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"!

March 7, 2018 - Daytona Beach to Jacksonville, FL

We left Daytona Beach heading for St. Augustine, continuing along the AICW (Atlantic Inter-Coastal Waterway).  Wow, that word 'Atlantic' has a whole new meaning.  Back on the 'Atlantic' in the home stretch of our big loop adventure.  This particular day of traveling was sunny and calm but we were remained that it not always the case, as we past another sunken boat.  It was so near the channel, it had its own warning buoy, so sad.  But on the other hand we passed under our first painted bridge.  The pilings had paintings of manatees, dolphins and other creatures of the sea.  Interesting that someone thought of all the water traffic under the bridge.

Daytona Beach - Sunken sailboat

Daytona Beach - Seabreeze Bridge.  See paintings at base of the columns.

We soon knew we were getting close when we passed the St. Augustine lighthouse.  This is as close we were going to get as we were docking in old town, St. Augustine, and without a car, it would have been a long walk.  As it turned out, we spent the next 2 days walking miles to explore everything that the old town area had to offer.  I'm sure our feet couldn't have walked any more than we did.

St. Augustine Lighthouse

As soon as we got docked up and secure, we headed into town and we were immediately met with a battle reenactment of Searle's Sack.  This was the famous bloody pirate raid that took place in 1668,  between the freebooters (privateers) lead by Captain Robert Searle and the city's Spanish defenders.  They were there to loot the silver ingots held the royal Spanish coffers.  We had no idea this was an annual event but were lucky enough to be there and it was awesome to witness.

Gathering of the pirates before the raid.

Heading into the fray

Spanish fighting back

This rifle was fascinating, it was more like a small canon.  It was so heavy it needed a sturdy wooden support under it.  It took two men to get a shot off but once it fired there was no ignoring the power that would have been behind it. 

I caught it just as it fired.  

With that fun experience and a quick trip around town, we headed back to the boat with a million things we wanted to see over the next couple days.  We were greeted at our slip by this great white egret.  He really didn't seem to mind us and we able to get this great pic of him.

Bright and early the next day we stopped for a hardy brunch before heading to Castillo de San Marcos, fort built by the Spanish.  It was actually ordered built as a result of the 1668 Searle's Raid but wasn't completed until 1695.  It is the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States.  The fort changed hands many times over the centuries between Spain, Britain and America, including between confederate and union forces during the Civil War.  As you see in the pics below, I was fascinated with the canons.

Castillo de San Marcos - Small scale model of the fort and me at the draw bridge entrance.

Below is one of my favorite cannons in the fort.  First pic on left - It was made in Spain and transported to the fort.  It is a weapon of war but is also a work of art.  Made of bronze, each cannon has the name of the maker, what city if was made in and date of manufacture.  Second pic on right - They also have the royal coat of arms of the Spanish King and Queen who reigned at the time it was manufactured.  Third pick below - Each cannon has raised handles called dolphins which are actually shaped like dolphins.  Each cannon also has it's own name.  In the case of my favorite cannon below, it is an 18-pounder bronze made in Seville 1764.  Named El Milanes (The one from Milan).

View of Matanzas Bay from the batteries.

The fort is actually constructed from coquina meaning 'tiny shell' in Spanish.  It is a rare limestone found in the local barrier islands.  150 million pounds was quarried, barged across the bay to be cut, shaped and laid in the fort.  Below are pics of the stone worn down by time, exposing the tiny seashells embedded in the limestone.

In our roaming around old town, we visited the oldest wooden school house, which in its self was interesting but not as interesting as the social norms of the times.  The 1872 rules for teachers ran from simple things like preparing each day for classes where they had to bring in a bucket of water, a scuttle of coal (what's a scuttle?), clean the chimney, to whittling the pen nibs (nibs?) to the individual tastes of the students.  But the rules also include social expectations from the men could take an evening off every week for courting purposes or two if they attend church to the women who married or conducted themselves in unseemly behavior would be dismissed.  Try that double standard today!  There are others concerning the encouragement of savings for retirement and having to defend your worth if you smoke, consume liquor, frequent pool halls or get shaved in a barber shop.  ;)

On our way back to the Independence at the end of day one we came upon the St. Augustine bridge of Lions which is a beautiful double-leaf bascule bridge that crossed over to Anastasia Island.  There are a pair of marble Medici lions that guard the bridge.

St. Augustine - Bridge of Lions

Ken and one of the Medici lions.  Independence in the background (bottom left).

 The next day we headed off to see Flagler College and other historical sites but the day was really focused on things to please the pallet.  We started with St. Augustine Distillery where we sampled handcraft small-batch spirits of port finished bourbon, double cask bourbon, vodka made from sugar cane, rum and gin.  All made from fresh Florida corps.  We toured the distillery and sampled everything they had to offer and some of them twice.  Nice buzz going as we then moseyed over to Whetstone Chocolate factory for another tour and samples.  Our final stop was San Sebastian Winery where Ken not being the wine lover like me, abstained from the wine sampling.  He sobered up and I got a wine buzz on top of my sugar high.  We left each establishment with gifts and goodies.  Great afternoon.  We topped our last day off with dinner at a great Cuban restaurant, The Colombia.  

Everything hand bottled, corked and labeled at St. Augustine Distillery.

Not the greatest fashion statement but a must for the chocolate factory tour.

I skipped the tour and went straight to the wine tasting.  Yum!

With the end of our visit to St. Augustine we headed for Jacksonville to begin a side trip down the St. John's river.  Another great adventure but more for nature thrills vs. pallet thrills that we experience in St. Augustine.  Look for our next blog on this next leg of the great loop adventure, coming soon.

PS from Roofus:

The first thing you will notice is there is no cute, adorable picture of me in my PS from Roofus.  My humans may have had enjoyed this last stop but all I got to see was the inside of the boat for hours on end, BY MYSELF.  And then they had the nerve to go out again at night for dinner the last night here and then to add insult to injury, no doggie bag came home to me.  So I decided to post a pic from the oldest school house where there is a boy in-time out under the stairs of the school house which is the called the 'Dudgeon'.  The Dudgeon is where my humans need to be for a while as this is where unruly students were placed for punishment, complete with a sign that says "Please do not touch student: He bites!"  if my humans were in the dudgeon, it should also say "Do not feed" whether you have a doggie bay or not.  That will teach them to not ignore me and remember to bring me treats when they do go out and food is involved.....