Swamp and the River of Lakes

Monday, January 2, 2017

After a few days of cold weather, our highs are back in the 70s and we head south on the St Johns River.  Only 7 miles south of Palatka, we anchor for 2 nights in Murphy Creek.

This beautiful and serene spot is just around the bend from a retired car ferry, which has become a creative home for a local nurse.  It appears to have solar power as we saw lights on at night.  Access is by a small boat.

Robert has caught his first Big Mouth Bass of the trip.  He's not very fond of fresh water fishing, but hey, when in Rome ...

This area is infamous as the location where water hyacinth was introduced to US waters by a local resident who brought samples back from the 1884 World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition in New Orleans. After she tossed some pieces into the St. Johns River, it is said to have covered 50 million acres within 10 years.  Native to Venezuela, it is largely under control on the St. Johns today, but not so much in other areas.







Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Today we move 14 miles to the town dock at Welaka, FL.  It's not much to look at, but the price is right (free)!  We met a very interesting assortment of boaters who tied up here for the 2 nights of our stay.

Welaka is a small weekend fishing area.  We met a local couple, who retired here, when they asked "are you boat people?"  They had lived and cruised on a sailboat some years ago and said they could always recognize "boat people".  Hmmm ...  The next day, the lady gave Carolyn a ride to the nearest grocery store, 10 miles away.  Yea!

Our main reason for stopping in Welaka is to see the nearby Ocklawaha River.  Less than a mile from our dock lies the confluence of the St. Johns and Ocklawaha. Tomorrow we will go by dinghy to explore. 







 
 
Many artesian springs feed tributaries, such as the Ocklawaha, with 72-degree clear water.  The springs attract wildlife and tourists and are an important input to the St Johns River.

Paddlewheelers plied these waters in the 1800s; seems way too winding and narrow for safe passage. 

We see large groups of White Ibis roosting in the trees, in addition to numerous other birds and turtles.  All these waterways are surrounded by impenetrable swamp.  Some early Tarzan movies, starring Johnny Weissmuller, were filmed near this area.

The swamp forest contains cypress, oak, wax myrtle, palmetto, and other plants.  Greenery in the water is Spatterdock, a native water plant.  Old growth forests were logged long ago; the remaining swamp forest is protected in extensive state and national parks.






We saw a couple of small alligators on this shortcut to nearby Bear Creek.  Alas, our route  is blocked by fallen trees and we must retrace our route on the Ocklawaha.

Robert is fishing again.  This time he reels in a pickerel.  Boka approves!

Friday, January 6, 2017

With a cold front approaching, we move to a more secure dock at Renegades on the River.  Near the community of Fruitland, this is a very nice RV park / marina in the middle of nowhere.  We enjoyed the Tiki bar and a firepit, kept burning through several days of cold weather.




Wednesday, January 11, 2017

The weather is finally warm again and we are on the move south.  The St. Johns River has been called the "River of Lakes" as the channel intersects several lakes.  Here we cross Lake George, the largest.

We will anchor overnight near the entrance to Silver Glen Springs.  A short dinghy ride takes us over crystal clear water to the source of the spring.  Numerous fish can be seen in the beautiful water.

As we return to the boat we see turbulence in the water.  Could it be a manatee?  Once at the boat, we realize the stern thruster is activating sporadically, pushing the boat in a slow circle around the anchor chain.  Yikes!  NOT supposed to happen!  We scramble on board and Robert disconnects the thruster wiring.  He finds a water faucet, left dripping, has dripped below deck and immersed the thruster relay in water.  The shorted thruster is now operating on it own!


Robert dries out the relay overnight and we are good to go by morning.

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Heading south again, we pass the community of Astor.  Looks like a popular retirement place - lots of pontoon boats, bass boats and gray hair.

The St. Johns flows south to north, so as we move south we are moving toward the headwaters.  The channel has become considerably narrower, meandering slowly north with many more islands and oxbows.  Now that we are south of Astor, we will no longer see a tidal influence on water levels.  Hard to believe the tides extend over 100 miles from the ocean!

We are now docked in DeLand FL in the smallest slip ever.  It's amazing how few marina staff understand how to assign an appropriately sized slip based on our boat dimensions.

Our riverfront location provides an ever-changing show of boats passing by. 

We plan to take a break here for several weeks.  Robert has boat projects to do and we will rent a car and do some land-based sightseeing, in addition to dinghy trips to nearby springs.