Always an adventure..in Slow Motion

1.5.12

2012-02-05T15:40:00.001-05:00

We pulled the boat out on the 30th. It was a great trip, but never long enough nor far enough.

The day was spent unloading the boat and getting things working around the house again. The “new” replacement refrigerator (Nov) still wasn’t working right so I made a call to their service department….they’d be here on Thursday.

We had enough supplies so we didn’t have to go into town until Tuesday. That way we could vote, check the mail and pick up groceries.

Jim spent a couple of days installing the propane drop in countertop burners and the heater. This is my kitchen area. The whole kitchen unit is from the old camper, with a cupboard added above it, and one to the R. They were extra doors from that camper.

The Catalytic heater should be all we’ll need. Jim doesn’t plan on spending time in the North when it’s cold. The roof air also has a heat strip, but that would require being plugged in at a campground. I don’t know if the 1000 watt generator would keep the batteries up for very long with that running.

Once the propane job was done, he started filling in all the holes and dents in the trailer. They were all sanded and refilled if necessary and resanded. The greenish places are where old decals were removed. He spent days getting the adhesive off.

When you see the finished pictures, you’ll notice we painted the framework around this door. It lets the shape blend in easier. The front door is square.

Jim figured there were about 1000 bolt or screw heads in it. Every one had some rust on it. He did each one with a wire brush on his drill, then put Osflow and primer on them.

We then made a trip to the paint store.

Sat, the 4th, looked like a perfect day to paint. Rain is forecast for Sunday and possible Monday. We plan to leave for Carl’s on Thurs so we started hustling. Jim showed me how to mask anything that wasn’t supposed to be painted. Once I got started it was fun. I was surprised at how long it takes. Every time we thought we had everything covered…Jim would find something else.

It was afternoon before he got started painting and then the paint gun acted up. Nothing he did seemed to make a difference. By the time the trailer was half done he thought of something that could be the problem….cleaned it out and started painting again. By that time, the sun had gone down. I had set up 2 spot lights and he finished with them. I continually moved the lights as needed, so Jim could concentrate on painting. We have a few sags and bugs stuck in the paint…but they just add character. It looks really good.

Jim could hardly wait to get the masking off. He said that is the best part of painting something. It really doesn’t look like much in the picture above…and I thought we sure had a lot of white.

But once we started….everything took on a new look.

When I pulled the paper off this window, there was a green tree frog on it.

These windows are the ones that were in the old camper. (It is now a small flat bed trailer). This window is at the head of the bed. The full bed folds up against the front of the trailer. That is why there is no window there.

The finished product….

It has an inverter, 4 batteries and 2 30lb propane tanks. They allow us to “dry” camp. (no electric hookups when we go camping in Brookfield NY and I go horseback riding with Tom and Regina, or an occasional Wal-Mart parking lot, truck stop, rest area etc.).

2 roof vents, 5 windows that open and can be left open in the rain. They crank out instead of sliding sideways. The back door has a screen door and there is a walk thru door between the camper part and the car hauler part. I am working on a screen for the front door.

The awning is from the old camper. Unfortunately it doesn’t cover either door. There wasn’t room enough to put it above the front door and the back door was an after-thought, but we’ll think of something.

Jim put new axles, brakes and tires on it before we left. Looks like we are good to go…..

The sheets have been washed and are on the clothes line. We are already packing…and it is only Sunday. May take time off to watch the Super Bowl…but maybe not…GO PATRIOTS. I have to root for them…I spent a couple years in Foxboro Mass at the racetrack, right by the stadium.

1.30.12

2012-02-03T15:13:00.001-05:00

Our last day on the water…..and it will be a short one. We anchored only an hour or so from Astor, FL, where we will be hauling out.

Larry and A Dollar More cruising off into the sunrise.

It was cool last night. The mist rising off the water makes for a nice picture.

I won’t be taking many more pictures of A Dollar More. She is headed back to OK.

The Astor boat launch has 2 ramps. We take a little longer to load then most boats, though not as long as you would think, so Larry tied to the dock while Jim and I anchored. Jim put our dingy in the water and motored over to the launch ramp. He and Larry walked up to the Marina where the trucks and trailers were stored.

By the time they got back, I had all the vinyl side curtains down and stored. I will put the screens up when at home. Better air flow and less mold. If I left it open, it would fill with leaves, bird nests and mud dauber nests.

Larry has a long cable for loading A Dollar More. He has done so much single handing that his systems are all in place. Once the trailer is in the water, he walks back with the cable and attaches it to the bow eye, walks back and starts winching. He used this same system to load his Nimble Nomad. Works very well when working alone.

Once she’s on the trailer….all he has to do is haul’er out. There she goes…..

I’m not partial to seeing Slow Motion on the trailer. Much rather she be in the water….but….when not in use it’s nice to have her in the yard. I usually climb the ladder at least twice a day, to open and close the sleeper and V berth for airing out, spray for ants and spiders if needed and generally enjoy being aboard. I’ve even been known to bird watch from there.

I never get the “hauling out” part in pictures….I usually back the truck in while Jim lines the boat up and drives it on the trailer. We made a rope and bungee cord set up that connects to the guide posts. It keeps the boat centered. Jim usually stands on the ladder at the front of the trailer and cranks it into position as I slowly pull it out. This time his cranking was off a bit and it was about 4” too far to the rear so I backed it back down the ramp into the water, so it could reposition and Jim cranked it up a little more. This time it was perfect.

A Dollar More loaded a little to the rear also, but when Jim built Larry’s trailer he used a lot of rollers..so if you want to move it a few inches….just drive forward and hit the brakes….Jim drove and Larry cranked. Worked like a charm.

Once home and the boat backed into place, I noticed a large flock of Robins taking turns at the bird bath. I leave a hose on a slow drip whenever I’m going to be away for awhile.

Winter is our dry season. I have a bird bath in the back yard and one sitting on the ground under the Tangelo Tree in the front yard. The raccoons, armadillos and other critters can get water too.

When we got back from NY we found a grey cat had taken up residence on our back porch. We weren’t going to feed her but she looked like she was going to have kittens or had just had some….so we started feeding her. A few weeks later she showed up with 3 kittens. We knew we’d be on the boat a month or more, so the neighbors said they’d feed them. Cindy wanted a kitten and I was hoping she’d tame one of these.

Here they are. No longer little kittens.

Cute little fellas. Don’t know if male or female. Need to gentle them and catch them up and get them fixed. Or we will be even more over run with cats. The hammock is a favorite place for dumping unwanted dogs and cats.

Is this a cutie or what? Looks like it has a butterfly stuck under it’s nose.

and this one?

This one is not as prettily marked…but seems to want to be friendly. I was able to pet it while eating. It’s a start.

What really surprised me was the number of birds still coming to the feeders. I’ve seen 2 male Painted Buntings, 6 green (either female or juveniles), Cardinals, Titmice and 2 Catbirds that bath in this same birdbath, and don’t forget the flock of Robins.

The kitten above, is sitting on the squirrel feeder and the squirrel came in later.

The cats hadn’t cleaned up their dry food last night and when I went to get the bowl, a Raccoon was finishing it up for them. I’ll have to get it sooner. I would rather not have the Raccoon coming onto the back porch. Though…it was a cute little fella.

I keep a blog about the critters and insects that frequent our back yard. www.wildlifearoundus.blogspot.com I’ve even posted some video of Monarch Butterflies emerging from their Chrysalis and the caterpillars pupating. When home I post there. Check it out.

Larry called yesterday to let us know that he and Diane had made it home safely with A Dollar More.

If you have a blog about your boating travels, please post a link in the comment section. I “boat” when at home by following others aboard their boats. Hira Reed has exciting travels aboard her Albin 25, Shatoosh http://shatooshandpashmina.blogspot.com/ She’s another single hander. Though she does have a twin sister, and friends who travel with her at times. You will enjoy seeing some of the places she visits.

I just went to a blog from her site, people she met who live aboard http://mvvikingstar.blogspot.com/ I was surprised to see snow! So now I have other travelers to follow.

Fair winds to all you boaters. We’ll “see” you out there.

1.29.12 Silver Glen Springs, FL

2012-01-29T19:43:00.001-05:00

It is very dark in the Springs at night. There are no street lights or house lights. You may see an anchor light or lights in the cockpit, but once everyone goes to bed, the only light is the moon and stars. It is beautiful.

That is also when the Bow Fishing crews come out. They have large generators and big spot lights. Even with our curtains up…they lit up the cockpit. I could see at least 2 different boats, but there may have been more, and they came in and out of the anchorage. Most of the time I could see their light closer to the entrance to the lake but they did cruise by us several times. I took this video. It isn’t very clear. My camera had trouble focusing on them. But I did see one catch a fish.

The bows have reels with line on them that is attached to the arrow. They shoot and then reel it in. I watched them for quite awhile. It looks interesting, but I don’t think I want to be out there in the cold, damp fog. I was inside with my heater going.

Jim and I slept in for awhile, waiting for the “solar heater” to warm up the boat. I don’t know how we manage to do it….but we are always behind the tallest tree. At least it didn’t have a lot of leaves and we did get some filtered sun.

After coffee and breakfast..(home fries, sausage & eggs) we went for a dingy ride. Captain Jim waited while I waded ashore with Raisin. It was too shallow even for the dingy. See how clear the water is?

I took a blank DVD over to Larry so he could copy the pictures and movies he took of us on the trip. While there we looked across the water and spotted this 5’ – 6’ alligator in the weeds. We were laughing because the lady with the dog in the dingy said she had been coming here since she was 2 and had never seen a gator in the anchorage.

So now we are on a gator hunt. We moved on down the spring run and spotted this nice one. When it realized we were watching….it slowly slid backwards into the water.

We circled around a small island and this one was sunning.

While we were drifting looking at the one on the stump…another one came swimming towards us.

We decided to run up the side creek and see if there was anything in there. I think this is a nursery. We saw 4 baby gators, only about 1 1/2 ft. long. Here’s 2 of them.

This is the one above in a different position. All the others disappeared right away. Jim doesn’t think this one will last too long. I guess it hasn’t been chased by anything yet and hasn’t learned to hide.

Here’s another look at the bigger one …it had come back out of the water while we were watching the babies.

This video is a collection of the video I took of the swimming gator, the one on the stump and the babies.

I also like turtles …this one was especially nice.

I think this might be the same one but it had moved a little between our run up and back.

I was taking this picture of a group of turtles. Several disappeared before I snapped the picture, but when I looked at it….I noticed a good sized gator’s tail in the photo.

I marked it with a red arrow.

It has been a great day. Around 2 pm we decided to head across Lake George to the S end and find an anchorage for the night. We are hauling the boats out in Astor, FL tomorrow. Guess it’s time to go home. Jim is already planning a camping trip to the Silver Springs area for a weekend with a couple of car shows.

1.28.12

2012-01-29T17:49:00.001-05:00

When we left Murphy’s Creek, it was in a little fog. It had cooled down a bit overnight. Visibility wasn’t bad, but we had our running lights on. You can just see A Dollar More’s port side red light. On the starboard side (R) it is green. If you can see both red and green you know the boat is heading straight at you. There is a white light on top…if all you see is a white light and no green or red…then the boat is going away from you.

Some river pictures. This is near Seven Sisters.

The fog must have something to do with the red tint around the sunlight and reflection. I took several pictures and it is the same in each one.

This is looking up the entrance to the Barge Canal. I think it was started in the 1930’s, then stopped, then started again, stopped, etc. Environmental issues, they say. It would have connected the Gulf of Mexico with the east coast.

We made it to Welaka, FL for a sausage gravy and biscuit breakfast, then continued on to Silver Glenn Springs. Lake George was pretty calm but not flat.

This Pelican followed us all the way to the Springs. It would circle around in front of us ….land next to us and watch us go by….a few minutes later it would be back. Several times it checked out A Dollar More. Like I said…we look like a fishing boat.

It was pretty shallow going into the Springs. A Dollar More was in the lead and we could see bottom being disturbed every now and then.

The lake near the entrance was full of fishing boats. Don’t know if there was a contest or not, but several had been flying at a high rate of speed all morning. Larry saw one flying along…..come to an abrupt stop….toss out a line and pull in a big fish. Must have a high dollar fish finder to be able to do that.

I was on deck as we idled into the Springs. Jim gave a shout..”Raccoon”…it was washing something.

We passed a couple of men bow fishing. It is popular in the clear waters of the Springs.

This is looking back at the entrance. We came in on the L side of the island. You can still see the 2 men with the bows.

A Dollar More working her way into the anchorage area. There were a few boats already here, but not as many as we had expected on a Saturday.

There is a channel that runs around the outside. You anchor or beach in the center. There is a sandbar that runs down the R side, inside the markers, that only had a foot or so of water over it. That is where Jim and I were aground when we were here last. This time we put out a stern anchor so we couldn’t swing into the shallow water.

During the summer weekends, this is so packed with boats that you could literally walk from one deck to another. It is one big raft up.

This Bald Eagle watched everyone coming and going. I don’t think I’ve ever come in here and not seen at least one pair.

Once anchored, we went to work scrubbing all the salt off the boats. Mops, sponges, scrubbies and buckets. Larry is working on A Dollar More. Jim and I gave Slow Motion a good scrub and rinse. Jim worked from the dingy, I got in the water for a swim and walked around the boat getting what Jim couldn’t. Sure beats climbing up and down a ladder in the yard.

Slow Motion after her bath…

and A Dollar More…

After the clean up, we cruised over to see if they wanted to take a dingy cruise. Diane was still napping so Larry followed along in his dingy.

We stopped and visited with a few of the other boaters. One couple had a dog who liked to sit in their dingy.

After our visit, we journeyed on down towards the entrance to the Springs and headed into a side creek. This Anhinga was in the tree tops.

The Anhinga is sometimes called the “snake bird”. When it is in the water, all you see is it’s neck and head.

and one drying it’s wings…

Here’s Larry on his way back out.

Captain Jim trying to figure out just what I am doing staring at him thru the camera…he didn’t dare move….thought I was photographing something over his shoulder. I can be sneaky at times.

No…..it’s not snow on the bushes….this is a favorite roosting place for Cormorants and Anhingas….the bushes are white with bird droppings.

I believe these are North American Coots. There are thousands of them in the area, up and down the river.

These were standing on a submerged log, preening themselves.

It started cooling off so we headed back to the boats, out of the wind. After supper we read for awhile then went to bed.

This is one of our favorite places to hang out.

It was a nice quiet evening…….then the sun went down and the bow fishers came out. They have big spot lights with a generator to run them. It lights up the Springs.

1.27.12

2012-01-28T13:28:00.001-05:00

The trip from Green Cove Springs to our anchorage at Murphy’s Creek, was a very interesting one. The wind against the tide was creating some pretty good chop and for one long stretch of the river it was hitting us broadside and we had to do a lot of tacking to keep from having a rolly polly ride.

Jim commented it had been an unproductive day, I hadn’t taken any pictures. But, the reason I wasn’t messing with the camera is because I was doing most of the driving….and having a blast.

I guess he found it boring since he only got to drive when I had to make a trip to the head or take Raisin on deck when the water was smooth.

We rafted up in Murphy’s Creek, with a pretty sunset, a glass of wine and conversation with good friends.

Once the bugs came out and then the bats trying to catch them…the curtains came down and we buttoned up for the night.

I will finish “Wreckers Key” tonight. It’s a good read.

1.26.12 Jacksonville, FL

2012-01-28T13:10:00.001-05:00

We didn’t start out as early as we usually do…we were waiting for slack tide or at least as little tide against us a possible before heading into Jacksonville.

The city is beautiful in the early morning sunshine.

You have to look close…but right at the waterline in the center of the photo is a row of houses. They look so tiny with all the tall buildings in the background.

We are approaching Main Street Bridge.

Just beyond it, on the R is a Mall with docking space along the wall. We have never stopped there. I’m not much of a shopper so it doesn’t have any appeal to me.

As we cruised past….we could see two boats tied up, and it’s not yet 0830.

The railroad bridge is down so Jim gave the bridge master a call on the VHF radio, asking when his next opening was…..1130 is the reply….they are closed for repairs.

So we circled back and joined those 2 boats tied to the dock. Larry is getting rid of trash, Jim is reading the sign that says you can raft up to 5 deep if the dock is full. I can’t imagine what it would be like. The current can be pretty fast thru here, and the outside boat has to have lines from it to the dock. Guess the first one in needs to plan on spending a lot of time shopping, cause there would be no way out until everyone else left.

I walked Raisin while Larry and Diane went in search of a breakfast nook. They found one, gave us a call and waited till we got there to order.

At 0930 we were back at the boats. The sailboat at the dock called Main Street Bridge for an opening. Here it is going thru.

I had to mail a letter and was just starting up the ramp when we saw the RR bridge go up…I ran back to the boat, Jim called to see if it was just a test or if they were open….it was a test….but they would hold it for us. We tossed off our lines and headed their way, with A Dollar More right behind us.

As we were nearing NAS Jax, we watched these big planes do “touch n’ goes”. I caught A Dollar More just as one was landing.

I have been reading a book by Christine Kling, “Wreckers key”. In it, a couple of boats have run aground because of possible faulty GPS systems….the lead character in the book thinks people depend too much on electronics….guess what happened…..our chart plotter quit…no GPS signal. It was working as we pulled up to the Jacksonville dock and shut down. No GPS signal when Jim turned it on to leave. I am really enjoying this book, and can’t get over the coincidence of this happening as I am reading about failing GPS units. What are the chances?!

When we got to the city dock at Green Cove Springs, Jim decided to stay aboard and see if he could find the problem, while Larry, Diane and I went to the Mexican restaurant for lunch. Jim had eaten his breakfast and half of mine and was still full.

Jim didn’t find the problem. He’ll check it out again when we get the boat home. I hope it is the GPS and not the Chart Plotter itself. The GPS is the cheapest part to replace….and that isn’t cheap.

We have a chart of the river, and Navigation Lite on the computer so we can safely get to where we are going, but really do enjoy having the Chart Plotter when it works. We’ve marked the entrances of our favorite anchorages. South of Lake George, we are very familiar with the river and could probably do with nothing but daylight, and the channel is well marked.

We anchored near the dock for the night.

1.25.12

2012-01-28T11:48:00.002-05:00

We were up and heading out before daylight this morning. The tide was in our favor and we wanted to make the most of it. The short distance from the St Augustine mooring field was against the tide coming in the inlet, but, as soon as we turned N we got a great push.
I didn’t take many pictures today. I guess nothing really caught my eye and the dolphins didn’t come up to play. Though I did see a lot of them along the way.
After we left the ICW, and entered the St Johns River on the E side of Jacksonville, this big container ship passed by, going to sea.

The orange thing on the back of the ship is the crew’s life boat. It is an enclosed capsule to keep them out of the cold elements.

The ship was going very slow when it passed by, and it didn’t look as though it kicked up any wake at all……but it sure did. I thought I was going to bury the nose of our boat going over the second wave. Glad it wasn’t in a hurry and kicking up big ones.
The front of our boat looks similar to this little fishing boat….maybe that is why the Pelicans fly over and land near us…they even look at us like we should be tossing them a fish.

Our anchorage for the night is behind Exchange Island. Just before the first of 5 bridges in Jacksonville, FL.

Nice quiet night, didn’t even feel the boat turn with the tide.

1.24.12

2012-01-26T18:33:00.001-05:00

Yesterday afternoon I was walking Raisin, and another woman was walking her dog. Both dogs are over 15 years old and losing their eyesight. Perhaps they sensed that in each other. Neither was intimidated by nose touching and sniffing, they got along rather well, which is unusual for Raisin. When another dog approaches her she will generally show her teeth to warn them off, and if they don’t leave then she yips and snaps at them.

During our conversation, I learned she lived aboard her sailboat and was single-handing. It made quit an impression on me. I’ve dreamed of living aboard.

This is her 33’ sailboat, Talespinner.

We were supposed to meet Larry and Diane at 9 am, this morning, for a trip to Sailor’s Exchange and breakfast. At 0730 they slid up in their dingy and said they were hungry. They walk a bit slower than Jim and I, so while they started out, we got dressed, walked Raisin on deck and closed up the boat.

It’s quite a hike to Sailor’s Exchange and the diner is on the way. We caught up with them a few blocks from it, had a good breakfast together then continued on to see if there was anything we couldn’t live without at the Exchange.

Jim wanted a compressor for his air horns…I couldn’t find anything I needed. We had a few other stops to make on the way back, so Larry and Diane took a taxi back to their dingy.

Back at the boat, Jim hooked up the compressor and was very disappointed. It only blew one horn, not both. We took a short rest and headed back to Sailor’s Exchange to “exchange” the one Jim bought for a larger one. While there…I found 2 folding seats. They are about 4” thick and hinge in the middle so you can take them up on deck and have a soft seat with a back rest. They work great in the cockpit for reading and I was very comfortable driving with one on the captain’s seat. Normally I sit on my feet to get up high enough to see, and then have to stand after they go to sleep. Today was wonderful.

Because they had a bit of “history” as the salesman told me, we got them for $15 each. History is good!!!! A bit of upholstery cleaner and they’ll look like new.

I did some searching on the internet…and found them at www.sportaseat.com for $114.95. So the trip back was well worth it. Isn’t “history” great?

While out in our dingy today, I told Jim I would like to stop if the “single-handing” lady was aboard her boat and see if she keeps a website or blog that I could follow. I am very interested in her travels. As we cruised around Talespinner, we noticed she was aboard, stopped and hailed the boat.

When I asked her about a blog or website, she said she had both, gave me a card and told me she was a mystery writer. Her web page is http://www.christinekling.com/ from there you can go to her blog. Be sure to check out the books she has written. They take place aboard boats, with strong female characters.

I am currently reading “Wreckers Key”. Since I’ve met the author, and know that she is living life aboard, I find the story that much more interesting. She has a nice sized boat, but it’s not huge or real fancy. She has a wind generator and a solar panel that keep the batteries up for about 2 days. She then has to run her engine for about an hour to charge them. Being a writer, her computer is on most of the time and that is a battery drain.

We’ve owned 2 sailboats, a 22’ Catalina and a 26’ MacGregor power sailer. Neither required the maintenance that Talespinner needs. The bigger the boat, the more work required to keep her in safe shape, and I have Jim doing all the motor or engine maintenance. Like I said, I really have a deep appreciation for her ability to sail and maintain her boat…alone. Except for Chip (her dog), of course.

Another beautiful sunset…the bridge at St Augustine, FL.

Again….as I swing the camera around to catch A Dollar More at her mooring….the color changes.

I’d like to say we had a peaceful night but that would be untrue. The first couple of hours after sundown there were a series of small boats roaring thru the channel and under the bridge. It’s amazing how big the wakes are from some small boats. We rocked and rolled for at least 2 hours before everyone was off the water and it settled down. I think the wakes were made even worse by the sea wall that we were moored near. The waves couldn’t dissipate, as they would on shore….they just bounced back. We’ll find a new spot next time.

It’s funny…as bad as the bouncing was, it put me right to sleep. When I woke up at 1 am, with flat water, I was unable to get back to sleep…so I read a few more chapters of “Wreckers Key”. I find myself looking for things in it that she’s taken from her life aboard…like taking the dog ashore in the dingy…hanging over an engine compartment fixing a leak or several days running, without crew. Of course, being on a boat as you read, makes it even more special.

Thanks Christine, for taking the time to visit with us. I am looking forward to reading the rest of your books. Oh…by the way….that is where I am headed right now….back to “Wreckers Key”.

1.23.12

2012-01-25T10:55:00.001-05:00

Another early start with a nice sunrise.

Here is A Dollar More. The bridge street lights are still on. The pillars have beautiful work near the bottom of Manatees and Dolphins.

You can just make out the blue area near the bottom. It makes for a very pretty bridge, but wonder at the cost of the maintenance of such art work.

This is a very colorful boat.

Here’s another dream in trouble.

The C Dory is one of my favorite little trailerable boats. A boating blog with a lot of trailering information is:

http://cruisingamerica-halcyondays.com/

They have cruised all the places I would like to. (We did do Lake Powell.) I believe he was a geologist and there is a lot of interesting information on the canyons etc. in that area. It’s a good site to check out if you plan to do any “trailer sailing.” They’ve done it all.

This is one of Jim’s favorites….another boat that we cant afford, but often dream about.

Our anchorage for the night is a mooring ball in St Augustine, FL. It is too late to do anything ashore, so we will stay 2 nights. That will give us a whole day to explore Sailor’s Exchange, and pick up a few supplies.

1.22.12

2012-01-24T18:31:00.001-05:00

We had a pretty sunset in Titusville.

The night was much better once the boats were off the water for the night.

Jim and I have been watching old Lone Ranger TV episodes. That is our evening entertainment.

Greeted by another beautiful sunrise. it was so flat, you could almost turn some of these pictures upside down and not know the difference.

Our wake….

As we got closer to the Haulover Canal, there were a few fishermen. One had a dolphin for company.

We saw several Dolphin, but none came to play in the bow wake.

The sun is finally up, and it is beautiful. The sky and water change depending on the direction you look.

As we passed the next island I caught the sun behind it. It has changed from red to golden.

I love the sunrises as well as the sunsets. We are usually underway before the sun gets over the horizon so we get to enjoy them. It is so beautiful on the water, especially when it is so flat, and the reflection just intensifies the colors.

It was only 8 am when we got to the entrance to the Haulover Canal, but there were already several people setting up their spots, and several fishing boats. You can see at least 5 behind A Dollar More and I believe there is one by the fender.

Once out of the Haulover Canal we headed up the Indian River North towards New Smyrna.

A few of the houses had nice places to view the ICW.

This was my favorite.

A lot of people having fun on this one.

I’m not sure what this man was picking up…clams? oysters? he had something on a line that floated along. You can see he has a pile of something on it.

Someone has a problem. I don’t remember seeing this one on our way down a few weeks ago, but it may have been here. There is a sandbar between us and the boat behind, and she’s stuck on it.

We anchored on the S side of the rt 92 bridge in Daytona Beach, FL. No rafting up tonight. The boat traffic is heavy and the wakes are huge. It was rock n’ roll until after dark.

Another nice sunset.

Once the sun was down and the boat wakes lessened, Jim and I watched a few more episodes of “The Lone Ranger”. One of my favorites as a kid.

1.21.12

2012-01-21T16:36:00.001-05:00

This is the sun setting on our anchorage in Cocoa.

Our sunrise as we headed out.

Jim spotted dolphins in front of our boat…so I grabbed the camera and went on deck. I stood on the bow sprit and waited for them to come to the boat….and they did!!

I counted 3 at one time under the bow. They seemed to be having fun and I loved watching them…hated to see them go. They have most likely been playing there in the past and we just never knew it.

A few more hours and we were crossing under the NASA Causeway. We could see the tail of the Shuttle and there was deep water on the N side of the bridge so we cruised over and anchored….dropped our dingys and headed towards shore, to see if we could walk up to it.

Well….it can be walked up to….but you have to cross this stuff….kinda made me think of a cow manure pile. Jim opted to guard the dingys. Sometimes he’s smarter than I think he is.

After you cross the brown stuff..sometimes sinking over your ankles and coming up without a shoe…you get to walk thru the grass…I think Larry is trying to stomp some of the muck off his shoe.

You have to cross the highway…then it’s another 1/2 mile or so to the road going in….

Once I got in front of the shuttle I decided to head back and wait with Jim. I read the sign saying they had a G Force training simulator and decided I’d wait until we could come down and do the whole thing.

Jim was hiking the shoreline when I got back.

We hauled our dingy out into deeper water and floated around while waiting for them to return.

One other important item….they don’t open until 1200. It is only 10am so it wasn’t long before they were hiking the muck pile again.

“Is that my shoe in there?”

When we first got here the water felt cold when we got out of the dingy…but it sure felt good after the muck pile walk, and our feet felt and smelled much better.

You can see how shallow it is here. You have to drag the dingy out into deeper water then get in.

It was actually a fun day…sometimes it’s the little odd things that make you laugh your way thru it….but no one wanted to wait and make the trip again at noon.

We upped anchors and headed to the Titusville Marina for fuel. It’s still early but we’ll anchor for the day. The next anchorage is too far to make before dark.

It’s clouding over and cooling off a bit. We’ve had our supper and are in for the night. Once the boats are off the water and the wakes subside, the water will settle down. Right now it’s a bit bouncy and loud. The waves slam between the two boats. We are rafted up and that 2’ space between them traps the waves.

What a great day on the water. The dolphins were a wonderful treat. I'll be up there looking for them every time I see one in the area.

If you are adventurous..you can make the trip to the Astronauts Hall of Fame. There is plenty of depth to anchor in and the trip over the brown stuff really wasn’t that bad and the walk isn’t very far.

You could go ashore sooner but there is very little shoulder on the highway.

Just be sure to wait until noon.

1.20.12

2012-01-20T19:45:00.001-05:00

As soon as we could see, we were headed out. The current is in our favor and we want to make the best of it.

No wind to speak of…the water is flat.

It makes a beautiful back drop for all the beautiful boats heading SOUTH…..

Here is a very unique boat.

Jim thinks he could live here….lots of head room….no wood to varnish.

But….this is what we really need…shallow draft…launch at Lake Jessup (1 mile from our home)…and trailerable.

The Pelicans are a favorite of ours.

Diamond Girl in the diamonds…

But the day was the best day we had for spotting Dolphins. I had one come right up to the front of the boat and swim along while I stood on the bow. What a thrill.

I put several clips of the dolphins in a short video….

We are at anchor near Cocoa.

1.19.12

2012-01-20T18:52:00.001-05:00

We were not the only ones making an early start.

I could definitely live here!!!! She sure is a beauty. I would love to see below deck.

Our run today is only about 15 miles. We’ll pick up a mooring at Vero Beach, grab the bus to Waldo’s for lunch and spend the rest of the day lounging around.

Larry and Diane took the bus to Wal-Mart and back…guess it was quite a busy trip

We spent some time looking at a 32’ Erickson sailboat. Didn’t look to be in bad shape, only $5000. Wind generator, solar panel, dingy davits, lots of other stuff. If it all works it’s a deal. At least it’s floating right now so there aren’t any holes in the bottom. Unfortunately…it’s 4 1/2 ft. draft would severely limit our use on the river….and it’s not trailerable.

Beautiful day. Quiet night.

1.18.12

2012-01-19T16:01:00.001-05:00

We are normally off to an early start, and we wanted to open up the slips as soon as possible. Indian Town is a busy marina.

Nice company on the water…

I was impressed with this tree house…spent a lot of my time as a youngster in the tree tops…I wanted to be Tarzan and live with the animals.

Crossing under I 95.

While waiting for a lock to open Jim spotted this Osprey as it caught a fish and landed in a tree to eat it.

I had ribs cooking in the slow cooker all night. It’s time for an early lunch, so I handed off some to Larry and Diane. This is how we do it.

Jim held steady and snapped some photos as Diane guided A Dollar More close enough for Larry to take the hand off.

As we neared the St Lucie Inlet, I got a few photos of the homes on the St Lucie side.

Look at the stone terrace work…

I guess “homes” doesn’t justify these….”mansions” might be a better word.

See that light tan spot? Sand bar…that motor boat will be passing to the R of the two red markers. That is why you stay in the channel is this area.

Once we rounded the marker at the junction of the St Lucie Inlet and the ICW, we spotted the Coast Guard working on a channel marker.

Then came the parade of sailboats heading south.

Another Sport Fisher….nice slow pass by a beautiful boat. It was a very pale lime green.

We are anchoring for the night about 15 miles south of Vero Beach, FL.

We should be able to get in there early enough to pick up a mooring and catch the bus into town in the morning.

Another great day on the water…..too bad we’re going the wrong way….towards home. Bummer.

1.17.12

2012-01-17T19:05:00.001-05:00

Another nice quiet night at anchor.

We were just E of the Port Mayaca Lock. Our plans are to spend the day and night at Indiantown Marina.

It was only a couple of hours away and we were there by 9 am. Jim and I tied up to the fuel dock, filled our generator gas cans and the water tank and jugs. Larry anchored in the channel. We had to wait until a couple of boats left so we could get a slip.

Around 10 a big trawler took off and Larry took their spot. A sailboat tied to the dock in front of us was the next to leave and we just walked our boat ahead into his spot.

Jim worked on the automatic bilge pump. It’s in a hard to get at spot but I believe it is working again. (automatically) This pump is in the lowest part of the boat. A packing gland drips every few seconds to keep the packing wet while the shaft is spinning. The bilge pump “automatically” pumps it overboard when ever there is any accumulation. Our shower water also goes into the bilge and it takes care of that too.

While I got all the bedding and clothes washed Jim did some socializing and then took a nap.

Larry and Diane found us a ride to town for groceries.

When we got back I took the pot of chili that was finishing up in the slow cooker, to the gathering area. Larry and Diane joined us for supper and then supplied a “late” birthday cake for Larry. We’re stuffed.

This is the only exciting thing I saw today. This gentleman spent most of the afternoon at the top of his mast.

There are a lot of Canadians that leave their boats here all summer and then spend the winter on them. Indiantown has a DYI yard and a large storage area.

One trawler was put in the water today…”No Snow”…the lady and her husband are from Ottawa, CN and she said it will never see snow. They still have to get the top put on it and a new water pump installed. There is always something to fix, especially if it has been sitting all summer.

I wonder if these two sailboats are traveling together. They look to be similarly fitted out with gear.

Most of the people we’ve talked to are heading to the Keys or the Bahamas.

Since we are tied to the dock and have electricity…I put ribs in the slow cooker to cook all night. I’m still trying to get them as good as Diane does. We’ll see tomorrow. They’ll finish up as we are cruising.

The last time Diane made them….she gave us a shout and told us to come along side for ribs. Larry had them on a plate, in foil, in a plastic grocery bag, hanging on his boat hook….we cruised up along side….slowly….and I took the bag of the hook….we’ve done this several times with food. Larry said we need a picture of it….but it takes 2 to drive and 2 for the hand off….no body left for the camera.

1.16.12

2012-01-17T14:15:00.001-05:00

It was a quiet night….only one boat passed by after dark. It was a good sized cruiser and they had a nice big spot light checking their travel between the banks of the canal. Didn’t hear a thing after that.

Jim had the heater and coffee going when I got up this morning. What a nice idea. It was toasty in here, and after a few sips of hot coffee I took Raisin on deck.

Shortly after the sun came up we were on our way.

A Limpkin was sunning itself in the dead branches of a Brazillian Pepperbush. A very invasive species. They are all along the canal. We have them at home too. The Robins love the berries, unfortunately that helps spread them.

I’ve noticed several large bee hive groups. Only one of them had feed jars on the top. I tried looking for signs of honey bees with the binoculars but couldn’t see any. It is cold, but once the sun hits the front of the hive there is usually activity.

Once in the rim route of Lake Okeechobee, we met 3 big boats. 2 were coming at us and never slowed down a bit…but it was easy jumping their wake. This big fishing boat passed us. The channel is narrow and rocky on the outside. He gave us a nice slow pass but was still putting out a big wake.

Watch A Dollar More when Larry has to turn into the wake. On an open area you could just ride the wave till it washes under you, but not here in a narrow channel.

Weather forecast for Lake Okeechobee called for a moderate chop, so we headed across. The wind was a bit off our nose so it was a “hobby horse” ride, but fun.

It’s about 25 miles in the channel route, 35 in the rim route.

Larry gave us a shout on the radio…said he was glad his engine was running well….or we’d be anchored out here. Jim responded with “we?”

Take a short ride with us across Lake Okeechobee. We’re the ones making all the noise….A Dollar More is the one slipping thru the waves.

I do miss the silence of a sailboat. All you hear is the rush and slap of the waves passing by…the wind in the sails…………. and everything falling on the floor when a gust of wind heels you over on your side.

When I was first learning to sail our Catalina 22, and Jim went to the head, he would see water thru the port one minute and sky the next. I really enjoyed that little boat….all except for the banged shins and heads.

We’re too far from Indiantown Marina so will anchor on the E side of the Port Mayaca Lock. It’s a beautiful night.

1.15.12

2012-01-16T12:14:00.001-05:00

New filter, lots of oil pressure….we are on our way.

Larry says “Lets see how far we can go today.”

About a mile and a half later we get a call on the radio….his engine is over-heating again.

We both drop our anchors and try to figure out what the problem is. Jim suggested removing the thermostat and running without it. We had tested it the last time it over-heated, by putting it in a pan of water and heating it up and watching it open and close. It worked but there is always a chance it’s not working all the time.

Larry’s luck is holding true to form. We are anchored in nice warm sunshine….Larry is in the shade of a tall building. Of course, it’s probably warm in his boat with the engine compartment open and the heat from the engine.

While letting the engine cool down enough to remove the thermostat….Larry noticed a difference in water temperature between a couple of hoses that should have been the same. The only thing they hadn’t taken apart the first time, was the oil cooler hoses. This is what he found. 2 big pieces of old impeller fins. They’ve been there a long time. The ones Larry uses are a light blue.

Evidently they were free floating and restricted once in a while. Once everything was put back together we hauled anchors and were on our way.

Here’s a pretty picture. Larry, Diane and A Dollar More….under their own power.

Here’s a nice boat taking a picture of us…while we take one of them.

Another pretty cruiser.

A Dollar More entering one of the locks.

Diane handles one line and Larry another from the bow.

A Dollar More is dwarfed by this big fishing boat. You should have seen the wake before he slowed down.

And he’s off and running.

Here’s an Albin 27 on a lift. It also has a hardtop. It looks like the covers are to protect the vinyl side curtains if it has them.

You can see what our bottom looks like…..everything painted green is under water. Gives you an idea how much water we need under us.

We are passing thru the pasture land area and have seen lots of cows. Must be time for their end of day drink. One group had a couple of calves that were running and kicking up their heels and having a great time. They entertained us for a while. Jim had fun talking to them with the air horn. Some ignored it…others stopped and watched us go by.

These Cattle Egrets can be found around most cows and horses.

There is a marina out here in the middle of no where. A sailboat is anchored near the entrance and we’ll anchor there as well. It has been a good day.

1.14.12

2012-01-16T11:44:00.001-05:00

We’ve decided to head back the way we came. We’ll skip the trip down the Gulf Coast to the Keys. With the engine problems and the prescription problems it doesn’t seem like a good idea to head out into an area that is kind of remote.

Larry has found a place where he can get filters, so we’ll head back to Ft Myers and he’ll pick them up.

It is a cold, windy day…..how lucky can we get….and I do mean lucky.

A few miles out of the anchorage at Ft Myers Beach, Larry gave us a call….he was losing oil pressure. He dropped his anchor and tried another repair. The anchor wasn’t holding and we drifted back into the channel. We decided to rig a towing bridle and we’d tow A Dollar More to the anchorage at Ft Myers while Larry worked on his bilge.

When I said we were lucky it was cold and windy…I meant it. We were not looking forward to a Saturday morning on the water in this area. Because of the cold and wind….the only boats out were several sailboats and a large group of “go fast” racing type boats. Neither create a big wake. There were one or two cruisers that did but after our wild ride the day before, we considered ourselves very lucky to have to water mostly to ourselves.

Once we got the the yacht basin, Larry tossed us the tow line and dropped his anchor in about 5’ of water. While turning around…we ran aground….not 2 boat lengths from Larry. I went to the bow and Jim gave it some fuel and we were off. (I guess it’s 3-3 now).We rafted alongside A Dollar More. Larry dropped his dingy and went for another ride. At least a mile to shore and then a 3 mile walk to the NAPA dealer to pick up the filters….then the walk back and another cold dingy ride.

We spent the rest of the day here. Larry replaced his filter and finished cleaning up the oil in the bilge.

This is the view before the sun went down.

Just after dark I put the depth gauge on and we were showing less than 3’ of water under us…up went the anchor and Jim started our engine and moved us into deeper water for the night.

It is cold, we’ll run the generator all night for the heater, the heating pad on the bird’s cage, anchor light and depth gauge. The depth gauge has a 3’ alarm on it. I wanted to know if we swung at anchor what the depth would be. Sand bars all around this area.

1.13.12

2012-01-16T11:19:00.001-05:00

My last post was out of order…but had information about the engine overheating on A Dollar More that adds to the story.

Nice night…..with a beautiful sunrise.

Some days it just doesn’t pay to get out of bed….especially if it’s your birthday and it’s Friday the 13th.

Larry was up early….as usual…but needed to make a trip into town to pick up a prescription at Walgreens. He can dingy over to the marina dingy dock, (at least 1/2 mile in cold lumpy water), then catch a trolley or bus to the mainland ..to Walgreens. Sounds easy, huh? Sometimes it is…today it wasn’t. He got the bus…(wrong one)..took a sight seeing tour, explained to the bus driver where he wanted to go and got on the right bus. Had all kinds of problems with the prescription and getting it filled etc.…back on the bus to the marina and another dingy ride to the boat. Dingy stowed on the swim platform…ready to go.

He opened his engine compartment to do his daily check and he found a bilge full of oil…..finding oil is great if you are a prospector….but not in the bilge. A wire tie or something had worn a hole in his oil filter…..and he didn’t have a spare.

Jim and I dropped our dingy in the water and headed over to a canal that had a grocery store with dingy access, according to Active Captain. We’ll pick up some needed supplies and extra oil for Larry.

Larry did a repair/patch on the filter. It needs to set for several hours so we’ll spend another night at anchor.

Jim is coming down with the cold that I have….I am on the mend, so a day of rest and sleep will help us both.

1.8.12–1.10.12 (posted out of order)

2012-01-16T11:13:00.001-05:00

I’m playing catch-up here. I haven't been feeling good and not didn’t get on the computer.

We had a beautiful sunrise. As you can see….we are underway very early. Tide is in our favor.

The water is getting more beautiful as we near the Port St Lucie Inlet.

We are in the Okeechobee Waterway. Been thru our first lock. 5 more to go before we reach the West Coast (Florida), and into the Gulf. These are much easier than the locks on the Tenn-Tom Waterway. They hand you two lines…one for someone on the bow and one for the stern. You just keep pulling line in as you go up. On the Tenn-Tom, you had to hook a floating ballard built into the wall, with your own line and then fend off fore and aft, and it can be a rough ride with water pouring in.

As we were leaving the lock…Larry’s boat started overheating. So we pulled close to shore and rafted head to tail with both anchors down, to keep us out of the channel.

Larry and Jim would work on it…start it…work on it some more…etc. Changed the impeller and cleaned things out…still overheated. They quit for the night and Larry was up early working on it this morning.

Larry called Indian Town Marina to see if they had slips and rental cars available in the area, in case we need to go get the trucks and trailers to haul home. While on the phone, the mechanic suggested he may have picked up some trash in the lock, to run it in reverse for a few minutes…sometimes it will come loose. We had been towing him so he tossed me the line and gave it a try….guess it worked…it’s not overheating any more.

We made it to Indian Town Marina and are tied up for the night.

The couple with the sailboat that had swamped it’s dingy are here. They entered the lock right behind us. Jim was able to chat with them while the lock was filling. They had been having some problems with their diesel engine, but sounded like it may have been solved.

Jim did the laundry, Diane made supper….and I stayed aboard so as not to give anyone else my germs. I am feeling better, but not over it, yet.

We filled our water tank and jugs. I took a nice long hot shower, aboard, then we topped it off again. We’re ready to leave early in the morning.

1.12.12

2012-01-12T20:33:00.001-05:00

I was still in bed when I heard Jim hauling up the anchor. We couldn’t raft up in this narrow little creek without blocking the entrance, so we had to do it the hard way. Much easier letting Larry drop his and then rafting up.

There was a touch of fog as we headed into the waterway. Franklin lock isn’t too far ahead.

We were surprised when a boat came roaring out of the fog with a skier in tow….he wasn’t using skis….he was on his back and butt…..brrrrrr…tooo cold for that early in the morning….but it was kind of neat.

No problems locking down. We did have a few Manatees in the lock with us, so were very careful as we left.

We fueled up at the Ft Myers Yacht Basin. It’s just the other side of the bridge.

Not too many pictures today. It was pretty hectic out here. Big boats, little boats and all sizes in between going full blast in both directions. We would jump one wake and immediately be setting up for another.

When we got near Shell Pt we were in a “slow speed Manatee Zone” and everyone was on their best behavior…until out of that area ….then off they went again. Most of the big boats had passed us in the Manatee Zone but before we made it to the bridge in the distance (Sanibel Island Causeway)…..several more had caught us…a wild ride.

We are anchoring in the Ft Myers Mooring Field. It is behind Estero Island, in Matanzas Pass.

The trip in was interesting. A row of single story modest homes line the waters edge and big hotels behind them. I doubt there is anything modest about their value now.

We were going to pick up a mooring ball but there is a spot in the back with several sailboats and a houseboat anchored….so we’re doing the same.

The wind is supposed to pick up after 7 pm and last until the same time tomorrow night. Right now everything is calm. It’s 2030. Hope the weather is wrong. If not…we’ll hang out here until it passes.

1.11.12

2012-01-12T03:41:00.001-05:00

We spotted one gator cruising across the entrance to the lake. Expected to hear them during the night…but all was quiet.

Our sunrise was spectacular! It really wasn’t quite this red…more of a rich coral with some blue…but this is how the camera caught it.

View from inside the boat.

The Caloosahatchee River is part of the Okeechobee Waterway. It takes us to Ft Myers, FL and from there you can head North or South in the Gulf Of Mexico. The scenery changes as you go….there is a long stretch that looks like pasture land. This wild landscape appeals to me. I don’t care much for the manicured lawns and fancy houses.

Most people don’t realize how many cattle are raised in Florida

These boats can put out a huge wake. Believe it or not…..he is giving us a slow pass.

and away they go…..

We are anchored in a side creek near the town of Alba. High winds were expected today, but we were well sheltered in the canal all day. Tonight it is nice and quiet.

1.10.12

2012-01-10T19:36:00.001-05:00

Indiantown Marina was our dockage for the night. It’s on the Okeechobee Waterway. E of Lake Okeechobee.

A lot of people keep their boats in storage during the summer…come down…put them in the water and either hang out around the marina or do the small loop down to the Keys or the Bahamas, and other places S.

It has a nice laundry, TV room and computer access. Cooks outs and a nice place just to hang out in.

We found it a bit pricey….but there also weren’t a lot of slips available. Pricey to us may be reasonable to others. It really wasn’t too bad. Anchoring or mooring is more to our taste, and purse size.

Here we are…docked behind the palms.

According to Wikipedia.com , Lake Okeechobee is the largest freshwater lake in Florida and the second largest contained entirely in the lower 48 states. It’s average depth is only 9 ft. and makes it a tough lake to cross in bad weather.

Today was beautiful….we started out doing the “rim route” but decided to cut across and get back to the channel. Here’s A Dollar More…

We attempted to make this crossing a few years ago and had to turn back…so did many bigger boats. We waited 3 days and the wind never let up.

Once across the lake we were back in the rim route. There is a nice section here where you can drive your vehicle, park and picnic or fish along the canal.

We found a spot to anchor for the night. This is looking into a channel for fishing boat access to the lake. Don’t think we’ll try it…but gives us a spot to get out of the main channel.

We’ll be back in the waterway tomorrow. Glad we got across today….high winds and rain forecast for tomorrow.

Feeling much better today….still have the sneezes and coughs but over-all feeling is a whole lot better.

Grounding score update

2012-01-10T19:02:00.001-05:00

For those of you who are interested, or like to keep score….Larry is in the lead again…..3-2.

As we were leaving Vero Beach, he somehow strayed out of the channel….and now we know what “hard aground” really means. This wasn’t an easy pull off.

Tow Boat US came by to see if he was needed but we told him we were going to give it a try. Larry had his dingy down and was rowing his anchor out to “kedge” off. You drop your anchor as far from the boat as you can…hopefully in deeper water and pull yourself off. It didn’t work. While he was talking to the Tow Boat guy his dingy drifted away and Jim went on a retrieval mission.

The small white thing in the lower R corner is a float cushion. We had tied all the long lines we had together and Jim motored as close to Larry as he could. When he ran out of line he tied the end to a float cushion and headed over to get Larry’s line. That is what he is getting from the back of the boat. He used his stern anchor rode and all long line...and believe me….he has quite a few. We couldn’t get any where near him the water was so shallow.

Jim figures we had over 900 ft. of line out.

Tow Boat motored around and found the deepest water and we tried to get Larry dragged into it. Larry even got in the water and walked around looking for as much depth as he could find. We don’t have a water temp gauge on our boat but I believe it had been in the mid to high 60’s….that is cold.

I think the saying on the ICW is “It’s now if you will run aground…but when.”

Tow Boat hung around and gave as much advice as he could, even though it looked like we were going to get the job done.

As we were making a final try…..a big boat was headed up the channel….with a nice big wake. The Tow Boat Captain yelled over to let the wake help us. As soon as the wake started lifting A Dollar More up and down we were giving it the fuel and off it came. It was nice of the captain to give us advice even though he wasn’t going to get the job of towing A Dollar More off the bar. We thanked him and continued on our way.

We had to stop a ways down the channel to return Larry’s lines. He didn’t have anything to load the dingy on the back with. Once that was taken care of we were off again.

I post these things…because they are a part of boating, especially on the ICW. Most people don’t like to admit they run aground, but there are a lot of new boaters out there that need to understand some of the things that are involved or can go wrong when on the water. If we can help someone else not make a mistake that we’ve made…then it’s worth it. No boat damage…no expensive towing fees…so all in all it was just a few hours out of our day on the water….a lot of work and perhaps a little frustration. So now..you sit back and laugh at it and hope you don’t make the same mistake again.

I posted this out of sequence because I always like to ask Larry’s permission. When I did….he just laughed and said “go ahead”. Guess he feels the same way we do.

Even though, now, we are having some chuckles with him about it…the thought is always in the back of minds…the next laugh could be on us.

1.7.12

2012-01-10T02:51:00.001-05:00

Dinner at Waldo’s, was, to put it mildly….COLD. We opted to eat out on the deck so we could see the ocean. The food was good and priced right. The restaurant is actually in “The Driftwood Motel”….you have to drive into the rear. The sky was a gorgeous sky-blue-pink with a nice full moon. I had on a jacket to match Jim’s and I was still cold.

I have been coughing and sneezing …..so dinner outside probably wasn’t one of my best choices….but it definitely was beautiful. We had just decided to go back inside when the food arrived.

Jim was up around 0530 this morning. He and Larry are going to return the rental car. Before they do that they’ll see if they can find an Auto Zone for the LEDs. We were so cold last night we just headed home.

This is the marina at sunrise.

I spotted a couple of dolphins working along the shoreline and was trying to get pictures when this beauty was pulling out. I could definitely live here….but I think I know who would get to varnish the masts. So many of the boats in here belong to long distance voyagers….several were up before the sun came up…getting the boats cleaned up with mops and stowing everything away…getting “ship-shaped” as they put it. When you travel the ICW, you are always thinking of how the tide is going to help you…if it means being ready as soon as you can see…then you are. Nothing like being retired and sleeping in…

Jim was able to set up the extended run with the new tank. We wanted to try it out and he wanted me to be warm so we let it run. I had picked up a small slow cooker and was trying Diane’s recipe for ribs, they needed to cook all night.

Well, I’m paying for my mistake of sitting outside, I am worse today. I manage to get a really bad cold about once every 3 years and I was due…I spent most of the day in bed….what a luxury….I normally don’t sleep all night…let alone all day.

I was up long enough to get rafted up at the anchorage for the night….fix supper and clean up….then back to bed. The ribs were good…but not as good as Diane’s. I’ll have to keep trying.

A beautiful sunset.

1.6.12

2012-01-10T02:08:00.001-05:00

We had so many stops to make, in town, we decided to rent a car. If we were going to be here for a few days, we could use the bus line. But there were so many changes that had to be made it would have taken all day……so we rented a car.

Jim and I went in early so he could shower. When we got to the dingy dock a van pulled up and dropped of a young lady. She had taken her husband to the hospital the day before by rescue boat and her dingy was at their boat. Larry was just pulling in so he agreed to give her a ride over. I loaned her my jacket as she was in a sleeveless blouse and it was cold. Things had happened so fast yesterday, that she hadn’t thought of either thing.

Saw her later and he was doing well….should be out in another day. Our good deed for the day.

Our car showed up…and we did all of our running around. Jim bought another tank for extended run with the generator…now we should be able to run it all night if needed for the heater.

He also replaced our broken anchor light.

We still have one more stop….Auto Zone for LED lights to read by. Larry has some in his cockpit and they are perfect. Hope we can find one on our way to supper tonight. The couple we talked to yesterday recommended a restaurant on the ocean front. Waldo’s. Said they have good food and reasonable prices. Might try it.

This is the view looking back…you can see the mooring balls.

This is looking forward….I think we are the smallest boats in here.

1.5.12

2012-01-06T15:33:00.001-05:00

Our anchorage got a little bouncy last night. Bit more than rocking in a cradle. The wind was up a little, but actually created more noise with the water slopping between the boats than anything. I got up and checked a couple of times and we hadn’t moved. Larry’s anchor held us both.

As soon as the sun started up we were on our way. Larry took this of us riding off into the sunrise.

This was his early morning view..

Can’t remember what Larry was checking on….but here he is on the outside….

Once we were in the channel….boats started to overtake us…tough getting passed by a sailboat.

They were motoring…so I guess it doesn’t count. We noticed as they went by, that the dingy was moving around a lot behind them.

A few miles later, they had stopped, so we slowed down….the dingy had flipped and sank. Jim and I picked up a float cushion, Larry and Diane netted the oar. After they were passed off, we hung around to see if we could be of any help. Larry suggested using the winch to pull the back of the dingy up so the water would run out. The front was already tied off. They said thanks for the help and felt they could get the water out, so we moved on.

I’ve been trying to get pictures of dolphins….Larry got this one of Diane looking over the side at one. She and I are always on “dolphin alert”.

Diane takes her turn at the wheel….most of the time she is at the wheel while docking or entering locks (none on the ICW) so that Larry can handle the lines and fenders. It’s good to have both people able to drive incase one gets sick etc.

Sometimes you look in the rear view mirror and are surprised at what you see…

Here’s a closer look…Could I live there? Nahhhh…anything that big would have to have a sail…I couldn’t afford the fuel. But it sure is pretty.

I believe all these home are only accessible by water.

As we got closer to Vero Beach we started seeing how the other half lives….actually this may be the low rent district…it looks out onto the ICW…behind them the homes look over the ocean…now that would the the high rent district.

These places are much larger than they appear. The only people we saw around any of them….were maintenance crews.

They could all be hotels…

A Dollar More….sneaking up on us.

Entering the Vero Beach Marina….we’ll pick up a mooring for 2 nights. Diane called them on the radio and reserved us one. She’s our official “radio person”….she has a clear crisp voice and it never fails to get a response. People love talking to her.

Rumor has it…this boat belongs to Tiger Woods….

We’ll go into town for parts and groceries tomorrow. There is a dingy dock for boaters on moorings. Also a laundry and showers. We spoke to a couple who have been here a month. And that is not unusual. Moorings are much cheaper than slips so a lot of liveaboards take extended stays here. It is a nice marina. A bus service picks you up at the front door and you can go most anywhere. Our trip tonight turned out to be a 20 min tour. It was the last run and we didn’t want to have to walk back from the restaurant…..so we called for Pizza delivery when we got back to the marina. By the time it arrived, we were starved….maybe that’s why it tasted so great!!!

Our dingy ride back to the boat was after dark….and the air had really cooled down. First thing I did was fire up our Mr Heater. We ran that while we read and had a glass of wine…then shut down and went to bed.

1.4.12

2012-01-04T17:04:00.001-05:00

The mast light, Jim had ordered, showed up around 8 this morning. After he picked that up and dumped the trash, we backed out of the slip. We were so close to the seawall that we ran aground…The rudder was in the mud…and we couldn’t go backwards any more…I used the boat hook to push the bow around and we moved forward…So….now we are even …

We fueled at the marina. Larry had checked on Active Captain and the price there was a few cents cheaper than over in the barge canal. In 2009 when we came down thru here that was the cheapest place. Active Captain is a website where boaters can go to check on fuel, anchorages, marinas etc. When you find cheap fuel…you post it on the site…same with a good anchorage or an especially good marina, grocery stores within walking distance of a dock or anchorage etc.

Both boats took 24.7 gallons. The dock attendant called the amount into the cashier and she thought he was kidding. Our last fuel was in Georgetown on the St Johns River. 244 miles ago.

We had a couple of big boats pass us. Both gave nice slow passes and Jim thanked them for it.

This one was going the same way we were.

Once he got past us…it was mash on the gas….

We only did 31 miles today….that used to sound like a lot….we are anchored near the 404 Bridge, it takes you to Patrick AFB.

We are rafted up to A Dollar More. Diane made supper and we are going over there for a movie after dark.

Tomorrow we should be in Vero Beach.

1.2.12 and 1.3.12

2012-01-03T16:42:00.001-05:00

Had a good night’s sleep. Up early….got coffee made and prepared to haul anchor. We didn’t raft up because of boat traffic…but could have. The big Catamaran was the last big boat and he didn’t put out any wake to speak of. All in all….a quiet night.

Up early, coffee made and we prepared to haul anchor. Larry had his up first and was circling to cross under the bridge, when I mentioned that we needed to drop our antennas. He checked his chart plotter…it said he was in the middle of the channel so he stepped outside and dropped them….and proceeded to run aground. This is when it’s good to have a “boat buddy”. Not only is it more fun when rafting up …it’s nice when you have a problem.

I have a long line aboard…tied most of it into a wad …Jim nosed up towards A Dollar More….I tossed it….Larry caught it….we cleated both ends off and Jim backed up and pulled him off the bar. Then we were on our way. Stats so far: Slow Motion aground once( not on this trip…but still counting it)….A Dollar More Twice…he’s always trying to out do us….I hope this time he wins.

Saw several Dolphins…no pictures…they are up and down too fast for my camera. I did get some video. If you listen you can hear one expel air from it’s blow hole. The boat that passed caused some wake and I had trouble standing on the deck and holding the camera still.

This tour boat passed us and later we saw it on this sand bar. Must be familiar with the tide and knows he’ll be floating before long. There were several people hiking around the island. We also saw people digging in the sand bars…possibly for clams? Don’t know for sure.

This is a cute little boat….

After listening to the weather report and their prediction of high winds…even gale force…we decided to head for Titusville Municipal Marina. Jim did some figuring…it would be over 60 miles…but he felt we could be there before sundown.

There are strips of sand with vegetation along the channel. I would guess that most of them have been made from the sand dredged from the channel. They make good wind breaks, and places to camp.

We had a push part of the day, but the current changed the last few hours and we lost almost a mile an hour. Still…with the wind at our backs we were able to do 5.5 most of that time.

The Indian River part of the ICW widens out and then we have to cross thru Haulover Canal. We’ve just entered it from the L side of the picture…Larry and Diane are right behind us.

I don’t know how long the canal is…perhaps a mile. It is rocks and ledges on both sides. There is a bridge about half way thru, and it’s a popular spot for fishing. There were people along both sides. they are narrow but there is a path. People with chairs, tents and coolers come and spend the day fishing. I couldn’t believe how many people there were…this is just one small group.

Approaching the bridge, you can see the sun is getting low in the sky and we still have several miles to go.

We’ve crossed under…

We still have this bit to go to get out of the canal. What a difference when you look west. You can tell there is bad weather on it’s way.

I wonder if the white tops on the rocks are bird deposits.

The direction we had to take (staying in the channel) to cross the next part of the ICW was a westerly run….that put the waves almost broadside to us. Not a nice ride, but only about 45 minutes and then we swung South.

We were just pulling into the anchorage just outside the marina as the sun touched the top of the trees.

Jim had called and reserved 2 slips. Gale winds and temps in the 30’s expected tonight…so we’ll splurge. Normally we just anchor out…dingy in for showers or laundry….think we’ll skip the dingy trip tonight.

We did hike into town, a cold walk, but the wind hadn’t picked up yet. Had dinner and walked back. We plugged in….heaters running…nice and snug. Sometime during the night the wind really started kicking up and we were bobbing around like corks…even at the dock. I stepped outside to check lines etc and the wind was howling thru the sailboat rigging.

1.3.12

It was still bad this morning. One look at the anchorage and I knew we’d made the right decision. We were warm and didn’t have to worry about dragging anchor. Had we picked up a mooring instead of anchoring there would have been no trip in…the water was too rough for a dingy. It didn’t let up until after noon…and even then it would have been a wet ride.

Jim and I had nice hot showers in their facilities and I did the laundry this morning while Jim worked on the bilge pump. The 4 of us walked up to Dock Dude looking for an anchor light to replace our broken one…didn’t have any…but I did get a nice anchor rode (for our stern anchor) for a good price. Stopped at CVS and picked up some goodies and a half gallon of milk…that’s enough exercise for the day.

Jim ordered an anchor light from the Marina. It will be here in the morning around 8. We filled our water tanks this afternoon….we’ll fuel tomorrow on our way out.

The air is starting to get colder and the wind is picking up a bit. I am sitting in the V berth with the heater on. The cockpit is warm with the sun shinning thru the vinyl side curtains…but as soon as it goes down the other heater will be on and the curtains up.

We are going to watch a movie on A Dollar More, this evening, then off to bed. Great sleeping…like being in a rocking cradle.

It’s supposed to be nicer tomorrow and start warming up.

January 1 2012 Happy New Year Everyone

2012-01-01T19:44:00.001-05:00

We awoke in St Augustine, to a heavy fog….departure was a bit delayed.

The dingy motor gave Jim a few fits…but it eventually decided to cooperate.

We used the time to take Raisin ashore and make a trash run. I like to give her some exercise whenever possible. The rest of the time she does her business on a carpet on deck….even underway, but most especially at night.

As soon as the fog lifted a bit we decided to leave. We could see markers and with the chart plotter and radar we felt we were in good shape. There was a nice little procession of boats…2 catamarans and a sailboat besides us made a nice single file for quite a ways. Once the fog lifted and visibility was good…everyone passed us.

Several large boats out today…most gave nice easy passes…it’s surprising but the smaller ones don’t seem to care and rock us if we aren’t on our toes.

I think those sticks are an oyster bed.

The water is a real pretty green…

Lots of houses thru here…

I found my dream home…

Well…..it would be if it wasn’t near so many others ….actually …it’s someone’s boathouse, but I could live there.

A big flock of Pelicans. I don’t know if they are all White Pelicans and some are juveniles or if it’s a mix of White and Brown pelicans.

Being passed again….we use less fuel…but we get there a lot later. Since our pockets are a lot smaller than theirs….I guess later is better.

Long legged birds??? Nope ..a sand bar…that’s why you never stray outside the channel. Everything is shallow here.

Another nice sized boat…some of the ones we see are huge….

These must be condos….just to the R was a marina with to very large boats, and lots of others that make the one above look small.

The pink and green houses are floating homes, barge homes. You can see the tall poles and the rings fixed to the side near the bottom. they allow the house to rise and lower with the tides.

We decided to anchor near this bridge, near Bulow Creek State Park. It’s S of Flagler Beach. Anchorages are hard to come by in some stretches of the ICW because of the depth out of the channel, and the wakes created by passing boats. At least here, they have to slow down and wait for an opening if they are big.

I caught this flock of Pelicans heading for their night time roosting area.

We can hear the traffic crossing the bridge…sounds like it is grated. We get some warning when a big boat wants to go through…the bridge master blows a horn when he stops traffic and starts opening. It’s 1900 , dark out and we just had a big Catamaran come by.

I guess this pelican decided to stay.

We had a beautiful sunset…

and it just kept getting better…….

and better….

And the very best for last…..Slow Motion….thanks Larry.

Even with the late start we did 38 miles today…with an average of 6 mph. We got lucky with the tide and had a small push most of the day. It’s cooling down …but not uncomfortable. Don’t think we’ll need the heater tonight.

I just checked the weather channel….and it looks like we are in for a few COLD nights. We’ll be in the Titusville area….and our local weather site said a low of 32 on Tuesday and the weather channel said 35…looks like the generator and Mr. Heater will get a workout…..and we’re heading South. it’s supposed to get warmer.

12.31.11 New year’s Eve

2011-12-31T19:49:00.001-05:00

Larry sent me a few pictures last night…but I had already posted the blog and shut down the computer….

Sunrise at Green Cove Springs city dock.

And don’t we look spiffy on this beautiful water….

It was like this all the way to Jacksonville, FL.

He got a great shot of Jacksonville…only thing that could make it better, would if we were in it.

Our anchorage last night was behind Exchange Island. Weather stayed nice. No heater.

Jim and I were up at 0530. I made coffee. We got the curtains down and prepared for an early departure. Larry was up early, as usual, and agreed…..the current was going our way and we wanted to make the most of it.

As soon as the sun was partially up….we left.

These two tugs were pushing a big container ship up to the dock…then they headed the same way we were. The clouds in the back ground look like snow covered hills.

The sun was lighting up the opposite side of the river, but Larry and Diane still looked to be in shadow.

It was about 20 miles from our anchorage to the ICW. Doesn’t look that far on the chart.

A gentleman aboard this boat shouted “ I love your boat…it’s my favorite!!” I Kind of liked his too.

Larry likes to keep Diane in diamonds.

It was such a beautiful day…I spent a lot of time on deck, and Capt.’ Jim was at the wheel.

I sure do miss the thrill of sailing…..but when it’s cold….I’m glad we’re sitting inside.

As we were nearing St Augustine, FL, this tour ship was heading back. Looks like it had a full crew.

Diane called the marina and got instructions on getting a mooring for the night. We had to check in at the fuel dock…pay..get a number and then go pick it up. Moorings are floating white balls secured to the bottom of a lake, river, or bay etc. It has a rope on it…you cruise up slowly…boat hook at the ready and grab the line then secure it to your boat. This catamaran is moving in to pick up the one on the L side of the photo.

The sun is setting and the lights along the water front are lit. We can hear the party goers laughing and yelling on shore.

It is a nice night. We got moored early enough to drop the dingys and cruise around the mooring field and look at all the different boats. Several catamarans and liveaboard sailboats.

No curtains up yet…no heater, enjoying the sights and sounds on shore. We’ve been waiting for fireworks..but I have a feeling it will be midnight when they go off.

Our decision to leave early paid off….we had a push most of the day…and when we didn’t we were not slowed down a lot. Our average speed was 6.3 with a top speed of 9.2. It was our longest day for mileage…approx. 54 miles. We kept our engine rpms at 1750 – 1800. Normal speed would be around 5.8 mph.

I have a feeling we’ll be sleeping thru the fireworks….unless they go off overhead.

Happy New Year everyone. We are spending it right…..on the water!!!!

12.30.11

2011-12-30T18:19:00.001-05:00

Another cold night. I don’t know how we manage to do it….but every time we head towards Jacksonville, it gets cold…then we head S and the weather warms up.

Jim started the generator this morning to charge the batteries. When he came inside he said we were going to have a nice sunrise.

Someone is going to be a very unhappy boater when he climbs aboard this sailboat on the L…….

Here’s a closer view.

A few minutes later they were gone…but I’ll bet they left lots of “calling cards”.

This is out my side window….and across Larry and Diane’s deck….

This boat makes us look small. What a nice cruiser.

This is a nice dock…electric and water …and within walking distance of a Walgreens, Family Dollar and a couple of restaurants.

We spent the night anchored with the sailboats….then pulled into the slips for a walk to Walgreens. Once all business was taken care of, we backed out of the slips and headed N.

A long dock near Green Cove Springs city dock.

The river has been flat all day. At 1300 we started losing the push and started fighting the current. It’s not too bad in the wide part of the river…hope we hit Jacksonville at slack high tide. It is narrow through there and you are either shooting right along or crawling…

Approaching I 295 bridge….

N side of I 195…..

Jacksonville, FL off A Dollar More’s starboard bow……

I believe we go under 6 bridges….this is I 95

This railroad bridge is the only one that could delay us…but it was up when we approached.

After the RR bridge is a huge span..don’t know what that road is, but then you can see the mall and lots of room for boats.

The blue bridge is Main Street Bridge…

The section between the two towers lifts straight up…it stays level. Very interesting to watch.

looking back after passing under……

We were going to take advantage of the free docking at the stadium but the current was so strong we decided to go past the next bridge and anchor behind an island. We’ve anchored here before.

Diane made spaghetti for supper and we were invited….what a treat…she is such a good cook. Diane and I enjoyed the sunset and conversation while Larry played “galley slave”. She cooked and he cleaned up….sharing of the duties…the only way to go boating and have everyone enjoy themselves.

I can hear the water rippling along between the boats…I hope it does it all night. It doesn’t seem to be as cold tonight….but…again….it is still early.

Another great day on the water.

Tomorrow we will be in the ICW. We’ll be watching for dolphins.

Dec 29, 2011

2011-12-29T18:53:00.003-05:00

It got cold last night while we were aboard A Dollar More.
Once back aboard Slow motion…..Jim lit the Mr Heater and we were toasty within a few minutes. Read for awhile, took Raisin on deck then shut down the heater and went to bed.
I woke up around 1340, turned the heater on, warmed up the bird’s water bottle (thermos), read a few more pages and generally enjoyed the little heater with it’s warm glow. After shutting it down I went back to bed.
Jim had it running and nice and warm inside when I got up at 6 to make coffee. We’ve come to the conclusion that the little Mr Heater is going to make winter boating much more fun.
We were treated to a nice sunrise, and mist rising from the water.

The color over the trees gives them the appearance of being afire, but that isn’t smoke…it’s the mist drifting by.

We got underway fairly early, wanting to take advantage of the tides push. The water was flat….the wind nil and the flow was in our favor all but the last hour before we got to Green Cove Springs City Dock. We tied up, went ashore to Walgreens and dinner at a local Mexican Restaurant.
We’ll have to make another trip ashore in the morning but decided not to spend the night at the dock. We are anchored nearby….this is the dock at night. It has a long pier and there were a lot of people fishing from it this afternoon.

We are anchored out here among the sailboats.

Once the clouds disappeared this morning it really warmed up inside the boats. The vinyl side curtains are like being in a green house. The sun is down, the air is cooling down but it doesn’t feel as cold as it did last night at this time….but it is still early.

I’ve been kidding Larry about taking pictures or starting a blog so I could see Slow Motion on the water….he just sent me a few…..this is what the river looked like all day….Larry hollered on the radio to Jim and asked him how he liked it…..his answer was
“ boooooorrrrring”. So nice to see Slow Motion on the blog.

This is what I get for complaining about no photos…oh well….at least you know I’m on the boat too.

Dec 28, 2011

2011-12-29T10:23:00.001-05:00

After posting on here last night, I saw this pretty sunset.

We’re anchored at the N end of Blue Creek. This is looking at the entrance of Lake George.

Around midnight there was a noticeable chill in the air. The temperature had started to drop significantly. I sat up and read for a few hours and by then it was definitely getting cold.

I had a heating pad hung on the backside of Babe’s bird cage, and turned that on periodically. I also filled the thermos with hot water…left the stopper out so the top would get warm and used that as her radiator. She was nice and snug. Raisin had her sweater on and I had a big thick robe.

Jim was up first and started coffee. I suggested starting the generator but he decided to test the Mr Heater that my Dad loaned us. What a great idea. It really took the chill out and no one had to unzip the curtain and go outside. It also has a nice warm glow…

We can use this for an hour or so before bed and first thing in the morning…..unless it is so cold that we have to use the generator and electric heater.

Lake George gave us a “hobby horse” ride, but it was not uncomfortable.

A Dollar More looks like it has it’s own shining star……but it’s really just the sun.

We stopped for fuel at the Georgetown Marina. This Pelican kept a close eye on us….probably hoping we’d toss it a fish.

A Dollar More in my rear view mirror……

A late lunch at Shrimp R Us in Welaka and then we were on our way to Murphy’s Creek for our anchorage for the night. I like these late lunches….means I don’t have to fix a big supper. We’ll find something to snack on or fix cereal.

Sun is going down and the air is getting cooler. We’ve been invited for a movie and popcorn on A Dollar More with Larry and Diane. Then we’ll have a few minutes in front of Mr Heater and off to bed.

Dec 27, 2011

2011-12-27T17:45:00.001-05:00

Jim and I were up early loading the last of the supplies and getting the boat ready to head for Astor, FL.

We had to make a trip to town to check mail and last minute items then hook up and head out.

It was around 1 pm when we got to the launch ramp and another half hour loading the dingy, gas, generator, bird and dog into the boat. Launching went without a hitch.

We called Larry and Diane when we got N of Deland and they were only a few minutes behind us pulling up to the ramp. Once the trucks and trailer were taken care of we headed N.

We’ll top off our fuel tanks at Georgetown Marina tomorrow.

It is too late to try crossing Lake George and making it to the Marina before they close …..so we took the scenic route…Blue Creek …..and found an anchorage.

Larry and Diane following us Blue Creek.

It’s a very narrow and twisting creek…making for a nice ride.

It was threatening rain most of the day….there were a few light showers after we got the boat in the water…but they quit almost immediately. All in all….it was a great day for launching.

I’ll sure be glad when Larry gets his blog up and running …so I can see us once in awhile.

Merry Christmas 2011

2011-12-25T11:12:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas everyone….

Well…we aren’t going to be spending Christmas on the water…but…we will be spending it loading the boat. At least that is a plus.

Larry and Diane (A Dollar More) have been waiting patiently for us to finish up our family stuff so we could go cruising together.

Larry has found a good place for trucks and trailers at a reasonable price, so we’ll tow Slow Motion up to Astor, FL and launch there. Tentative plans are to head N to Jacksonville, FL, pickup the ICW and go South towards the Keys. We’ll be making plans and changes as we go…depending on weather and time.

So…enjoy your day….and check back in a few days and see if we’ve been able to do as planned.

Happy New Year….with any luck….we’ll be starting the New Year out right….ON THE WATER!!!!!

Lake Harney area to Butcher’s Bend G109

2011-12-09T19:01:00.001-05:00

Jim and I left our dingy in the water so we could do an early morning trip ashore.

This is the view from Raisin’s walk.

It looked like we might have another pretty sunrise…..and we did….but not nearly as pretty as yesterday’s.

Larry had the only anchor out…it held beautifully. After the dingy was stowed on the swim platform, we headed back down the river. Down the river is N.

Larry spotted this small herd of horses. There were several cows back in the shadows of the tree line.

You can tell the river is up….this stand of palms is surrounded by water.

Another good idea. A floating home. It looks like a bit of Key West…..everything was gaily painted. I could live here too! This is floating one the river but anchored to shore.

This pair of Bald Eagles sat for a long time as we shut down the motor and drifted. There was a nice current.

Cute little gator….maybe 6’ or 7’.

A few years ago when boating with Larry and Diane, I felt I should title everything “The little green boat”. They had a Nimble Nomad and it was in most of my pictures…..now I have another one either following or leading us. We look a bit alike…same make…we have a hardtop that Jim built and Larry and Diane’s has a bimini. (and a whole lot of fancy stuff we don’t have: windlass, mermaid heat/air, bow thrusters and some stuff I can’t think of.)

Under the bridge is the entrance to Lake Jessup. There is a launch ramp just before the bridge. Lake Jessup is very close to home but too shallow for us.

This is the restaurant near the RT 415 bridge by the Sanford Boatworks Marina. We decided to stop here and have lunch. Larry and Jim hiked to the marina store but they didn’t have the parts Larry needed. Lunch was great with very good service.

Larry and Diane crossing Lake Monroe.

Unfortunately this is our last day on the water for a few weeks. (at least we don’t have to wait for the ice to melt). We have some commitments that will tie us up awhile….then we’ll be back out and hopefully….headed to the Keys with Larry and Diane for company.

Our anchorage for the night is just N of Lake Monroe Park.

See you on the water soon.

Mullet Lake State Park, FL to Lake Harney, FL

2011-12-09T17:07:00.001-05:00

There are several lakes along the St Johns River. Most of them we’ve been in or across…but it was done with boats with much less draft. The lakes in FL are shallow lakes to start with. That is why Lake George is so hazardous to small boats when the weather is bad.

The launching area at Mullet Lake is small so we decided to anchor in the river. A lot of fishing boats and air boats launch here and we didn’t want to be in their way. Since there was a pretty good current we both put out anchors when rafted up.

The weather is much warmer.

We were blessed with a beautiful sunrise.

Warm nights bring lots of bugs that are attracted to our anchor lights and the solar light I keep on the deck to see by, when I take Raisin out on the bow to do her business after dark.

Jim was up early and playing “swabbie”.

as was Larry….

This Blue Heron was standing in a tree top stretching it’s neck to get as much sunshine as possible. I think he was enjoying the sunrise as much as we were.

The sunrise striking the opposite side of the river really brought out the colors…….Jim is still “swabbing” down the boat.

Here’s a shot of the park. It has showers. Nothing fancy…but the water is hot.

Larry is still “swabbing” also. This is looking S. Isn’t the scenery beautiful?

We didn’t see a lot of boats…but several were taking advantage of a beautiful day.

The is the view as he headed up the river. (the St Johns River runs N)

It is so beautiful out…no one is in a rush to get moving.

After the chores were done I think we spent an hour on deck just having coffee and talking. It was a perfect way to start the day.

They use airboats to spray to weeds on the waterway. 2 launched and headed S….an hour or so later we overtook them. It was interesting watching them work.

Jim found these trees intriguing.

Another big one….It’s nice to see there are still some left.

Does it get any better than this?

This a brilliant idea for a section of the river that floods often during hurricanes or tropical storms. It is built on a pontoon barge and secured to 4 solid pillars that hold it in place while allowing it to float up and down with the river. They’ve added a floating dock and even the shed out back is on pontoons. I could live here!!

Looking at the entrance to Lake Harney. We were told by a member of the boating club at the Boatworks Marina that it has a shallow bar at the entrance….we’ll pass on it this time. Jim and I have been already been aground once on this trip.

We turned around and headed up to the area where we saw the cows. We’ll anchor there tonight and hope to catch them coming down in the morning for a drink.

I know I have posted a lot of pictures…but it was such a beautiful day and I love this section of the river. I spent a lot of the day sitting on the foredeck.

Anchored for the night. We only covered about 10 miles today. We dallied over coffee this morning and stopped early this afternoon.

We’re cruising around in the dingys looking for cows.

We did spot the white Brahma . I also saw deer tracks in the sand at the water’s edge. Hope they come down in the evening.

This has been the best day of the trip.

Blue Spring, FL to Mullet Lake, FL

2011-12-08T18:43:00.001-05:00

We had a nice evening on the water.

Having anchored near the side of the creek to allow for boat traffic, Slow Motion ended up sitting in the lily pads. Larry had his anchor down and we were rafted up so he towed us to the middle of the creek. That way we wouldn’t have to start the engine and suck up some leaves etc. Worked like a charm.

We took the side creek back to the river. It’s a beautiful ride…slow Manatee zone but so is the river at this section.

Guess it really wasn’t interested in a picture.

Diane at the wheel while Larry takes a picture of me taking a picture of them.

This is a big one…you can’t see any of it’s tail and that head is huge. Is that a scowl on it’s face?

This tree gives you an idea how shallow it is where the St Johns River enters Lake Monroe…boats with drafts like ours need to follow the markers. Once in Governor's Cut there is plenty of depth.

Sanford Boatworks Marina is just S of the cut and fuel and slips are available here. There is also a good restaurant with room for both A 27’s at the dock. We’ll stop on our way back. We’re headed to Mullet Lake Park. This park has a boat ramp but no long term secure parking. So even though it is much closer to our home we launch at the W end of Lake Monroe.

You have to look closely at the one below. You can see only the gators head…and it’s another big one. It’s looking almost directly at us…you can see the eyes and the teeth. This one was in Governor's Cut…

The river S of Lake Monroe is beautiful. This is our favorite area. The river is up now so we are able to get over the shallow areas.

We reached Mullet Lake and decided to anchor in the river. Since there was so much current we used both anchors when we rafted up.

Another beautiful night on the water.

G3 Lungun Island to Blue Springs, FL

2011-12-06T18:00:00.002-05:00

We spent the night at anchor behind Lungun Island. There was still plenty of traffic on the river….everyone heading back to their homes or marina after the boat parade.
Larry called this morning. They were ready to leave whenever we got there. We upped anchor and headed their way.
Decided to go to Blue Springs and see the Manatees. There is a side creek just past the springs where we can anchor and dingy to the Springs.
The weather has been warm the last few days so there wasn’t a great number of Manatees in today. As the temperatures drop the numbers will increase. It was still fun to see the ones that were in.

The grey along the edge is a clay bank. The Manatees were enjoying rolling around in it. Made the water cloudy…but still beautiful.

The babies are the most popular and get a lot of “ooohs and aaahhs”.

They now show a video explaining why and how they track the Manatees. I only saw the last part but it would be worth watching.
Larry’s dingy motor quit on the way to the Springs so we towed them down and back.
Did I finally get a smile out of Jim? I was holding the tow rope and this is what happens when you zig when you should have zagged.

Diane and Larry enjoying their tow. Turns out it was a faulty spark plug. Once he replaced it ….it ran like a top.

Didn’t see any Manatees on our way back. Several swirls in the water but nothing surfaced.
We closed up against the bugs and watched a movie…..then off to bed. A nice night. Not cold…not hot..not muggy. It just can’t get much better than this.

Aground

2011-12-06T15:43:00.001-05:00

This should have been in the last post. I was going to add it to it…but then everyone who had already read it…wouldn’t see it.

After Larry and Diane left Silver Glen Springs….Jim and I were swinging on our own anchor. One thing never changes when boating…things can always change and you have to be on top of it. We Weren’t.

When we anchored…we were nose to a sand bar…we never gave it a thought after Larry left. The wind swung us around and we were still crossways of the anchorage. But it wasn’t the wind against the current that was keeping us that way.

Jim was scrubbing the dirt off the boat and I had finished cleaning inside…and decided to go snorkeling…I looked under the boat to check the prop and realized the keel was on the sand bar….we were “aground”.

I was walking in waste deep water…pushing, pulling, tugging…nothing. Jim put the anchor in the dingy and took it way out into deep water. I pulled on the anchor and he pushed with the dingy…didn’t work. We could move it sideways…but not forward….let all the anchor rode out and both got on the bow and shoved…It worked!!! We were in the channel…let it drift into deeper water…hauled in the anchor and moved to another spot.

Guess that’s what we get for laughing at Larry and Diane’s “Christmas Wreath”.

Silver Glen Springs, FL

2011-12-05T10:55:00.001-05:00

There was a pretty sunrise, but by the time I got my camera, dog, coffee and Jim into the dingy most of it was gone. I still got a picture of the pair of Bald Eagles in the top of the tree.

This is the highest tree in our anchorage….the sun came up and stayed behind it all the way to the top….now if we tried to anchor in the summer to have shade….it wouldn’t happen.

Larry and Diane are leaving this morning. We’ll hang out most of the day. Larry is getting ready to loose the lines and haul his anchor and leave.

We anchored bow to stern with each putting out an anchor to keep us crossways of the creek and out of the channel.

And there they go…..

Jim had to mess with Larry so we nosed up behind them and gave them a push….then pulled alongside to say “so long”.

Good thing we did. Larry forgot to push that “magic” button and the anchor was still down. Normally when we raft up, only one of us puts an anchor out….he knew ours was….and forgot about his.

So we gave him a shout….

When the anchor came up we laughed our heads off.

He had a huge ball of weeds on the anchor. We told him he should put a big red bow on it and tell everyone it was a Christmas Wreath.

Just in case you didn’t get a good look….

I tried to stop laughing long enough to take some pictures….then Jim rowed over and pulled all the stuff off. Some people will do anything to amuse their friends. Thanks guys!!!!

We followed them down the run until they went thru the entrance.

They called us when they got to the gate at the S end of Lake George. Said they had a lumpy ride.

This is the gate. It is so shallow at this end of the lake that these are needed to funnel traffic into the channel.

Here are some scenes from our day….

Buzzards

Hawk

Turtles…

and more turtles…..the first 2 look like they are ready for take-off.

Blue Heron catching rays….nature’s solar panels.

A bit of color…

This car has been on this pontoon for several years…. I guess this is what you do if you have a boat house….instead of a garage?

As we were coming into Astor, FL….we started noticing a lot of people gathering along the river and on their docks….then this boat came out of a side channel….

Here’s another….

We had forgotten Astor was having a Christmas Boat Parade. So we found a spot to drop the anchor and hung out for awhile to watch the parade. It was much bigger than we thought it would be and everyone sounded like they were having a great time. After all the boats had gone by we hauled anchor and headed to Lungun Island to anchor for the night.

Another great day on the water.

Seven Sisters to Silver Glen Springs, FL

2011-12-04T10:46:00.001-05:00

A little after 8 the sun started shining and we headed out. We had rafted up to Larry and Diane so just had to loose the lines and motor away. Larry hit that magic button and up his anchor came… Sure would be nice to have one of those. I keep telling myself we need the exercise.

Jim had his heart set on Biscuits ‘n Gravy so we stopped at Welaka and hiked to Shrimp R Us. By the time we got there we were all ready for some.

A few hours later we stopped at Georgetown Marina for fuel.

The fuel is Marine fuel and treated with Biocide so we decided to fill up. Took about 40 gallons. (this included our last trip out…we were not full when we launched.) So far, we’ve traveled 238 miles. I think Jim figured we are using .56 gallons an hour. The price wasn’t too bad….until you realize there is a 7% tax added to it. Nice to see diesel cheaper than gas for a change.

This Great Blue Heron looks like a statue for advertising.

There were a few men cleaning some nice sized fish. This White Heron was standing nearby. If you look closely at the photo you will see it only has one foot.

They told Larry it was about 20 years old…and if you aren’t careful when cleaning your fish….it will take it

Guess it was a day for birds at the dock….this hawk flew in and watched us for awhile.

When we got there the attendant had gone for lunch. While we waited, Diane fixed everyone a snack of beef stick and crackers….even Raisin had a few bites.

We had a lumpy ride across Lake George to Silver Glen Springs. Not a rough ride…we were not quite broadside to the waves and every now and then one would push the back of the boat around a bit. You had to stay alert to remain on course. Larry said his auto pilot was having fits so he finally shut it off.

Once we got into Silver Glen, we dropped the dingys in the water and did a short cruise. There are a few boats in here…but no one aboard, so we have the place to ourselves.

Jim and I check for fishing line and bobbers. Got 2 and a long piece of line.

Imagine….I’ve had to put the curtains up to keep the cold out and this afternoon at the Glen I had to put one up because the sun was so warm….I almost missed this sunset.

Larry and Diane have some business to take care of so will leave in the morning and head to Astor, FL where their truck and trailer are. We’ll hang out here till later in the day..(time to go swimming) and we’ll meet them by G3, Lungun Island tomorrow night or the next morning.

Deep Creek

2011-12-02T21:24:00.001-05:00

Another cold night…but the open engine compartment provided enough heat to enjoy the cockpit until bedtime…then it’s just a matter of getting up to use the head or to heat the water in the thermos that I use to keep the bird warm.

Looking back into the mist rising off Deep Creek.

Here come Larry and Diane aboard “A Dollar More”.

Once the sun is up….it is warm inside.

We cruised S to Corkey Bell’s floating dock. After tying up we hiked up to the grocery store. There is also a Family Dollar there. Not a long walk…I believe there is a parts store within a mile. Jim had to walk it a year or so ago for an alternator.

After stowing the groceries, we had lunch at Corkey Bell’s.

We took a side trip down Murphy Creek. Saw a few gators. One was pretty big but as soon as Jim slowed the engine down he disappeared.

We decided to anchor at Seven Sisters, just S of the Buffalo Bluff Railroad Bridge. There is a nice wide spot that should give us early morning sunshine.

A nice evening at anchor….and not as cold as last night. Again, the engine compartment threw off enough heat to keep us comfortable in the cockpit. So far, we’ve only run the generator and heater for an hour or so on a couple of mornings.

11.29.11

2011-12-02T20:47:00.001-05:00

We were up early…and heading South. Didn’t have much luck with the current. It was against us for quite awhile.

We had wind behind us, giving us a bit of a shove, or we’d have been traveling even slower.

Both boats needed fresh water so we stopped at the city dock in Green Cove Springs. It is a nice floating dock. Water and electric are available. If you want to spend the night and hook up you walk up to the town hall. I believe they charge $10. That was the fee quoted in Active Captain.

Diane asked someone where there was a good restaurant and was directed to La Casita. They were right…it was good food at a reasonable price. (I’m beginning to sound like a restaurant tour guide.) There were a few other restaurants, a drug store and an Ace Hardware, all within walking distance of the dock. We’ll be adding this stop to our list. Should be able to get most everything needed, except fuel.

After topping off our water tanks, we headed S. Another cold night expected. We continued on to Deep Creek.

Larry dropped his anchor, we rafted up to him and Jim hustled to get the dingy in the water. I didn’t get any pictures when we anchored here a few days ago ….and the sun was dropping behind the trees very fast.

After the photo session, Jim reloaded the dingy and we buttoned up for the night. We have fleece curtains to help insulate the vinyl curtains. I have covers for the cabin windows but we haven’t installed the snaps inside for the windows across the front…just on the side. Once we’ve done that it will help. I like to be able to look out and see if we are dragging anchor…but I can lift a curtain to do that.

Oh….did I mention it was COLD?!!

He is such a good sport…had a good time posing for these pictures….but it really was cold. Once I took this he opened up the engine compartment and it warmed up considerably. He has Raisin wrapped up in the blanket.

11.29.11

2011-12-01T19:48:00.001-05:00

It was cold enough this morning for the generator and the little heater. We are anchored in a stretch of Deep Creek with tall trees on either side and it takes awhile for the sun to hit us. With these vinyl curtains it is like a greenhouse once the sun is up and very comfortable…until then it is cold and damp.

Once the engines were checked for oil and water we unhooked our docklines and started down river to the St Johns River. Larry still had to push that button and pull his anchor up. OOPS….he forgot to push it. We wondered why he wasn’t following us. Got a good laugh out of that one.

But you know how that goes….as soon as you laugh at someone else’s mistake…they getcha…

Yup…a little while later they cruised up along side us and mentioned the fact that we still had fenders flying… Larry took this with his phone and emailed it to me.

Our destination today is Doctor’s Lake. We’re having dinner at Whitey’s Fish Camp. They are on Swimming Pen Creek and we’re looking forward to seeing the Christmas Lights that the little creek is known for.

Jim says I will have to ride with Larry and Diane so we can get some pictures of our boat underway. Until then…here’s Diane at the wheel.

We tied up at Whitey’s….had a good supper….Larry was full of supper! Diane ordered Calamari and the waitress made a misstep and the whole thing landed in Larry’s lap. She felt terrible..but Larry is a gentleman and just laughed it off…as did the rest of us. He and Diane did their best to make her feel better about the whole thing…We had another laugh when we heard her telling the rest of the help about it.

We spent the night tied to their dock. No electric but again the price was right…free. Diane let us look through her collection of DVDs. Then we all went back to our boat and watched it on the computer. We put up the inside curtains and it was like being in a tiny theatre. After the movie they headed back to A Dollar More and bed.

There were several Christmas lights along the creek but not as many as we’d expected. Perhaps we were a bit early. Still….it was worth the trip.

11.28.11

2011-12-01T19:29:00.001-05:00

The nights are cooling down a bit…

A good breakfast of Biscuits ‘n Gravy started the day off. You notice I mention “Shrimp R Us” a lot. That’s because they have good food at a reasonable price and it is within walking distance of the City Dock.

Crab pots are found all up and down the St Johns River. You’ll see them tending their crab traps in all weather.

Here’s a shot of “A Dollar More” …you can see my elbow in the mirror as I took the photo.

The river gets much wider as you go N. In many places it’s like crossing a big lake. As the day progressed, the wind and weather changed.

It’s getting colder and clouding over. The wind is picking up and the water getting lumpy. We decided to head for the city dock in Palatka. They have electric hookups and the price is right…free. By the time we got there, the weather and current were not cooperating. Jim and I decided to anchor out.

While Larry and Diane were trying to get to the dock…Jim went on a rescue mission…Larry had lost a fender overboard and it was drifting away. It made for a fun ride in that little rubber dingy. He normally sits on the side but ended up kneeling in the center when coming back against the waves.

Larry and Diane made several tries at getting to the dock and finally made it.

They decided not to spend the night there. The wind and waves were hitting them broadside and it wasn’t a comfortable position. A short conference and we decided to head for Deep Creek and anchor there.

By the time we got to our anchorage it was starting to rain….but only lightly. Just enough to make it cold while tying along side A Dollar More. Larry has this neat little thing called a “windlass”. You push a button and the anchor goes either up or down. On our boat one of us has to go on deck and drop the anchor or haul it in by hand.

Oh….did I mention it was getting cold?

Saturday

2011-11-30T18:17:00.001-05:00

Hontoon Island was very busy yesterday. As we approached, the ferry was loading up with people headed to the Island.

The docks weren’t quit full but there were several boats there. They have water and electric for a reasonable price…even better for FL seniors.

Our night at anchor was peaceful….and not too hot.

We were up early ….Jim and Larry got the dingys read so we could go scout out the island and a big boat anchored below us.

Is that an Albin Rendevous? Nope…just Slow Motion and A Dollar More.

A bit of FL color….

The plant is Water Lettuce…it can take over a pond and choke up the river. You can see the “tea” color of the water.

After our trip ashore for Raisin we loaded up and headed N. The wind is kicking up and we want to get across Lake George. It turned out to be a great trip….wind at our backs made for a nice ride with a push.

Just before we got to the lake we spotted this Bald Eagle.

We ended the day tied up to the Welaka City Dock and dinner at Shrimp R Us. Always a treat.

Happy Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-27T17:24:00.001-05:00

We had a great Thanksgiving dinner with Tom and Cindy, our neighbors. Cindy put on a wonderful feast. Thank you so much, Cindy!!

We spent most of the day getting Slow Motion ready. Jim had already hooked up water to it and started the engine, so we knew we wouldn’t be dead in the water after launching. We try to start it every few months when not in use.

Jim’s brother, Carl, came down and spent Thanksgiving with us and followed us to Lake Monroe to help with the launching.

We motored up to Butcher’s Bend at G109 and anchored…took a nap…and had turkey sandwiches for supper (compliments of Tom and Cindy)..then enjoyed the evening. What a beautiful day.

11.26.11

We expected to see several gators but only one stuck it’s head up as we were leaving. When there is a lot of activity on the water they stay hidden.

Talked to Larry and Diane of “A Dollar More”. They are heading S….we’ll head N and meet on the river somewhere.

The day started out a bit overcast.

At marker G77 we took a side creek. This is a favorite for kayaks and canoes since it’s of the main river. We are near Blue Springs and they have rentals.

We saw this little houseboat cruise past our anchorage last evening. They were all lit up with Christmas decorations. We like the looks of this small boat for river S of Lake George. There are so many places we just cant get into because it is so shallow, and we much prefer the wilder southern part of the river.

We almost missed this gator. I was so busy taking pictures …I never noticed the little gators with her.

I love the one sitting on her tail. I see at least 4 but Jim said he saw a bunch scramble into the water.

This duck(?) was swimming in the water. Not sure what it is…but the bill or beak looks more like a Night Heron’s.

Several boats out today…but these were the best looking.

This guy seemed to enjoy having it’s picture taken.

We decided this would definitely be a comfortable live aboard.

It wasn’t much later when “A Dollar More” showed up. After a little chat on the radio…we decided to head N, so they did a “U” turn.

Diane passed us some late lunch…the best BBQ ribs we’ve had.

We will anchor behind the island at G3…Lungun Island. It’s a popular spot for campers but no one was on the island when we got there.

Loading the boat 11.22.11

2011-11-22T19:47:00.001-05:00

It has been a busy last few months. The work on the camper/hauler is almost finished. The living quarters have been completed but for a little trim. All the cabinets, the converter (dark thing between cupboards) as well as, the windows are all from the old camper.

The bed is folded up against the front wall…you can see the hinges. It was very comfortable. We bought a memory foam mattress for a hide a bed. We were impressed with how well we slept.

The bathroom is from the old camper. Jim painted the tub and seat to match. I love the blue.

We do have to rough it abit. The sink is fold down….must fill it then dump it in the tub. It lifts right out…..just a stainless dog bowl. But it does work well.

We only spent 4 nights in it…but so far it will do the job.

The kitchen and all the windows are from the old camper. The fridge came with the car hauler.

So……now we are concentrating on cleaning and loading the boat. I have all the bedding aboard…food stuffs go in Thurs am. Friday we will launch…hopeing that everyone will be out shopping….after all…it is Black Friday.

We’ll be heading N on the St Johns River, FL. Larry and Diane of “A Dollar More” Albin 27, are already on the river. They trailered down from OK. We would have met them sooner but went to a carshow/ swapmeet in Moultrie, GA in our new “camper/hauler”. Just had to road test it and try out everything we’d done to see what needed more work. Right now…it seems good the way it is.

But……..no matter how comfortable it is…..it is still land bound….I can’t wait to get aboard Slow Motion and start cruising. There’s a bunch of big gators just waiting to have their pictures taken.

Looks like a short postpone….

2011-10-30T13:33:00.001-04:00

Jim is doing really well on getting the camper/hauler in shape. Installed the on demand water heater today. Don’t have to worry about scalding yourself but it will do. It sure isn’t as nice as the heater aboard Slow Motion.

We are going to a carshow/swapmeet in Moultrie, GA the weekend of Nov 18,19,20. We should be home and unloading the camper and loading the boat by the 21st. Then we’ll head to the West Coast of FL to meet Larry and Diane and their boat “A Dollar More”.

If Jim’s brother, Carl, is available we’ll pick him up and have him take the truck and trailer back to his house. That way we wont have to worry about it and we can cruise back to Sanford via the ICW and the St Johns River.

Getting ready for an Oct cruise near Pensacola, FL

2011-10-04T13:01:00.001-04:00

Larry and Diane have spent a lot of time getting their boat, “A Dollar More”', ready to tow from OK to Pensacola, FL. We are to meet them there late Oct.

Jim has been busy on the camper/hauler (car hauler made into a camper and car hauler) made with parts from our old camper. It was literally falling apart.

I’ve cleaned most of the interior of the boat, checked for charts and charts for the chart plotter. Just ordered a GPS for my computer so I can use Offshore Navigator Lite as a backup, if necessary.

We are having perfect boating weather…cool nights…warm days. I’ve even had a small fire in the woodstove early in the morning to enjoy my coffee by.

Most of the Monarch and Queen butterflies will have emerged and if not the “Butterfly House” can be put on the back porch with the door open so they can fly away when ready.

What’s wrong with this picture?

Oh yeah…..the truck is hooked up to the wrong vehicle.

Check back at the end of the month to see if we made it to the water.

Boat cleaning time

2011-09-01T11:32:00.001-04:00

We spent 5 weeks on the road…..NY, VT, TN and home. We were hustling back to get things squared away before Hurricane Irene hit….

Unfortunately Brattleboro, VT ..where my kids and grandkids live got hit pretty bad with flooding from the storm. Everyone is OK…just hard to get around with so much water and road problems.

My Dad in NY fared very well. His power never went out…all our friends in surrounding towns lost theirs. He’s 90 and on oxygen, so someone was definitely looking out for him.

Now that we are home….and lawn is mowed, a few weeds pulled and caterpillars gathered for the Butterfly House ( www.wildlifearoundus.blogspot.com ) and Jim is working on the car hauler/camper…. I am going to be working on removing all the mold that has accumulated in the cockpit. The V berth and sleeper are fine…just need some wiping down and spraying for spiders. Nothing like having one of those big “housekeeper” spiders run across the ceiling in a confined space.

Hope to have some tales from the water before much longer. Larry and Diane (A Dollar More) are planning a trip at the end of October and want us to meet and cruise with them. Lets hope it is a go.

Until then…smooth cruising.

Monday…July 4th

2011-07-10T12:12:00.001-04:00

We are meeting Carl at Lake Monroe Park, Debary, FL where we leave our truck and trailer. It is a busy place today. Even more boats on the water.

On our way there we spotted all these boats nosed up to the shoreline.

I wasn’t able to get them all in the picture. Normally we only see a few boats here…but the river is low and there is more beach exposed.

Everyone is out today…water skiers…jet skiers….fast boats…slow boats (us) and everything in between. Lots of big houseboats. Most will be anchored in the lake tonight for the fireworks.

We anchored and Jim and Carl took the dingy ashore to pick up a pizza for supper. Boats coming and going all around us.

As the sun was setting the "River Queen” was heading out for it’s dinner cruise.

They had a big crowd aboard.

One of the nice things about watching the fireworks on Lake Monroe in Sanford, FL is the ability to watch all the fireworks in the towns around the lake. I counted at least 20 different ones. We couldn’t hear the explosions but some of them on the opposite side were beautiful. Next year we’ll anchor in the middle and get to see them all.

Once the fireworks were over we took Carl back to the dock…dropped him off….took the trash to the dumpster, then headed back to the anchorage by G109. Butcher’s Bend.

It was a fun evening. Glad we made a plan change so Carl could join us.

Sunday…..

2011-07-10T11:47:00.001-04:00

Now I know why we didn’t see many boats yesterday…..they all waited until today!!!

It was wonderful….boats of all kinds and sizes.

We don’t usually see much wildlife when there are so many boats on the water but did manage to find a gator sunning itself on one of the side creeks.

Most of the gators we’ve seen…and there have been many….have been in the water. The river is so warm I guess there is no need to sit in the sun. There were lots of Painted turtles.

We decided to anchor for the night behind Hontoon Island. We followed the river back always and find a nice spot near some very tall pine trees on the west side. It was very hot today and we’ll be able to get shade a lot earlier.

BIG MISTAKE!!! We did get shade earlier than if we’d been someplace else….but forgot that the bugs are worse near the land. The “no see-ums” were terrible. We dusted down with baby powder …and that helped…but just before dark we decided to haul anchor and find another spot. We ended up anchoring on the bend in the river that is near Lake Beresford. We’ll anchor here again. We didn’t really have a breeze but there was air movement….and no bugs!!!.

Saturday….

2011-07-10T11:33:00.001-04:00

We didn’t see many boats on the water yesterday. There were a few more today but not as many as we had expected for a big weekend.

As we were getting underway we spotted a deer swimming across the river. This was within a few hundred feet of where Jim had spotted the big gator. 3 guys on Jet Skis saw it and hung out with us to see if it made it to safety….It did!! We were amazed because it was in a wide part of the river and we knew about the big gator….perhaps all the action with us and the 3 jet skis kept the gator away.

We don’t meet Jim’s brother, Carl, until Monday so we can take our time on our way back to Lake Monroe.

Our anchorage for the night is on the opposite side of the river of the Highland Park Canal at marker R36. It’s a wide part of the “jug handle” off the river and we’ll get a nice breeze while watching the boats go by.

It also has a nice piece of high ground for walking Raisin. We take her ashore whenever we can find a good spot…but she is trained to use a carpet on the foredeck…so there are no more trips ashore after dark (gator feeding time). It is much nicer this way….and safer. We had an incident with her a few years ago….it was long after dark….and we were tied up near the lock on the E side of Lake Okeechobee, FL, waiting for good weather for the crossing. On our way ashore we had to row thru some water plants that evidently looked like grass to Raisin and she jumped overboard. Very scary…luckily I was able to grab her before she could swim very far as she was headed away from us and the weeds were very thick. We decided then that she needed to be trained to the deck. The next morning we spotted a big gator swimming in that area.

It was a nice afternoon and evening on the water.

Friday….another Lake George crossing

2011-07-07T16:32:00.001-04:00

I much prefer anchoring out but the night was still pleasant.

We enjoyed our sausage gravy and biscuit breakfast and a nice walk. Picked up a few supplies and headed S.

Our trip across Lake George was very nice. Enough breeze to keep us cool but all the clouds were over the land and we rode in sunshine. Once we got thru the gates I snapped these Osprey. The channel markers are one of their favorite nesting places.

This Nimble Nomad reminded us of Larry and Diane’s former boat, “River Nomad”. I think most of my posts a few years ago included them. We had some good times when we had the Adventure Craft and they the Nomad. Both were very shallow draft and we checked out all the side creeks and rivers….places we can never get into with the Albin.

Anchoring near Lungun Island. G3

Thursday…crossing Lake George

2011-07-06T14:12:00.001-04:00

Forgot to mention the “little accident” when Jim spotted a big gator last night and told me to grab my camera. I was on deck while it swam towards shore so I started knocking on the boat to attract it’s attention….it worked…it started to really puff itself up and arched it’s tail. I wanted to get a picture of it like that so hollared down to Jim to knock on the boat. I didn’t realize he was in the galley fixing our evening wine. He had 2 glasses poured …along with the soda he puts in his…when he leaned on the shelf to knock….it collapsed!…all the wine and soda spilled on the cushions. Needless to say…he was not a happy boater at that moment.

After several towels and lots of sopping up we got everything shipshape. I rinsed all the towels in the river and hung them on the rear railing to dry…now we look like liveaboards.

Captain Jim from “Sailbad the Sinner” dingyed down to visit over coffee this morning. After they hauled anchor, we took Raisin ashore for a walk then headed N.

Thunderstorms started to roll in and a bit of rain hit us. We decided to check Lake George and make a decision whether to cross or wait till evening when things settled down. Lake George is shallow and can build up steep waves quickly.

Once we got to the gate we could see storms all around but the lake was flat. The wind was on our rear quarter and would be a push if it did get worse so we started across.

It turned out to be one of our best rides across. Just enough breeze to keep us cool and give us a bit of a shove.

Back on the river we spotted this gator sunning on a log.

I cant figure out if its smiling at me….or just showing off it’s pearly whites.

When we arrived at the dock in Welaka, we tied up next to this little pontoon houseboat. He has everything he needs for a stay on the river….including airconditioning…..the nice thing about a boat like this is he can get into places we only dream of going because of our 3’ draft.

Supper at Shrimp R Us, compliments of Ed and Carole (Tortoise). We’ll be using up the gift certificate they gave us when we have our sausage/gravy and biscuits for breakfast. Thanks so much guys….we’ve really enjoyed all those free meals. Too bad you weren’t here to enjoy them with us. But I imagine you are enjoying much nicer boating weather in Maine.

This is one of the “locals”. It hangs out at the dock and the people fishing give it some of the small ones.

We’ll remain at the dock overnight. Have breakfast then head S in the morning.

Wednesday on the St Johns river

2011-07-03T16:30:00.002-04:00

After coffee this morning, we decided to take the dingy for a ride around Drigger Island and see if there were any gators sunning or interesting birds.
This Limpkin was poking around in a sand bar looking for tiny clams (mussels?). Once it found one it pecked at it until it was open. Jim did a great job of “stealth” rowing to keep us close enough to video. Very hard to do quietly when weeds grab the oars with every stoke.
This is my friend Diane’s favorite bird. When they are in FL cruising with us we hunt for them everywhere we go. So far, I’ve seen at least 6 this trip…..and I think of Diane each time I see one. She is such a beautiful person….inside and out…and so much fun to cruise with.

Listen to the birds in the background. What a beautiful morning it was.

Limpkin feeding

Our anchorage behind Drigger Island.

We had planned on going to Palatka to watch the fireworks. We spent last 4th of July there and they put on a great show, but decided to call Jim’s brother and see if he wanted to meet us in Sanford and spend the evening with us watching the show they put on over Lake Monroe. He thought it sounded like a good idea …so we are going to make a change of plans. We’ll go as far N as Welaka and then work our way back S.

We will anchor behind Lungen Island (Shell Island to the locals) at marker G3. Another boat was anchored where we normally do so we moved down a bit N of the island. Lots of breeze, thunderstorms and rain. Much cooler tonight. I think we like this spot better. It's a little farther to dingy to the island to walk Raisin but the view is better and there is lots of water vegetation between us and the river to keep the boat wakes down.

All in all...we had a very pleasant evening.

Slow Motion on the St Johns River, FL

2011-07-01T18:09:00.001-04:00

Finally….we’re back on the water for a few days.

Monday we launched at Monroe Park….took our time and headed to G109, Butcher’s Bend. One of our favorite gator watching spots. There were a few but they stayed in the water.

We had the place to ourselves for most of the day but by evening 2 houseboats had nudged up to the island for the night. The one closest to us nudged a bit too hard and had trouble getting off in the morning.

Slow Motion doesn’t look too bad now, but she was really dirty when we came out. Didn’t have the time to scrub her down….so when the thunderstorms came thru late afternoon….we put on our suits…grabbed the mop and hand mitt and went to work…washed the boat down and got a cool shower all at the same time.

It has been hot and muggy. Thanks to the cloud cover and rain it was bearable. I think it’s supposed to be in the 90’s everyday with thunderstorms.

TUESDAY

When we got up this morning the fishing had already started. We jumped in the dingy and looked for a place to take Raisin ashore.

We were surprised when we spotted these “elusive” Limpkins. They were so pretty walking around on these old Cyprus roots, with the Spanish Moss hanging down.

They are such pretty birds. Especially when they look right at you.

Jim spotted these cyprus roots and thought they looked like 3 dolphins. Can you see them?

After Raisin’s trip ashore we headed N. It turned out to be a great day for wildlife. I spotted 3 more Limpkins and several gators.

As we were going by Lake Beresford I spotted this Doe grazing along the water’s edge.

Isn’t she beautiful? There was a time when I would have thought “venison stew” or “venison steaks” but that was when I hunted to put food on the table. Now I like seeing them fat … sassy ….and alive. I like hunting with the camera.

Here’s a short video

Our anchorage for the night is Drigger Island. Spotted a few gators on our way in and had one cruise by the boat several times after we dropped the hook. Once the afternoon thundershower passed it was a bit cooler and we had a pleasant night reading and listening to the frog chorus.