Heading North and a Stop at Jekyll Island

 February 27 - 28, 2017

One last wildlife photo as we say farewell to DeLand.  Sandhill cranes are not hunted here so they are everywhere and almost tame.  Their red heads are spectacular when lit by the sun.

We depart DeLand on Feb. 27.  After a one night stop in Palatka, we are back in Jacksonville.  This time we stay at Ortega Landing Marina, a first class facility on the west side of the St Johns River.






March 1 - 6, 2017

The Marina at Ortega Landing is in an older neighborhood that has been "discovered", with lots of older homes being renovated.  Nearby shops make provisioning easy.  A couple of blocks from our marina is Chamblin Bookmine, a Jacksonville institution that claims to have over 2 million used books for sale.  It is truly overwhelming!

March 7, 2017

We enjoyed our stay here.  Met lots of other cruisers and had lunch with new friends from last December.  They will take delivery of a new Kadey-Krogen trawler soon and had lots of photos to share. 

We depart Ortega Landing early to coincide with high tide, as the Ortega River will be uncomfortably shallow, even with the extra water depth.

We must wait for the Ortega River railroad bridge to open.  Downtown Jacksonville is awakening in the background.

We make a 3 hour stop at Metropolitan Park Marina, in downtown Jacksonville, to wait for the incoming current to subside and time our route later this afternoon to transit a shallow area at the next high tide.  Two hours later we arrive at the intersection of the St Johns River and the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AICW).

We have now turned north to resume our cruise up the US east coast!  We anchor for the night across from Fernandina Beach.  This is considered a fun, beachy, touristy stop, but the main marina was badly damaged by Hurricane Matthew last fall and they cannot accommodate us for the night.  Instead of seeing the town, we must content ourselves with a lovely view (and smell) of two paper mills in a blustery, bumpy anchorage.  Ugh!

March 8, 2017

We are now in a section of coast known for very large tides (6 - 8 ft, twice per day) and lots of shallow areas in the AICW.  We must plan carefully to transit the shallow areas at or near high tide.  An afternoon departure takes us across the St Marys River and the Florida / Georgia state line.  We pass Cumberland Island to our east but do not see any of the wild horses known to live there.

A four-hour cruise today gets us to Jekyll Harbor Marina on the infamous Jekyll Island.  We had planned an overnight here, however ... wow!  Had no idea this is such a beautiful place!  We set out on loaner bikes for a quick tour and decided to stay 2 more nights.  It's nice not having a schedule!

March 9 - 10, 2017

So much to see here and we just couldn't leave Boka behind on the boat.  We found a rental bike with a kids trailer that worked well for her to tag along.  The entire island is a state park with wide open park-like areas, huge moss-draped live oaks, magnolias and such, and paved bike trails everywhere.  Development is carefully controlled, giving the island a quiet, relaxed atmosphere.

For those not familiar with Jekyll Island, this was the home of the Jekyll Island Club.  Founded in 1886 as a winter hunting club and getaway for the ultra wealthy.  It was also the setting for the 1910 meeting of the major bankers who ultimately formed the Federal Reserve Bank, in response to the financial panic of 1907. 






Today the Club is an elegant hotel, complete with a croquet court on the front lawn.  We enjoyed several meals in the wonderful restaurants, which were quite reasonable considering the location.

The hotel bar exemplifies the understated elegance of the facility.

The "Federal Reserve Room" is where the historic planning supposedly took place.

Located in the heart of the Historic District, the hotel is surrounded by numerous "cottages" built by turn-of-the-century Club members.  This is the Rockefeller or "Indian Mound" Cottage, built about 1900.







The Goodyear Cottage, 1906, houses the Jekyll Island Arts Association.  We attended their annual Arts Festival featuring a juried art show, live music and art demonstrations.  Fun!

The Moss Cottage, 1896.

Numerous shops and this post office are housed in period buildings on the grounds.

Driftwood Beach lies on the northeast end of Jekyll Island.  Dredging of nearby St Simons Sound entrance channel caused sand to accrete here, burying ancient live oak trees.






Paved bike trails crisscross the island, weaving through unspoiled woods, connecting developed areas.

Carolyn has a new bicycle!  It's a folding bike, all aluminum, very light weight and fun to ride.

Jekyll Island boasts only 9 holes of golf, a rarity in this area as there are many championship golf courses on and near the barrier islands north of here.

A lovely beach near the main tourist area.  We saw no trash anywhere!

Boka got to go for a quick dip, but the water was cold and very muddy.  Boka met lots of dog buddies here.

We found a great cafe for a light lunch in the main tourist area.

Then we reluctantly headed back to the marina.  This was a perfect pair of Chamber of Commerce days!

Tomorrow we will make an hour run to Brunswick, GA where we will take a week's break to wait for a cold front to pass and the next high tide window before resuming our trek north.  Our next stops will include Savannah, Hilton Head Island, Beaufort and Charleston.

DeLand, Florida - Our Winter Break

Thursday, February 23, 2017

As of today we've been docked in DeLand for 6 weeks and are getting anxious to be underway cruising again.  We have stayed busy with boat projects, upgrading batteries, modifying wiring, cleaning, stuff ... 

We've explored this part of the river by dinghy and kayak, enjoying some lovely scenery.

For our Port Aransas friends, the Pennywort (aka Dollarweed) grows here in huge mats, floating on the river.  Yikes!  And we thought it was hard to get it out of our flowerbeds!

Lots of scenic creeks lead off the river, providing great wildlife viewing and fishing.















Robert has continued providing fish for an occasional dinner, although it takes a lot more of these little guys to make a meal than the trout and redfish he's accustomed to catching.  Here he shows off a bluegill and a crappie.

Carolyn has finally paddled her kayak to photograph the abundant wildlife in this area.

Tricolored heron

American bittern

Turtle

American alligator

We drove to nearby Blue Springs State Park since boats are prohibited from entering the spring this time of year.

Crystal clear water makes it difficult to estimate water depth.  Abundant fish life inhabits the spring.

The spring water emerges at 73 degrees year round.  A large group of manatees winter here, due to the relatively warm water.

Our riverfront dock has given us a front-row seat for all the activity on this busy waterway.  The local college, Stetson University, is known for its rowing program.  Teams practice regularly on the river.

A steady variety of interesting boats pass by.

This guy motored past us, under a nearby bridge, then took off.

Warm days bring manatees down the river, too.

Early morning moonset in the fog.

We finally made the effort to drive to the Kennedy Space Center.  Boka spent the day in the kennel at the visitor center (NOT a happy camper) while we did the tour.

We had hoped to watch the launch of a Space-X rocket, but a fog bank moved over the viewing area shortly before the launch and we could only hear the rocket take off - couldn't see a thing! 

We especially enjoyed the space shuttle exhibit.  The first view after an introductory film is this head-on  encounter with Atlantis.

This is the actual, retired shuttle, with all the wear and tear of her 33 missions between 1985 and 2011.

Much attention was paid to the tiles on the lower surface that took the worst of the heat on reentry.  Not as well know is the upper exterior is covered in quilted fabric panels, sewn by hand by NASA staff.

We plan to return to Jacksonville next week to provision and prepare to resume cruising in early March.

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.