052: St. Johns River Part 3:

 The next morning, we had hoped to get an early start on our way to Blue Springs State Park (“BSSP”) so we could have a lunch-stop to explore one of the many tributary creeks in the dinghy, but a clogged galley sink got in the way.   I fixed the clog, but not without getting half a sink full of dirty dishwater spilled over our foodstuffs and salon rug.   It was 11:30 a.m. before we cleaned up my mess and started on our twenty n/m run.   All but a few miles of this trip are undeveloped shoreline.  We spotted eagles, hawks, alligators, osprey, and many other birds.    We also spotted the WW2 Tugboat “Tiger,” a veteran of the Normandy Landings, which was brought back to Florida and is looking for a permanent home as a floating museum.  A wonderful run.

 

We dropped the hook just south of the kayak landing at BSSP and after setting a stern anchor rowed to shore.  To protect the manatees the spring is closed to all watercraft traffic during the winter months, but as consolation there is a boardwalk that runs the entire length of the spring and provides great aquatic and land viewing opportunities.   We saw manatees, and various fish species in the water, and two armadillos rummaging around and a snake sunbathing on the landside.    For the $2 per person access fee, the Park offers the boardwalk, a playground, historic home tour, flush-toilet restrooms, a playground, concessions, kayak/canoe rentals, tour boat rides and a picnic area.   There were 127 manatees in the spring by a count on the board, down from the upper hundreds a few weeks ago.  The weather is warming, and the manatees are starting to move down river.

BSSP:

 

The marinas and free docks are nice, but nothing (IMHO) beats anchoring out in a protected spot out in Mother Nature, we had lovely and peaceful evening admiring a Bald Eagle perched up high on a tree surveying his domain.  The park closing at sundown brought several deer to the water’s edge to quench their thirst.

 

We got an early start the next morning to make up for lost time creek-exploring.   Six n/m up the river we anchored at the mouth of the Wekiva River Inlet in seven feet of water.   (The inlet is better than five feet deep several hundred yards into it.)   We spent a few hours exploring the Wekiva and its tributaries spotting seven alligators and countless birds.  After one particularly large gator slithered into the water as we passed by it, I grabbed Susan’s side (she wasn’t as amused as I was by this.) 

The Wekiva:

Mr., or Mrs., Gator:

We could have spent all day exploring here and happily stayed the night, but Hygge had a stern thruster shear pin that needed to be replaced (that’s two sterns and one bow if you are counting) and Nancy and Susan wanted to visit the Sanford Zoo and Botanical Gardens.    After having lunch on the hook, we headed the final ten n/m’s upriver to Sanford through the Black Bear Wilderness Area wishing we had time to hike the 7.2-mile loop.   On the way we passed the Barbara-Lee paddle wheeler which gives rides from downtown.   With high winds and no stern thruster, I was grateful for the extra help at the Downtown Sanford Marina, and we pulled into a slip without incident.

 

After I fixed the stern thruster and Nancy and Susan toured the Botanical gardens, we strolled the mile- long river walk and went to dinner in the nice downtown area.

Sanford is as far as you can navigate a Great Loop-sized boat up the SJR, so we look forward to our return trip down the river, hopefully exploring more creeks and tributaries.

Dave

Odometer: 2,661

051: Saint Johns River Part 2: Nature!

The next morning (Feb 25th), we walked 1.5 miles over to the Ravine Garden’s State Park which is one of the nicest hikes we have done in 2,500 G/L n/m’s.   A definite “must-hike” stop.    We toured the small historic district with a variety of neat old homes and got a shot of an old flat bottom wooden boat, “Noah’s Ark” for which funds are being raised for a restoration.

 Ravine Garden S/P:

I wanted to Nancy to yell, "Indy, help me" but to no avail:

Sorry folks, she is beyond repair:

It is Florida, "The Resistance" is alive:

Big Tree in Palatka:

An old steam powered rock crusher:

We met the solo sailor, Steve.  He did a two-week trip down from Charleston “camping on his boat,” and has more trips planned, some as long as five weeks.   Our RT29 suddenly felt luxurious! (Reminds me of a weekend my buddy and I did camping out on my Hobie 14 many years ago.)

Steve's yawl for which he had a custom tent made that fits over the boom:

 Rich, many years ago, camping on my Hobie 14, "Sea Dog:"

South of Palatka the SJR narrows with long stretches with no shoreline development.  We had a leisurely (except for the Sunday bass boaters zooming by) cruise down to Silver Glen Springs off Lake George. 

Silver Glen Springs is amazing.  Crystal clear water and a wooded shoreline.  Beautiful spot, marred only by the party boats blasting music (we came in on a Sunday) that said by 6:00 pm we had the Spring all to ourselves, except for the alligator that came into the water once the party boats left, and the racoons, and a Bald Eagle.  We had a quiet and lovely night on the hook.  (Based on a discussion with a friendly Sheriff’s Deputy, three to four feet may be the max draft to come into the spring, else you can anchor out in Lake George and take the dinghy up.)  

Manatees cruising by:

The next morning (Monday), it was misty and very cool:

We took the dinghy to shore, and met up with Nancy’s sister Susan, who came over from Ocala, and we had a great day of snorkeling seeing manatees, schools of fish and turtles.  I finally got to use the GoPro and got some underwater video:

 

The Monday crowd was mostly retirees on pontoon boats.  With our Great Loop flag displayed on the bow, we answered numerous questions about our G/L trip. 

Hygge on the hook with Nancy:

More Manatees:

After this perfect day, it was time to move up the river which narrows and is winding with the first section all natural shorelines.  Great wildlife viewing: we saw a Bald Eagle catch a fish and an Osprey unsuccessfully try to steal it.  Approximately two Astor, Fl. the shoreline is developed with houses of the variety that the locals affectionately call, “Old Florida.”   We made it into the Astor Bridge Marina where we backed into a tiny slip and met friendly boat-neighbors.

Dave

Odometer: 2,626

050: The St. Johns River Part 1: Nature Calls

 

We left St. Augustine on February 21st, but not before first attending to one of the “marina cats” with the required-tribute of pets and scratches:

 

We had an uneventful thirty-seven mile trip up to the floating docks on the northside of “Jim King Park and Boat Ramp at Sister Creek” on Pine Island just off the ICW (Navionics refers to these as “Jacksonville Free City Docks”).   The docks are free with a seventy-two-hour limit and have no electricity but do have two water spigots at either end of the floating docks.  There are designated kayak trails throughout the marshes and if we had brought our kayaks, we would have stayed for our full allotted seventy-two hours.  Beautiful spot, you can almost imagine you were a Seminole Indian circa 1600’s from some vantage points.

Northern White Pelicans:

 

 Sunrise:

  

We left on the ebb (outgoing) tide which meant that combined with the north/outbound flow of the river (like the Tennessee, the SJR flows north) we had about a three-knot current against us.  Nothing Hygge couldn’t handle.  For the first few miles, the shoreline was dotted with beautiful waterfront homes.   The next part of the river is dotted with freighter docks until you hit downtown Jacksonville.   We encountered one freighter doing a relatively fast eleven knots and two tugboats pulling/pushing a very large barge.   Luckily the channel is wide and deep enough to stay out the “big boy’s” way.   That said, the tugboat pulling the barge sounded five blasts (“danger”) when he saw us even though we were pretty-far away.  (I can only think that he thought we were a typical Florida-ICW-boater ignorant of the rules of the road).   I gave him two blasts on my horn to let him know that we would steer to port and give him a wide berth, that seemed to satisfy him.

Wonder how all your “shit” (as George Carlin would say) gets here from overseas?  This is how.

 Freighter and "star wars walkers:"

 

 Freighter offloading:

 

We bypassed downtown Jacksonville and headed to a marina which has a courtesy car (no charge, just replace the gas you used) so that we could run to a nearby grocery store and stock up the pantry in time for a quiet night of streaming.

The SJR is a big river north of Palatka.   The next morning, we had hoped to get to Palmo Cove to anchor and go up either Trout Creek or Six Mile Creek, but it was overcast with high winds, and we had three footers with short periods on the nose.  After three hours of pounding, we decided we’d had enough, and we got a slip at a marina just south of Green Cove Springs.  We caught a ride into Green Cove Springs which didn’t have much to see besides the park with a natural spring that feeds into the public pool (closed for the season) and thence into a small stream.   Our plan to walk back to the marina was thwarted by a rainstorm and we waited for our Uber at the lovely Spring Park Coffee Shop.

The spring that caused the area to be settled here: 

 The next day we made it over to Palm Cove and anchored just in Six Mile Creek and took the dinghy up the creek approximately 1.5 miles.   It was exactly what we came for on this trip.  A cathedral of nature.   The gators, or as the boys fishing on the dock called them, “Swamp Puppies” (“Don’t bother them and they won’t bother you.”) proved shy but we saw lots of birds and turtles.  

Hygge at anchor:

Nature's Cathedral:

Could have been Mayberry RFD:

Next stop was Palatka and the southernmost of the two free docks (no power, but water) and a stroll through the riverside park and the car show being held that day.  

 

We ended the day watching this solo sailor anchor his seventeen foot yawl.  He put up a canvas tent and spent the night on the boat.  More on him tomorrow:

Dave

Odometer: 2,532

049: St. Augustine!

 

 All the guidebooks say that St. Augustine is a “must see” stop, they weren’t kidding.  We liked it so much that we stayed an extra day and could easily have spent a week here vs. the three nights and two full days that we did spend.

We pulled into River’s Edge Marina in the rain and after a hot shower we just had dinner and chilled out to some “All Creatures Great and Small” on Masterpiece Theater.

The next day, we headed out in time to get to the San Sebastián Winery stop on the Old Town Trolley Tour line. It was actually stop twelve on the tour, but it was closest to the marina. There are twenty-one stops total at various points of interest in the old part of St. Augustine. We then rode to stop one to get our on/off stickers and buy admission tickets to several additional attractions, starting with the Old Jail.  The jail and history were more interesting than the dumbed down, hokey, tour led by our guide dressed in prison garb and speaking way too fast in in an almost intelligible faux accent of unknown origin. The prison was moved to its present location on the outskirts of the original town due to a donation of $10,000 by Henry Flagler because he didn't want it downtown near his fancy hotels.

 

Put in my place:

We then visited the site of the first settlement in St. Augustine which was on the same property as Ponce de Leon's Fountain of Youth Archaeological (/Theme) Park. Although legend has it that Ponce de Leon searched for the Fountain, experts now say that was an early political hit job by a rival to make him look crazy.  Just looking for fresh water is all.  The fresh water spring continuously flows out at this spot from the Florida Aquifer, and contains many minerals which make it healthy, although it has a slight sulfur-like smell.   We then saw various period-related demonstrations: blacksmith, an actual native Cherokee interpreter at a replica native tribe village, cannon and historical weapons demonstrations, a 30-ft Discovery Globe that was created for the NY World's Fair of 1963 depicting the routes of the early Spanish and Portuguese explorers and the extent of the lands of La Florida, and a flock of beautiful peacocks.

 

Cannon demonstration:

Next up was the Castillo de San Marcos Fort, which, since it is part of the National Park Service.  Cool visit for the history, and park grounds.   

 

From the Lyon's Bridge:

 

Very cool and beautiful street:

There is a Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum which we didn't go into, but they did have a full size replica of Michelangelo's David made from marble from the same quarry outside the place.  This being Florida ("don't say gay," "slaves learned important work skills!") the townspeople made them put it behind a hedge so that folks wouldn't be offended by the "naughty bits."

Up early the next day, as we were preparing to take a LYFT to the lighthouse, we noticed a beautiful red sightseeing "train" in the parking lot at the marina. It was owned by a Navy Vietnam veteran who provided tours similar to the Trolley that we took the day before, in fact, he used to work for one of the larger companies but was told to cut down his historical narrative because he was taking too long! He offered to take us to Anastasia Island for $5/each, which was more than the Lyft, but we liked him.  

The St. Augustine Lighthouse and Museum was a really beautiful place--well-manicured grounds and well-maintained buildings--a feast for the eyes. Amazingly enough, a map from 1589 was the first documented archival reference of a wooden watchtower at the end of Anastasia Island, erected by the Spanish crown during the building of the Castillo De San Marcos. This watchtower eventually became the St. Augustine Lighthouse. There were many different incarnations of lighthouses in this location over the years, but the current lighthouse was built in 1874. We climbed the 219 steps to the top to see the view and were very impressed by the many volunteers who guided the way. There were several exhibit areas, as well as a wooden boat building demonstration area, walking trails, restored lighthouse keepers’ home, several movies, etc.--plenty to hold your interest. A great stop and I would say, a must see.

The view is worth the climb:

The Alligator Farm, located nearby, is actually one of Florida's oldest continuously running roadside attractions, having been founded in 1893 although not at the current location. It was rebuilt and expanded after a devastating fire in the 1930's. It is now a fully-functioning zoo featuring every species of alligator, crocodile, and caiman, but also birds, reptiles and some mammals and much scientific research is conducted here. There were alligators galore, lazing about everywhere you looked, heaped in piles trying to sun themselves. The star of the show was Maximo, a 1,250-lb and 15-ft long saltwater crocodile, and it was very cool to see him through the underwater window along with his much smaller female mate. His history is that he was raised from an egg collected by Australian Aborigines, then sold to Cairn's Crocodile Farm where he grew to adult size and was later purchased by The Alligator Farm. As impressive as Maximo is, he is overshadowed by the legacy of Gomek, his predecessor at the Alligator Farm, who was a massive 18-feet long and nearly 2,000 lbs. Gomek was originally from New Guinea where he spent the first forty or so years of his life on the Fly River and was rumored to be a man eater. He was captured in 1968 by Crocodile Hunter George Craig, who kept Gomek in various locations in captivity and he passed through several owners before landing in St. Augustine in 1989. He died in 1997 of heart disease as a very old crocodile, confirmed to be about 70 years old at the time of his passing. Although he was said to be a man-eater in New Guinea, according to what I read, he was considered a "tame" croc while at the Alligator Farm and keepers got quite close without fear.

Alligators don't do much but lay around all day:

Maximo:

After an UBER back to the mainland, we took the tour at the Oldest House Museum Complex and Gardens, which is owned and operated by the St. Augustine Historical Society. The docent detailed all the different owners over the home's history and how the house had changed--at one point it was completely paneled, then the paneling was removed to take it back to a specific time period. Let's just say it was a long history. The grounds were lovely too, with walled gardens within view of the water.

We mooched around for another 1-2 hours, including a detour into the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine, a long stroll down historic St. George Street all the way to the Old City Gate--coquina pillars built in 1808, and a swing by Flagler College to take photos of the converted Ponce de Leon Hotel. St. George Street is chock full of restaurants, shops, bars and music. We could have spent another day going into shops in the downtown area. We ended up the day with a forgettable dinner at Hurricane Patty's Restaurant, which was located adjacent to the marina.

 Flagler College:

This write up doesn't do justice to the beauty and history of St. Augustine and was assisted by Nancy.

Dave

Odometer: 2.470