The St. Johns River - Gators, Springs, and Seminoles

 

We went snorkeling at Salt Springs, one of the large springs feeding the St. Johns River.  Molly took this picture with my
new iPhone 13 after my old iPhone 7 didn't survive falling into the water at Crystal River.

The large alligator off Hontoon Island State Park
with some of the houseboat rentals on the opposite shore.  

The park ranger mentioned that a 12+ foot long alligator swims by Hontoon Island at dusk on many days, and now it was dusk as we scanned the river, a gator swam by Salty Paws.  Supposedly, an alligator’s length is 12 times the distance between its snout and eyes, and, if true, this was definitely a big one.  Now our challenge was getting Tory to shore to do her business without being attacked.

Over two days we hiked all the trails
 at Hontoon Island State Park, which has
finally reopened but only for day use.

This was complicated by our dinghy motor no longer working, and earlier in the afternoon we had quickly dropped our anchor just off Hontoon when our main motor conked out.  [We would figure out the next morning that our fuel gauge was no longer working, and we were out of gas.]  Molly and I were both wondering to ourselves if a gator could jump out of the water and drag Tory from the dinghy.  Wanting to complete the trip before it got dark, Tory jumped in the dinghy, and I began to row to shore.

Cyprus are very common along
Florida rivers, and we learned
that the tree roots sticking up
are called Cyprus knees.

The gator was now roughly 100 feet from the dinghy and slowly disappeared below the water, leaving no indication of whether he was headed to our dinghy or, perhaps, going in the other direction.  With some apprehension on our part, Tory made it ashore, did her thing, and then we returned quickly to our boat.  Whew.  This alligator was just one of many that we saw in our 10 days of cruising on the beautiful St. Johns.  Biologists have estimated that well over one million alligators reside in Florida, and the St. Johns and its many side creeks may harbor more than any other area. 

Before cruising to Silver Glen Springs,
we all gathered at St. Johns River Grille,
 a popular pub with docks on the river.

We came to the St. Johns River along with 7 other Rosborough boats at the invitation of fellow Rosborough owner Dennis Robbins and Laurie Shipp, who live in Astor, right next to a great boat ramp and parking lot where we could leave our truck and trailer. 

Our caravan on Blue Creek.

They opened their home to all of us and arranged for free docks for every boat.  Everyone arrived over two days, and then Dennis led the caravan of boats through the narrow Blue Creek, across large Lake George and up the creek to Silver Glen Springs, one of the largest and most beautiful springs off the St. Johns. 

    Eight Rosboroughs at Silver Glen Springs  - Neo, Boundless, Lucky Turn, Boomerang, Pronto, Salty Paws, Grumpy and     
Dream Come True.

This spring along with others collectively spout millions of gallons of water per day at a constant 72 degrees, making the springs a favorite winter haven for manatees if the ocean and river temperatures get much lower than that. We spent one night at Silver Glen with the just the bow of our boat pushed into the sand at the shore’s edge, and over days snorkeled

Molly paddleboard for the first time at
Silver Glenn Springs.

in the spring, saw a couple of manatees, numerous turtles, and one alligator.  The next afternoon

Molly snorkeling at Silver Glen.

Sunrise at Salt Springs.

Salty Paws and Grumpy at Salt Springs.

we and Rosborough legend and double Great Looper John Hauck on Grumpy accepted our invitation to join us crossing the skinny bar to go to Salt Springs, 10 miles to the north.  The next morning Molly and I also snorkeled that large spring. 

The St. Johns is one of the few rivers in the US that flows north.  (The St. John in Maine also flows north for half of its length!)  The river is also one of the laziest rivers in the country as the St. Johns drops only one inch every mile over its 310-mile journey to the Atlantic.  Hurricanes Ian and Nicole in 2022 collectively dropped almost 30 inches of rain on the watershed, raising the river level over 6.5 feet above normal.  It then took the better part of three months for the River’s water levels to return to normal.  The flooding overwhelmed marinas, river parks and more, and it will likely take another year for there to be a full recovery.  Much of Hontoon Island was under water for weeks, and the park facilities will not be fully operational until December 2023 at the earliest.

Dave Rowe captivated the crowd at Sullivan's 
Irish Pub in Sanford.

We cruised south, upriver to Sanford, a delightful town, perfectly laid out with colored brick sidewalks, parks and a number of nice restaurants.  Also, our arrival was on the day of Pints and Paws, with the town filled with vendor tents and booths selling various wares and beer, and all very open to welcoming man’s best friend.  While we didn’t offer Tory any beer, she was able to sit at our feet in Sullivan’s Irish Pub, where we had dinner and met with former Mainers and fellow Loopers Dave Rowe and Stacy Guth, who are now living on their boat in Sanford.  We stayed and much enjoyed the first set of Dave’s concert.  He is a professional musician, and we encourage everyone to check him out at daverowemusic.com. 

Tory loved her first ice cream cup
 ever in Sanford.

The town waterfront was also decorated with several plaques describing various aspects of town and Florida history.   We enjoy learning about the history of the places we visit, and here we made a connection to something we learned on our 2^nd trip to the Bahamas in early 2020 about the sad and courageous tale of the Seminoles.

The Spanish claimed dominion over Florida for most of the roughly 300 years beginning in 1513 when Juan Ponce De Leon came ashore near present-day St. Augustine.  Spanish rule was first marked by conflict with France and then border wars with the English and England’s Native American allies.  Then the US made incursions in the first of three wars with the Seminoles, initially to recapture runaway slaves living among the Seminoles and then seizing some territory.   Finally in 1821 now debt-ridden Spain seceded Florida to the US in exchange for the US absorbing $5 million of claims by US citizens again Spain. 

Seminole means “Free People.”  We are particularly intrigued by this tribe as while the U.S. was relentless in pursuing them, and they chose to fight to death or escape over surrender.  Some even paddled and sailed across the Gulf Stream an Andros Island in the Bahamas. 

In 2020 we brought school supplies to the elementary school in
Red Bays, Andros Island.  Most of the inhabitants are descendants
of Seminoles and runaway slaves who fled across the Gulf
Stream from Florida.

As I wrote in our blog back in 2020, “The Seminole story is both tragic and uplifting.  The U.S. Government waged a 50-year, often gruesome campaign from roughly 1812 to the Civil War to relocate or eradicate the Seminole Indians of Florida in order to use their lands for whites.  The Seminoles were a conglomeration of various tribes that had been forced out of other Southern states and also included runaway slaves.  Beginning around 1821 some of the Seminoles fled across the Gulf Stream from Florida to Andros Island in the Bahamas.  Here they established a settlement, now called Red Bays, and lived undetected for over 100 years!”

We pulled out of the St. Johns on Wednesday, March 29^th, and are now headed back to Maine visiting friends and relatives along the way and spending two nights in state parks using the boat as a RV.

We used Salty Paws as our RV at Suwannee
River State Park in northern Florida

Back in Atlanta we took Charlotte to Sloomoo,
where we celebrated Slime in various ways.

Our return trip included a stop in Leesburg to stay with cousin Bonnie and Al,
and we were joined by cousin Paul and Margaret for dinner.

Disasters Mixed with Beauty

“Unconditional Surrender” by J. Seward Johnson graces the waterfront park in Sarasota.
It is similar to the iconic picture by Life photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt, but LIFE never
granted permission for its use by the sculptor.  As it turned out, however, there was a US Navy
photographer who took a similar picture that was in the public domain.

 We pulled our boat out of the water in Tarpon Springs on March 13^th and trailered south with our

Mark took this great picture of Salty Paws and
Tory and me in our dinghy going ashore for her
last pee of the day on Punta Blanca Island.

companion boat Pronto to Burnt Store, spending the night in the yard of our boating friend Mike Anderson.  Both Pronto and Salty Paws launched the next day, and we spent the next two weeks marveling at beautiful scenery and wonderful weather while also dealing with our boat problems and getting a small taste of Florida’s natural disasters.

Burnt Store was to be the site of this year’s Florida Rosborough Rendezvous but Hurricane Ian changed that plan.  It is a planned community of over 200 different condominium associations with housing of different shapes and sizes, all pretty much upper middle class or higher.  South of Burnt Store is Cape Coral and Fort Myers, and together they pretty much received direct hits from Ian and its 150-200 mph winds.  These two communities were south of the hurricane eye, however, and because of counterclockwise winds were overwhelmed with the tidal surge of 13 feet.  Communities like Burnt Store and Punta Gorda north of eye saw as much as 13 feet of water empty out of their bays and harbors  leaving boats on the sea bottom for several hours.

Homes on Captiva Key with the 
ubiquitous temporary plastic roofs.

All these communities were impacted by the winds.  Seemingly, Ian blew off more than half the building roof shingles, and most have been at least temporarily replaced with heat-shrunk plastic.  Roofing company signs dot the landscape in front of countless houses, and while most are legitimate, we have also read stories of some of the scams that have proliferated.  The scam involves contractors knocking on doors and offering roof replacement covered by the homeowner’s insurance.  The homeowner signs a document allowing the contractor to file the insurance claim, often at inflated prices for shoddy work, and thus far under Florida law the contractors are prevailing in court and can receive settlements many times the original claim.  Already 9 Florida insurance companies have filed for bankruptcy, and Florida homeowners are increasingly having difficulty finding coverage.  The Florida legislature is supposed to fix the legal loopholes before the next hurricane season that starts in June.

Some of the damage at Don
Pedro State Park.

We also saw extensive hurricane damage on islands we visited including Captiva, Cayo Costa and Little Gasparilla.  These islands as well as Burnt Store are made up of mostly well-off Floridians and are on the road to a relatively quick recovery.  We know some Floridians, however, where they have yet to get a settlement from their insurance company, and of course, we cannot imagine what is happening to the many hurricane victims who did not have any insurance coverage at all. 

Cayo Costa State Park was closed but Pronto, Pi & Salty Paws
were able to pull up to the beach on the key’s southern tip.

On top of all this, Florida West Coast has recently been hit by severe Red Tide, a harmful algae bloom.  Evidence of this natural phenomenon goes back to at least the 1500s as the Spanish recorded vast fish kills in Tampa Bay.  Red Tide does not show up every year, but it seems to be coming more frequent and has come much earlier than normal this year due to Gulf water temperatures being 5 degrees above normal right now, (74 degrees versus 69 degrees).

We occasionally have Red Tide in Maine but it usually comes down to no more than a warning not to eat shellfish.  In Florida it can be all encompassing from making the water brown and emitting airborne particles that can cause serious illness to people with respiratory conditions, causing skin and lung irritation to swimmers and more.  We talked to some locals who said it forces many people to stay indoors and air conditioner filters to turn dark brown very quickly. 

We saw many dead fish on most of the
Gulf beaches we visited.  

There have been thousands of fish killed along with marine mammals such as manatees. We saw a number of dead fish on beaches but nothing like the Sarasota area, which got impacted the most by the Red Tide.  Local newspapers displayed pictures of dead fish clumped together in water and piled up on beaches.  Conditions have recently subsided with cooler weather and changing wind directions, and Sarasota County is now using heavy equipment to gather up the dead fish and try to save their school break tourist business.

Our dinghy got swamped
while we explored Englewood. 

For the first few days of this segment of our cruise we also dealt with numerous boat problems, some successfully and some with the help of our Rosborough colleagues.  Here is a partial list – Lost cockpit canvas zipper, dinghy crane cable detaching, washdown hose (to take mud and sand off the anchor) not working, tear in the bottom of our inflatable kayak (Tory and I hit a shallow oyster bar, almost sinking us before we got back to Salty Paws), leaky sink drain, Tory’s one time incontinence (Red Tide impact?), electrical issues from batteries uncharged to solar panel and controller being knocked out, lost cockpit rug blown overboard from drying on the roof, cell phone dropped off the boat, our dinghy got swamped and more items that I have forgotten.

Molly is an EMT where we live in
Georgetown, and we much enjoyed
the seemingly multiple use of this
Vehicle for pizza delivery and ambulance calls.
Also the license plate reads “We ❤️ Beer.”

Despite these challenges, the Florida west coast included a number of wonderful stops, and we have posted some more pictures at the bottom of the blog.  Captiva Island was very enjoyable and would be a great place for a future family getaway.  We explored Cayo Costa and Little Gasparella Island,   and we also enjoyed Englewood and loved Sarasota.  Molly even said “I could live in Sarasota!”  Here we reacquainted with friends, walked around the city, enjoyed its art scene and restaurants.  

The last couple of days have been trouble-free, but just writing this I hope I have not jinxed us!  As for Florida’s disasters, there is another potential one on the way!  Off the Florida Keys there is a 5,000 mile long blob of seaweed floating toward the Gulf.  If it washes ashore, the decaying, rotten mess that will smell like rotten eggs!  Fortunately, for us, we are about to pull out for the 3^rd phase of this year’s Florida adventure – the St. Johns River.

With friends Dan Calendar and his wife Terri.
.

Met former neighbor Betsy Timm and her husband Ken Gray.

With Rosborough friends Peter Hornsby, Mike Anderson, Claudia Hornsby and Cathy and Mark Ugerri on Pronto in Punta Gorda.

Sarasota waterfront.

On the dock at Tween Waters on Captiva.

Enjoying the beach on the southern end of Cayo Costa.

Entrance to Rambler Hole off Don Pedro State Park.

Sculpture in Sarasota’s Ringling Museum of Art by Gaston LaChaise,
who lived in Georgetown for a bit.

This picture shows how large the sculpture is.

One of the many boats we passed that sunk from Hurricane Ian.  Boats totaled by insurance companies number in the thousands.

Tory was very interested in this crane.

There were many manatees in the manatee hole on Cayo Costa.

This bird stayed on our dinghy for a couple of hours one evening.

The sun has gone down on Captiva Island.  This one lonely tall tree survived Ian, but barely.

Tory at sunset on Captiva Beach.

Pronto from our boat in Schoolhouse Bay.

The Sheriff and Manatees Both Call on Us

 

Molly meets Manatee

Our trip south included our first passage
over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel,
American's 4th longest bridge. 

Our Georgia stop with Liz and family included
lunch with Charlotte at her school.

2,000 miles, stops with family and friends and temperatures rising from below freezing to the low 80s brought us to our launch site, Anclote River Park on the West Coast of Florida.  We arrived in the Park at dusk with the intent to spend the night and launch the next day. 
 

Here we are just before the Sheriff
came by.

Soon, we were visited by the Sheriff.  Here is the dialogue.

Sheriff: “Sir. Did you know you are trespassing? This park is closed from 6:30 pm to 6 am.  Let me repeat, you are trespassing as this park is closed from 6:30 pm to 6 am.  Do you understand that?”

Us: “Yes, sir.”

Sheriff: “What makes you think that you can defy the law and spend the night here? I could technically arrest you.”

Us: “A friend of ours told us the rangers were okay with someone spending the night in order to launch the next day.”

Sheriff: “That is not the case.  Do you understand?”

Us: “Yes, sir.”

Sheriff: “I insist that you launch your boat as soon as you deem it safe to do so.  I want to make sure that you understand what I am saying – I insist that you launch your boat as soon as you deem it safe to do so.  I do not want to find your boat here tomorrow.  Do you understand, sir?”

Us: “Yes, sir.  We will launch as soon as it is safe to do so and no later than dawn tomorrow morning.”

Sheriff: “Again, I want to make sure that you are clear that you are trespassing and must depart as soon as it is safe to do so.  My name is Will and my phone number is xxx-xxx-xxxx.   I live right across the street from the park entrance and suggest that you store your truck and trailer under one of the lights as a safety precaution.”

The Sheriff proceeded to talk for the next 15 minutes about various nefarious and heinous acts that have occurred from drug dealings to a suicide hanging to go-cart racing to naked teenagers in cars.  Overall, he indicated, that it was a pretty safe area!

With that, Molly prepared dinner while I prepared the boat for launching.  We were in the water at 6:30 am the next day!

Here we are anchored up to the sand bar, and Molly is tossing the ball to Tory.

We launched at Anclote in order to attend a Rosborough Boat Rendezvous scheduled for 2/27 and 2/28 at nearby Caledesi State Park.  We had two nights to spend elsewhere before the gathering and decided to go Anclote Preserve State Park.  As we approached our planned anchorage, the island never appeared.  Successive storms over the years had swiped out much of the island and what was left was a sandbar only exposed at half tide.

After sunset Jupiter and Saturn were bright 
enough to light a path across the shallow bar,
pictured here at high tide.

As dog friendly options were limited, however, we decided to anchor off the sandbar and ended up spending two days there.  We felt like we were auditioning for Waterworld II!  At high tide the bar had roughly 2 feet of water over it, and the tide schedule worked out fine, particularly after Tory demonstrated the ability to do her thing in water, as long as she could still stand.

Rosborough boats filled Dock C on Caledesi State Park.  We met many old friends and make new ones.

After two days we motored down to Calesdesi State Park for the Rosborough Boat Rendezvous.  There were 18 boats from all over the east, and it was great to reconnect with boating friends, many of whom attended the Rendezvous that we hosted last summer in Maine. 

At the conclusion of the Rendezvous four boats made of Pronto (Mark and Cathy Uggeri), Sabbatical (Dan Evans and Jeremy Scouten), Pi (Mike Anderson) and us on Salty Paws cruised 85 miles up the coast to Crystal River.  We had so wanted to visit this town when we did the Great Loop three years ago, but the weather did not cooperate.

Crystal River is in the mold of old Florida.  The town and river are famous for being the winter home to hundreds, if not thousands, of manatees.    No buildings are higher than 4 stories, and there are several good restaurants and kayak and tour companies catering to visitors.   

We finally remembered to
took a picture of our seafood
boil after we had half eaten it.

Tory, Molly, Cathy, Mark, Mike and I at the Crab Plant.
Jeremy took the picture, and Dan and Rufus were seated
at a nearby table.

We anchored near the town center for the first night and enjoyed the Crab Plant’s boiled dinner that included virtually every type of seafood in the area including mussels, crayfish, little necks, shrimp and more.   The next day we moved to the free wall in front of Plantation, a large old-style resort with shuffleboard, horseshoes, beach volley ball and croquet (none of which we participated in). 

Our four boats - Sabbatical, Salty Paws, Pi and Pronto
at the Plantation.

My birthday celebration began with my dropping my old iPhone 7 in the water.  I took a rest after two hours of looking and my fingers feeling the bottom of rock, grass and sediment. 

Bill looking for his phone!

We kayaked in the waters near the
Plantation.

Fellow boater Dan found it with his two feet in just 10 minutes!  

A Verizon store was nearby, and I ended up with a new phone for my birthday. We stayed an extra day due to weather, and finally got our private manatee tour on Saturday, 3/2, beginning at 6:15 am! 

Molly has not done well
with the Florida no-see-ems.

The tour was fantastic, and we learned so much about the area and the amazing manatee.  Crystal River has several fresh water springs that flow at a constant 72 degrees year-round.  When the Gulf gets cold, manatees swim up the river into fresh water and may congregate at one of the springs by the hundreds.  Much of the area is a National Preserve for the Manatees, and much is being done to return their habitat to what it used to be and to educate the public on these majestic mammals that can weigh 3,000 pounds.

As this manatee approached Molly, our tour guide was ready with his GoPro.

They are about to go nose to nose.

Nose to nose it is!

There are regular manatee censuses taken by air, and last winter there were 1,100 manatees counted.  On our tour, however, because of the warm winter, there were only 36 manatees detected.  Our great tour guide found 7 of them in two different sites, and the pictures tell of our wonderful experience.

Manatees survive off eating sea grasses.  Grasses are begin replanted throughout Florida as starvation has been a leading
cause of manatee deaths, particularly on the east coast of Florida.

Not sure about the table manners here, but he/she seems to have gotten a good mouthful.

We swam up in the Three Sisters Springs.  The water is crystal clear and a constant 72 degrees.  Total volume according
to our guide is 20 million gallons per day!

This picture was taken 3 feet below the surface of the water.

I tried to swim down to the bottom of
this spring but the buoyant wetsuit
and lack of flippers made it impossible,
This equipment is by design for the
better protection of manatees..

The Crystal River cruisers were joined by
John Edwards, Jacquie Francis and her friend
Ann for a Greek meal in Tarpon Springs.

Now we are back on the Anclote River in Tarpon Springs, home to many Greek immigrants and famous for sponges.  Tomorrow we will the pull the boat of the water to trailer it south and the 2^nd chapter of this year’s Florida adventure.