally) there is an osprey nest and a pair of birds - along with some very small young ones. Good to know the waterway is home to so many waterfowl. Folks were out having a good time even though the weather wasn't perfect. Any sand bar seems to be a draw for the locals. The rain was coming, of course. We are about 70 miles south of Jacksonville so were keeping a very close eye on the weather because of of the tropical storm approaching the north Florida coast. We did great though - until of course we came to our dock for the night! Then the wind picked up and the rain let loose. It was really a challenge to get in and docked but we made it safely.

The sunset was really colorful - signs of things to come with the dark clouds?? The storm rolled in after dark - I was very glad to be tied to a dock here in Welaka. The winds blew all night and rocked us broadside as the winds turned from the NW to the SE as the storm passed north of us. It was impossible to sleep on my side as the boat was rocking too much! Steve thought he was going to be pitched out of bed at one point during the night! But all is well - storm is gone - rain is still around for a bit. We'll move on tomorrow.

Today (after out to breakfast at Shrimps R Us and More) we spent 8 hours doing what should have been about an hour job. It's just the way thing are on boats :-) We were rebuilding the raw water pump on the generator (fortunately we already had the rebuild kit - from ebay!) but tje new shaft with 2 bearings just wasn't going in right. Finally decided that part of the old bearing was still suck in the housing. Out came the handy dremel so we could grind part of the old bearing away and finally were able to get it to come out. After putting the pump back in and out probably half a dozen times we finally got to the point where the amount of water leaking out of it was acceptable (there must be something we are doing wrong!). Anyway we now have a working generator again --- off south again tomorrow but not sure how far.

b

Saturday May 26: Still at Palatka on the St Johns River

So we stayed again today in Palatka. The map left may give you some idea of how far south we have traveled from Jacksonville (the orange line) and how much farther we can still go on the St. Johns River (the yellow line). Not sure how far we'll actually travel - partly depends on the weather. We've been keeping an eye on the tropical storm which is headed toward northern Florida/Georgia. Seems like the farther south we go the better!

The Blue Crab Festival continues all weekend - lots and lots of people around for it. The southern version of bumper cars wasn't terribly popular though! The entertainment was iffy (at least this group - they had the misfortune to be first up on Friday when not too many folks were out and about yet) The guy in the duck suit promoting the rubber duck race was voted the best attraction!

Up early to beat the heat for a ride through the Ravine Gardens State Park. This park was developed by the city during the Great Depression with assistance from the WPA. Over 95,000 azaleas were planted by 1934 - chosen as the theme flower of the gardens because of their brilliant bloom. Unfortunately we were too late in the season for most of the flowers but it was a great ride regardless. There were 2 suspension bridges that were kind of fun.

The spring here was the fresh water source for Palatka until 1986 - which I found quite amazing. It is still flowing and with the sign out warning of no swimming due to the presence of alligators, Steve was on the hunt. No sightings though :-( The main entrance was a series of fountains. Steve found 2 quite large pine cones - not sure we've seen any that large before.

Of course no day is without it's work. We have put additional snaps on any of the screens which seemed to have allowed the midges entrance (both door and both hatch screens) as I definitely do not want a repeat of the night before last! If they are around, we can't stop that but we will not have them in the cabin next time! Also checked out the generator which wasn't putting enough water out - the cause was a slipping belt (it wasn't the impeller so that was the only other thing it could be as the raw water intake was not blocked). The last job was to wash away all of the dead midges that were still on the boat. Turns out that after the adults develop and come out of the water, they don't eat. So dead in 3 - 5 days. What a job. Anyway, water tanks are full, holding tank is empty and we are good to go ... right after we ride off to breakfast :-)

We are off tomorrow for Walaka - about 18 miles or 3 hours. We'll be in well before the storm rolls this way if indeed it even does!

Friday May 25: The Enemy is Ours

What a night! I don't think I recall an evening going from heaven to hell is such a short period of time. It started with the great sunset and ended with the attack of the midges. Those of you living in Cleveland know what I'm talking about! The small, non-biting but totally annoying bugs that appear around this time of the year decided to descend upon the boat. It started innocently enough with a few showing up in the cabin. Then the sound started - a VERY loud buzzing - they were everywhere. Check out the picture of the screen in our aft cabin. The large lump of stuff in the middle is a gazillion midges. I use the number gazillion a lot - just to mean a bunch of something but this time it really WAS a gazillion!

It was just like in Nemo when he taught the fish in the net to "Just swim down" - now it was the lead midge saying "Just fly down" until the sides of the screen were open access to our cabin. We tried bug spray and duct tape on the screen to minimal avail. Plus they poop green stuff! Which when dry is really hard to get off. So up anchor quickly at sunrise (who was sleeping anyway?) and drive into the wind trying to get them off of the boat - Steve hosing them off as we travel (not that this chases them away - it just made them come to the flybridge to get away from him!).. You can see the number of casualties along the walkaround and in the sweeper (which by the way they smell rotten when dead).

The good thing about the midges is they drove us to stop at Palatka, FL. The plan was to travel farther but we needed water (used most of it washing the midges away) so a marina was a desirable thing for tonight. We were able to get the last slip here in Boatyard Marina - seems like a nice place, people are very friendly. Then we find out it's Bluecrab Fest over this holiday weekend! And there is what we would call a street fair right at the waterfront. (We have already signed on at the marina for tomorrow night :-))

As we rode around town (after Steve spent another hour on the outside spraying to chase the midges off and I spent the hour sweeping more out of the inside), there were several nice murals that we saw. Turns out there is a walking tour and there are 30 murals that give the history of the region. Maybe tomorrow?

And of course we found the oldest diner in Florida :-) Looks like a breakfast place to me - and a place for a blueberry milkshake (complete with whipped cream and cherry) for Steve and a root beer float for me. It was HOT out there!

There was a HUGE live oak outside the courthouse. 170 years old, circumference of 13 1/2 feet (in 1979) and a span of ...... I forget - but huge. Couldn't get the whole tree in one picture :-)

Thursday May 24: At Anchor on the St. Johns River

Imagine our surprise to arrive at the marina Tuesday morning to find the bottom work completed and the boat in the water! I love this place - not only was the work completed at the quoted price but completed early! We took the opportunity to load a new freezer onto the boat (we thought we were going to have to push it up a ladder). The old one died just before we left the boat for 3 weeks. Imagine what it would have been like if it happened while we were gone - yuck! And off I go to the other marina to spend one more night (Steve drove the car over).

The rest of Tuesday was spent finishing up odds and ends - like grocery shopping - while we had the car for one last day. Checking out of our hotel at which we spent the last 2 nights (instead of trying to stay on the boat while it was out of the water) was the last thing on the agenda. Steve was up early Wednesday morning to get the car back to the airport. The ride back to the boat: cost $0 - senior price to ride the bus system around Jacksonville! This as opposed to the $45 cab ride to GET to the airport. Now we know :-) Anyway, we ended up traveling SOUTH on the St. Johns River instead of continuing north. Everyone says we really need to so this, so we did. First stop: our home town of Green Cove Springs! Nice dock, nice playground and we found the spring from which the town derived it's name. We originally had anchored about 4 miles away but the wind didn't die as forecast, anchor was dragging (twice), so we went with plan B.

The river this morning was flat and travel very pleasant. Spotted a couple of eagles on the waterway markers - guess Alaska has nothing over Florida!

Once at our anchorage near Deep Creek, the dinghy came down. First time since before Steve broke his arm last August so it was fun when it started on the 3rd pull. We were in search of alligators .... and found them! They didn't like us being around though and slinked into the water very quickly.

Trees lining the creek were filled with spanish moss and air ferns - definitely were like out of Jurassic Park! Also spotted (on a different creek) was a spoonbill ?. The only one we have ever seen - quite pink in color although the picture doesn't really show it. Strange clouds were moving in but we think they were so dark because the larger cloud to the west of them was blocking the sun from shining on them.

Back to the boat - a quick swim in the 88 degree water (crazy warm) and grilling on the boat for dinner. Steve did manage to bring up 3 clams in his quest for blue crabs but decided maybe eating them wouldn't be the best thing. Personally, I thought at least one of us shouldn't be deathly sick and was going to decline the feast :-) Sunset.