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April 26 – Hontoon Island State Park

By Trawlers on April 27, 2014 in The Pearl

Park Dock

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” —T.S. Eliot

We began our morning with a visit to the farmers market that is held on 3rd Street. It wasn’t large but had a nice variety of things. We picked up some delicious strawberries and a loaf of bread. After lunch we began our return trip to Jacksonville…we are now moving downstream. It was a beautiful Saturday and boats were everywhere enjoying the day. A large part of the river we traveled in this afternoon was posted as low speed (because of manatees) so having so many boats around really wasn’t a problem, but with all the activity and noise on the river, the only wildlife we saw today was human.

The weather is beginning to warm up in the afternoons, so we decided to dock at Hontoon Island State Park this evening, so we could have electricity and plug in the AC. The next few days we will be anchoring around Lake George, so we can visit a few more springs. Starting tomorrow night we’ll have to adjust to sleeping in warmer temperatures. We had a nice evening visiting with other boaters on the dock and fixing a wonderful steak dinner. Life on the river is good…at least for now!

Sanford waterfront

Farmers market in Sanford

The main street in the historic district of Sanford

A busy day on the river

The cutest boat we saw today

It was very busy around Blue Spring State Park

April 25 – Sanford, FL

By Trawlers on April 26, 2014 in The Pearl

Monroe Habour Marina

Today was a much needed workday. It’s been over two weeks since the boat has been washed and longer since I’ve done laundry. So while Stan took care of the outside of the boat I did the inside. It wasn’t an exciting morning, but no matter where you live the housework and yard have to be done…ok we don’t have a yard, but who at home has to wash the outside of their house? After lunch were went to the grocery store…it’s also been over two weeks for that too and we were out of everything fresh.

When we finished our work we went for a bike ride along the Riverwalk, it’s a wide path that runs the along Lake Monroe. Sanford has done a good job in fixing up the waterfront and there are several pretty parks along the Riverwalk for families to play and people can fish from any spot along the path.

Sanford is known as the “Historic Waterfront Gateway City,” it sits on the southern shore of Lake Monroe at the head of navigation on the St. Johns River. The city sits approximately 20 miles northeast of Orlando. The historic Sanford Memorial Stadium was built in 1951 on the site of the old Sanford Field, which was originally built in 1926. The new stadium was built as the spring training facility for the New York Giants. Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, Tim Raines, and David Eckstein have all played baseball in Sanford and it was the location where Jackie Robinson first took to the field in 1946 to play baseball as a member of a white Class AAA International League. Unfortunately, for us, this stadium is no longer used for a spring training facility for any team. It would have been fun to watch a team wok out or see a game.

Monroe Harbour Marina

Downtown Sanford

One of the pretty homes along our route to the grocery store

Part of the Riverwalk

Veterans Memorial Park located on the Riverwalk

April 24 – Sanford, FL

By Trawlers on April 25, 2014 in The Pearl

Monroe Habour Marina”There is more to us than we know. If we can be made to see it, perhaps, for the rest of our lives, we will be unwilling to settle for less.” – Kurt HahnWe woke up to fog this morning…good thing leaving early isn’t part of our age…

April 23 – Blue Spring State Park

By Trawlers on April 24, 2014 in The Pearl

St. John’s River – Anchorage

Our anchorage and the park were too pretty and inviting for us to move on today. We decided to spend another the day at the spring…swimming a little, watching people and relaxing. Relaxing and taking it easy seems to be the theme of our trip this year. We took our picnic blanket and a lawn chair for Stan and stake out a cool spot under a tree near the spring. We enjoyed sandwiches from the camp store for lunch, while we took in the beautiful day.

I snorkeled along the spring run back to the spring and watched a couple of divers going into the boil of the spring, which is actually a cave. The cave is a vertical shaft that angles into a room at a depth of 80 to 90 feet. This is where the water boils (springs) from the ground. It seemed a little small and confining for my liking. I guess I’m a little too claustrophobic for that kind of diving.

In 1856 Louis Thursby, a former gold rush prospector turned orange farmer, bought the land around the spring. Thursby built a family home and a steamboat landing on the St. John’s River. Blue Spring Landing became a hotbed of steamboat activity, shipping tourists and goods to Jacksonville and beyond. The landing remained a busy place until the advent of the railroad in the 1880s and tourism began to move to other parts of Florida. The property remained in the Thursby family until 1972, when it was purchased by the state of Florida and converted into a state park. The Thursby house, built in 1872, still remains on the shores of Blue Spring. We visited the Thursby home overlooking the river and the old riverboat landing site, even sat in the rockers on the porch. What a wonderful spot they had…the beautiful spring just outside they door and the world going by on the river.

Looking into our pretty anchorage.

The Pearl sitting in her beautiful anchorage

A diver going down into the boil of the spring.

The Thursby House sitting on an old Indian midden-mound overlooking the river and spring run.

I know blog readers are probably getting tired of pictures of Great Blue Herons…but they are so fun to photograph.

“Woody Woodpecker” is one of our neighbors…he’s a Pileated Woodpecker.

April 22 – Blue Spring State Park

By Trawlers on April 23, 2014 in The Pearl

St. John’s River – Anchorage

“Limitless and immortal, the waters are the beginning and end of all things on earth.”—Heinrich Zimmer

One of the things I have been looking forward to on this cruise is getting to explore some of the beautiful clear springs along the St. John’s River. Today we had the chance to visit our first one. We cruised up river to a beautiful anchorage just past the entrance to the Blue Spring park. It’s in an oxbow in the river and ranks as one of the top five anchorages we’ve stayed in since we started cruising…it’s amazingly pretty and remote. No river traffic, no lights, no sounds except the sounds of nature, surrounded by beautiful trees draped in Spanish moss.

After enjoying a nice lunch on the flybridge we took the dinghy to Blue Spring StatePark. The spring is a designated Manatee Refuge and is the winter home of the West Indian Manatees that live in the St. John’s River. A park ranger told us that they counted over 400 manatees in the spring this past winter. The springs are closed to water activities from November to March to keep the manatees safe, but visitors can view them from the boardwalks and overlooks along the spring run. During warmer months the springs crystal clear, 73 degree water offer swimming, snorkeling, scuba diving, tubing and kayaking. There is also a limited underwater cave system that can be explored by divers. We were lucky today to see one manatee in the spring run…it was fun seeing him in the clear water. I can only imagine how it would be to see the river full of them in the winter. What a sight!

I brought my snorkeling gear with me, because I knew I couldn’t pass up swimming in this crystal clear water. After walking the length of the spring run and doing a little exploring I had the change to swim into the spring pool and then down part of the spring run. After I had gotten out of the water we spotted a small alligator…poor thing was probably scared to death when the tuber saw it and started screaming…kind of glad I was sitting on the over look by then.

This evening we took the dinghy into the Snake River…a small, very small, tributary to the St. John’s River. Like it’s name, it snaked its way around part of Hontoon Island. We had a chance to see a lot of birds, turtles and a few alligators. It was a wonderful day…blue skies, great temperature and amazing scenery.

Blue Spring State Park

The manatee we saw

Part of the boardwalk along the spring run

Getting ready to take the dive into the cool water. My new rash guide kept me very warm

The Blue Spring pool

Tuber on the spring run…the little spot in the center of the picture is the alligator.

Exploring the swamp on the Snake River

April 21 – Hontoon Island State Park

By Trawlers on April 22, 2014 in The Pearl

Park Dock

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” ―Marcel Proust

We enjoyed the day playing in the park. It was another cool day in Florida…I actually had jeans on most of the day. I even put on my hoody when we went for a bike ride. We rode all over the park exploring. It’s a beautiful place, but we didn’t see much wildlife, only one armadillo and three turkeys. There’s a lot more bird watching to do from the dock…in fact a Great Blue Heron come by for a visit this morning. I think he wanted some of the scrapes from the catfish Stan was cleaning. Stan caught two fish last night but didn’t have any luck today. We’re really enjoying the fresh fish.

We had the park pretty much to ourselves today, only a handful of people came over on the ferry. We took the ferry across the river to do a little exploring at Hontoon Landing Marina. A very nice marina and resort with a little gift shop and bait shop, but our main reason for going was to buy more red wigglers (worms). Stan spent the afternoon and evening with a line out, but nothing was happening today…it’s a good thing we have food in the freezer.

Hontoon Island State Park

Our little morning visitor

Park map showing the trails we took today while riding our bikes

View from the trail

We finally had blue skies by sunset

April 20 – Hontoon Island State Park

By Trawlers on April 21, 2014 in The Pearl

Park DockWe woke to a grey windy day…it definitely didn’t feel like the middle of April in Florida or Easter. I had planned to drink my coffee in our little gazebo on the pier, but decided inside was better today. We moved twenty miles further up the…

April 19 – Astor, FL

By Trawlers on April 20, 2014 in The Pearl

Blackwater Inn Dock

“There is nothing—absolutely nothing—half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” —Kenneth Grahame

We had a very short trip today…less than two miles around a few bends in the river. We moved from our quiet anchorage to the dock at the Blackwater Inn, a restaurant on the river that allows docking if you dine with them. They also provide water and electric so a small fee. We were getting a little low on water and decided to pay the fee to fill up and give our batteries a chance to fully charge up. The dock was fun, we had a large pier with a gazebo and we were just steps from lunch. But we also had the noise from the near by bridge. It seemed loader than other we’ve docked by…I guess we noticed it more since we’ve had such quiet anchorages and docks lately. We have really gotten use to the quiet night with only the birds and frogs to listen to.

St.John’s River Tours leaves from the other side of the dock and we had fun visiting with tour guest and the captain. It was also fun to watch the activity on the river from our flybridge. The majority of the boats on the river our pontoon boats, party boats, I call them. Some are fixed up with little kitchens, bars and grills…a fun way for people to spend a day on the river.

The Pearl at Blackwater Inn

Looking down on The Pearl from the deck of Blackwater Inn

Our view from the deck

Looking at the Blackwater Inn from the bridge

April 18 – St. John’s River

By Trawlers on April 19, 2014 in The Pearl

Morrison Island – Anchorage

“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.”—Jawaharial Nehru

After Stan had breakfast at the little café above the dock, we decided to leave Welaka. We knew it would be a rainy windy day but we were ready to move on. We crossed Lake George before any of the thunderstorms come in. Lake George is the second largest freshwater lake in Florida; it’s a shallow lake 11 miles long by 6 miles wide. Three major springs flow into Lake George on the west side. Salt Springs, Silver Glen Springs and multiple springs that comprise Juniper Creek. Hopefully we will explore a few of these on our way back down the river.

We anchorages in an oxbow in the river, called Morrison Creek, a beautiful spot with only a few homes along the north bank. Morrison Island is home to LOTS of birds. We watched and listened to them all afternoon. We also were entertained by several alligators cruising along the bank of the river…several times they came towards the boat to check us out. They seemed to be keeping a close eye on us. They even came close to Stan’s fishing line a few times…that could be why he didn’t have any luck catching any fish today. We took the dinghy for a ride around the oxbow before the storms started, there were birds of all kinds where everywhere, such a beautiful place. The thunderstorms finally moved in about six with heavy winds and rain, luckily it didn’t last long and our anchor held tight. With the cloud cover and no moon, I think this is the darkest anchorage we’ve ever been in. When I looked outside there was nothing but darkness and the sounds of birds, frogs and bugs coming from the island.

Crossing Lake George

Our anchorage in Morrison Creek

These two eagles were perched in a tree right by the boat.

Common Moorhens

An American Coot

I’ve never seen pelicans roosting high in a tree before…maybe they are trying to stay away from the alligators.

April 17 – Welaka, FL

By Trawlers on April 18, 2014 in The Pearl

Bryant Wharf Public Dock

“A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.” —John A. Shedd

We may have to change our residency to Welaka, FL! I’m sure the town didn’t mean for a boat to just move in and stay on their free dock forever, but the weather just doesn’t want to cooperate with us moving on. We get a little nice weather each day and no rain to speak of, but the wind is blowing hard and there really isn’t a marina to move to that is close. We will have to anchor the next few days after we leave Welaka…so here we sit waiting on the wind. There is plenty of company, another boat came in a day ago and looks like they maybe here a while too and there are a lot of people who use the dock to fish. Stan has even started fishing for the little brim and catfish the others are fishing for. It’s a lazy type of fishing…he just throws the line out from our door and an keeps an eye on it. He’s caught quite a few Brim and had one large catfish on the line, but of course the big fish got away, but he’s having fun. It’s not a bad place to sit and relax, the town has a few nice places to eat, a convenient store for a few essentials, a nice view of the lake and nice people.

Stan decided to move over to the dock to fish. What a hard life he has!