Houseboating – Days 3, 4 and 5

I intended to blog every day during our week on the houseboat, but, alas… too much time driving, playing cards and having fun. Plus our wifi connectivity was not stellar. So it is being compressed into 3 posts.

Our plan for Monday was to travel up to the Silver Glen Spring Run recreation area on the west bank of Lake George, the second largest lake in Florida (170 square miles). But the weather forecast for Tuesday (80 degrees and sunny) was better than for Monday (75 degrees and mostly cloudy), so we decided to just hang out for the day at our private little island – Lungren Island, near Astor. Florida. So Day 3 was all about Lungren Island, Day 4 was about our (disappointing) trip to and from Lake George and Day 5 was about our trip back to the marina.

First, Lungren Island. We loved this place! As previously mentioned, it was tiny – just a few hundred feet wide and maybe a hundred feet across. But it was beautifully wooded and really felt like it was our private little enclave. Rusty loved it, too. The photo is of Rusty on the island, investigating smells near the mysterious stump with the shoot on top. Jett called it “Wilson” after Tom Hanks’ soccer ball in Cast Away. The photo also shows the campfire area left by the earlier squatter. The other side of the island had two rope swings (which we didn’t use).

It was a beautiful, serene place, except for the occasional outboard motor noises. I spent some time on the upper deck, grabbing some sun and reading. The photo is from our second docking, on the channel side of the island (more on that in a bit). I also took the jon boat out for a spin early in the morning, then took it out again in the afternoon, with Jett along for the ride. I got some nice photos of the houseboat from the river and saw some interesting birds. I also spotted two white-tailed deer on shore, but wasn’t quick enough with the camera to get their picture.

With Jett along we tried to find the deer again, but failed. We did, however, spot an alligator. Or at least we thought we did. Turned out to be a rock which we immediately dubbed “Alligator Rock.” But we continued on downstream a bit, then crossed to the other side where we did, indeed, see an alligator. Probably about 8 feet long and pretty chubby. Well fed, I guess.

One thing I didn’t mention to Jett: the large (and, fortunately, dead) spider that I found in the jon boat. It was about 3 inches and scary. I don’t want to find any live ones.

We grilled bratwurst and burgers for dinner and enjoyed a second very quiet night at Lungren.

On Tuesday we woke to dense fog which, fortunately, burned off by 10am. We undocked and traveled north to Lake George and then did our best to find the entrance to the Silver Glen lagoon, which was more difficult than I expected. The lake is so large that we could barely see the shore and had only a general heading to find the (small) entrance. I actually used the GPS on my cell phone to assist in the navigation. We did, eventually, find it, but later than expected. We probably would have had only an hour or so to explore.

Which turned out to be a moot point because I was intimidated by the shallow water (less than 3 feet a quarter of mile from shore) and had visions of grounding dancing in my head. It was obvious that the only way we were going to get into the inlet would be to anchor the houseboat and use the jon boat. But as we had no experience with anchoring, we feared that we would return to find the houseboat grounded somewhere.

So we gave up, turned around and headed home – back to Lungren. We had the same navigation problem finding the river entrance and I had to consult my phone again. The issue with heading east on the lake was that missing the channel and going too far east would put us into a naval target bombing area. As much as we disliked getting grounded, we disliked the idea of getting bombed even more.

But we found the river without being bombed and made our way back to Lungren for a third night. This time, for variety, we tied up on the channel side of the island, below the two rope swings (see the upper deck photo above). This docking area was tighter than the other side and, coupled with a brisker wind and a stronger current, presented more of a challenge. I made it, but only after several tries and several bumps into the roots and branches of the downstream tree.

All in all, it was a difficult day of navigation and a disappointing day in that we never got to our intended destination. I treated myself to a couple of beers and watched the sun set in the west. Then Jett, Rusty and I had a quiet third night at Lungren.

Day 5 was mostly cloudy and very windy. We fought our way – against both the wind and the current, back upstream to the marina. We had some thought of staying on the river overnight, at a recommended mooring location just north of the drawbridge, but four attempts to nose into shore to tie up failed miserably as I was unable to stabilize the boat to get a rope around a tree. After banging into a tree pretty hard, I gave up and headed back to the marina.

I felt better after Charlie, our marina dock hand, banged the houseboat pretty hard into a piling as he tried to dock it. The wind and the current were pretty tough for him, too.

The good thing about a night in the marina is that we were tied to shore power and didn’t have to use the generator. That made the evening quieter and allowed us to stay up late playing cards and watching TV. Just like being in a RV, but with more rocking.