Bryant’s Wharf Public DockWe decided to stay in Welaka another day. The cooler temperatures and wind today wouldn’t have been much fun on Lake George. We will move on when the wind dies down. We spent a lazy day reading and surfing the web…and baking…
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April 15 – Welaka, FL
Bryant’s Wharf/Public Dock
“There is more to life than increasing its speed.” —Ghandi
We knew a cold front was going to move through the area today, bringing high winds and rain, so we left our beautiful anchorage in good time this morning. We decided we’d move over to the free dock in Welaka. Our cruise today was only eight miles…these long days are getting rough! Most of their dock space is for shorter day boats. A lot of people on the river have pontoon or bass boats. The only spot larger enough for us was on the end of the pier. Three thick pilings cabled together, which is called a dolphin, stood at the edge of the dock. Docking wasn’t too hard, but getting fenders adjusted to the large clusters of thick pilings was a bit more challenging and getting off the boat meant stepping across about 18” of water. Once we were tired up we took a quick walk around this little town and talked to a few people fishing on the pier. They told us about a few creeks and springs we should explore in our dinghy…we love getting local advise. We didn’t know about any of the places they talked about, so we have added them to our list things to do.
We spent most of the afternoon on the boat…watching it rain and rocking in the wind. It was a good day to get caught up on reading, paper work and photo editing. Sometimes it’s nice to have a slow day. We were looking forward to eating at a little restaurant above the dock, called Café Bleuu, but we found out they’re only open Thursday through Sunday. Hopefully we can try it on our return trip. We decided to go to another favorite place we’d heard about called Shrimp R Us…it was very good, but just your basic seafood restaurant. We spent a quiet evening on the boat just relaxing.
One of the little streets in Welaka
Bryant’s Wharf – Welaka Public Dock
Watching it rain
April 14 – Seven Sisters islands, FL
Barrentine Creek – Anchorage
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” ―Albert Einstein
We seemed to be traveling back in time as we follow the river south. Leaving behind the bustling metropolis of Jacksonville, where cars and trains rush over the nearby bridges all night long. We are now in area that is a throw back to the riverboat era…were life is slower, more relaxed and less commercial, where the river and its banks are full of wildlife. Just past Palatka the river narrows considerably and is very lush, with only a few homes. We took a little detour off the St. John’s today. We went up Dunn’s Creek to Murphy’s Creek and cruised around Murphy’s Island…this would be a nice remote anchorage and we may stay here on the way back. But today we decided to head a little further up stream to Seven Sisters Islands. Like the name indicates there are seven small islands in a cluster here and provides wind protection from any direction. It’s a beautiful and very peaceful anchorage.
After getting settled in we took the dinghy out to do a little exploring. As we meandered through Trout Creek and around the little islands we finally found a few alligators…four to be exact. On our way back we spotted manatees playing by our boat. They stayed close by the rest of the afternoon and evening. As we watched the manatees playing we could also see alligators swimming along the banks. What a wonderful place to just relax and take in the beauty of our surroundings.
Part of Murphy’s Creek
An Anhiga (Cormorant)…also known as a Florida Water Turkey
The largest alligator we spotted today
Exploring around Seven Sisters Islands
One of the manatees we saw today
The manatees playing by the boat
One of our views from the boat today
April 13 – Palatka, FL
Palatka City Dock
“In every walk with Nature one receives far more than he seeks.”―John Muir
We decided to stay in Palatka another day and explore the Ravine Garden State Park. It is located in a ravine that was created over thousands of years by water flowing from the sandy ridges on the shore of the St. John’s. The CCC transformed this ravine into a garden in 1933. Described in the 1934 Florida Municipal Record as the “Nations Outstanding Civil Works Administration project,” the 59 acre ravine was planted with over 95,000 azaleas including 64 varieties, 11,000 palm trees and more than 250,000 ornamental plants. The gardens were maintained by the City of Palatka until the park was deeded to the State of Florida in 1970.
One of nine Florida state parks with New Deal Era structures, Ravine Gardens is the only park with a formal designed landscape. The extensive fieldstone terraces, rock gardens and massive cypress building construction are typical of the era. Near the park entrance is The Court of States and a 64-foot obelisk dedicated to Franklin D. Roosevelt. Much of the original landscaping still exists as formal gardens and an extensive trail system. The garden’s peak flowering period is azalea season, late January to April. We were a little too late to see the real beauty of the azaleas, but we enjoyed hiking the trails of this beautiful park on such a wonderful morning.
Our morning view…the First Presbyterian Church has a wonderful site on the river.
Sights from the park and our morning hike
April 12 – Palatka, FL
Palatka City Dock
Today we moved further up river to the historic town of Palatka. At one time is was the major steamboat port on the St. John’s River, shipping timber, oranges and cattle north. It was also a popular spot for seniors to escape the harsh winters of the north. Large hotels were built on the waterfront offering sailing, fishing, rowing, walking, riding in buggy and on horseback and hunting. The town burned in the 1884 and tourism gradually shifted elsewhere and the city lost trade, shipping and transportation to Jacksonville.
We enjoyed a beautiful spring day exploring the nice waterfront town and visiting with locals in the park. There was a sidewalk chalk art festival being held close to the dock…it was fun to see what they had come up with and listen to the music from a live band. We had dinner at Angel’s Diner, the oldest diner in Florida. It’s been operating in the same spot since 1932.
St. John’s History: In the 1800s, steamboats carried freight and passengers on the river and its tributaries. During the peak period of commerce on the river 150 vessels traveled the St. John’s making daily trips between ports and carrying nearly 100,000 tons of freight each week. The U.S. Census of 1880 recorded that there was a larger fleet of steam vessels carrying passengers and freight on the St. Johns than on any river south of the Hudson in New York.
Steamboats made the St. John’s River a popular winter destination for northerners. By the 1860s, several steamers were making weekly round trips from Charleston and Savannah to Jacksonville, Palatka and other settlements along the river. The St. Johns River had become one of Florida’s first tourist attractions. Large paddle wheel boats cruised along the river’s swampy byways, stopping at warm artesian springs and extravagant hotels that dotted the shoreline. But, somewhere through the years, the St. Johns lost its place among the top Florida destinations. Speckled with cypress and egrets, live oaks, palms and ibises, the St. Johns meandering stretch below Jacksonville is as delightful today as it was centuries ago.
Our morning view
Palatka waterfront park
The Pearl
Two of the art work we saw at the Chalk Explosion
Palatka has over 30 murals depicting the historical, cultural and natural riches of Palatka and Putnam County. This one is called The Putnam House.
Battle at Horse Landing
April 11 – Sixmile Creek, FL
Outback Crab Shack
We enjoyed a slow morning…sleeping in a little, taquitos for breakfast and coffee on the flybridge. I think we’re going to like this slower pace cruising. Our destination today was a small creek on the eastern shore of the St. John’s called Sixmile Creek. It’s a stop everyone seems to make, because the Outback Crab Shack offers a nice free floating dock to anyone who eats at the restaurant. The dock is 1/4 mile long…not that it was needed today. There were only a few day boats docked when we arrived. We thought we’d see a few more boats this evening since it was a beautiful Friday, but no one showed up. We decided to have a late lunch…catfish and shrimp was the days lunch special and it wasn’t too bad. The place seems to be known for its fried seafood, which we aren’t a big fan of any longer. I was excepting to find a cute little fish camp on the river, much like the one we were at yesterday, but this place is a very run down and you can’t even see the river from their tables. It definitely looks a little different from their website…but for the nice dock on this quiet secluded creek it’s a good deal.
After lunch we took the dinghy up the creek in search of wildlife. It’s a beautiful remote area, but all we saw were a few turtle and two birds…no alligators yet. We spent the evening on the boat visiting with people who strolled down the dock from the restaurant and listening to the serenade of a million frogs in the surrounding swamp.
Good morning!
Our morning view
The 1/4 mile dock of Outback Crab Shack
The Outback Crab Shack
Scenes from our ride up the creek
A turtle
A Limpkin
Just a few seconds for the serenade going on outside our boat last night.
April 10 – Orange Park, FL
Doctors Lake – Anchorage
“I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” —Robert Louis Stevenson
We have finally pulled away from Jacksonville and started up the St. John’s River on our slow adventure to explore every little creek and tributary we can get into. Our destination today was only 17 miles to Doctor’s Lake. It’s a body of water located off the St. John’s River that is actually an inlet…not a lake. We’ve read that the St. John’s is old Florida, the way things use to be before the hustle bustle of tourism arrived to soak up the sun on the beaches, shop in fancy boutiques and visit the Mouse. Towns are small along the river and every creek seems to have a fish camp that serves the needs of the fisherman, plus serves up great seafood and entertainment. We look forward to visiting as many as we can find.
After dropping the anchor and relaxing a little, we took the dinghy up Swimming Pen Creek to do a little exploring. We saw lots of birds, but no alligators yet. On our way out of the creek we stopped at Whitey’s Fish Camp to enjoy a beer, the view and some fried alligator tail. Our adventure this summer is going to be very laid back…up late, coffee on the flybridge, start cruising late and stop early and take in everything we can. No hurries, no worries this summer.
One last look of Jacksonville
A few of the houses in Doctor’s Lake
Exploring the creek
Whitey’s Fish Camp
Alligator Tail Basket
The start of a bass tournament that leaves from Whitey’s every Thursday evening. Can you see the size of those motors…these boats can fly!
April 9 – Jacksonville, FL
Ortega Yacht Club Marina
“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.”—Jawaharlal Nehru
The new fuel pump for our outboard came today and Stan has the dinghy running smooth again. We’ll need it for the next leg of our adventure. The St. John’s River has a lot of little creeks and tributaries we want to explore. The weather is amazing at the moment and we look forward to heading up river tomorrow.
The St. Johns River is an amazing body of water and one of Florida’s most important natural resources. In 1998, the St. Johns was designated as one of 14 American Heritage Rivers in the nation because of its unique historical, cultural, and environmental importance. It’s the longest river in Florida, wending its way 310 miles from its marshy beginnings west of Vero to the Atlantic Ocean east of Jacksonville. Our trip up this river will cover about 170 miles from Jacksonville to Sanford. The river south of Sanford is too shallow for a large boat.
We will be traveling south on the river, but will actually be going up river. The St. Johns is one of only 33 north-flowing rivers in the world, including the Oswego River in New York and the Richelieu River in Quebec, Canada, which we explored in 2012.
This map gives you an idea of were we will be, while we are on the St. John’s.
April 8 – Jacksonville, FL
Ortega Yacht Club Marina
“It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.” —Laura Ingalls Wilder
We woke to a cloudy wet morning…thunderstorms pushed through last night ahead of a front moving this way. We are waiting on a new fuel pump for our dinghy’s outboard, hopefully it will be here on Wednesday and we can be on our way up the St. John’s River soon.
Since it was going to be a wet day, we decide to have lunch out and take in a movie. We had lunch at Pele’s Wood Fire at great little spot on Park Street with a wood fired oven. We took in a movie at Sun Ray Cinema in the Five Point neighborhood. Five Point is a historic area of Jacksonville built in the 1920’s as a commercial district catering to the rapidly growing residential areas surrounding it. Today it’s full of funky colorful little restaurants and shops. The Sun Ray Cinema began as The Riverside Theater in 1927 and was the first theater in Florida equipped to show talking pictures. The theater has been used as some form of entertainment since it was opened over 80 years ago. It shows a lot of Indy type movies and is an experience in itself. We saw The Grand Budapest Hotel. By the time we came out of the movie the sun was out and we enjoyed a beautiful evening on the boat.
Pele’s
The intersection at Five Points…five streets do actually intersect here.
Sun-Ray Cinema
The entry to the Sun-Ray Cinema
April 6 – Jacksonville, FL
Ortega Yacht Club Marina
“I’ve got nothing to do today but smile.”―Paul Simon
I’m beginning to wonder if we’ll ever begin our adventure this year…we’ve had a few little showers and the wind picked up a little this evening, but nothing like the weather reports had predicted. I guess we should have started up the river yesterday, but Stan wants to get a few parts for the out board on our dinghy…so now we’ll wait until at least Tuesday. I think we’re getting too use to staying in one place. It’s pretty nice living on our boat and having our car in the parking lot.
Jacksonville is a very pretty place…at least the area around Ortega and what is considered the Old City. Old homes built in the early 1900’s in the in the “Prairie Style”of architect popularized by Frank Lloyd Wright. I guess I like this look, because it reminds me of the houses around my grandparent’s homes. There are lots of parks and beautiful old oak and magnolia trees…covered in Spanish moss and wisteria. The area across the Ortega River from the marina is known as the Old Ortega Historic District, which was developed by lumber barons and wealth business of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. It is still considered one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in Jacksonville, filled with wealthy businessmen and old families. We spent the afternoon wandering around the Avenue Mall and then exploring the old sections of Jacksonville.
One of the smaller homes along the main street. The houses along the river were huge.
One of the many trees covered in moss and wisteria
Stockton Park along the St. John’s River
