South to our Winter Home

Exiting Ortega River onto St Johns River,
with Jacksonville city skyline

I’m beginning to feel like the Vanderbilts and Rockefellers, with a summer home up north, and a winter home down south.  But, as our sign on our boat says, “Home is where our boat is.”

We stayed at Ortega Landing Marina just south of Jacksonville for a week; visiting the city, doing minor boat repairs, sitting by the pool, and waiting on 2 days of stormy weather which was the RETURN of Tropical Storm Karen which had passed through the first time the previous week.  We finally departed Jacksonville on Wednesday October 16 into a partly cloudy day with cool north breezes.  The “Executive Summary” for the next three days is that the weather was perfect, and the trip was uneventful (the best kind of cruise to have).

Osprey nest on the navigation markers.
This bird used Spanish Moss in the nest.
Note crab traps behind the marker.

We had wanted to cruise the St Johns River because we had heard & read that it was very interesting and pretty.  Again, we weren’t disappointed.  Just south of Jacksonville, the river is very wide & calm, just like a lake.  And, for once I can say that this section had more crab traps than even Lake Pontchartrain!  The ones with only a small black float were particularly difficult to see, and we were constantly dodging them, even inside the navigation channel.

Bald eagle nest.  Look who's home!

I was surprised when we had a tidal current from astern the entire first day because the high tides were progressively later the farther south on the river.  So we made good time, and we saved maybe 1-1/2 gallons of fuel.  We anchored both nights we travelled, since there were numerous places to do so, and the marinas along the way couldn’t handle a large ya-chut like ours.

The second day, we diverted at Lake George to Silver Glen Springs, where the manatees gather for the winter in the constant-temperature water.  We anchored about ½ mile offshore in the Lake, launched the dinghy without mounting the motor, and rowed to shore.  Then we found that the spring source was another ½ mile up the river.  (Yes, we both got our exercise that day!).  The water was crystal-clear, the springs were beautiful, but no manatees.  Apparently they are just now starting to move south to warmer waters.  So we rowed back to our ya-chut, weighed anchor & went about 10 more miles before anchoring for the night.

Lake George was so calm that we had to make
our own wind!  Quite different from our trip
out of Brunswick GA.

 

There are Manatee zones all along the length of the river, so this must really get interesting during winter months.   The mammals eat mostly the water hyacinths.  Which means that the river is just covered with hyacinths, at times almost across the entire river.  The second and 3^rd day, we were constantly dodging patches of hyacinths.

Water hyacinths everywhere!  Manatees will follow!

We went half way across Lake Monroe to our new temporary home at Monroe Harbour Marina in Sanford FL, where the Admiral made yet another perfect landing into the narrow slip, although I really had to scurry around the deck in order to make her look good!  Before we even finished tying up, the neighbors were out on the dock introducing themselves.  And, Sue saw a manatee right in the marina behind our boat.  We think we’re going to like it here.

So last night we walk into the old town of Sanford to eat at the famous German restaurant (after all, it IS Oktoberfest!), and wouldn’t you know it, but our waiter was from Huron Ohio (where my Aunt lives), and his cousin owns property on Middle Bass Island Ohio (where Sue & I met, and where “Fruition” is home-ported)!

Tomorrow we rent a car to drive back to Brunswick GA to retrieve our car.  Later this week we will drive north to TN to assist Sue’s mother, and then to OH to assist Sue’s uncle.  I guess we’ll have to find our woolies, since they’re starting to get that white crap on the ground by now.

Silver Glen Springs is part of a NATIONAL FOREST.
During the government shutdown, they posted
black vultures at the gates to keep out the "unwanted".

Crystal-clear water at Silver Glen Springs