March 28, 2018 - St. John's River, FL (Side Trip)

We have to thank our looping buddies, Terry and Pat, on Happy Happy for this next leg of our trip, the St. John's River.  The St. John's flows down the center of the state from Jacksonville to Sanford, a 320 mile round trip, dotted with natural springs, scenic waterways and more wildlife than we have seen to this point.  So glad we did this.  Up until this point we had caught glimpses of manatee and alligators but with very little luck in capturing any photos.  This all changed with this side trip.  We left Jacksonville from Ortega Landing and headed for Green Cove Springs, name of the spring and the town.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        The spring waters were clear and warm as we discovered all the springs are.  This natural spring was unique in that the town had built a park around it (pic to left) then built a community pool that was fed by the spring.  As the pool filled to capacity the excess spring waters flow back out at the end of the pool (pic to right) and then out into the St. John's River.  Would like to have tried the pool out but it was closed.  

Green Cove Springs - Sunset over St. John's River

Our next stop was in Palatka, where Terry and Dorothy, on Magic, joined us.  We walked around this charming little town and enjoyed the artful splashes and the lovely old homes with cobble stone streets.  The next morning, Ken got to experience the kick off of a fishing tournament that started a O'Dark Thirty.  Needless to say, I missed it as I remained in peaceful slumber throughout the whole thing.

Palatka Town Docks - Loved the bronze fish with lilly pads statute.  Independence and Magic in the background to the left.

Palatka - interesting to find the moss growth on power lines.  Didn't realize till then that these are air plants and can grow anywhere.  Fascinating.

As we rode our bikes through town, we came upon building art.  One with all kinds of blooming flowers (first two below) and across the street an olden day river scene of The Columbine, a paddle wheeler, moving goods and people up and down the river (last pic below).

The next morning, over 130 bass fishing boats showed up for the start of a fishing tournament.  As their start times came, there was a constant stream of boats zooming off the their get to their strategic fishing holes to find and catch that winning fish.

Palatka - As soon as the fisherman were gone, the fog rolled in.  So, we had to delay leaving till it cleared.  Last thing we wanted was to accidently find one of the fisherman at our bow.

We stayed at Astor that evening and then enjoyed the beauty of nature at every turn and the next day also as we continued on to Sanford.  Clockwise from top left, an osprey feeding its young, the beautiful sun reflected waters of the river lined with miles of lily pads, an eagle sitting at the end of a long branch just below its nest and a manatee coming up for a breathe in center of the pic.

We arrived in Sanford on March 11th, our furthest point south on the St. John's River.  Our looping buddies, Chuck and Margaret, on Francesca, were already there ahead of us.  We all headed out for an early dinner and then back to the docks.  We noticed a bit of commotion as we approached a group of our boating neighbors, which turned out to be a water moccasin snake sunning on the dock.  Not my idea of a fun moment.  After several attempts to move the snake into the water, it finally dipped into the water on its own.  I had a momentary sigh of relief only to be overcome by the sound of gunfire as the snake was blown to bits, never to disturb these docks again.  The before pic on left is of the snake (to the left of the red pipe just below the faucet outlet; brown and curled up).  The after pic on right of the snake hunters (not me, the ones with the rifles).  :)

At the end of our visit to Sanford, Ken captured a beautiful sunset and a heron with its breakfast.  Good for the heron but really bad for the fish.

The first stop of our return trip was to anchor out near Blue Springs.  After a short ride in Sparkler we got to the spring entrance and began an afternoon a pure delight.  The manatee were in abundance as they enjoyed the warm springs waters (a steady 73 degrees), found alligators sunning, birds of all kinds and schools of fish everywhere and all from a safety of a walkway on shore.  Yep, nice to see the alligators without been seen. :) 

Sparkler safely tied up outside the park entrance.

Blue Springs - All the darker shapes are manatees.  

Birds of all kinds enjoying the water and the plentiful fish.

This is as close as I got to a manatee.  He was colorful, quiet and didn't mind having his pic snapped.  Though I must admit, the real one above was much more fascinating.   Speaking of close, the alligator below was about 30' away and as it was my first up close opportunity to observed to my heart's content, 30' was good for me.  Of course being on a safe walkway above helped.

As we continued to walk to the head of the springs, we heard a woodpecker.  It took a while to find him but we did.  He's in the center of left pic, dark feathers and a red head.  The walkway took us through a topical setting of palm, cypress and pine trees.

Blue Springs - We finally made it to the source of the spring, where 102 million gallons of water flow out and into the St. John's River everyday.  It's hard to see but the center of the pic is the opening to the surface where the water bubbles up.

Our walk back down the springs was just as amazing as the trip up.  From left to right...the beauty of nature around the spring and the clear waters...this squirrel was so friendly, it went right up to the picnickers to share their lunch...this baby alligator is lying on the buoy rope which turned out to be a perfect stop to catch the rays.

Blue Springs - This huge oak tree overhead had moss all along its branches.  Really neat.

As we headed back to Independence, we cruised around our little lagoon  We saw more alligators, herons and some jumping fish.  It was a very peaceful location to spend the night.

Once we got back we continued to enjoy the scenery.  Roofus even got the opportunity to soak up some warm sunshine and get in a nap.

The day ended as it started, beautiful, clear and sunny.  But when we woke the next morning a fog had rolled in but burned off in no time to reveal another stunning day on the water.

We left Blue Springs and headed to Hontoon Island State Park.  This was an adventure of a different kind as we took to our bikes to see what the island had to offer.  We were told about an Indian Shell Mound and after following several nature trails and then a walking path through a sub-tropical forest we found it.  It is actually a midden or trash pile made by the native peoples over a 1000 years ago and is made up of shells they harvested and animal bones.  Pretty cool to be standing there knowing it was inhabited by people from so long ago.  

Hontoon Island State Park - Ken stood in front of this tree to show how big around it is.

A small section of the Indian Shell Mound and tons of shells everywhere

Swamp and forest along the walk to the Indian Shell Mound

When we got back to the boat, we found Roofus napping in this so cute pose with her front legs, we just had to get a pic.  Then we promptly decided she needed some fresh air and exercise.  At first, she was less than enamored with it and simply rooted herself to ground (center pic).  Eventually, after checking out her surroundings and resigning to the fact that we were not going to let her go back to boat until she had some fun, so got in to it (bottom right pic).

 

Our happy but tired puppy finally decided enough was enough and we headed back to the boat for a well deserved nap on her new bed, compliments of Grandma.

Over the next couple of days we anchored on Lake George and took the dinghy up to Silver Glen Springs which though clear and beautiful was filled with boaters, swimmers and happy people enjoying their weekend so we didn't linger.  I will say that this would be a great place to kayak.  We ended our trip where we started, and back in Jacksonville we re-provisioned, did some laundry, ate at Metro Diner (which was so good we went back the next day) and got ready to head into Georgia for our next adventure.

PS from Roofus:

As you can see, my humans really enjoyed this section of their looping adventure.  I will say, I did enjoy the sunny weather and even the outdoor time.  And since my humans anchored out a couple of times, I got lots of attention.  But it is time to get serious here....as I read over all these papers and plans, I don't see anything that says if we'll be home soon.  Can you give an old puppy a break and show me in this stack of papers that say "Home Sweet Dirt Home"!