A new season begins

The pantries were full, the refrigerator was overflowing & the beer and wine were more than adequately provisioned, so it was finally time to set sail (or fire up the engines).  We departed Monroe Harbour Marina in Sanford, heading for Jacksonville, on Thursday April 24 about 0930, after waiting for an hour for the fog to lift.  Once it did, we commenced three cruising days of gorgeous weather.

Carol models the latest fashion of life jackets!

My sister Carol wanted to see as much of Florida wildlife that she could, so within the first hour she saw the first of many alligators sunning themselves (the first one was a good 14’ long).  That started a 3-day litany of herons, egrets, ibis, osprey, eagles, white birds, black birds, black & white birds, etc, etc, (ad infinitum).  Her constant pose was binoculars in one hand, her bird book in her other hand, and her camera……….???  I think at the end of the trip, she was satiated with all that was seen.

Getting the dinghy ready to launch

We anchored the first night just off the main channel of the St Johns River, just south of the town of Astor FL.  A small houseboat was also anchored nearby, and as the folks passed by in their small fishing boat, we hollered for them to stop on their return trip for a drink.  A short hour later, we were entertained by a husband/wife from the local area with their antics and stories.  That’s how to meet the locals even when anchored out for the night.

Getting to meet the "locals"

Day 2 was to be a short day, so we decided to anchor outside of Silver Glen Springs again, launch the dinghy, and give Carol a ride into the clear waters of the springs.  We didn’t put on the outboard motor because of the extra effort to do so, but in hindsight, the extra effort in rowing the dinghy made up for it.  We passed a guy in his motorized dinghy who took pity on us, and gave us a tow back to our boat, anchored about ¾ mile away.  How to meet more locals, even when you’re anchored.

That evening we anchored again in a beautiful side channel called Murphy Creek, just south of Palatka FL.  It was quiet (with an occasional jet ski zooming by) and relaxing with a cool breeze just before sunset.  It was a perfect evening in a perfect location.  This is what we hoped to realize every night that we spend on the hook.

A quiet anchorage

Day 3 had even more perfect cruising weather, as we continued northbound (down river – the St Johns River is one of the few rivers in the country to flow northbound).  The river widened significantly and the number of crab traps multiplied exponentially.  We found our marina on the Ortega River a little southwest of Jacksonville, and Admiral Sue made another perfect landing as she backed into our slip.  She had been a bit nervous prior to doing so, since she hadn’t docked the boat in 6 months.

We had two more days in Jacksonville before Carol had to fly back to the cold country of Michigan, so we enjoyed some local restaurants, but especially enjoyed some time in the marina swimming pool.  She said it had been a long time since she had been swimming outside in April!

We’ll stay at this marina for a week while we retrieve our car from Sanford and plan for the next leg of the trip.  We want to get through Georgia quickly since we’ve already been there, and right now, it looks like the weather will be good enough to allow us to cruise outside in the Atlantic, rather than taking the tortuous route of the Intercoastal Waterway.  Time to get out the ol’ plotter and dividers and put our US Power Squadrons training to use.

I finally learned that things go much more
smoothly when the Admiral gets some flowers!