Houseboating – Days 6 and 7

After a breezy night in the marina we departed Thursday morning to explore the upstream portion of the St Johns river. My original intention was to get to Sanford, but decided against it because (1) there aren’t any good places to dock there, (2) we would need to go through a railroad drawbridge and (3) one of the marina staff said “Sanford is where George Zimmerman shot Trevon Martin.” Probably not my cup of tea.

So Plan B was to find a place to tie up near Blue Spring State Park and possibly take the jon boat there to look around. So our target was an island just south of the park, at the Snake Creek Cutoff – an intimidating name, but it didn’t deter us.

We left about 20 minutes after the departure of our neighbors, a group of octogenarians who were also first-time houseboaters, led by Roy and Millicent, a lovely couple that stopped by for a chat Thursday morning. We were traveling at 1800 rpms, which I regarded as a slow cruise, but soon caught up to them. As we passed them I was tempted to yell out “You’re blinker is on!” but held my tongue.

They were out of sight by the time we reached a smaller island just north of the park and swung into the inlet there to scope out the docking opportunities (there were none), then had to turn around when the water became too shallow. We re-entered the channel just as Roy, Millicent, et al, were passing. They were amused to see us again.

We followed them south to the second island and this time found a good docking opportunity. Not on the island, which was posted No Trespassing, but on the mainland. It wasn’t as pretty as Lungren, but was easy to tie up to two conveniently-spaced trees, and provided good, dry ground for walking Rusty. After exploring the site a bit we hunkered down (e.g., moved the jon boat to the side, to protect it from wind and passing tour boats) because the weather was deteriorating. Rain began a couple of hours after we arrived, turned heavy and didn’t relent until after midnight. So we had a cozy day on the houseboat, playing cards, reading, watching TV and looking for manatees (didn’t see any).

The tour boats – St Johns River Tours – left from Blue Spring and seemed to be filled with groups that were traveling together. Bus tours of central Florida, probably. In any case, I heard enough of their spiel that I knew there were almost certainly manatees in the area. But well-hidden, apparently. We did see some interesting birds, including what I think was a variety of eagle. No alligators. Which was fine by me.

Every time I took Rusty for a walk I kept an eye out for a lurking alligator. I think Rusty would have looked pretty delectable to a hungry gator.

Before the rain began I took the jon boat out to investigate the island and the inlet. It was a quiet, serene place, except for the occasional tour boat and some distant channel boating noise. I shut off the motor and drifted for a bit just to feel the serenity.

On Friday we headed south for about 2 hours, to marker 101. There was another recommended docking spot there which we checked out (very nice) but didn’t stop. Then back to the marina at a leisurely pace, with the current but against the wind, which again had whipped up. We passed three people in a canoe at the entrance to Lake Beresford who looked like they were struggling to make headway and to avoid getting swamped. It was certainly not a nice day for canoeing.

Jett took the wheel, briefly, on the way back, just to prove to her kids that she had driven a houseboat.

I docked without a problem – I was an expert by then. The staff was surprised to hear that we had not seen any manatees. They said they had seen some swimming by the marina earlier that day. The best news came when they checked out the boat and declared that we had done no harm, so there were no additional charges.

We dined out that night – the last night of our houseboating vacation – at JC’s Lobster Pot, a local recommended fish joint. I had the “Fish Trio” – salmon, mahi mahi and “catch of the day” (some kind of whitefish) which was very good. Jett opted for the prime rib which she judged to be good but not great. But the prices were very reasonable and a nice meal out seemed like a good way to end the vacation.

The trip back was boring. I tried to avoid the Orlando traffic but probably made things worse by avoiding the toll road that runs along the western edge of Disney World. We spent over 40 minutes on local streets, snaking our way to I-4. Then, when we got within 10 miles of home, the rains began. Again. So I had to unload in a steady rain while Jett went to pick up Grace.

Grace seemed healthy and relatively happy to see us. But once Rusty tells her all about the adventures she missed she will likely never forgive us.