2005.3 - St. John's River

St Johns River :: November 24-28, 2005

As a Thanksgiving adventure, Jayne and I decided to return to the St. Johns River in north Florida, which we have been exploring piecemeal for a couple of years. The St. Johns meanders its way north from an indefinite beginning in the marshes west of our home in Vero Beach to the ocean at Jacksonville – while once a major highway of commerce and tourism, the St. Johns today is a sleepy backwater with gorgeous scenery, crystal clear freshwater springs, and historic towns and settlements. We had previously explored from the head of navigation at Lake Harney to the mouth of the Ocklawaha River – this trip we plan to cover the river from Palatka to Green Cove Springs, not too far south of Jacksonville.

November 24 - We leave Vero Beach about 1000, with Top Cat, our Glacier Bay 2670,on her trailer for the trip to Palatka. Things go well until we are just a mile or two from our launch point, when the truck seems to struggle to get the 10,000 lb load moving at stop lights. It feels like the transmission is slipping, or maybe the trailer brakes are stuck on. We check things out as best we can, and the brakes are fine and the transmission fluid is still nice and red, so we limp to our launch point, the Crystal Cove Marina just north of Palatka. We get the boat launched and decide to worry about the truck later – it’s not like anybody is going to fix it on Thanksgiving anyway. The wind is screaming out of the west at 25+ knots today, which I’m thinking is just fine, as our marina is on the west side of the river where it should be nice and calm, and the wind is forecast to die down overnight. But we get to see an interesting phenomenon I’ve heard about before but never witnessed. The strong wind has essentially blown the water over to the other side of the river, and the slip we were assigned had maybe six inches of water in it. The marina folks moved us to one of the slips for their big 70’ rental houseboats out in deeper water, where our little boat rattled around like a BB in a tin can. But we got tied up securely in the jumbo slip, using every dock line we own. Jayne impresses me once again by making Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings (Turkey breast, mashed potatoes, dressing, and corn) in a big skillet on a single burner butane stove in the cockpit. We meet a nice couple who are running their Camano 31 trawler from North Carolina, where they bought it, to their home in Alabama. They are now on year two of the trip! Now that’s the cruising lifestyle – what’s the hurry?

Dunns creek wildlife

Crystal Cove Marina

November 25 - Big change in the weather overnight. The wind has indeed died, and the river is socked in with fog this morning, so we take our time getting organized and wait for it to burn off, which it does around 0900. Today we head south up the St. Johns to the mouth of Dunns Creek. Dunns Creek twists its way through miles of bottomland hardwood swamp and connects the St. Johns to Crescent Lake, the third largest lake in Florida, our destination for the night. Dunns Creek is not very wide, and although it is quite deep in parts, it has sandbars that seem to come out of nowhere. Since the water is very dark, you cannot tell the difference between water 10 inches deep or 10 feet deep, so navigation is tricky for the first-timer. We follow the rule of thumb of always sticking to the outside of the bends, and only bump bottom a couple of times. Dunns Creek opens up into Crescent Lake - big, wide and deep. Crescent City is on the western shore of the lake, a very nice laid back little town with lots of old Florida style homes, gigantic oak trees, and friendly people. We tie up behind 3 Bananas restaurant and have lunch – the owner invites us to spend the night on his courtesy dock, which will be nice because we have Cha-Cha the wonder dog with us this trip, who needs to go ashore once in a while. Cha-Cha is a recent addition to the family who has never been boating before, but she seems to be taking to it very well – unlike our chocolate Labrador Mousse, who is a real pain in the butt on the boat. After lunch we run out into the lake and anchor off Bear Island for a nap and some reading, followed by steaks on the grill for dinner. Then we tie up again at 3 Bananas for some after dinner drinks at the bar.

Sunset over Crescent Lake

The view from 3 Bananas

November 26 - Another beautiful day dawns, clear and crisp with hardly any wind at all. We have an excellent breakfast at a Mexican restaurant a short walk away in town. Huevos Rancheros, Machaca, and Chorizo really gets you going – I wish more Mexican places were open for breakfast! We blast over a mirror smooth lake and pick our way back out Dunns Creek to the St. Johns. We are headed north to Sixmile Creek, just south of Green Cove Springs and to the famous Outback Crab Shack (is this WHOLE log going to be about food?) It is a leisurely trip of about 30 miles, and we see only 3 other boats the whole way – a nice change from the crowded waters of south Florida. The St. Johns here is deep and wide, and navigation is a piece of cake. The Outback Crab Shack has a 1500 foot long floating dock on the creek where we can stay free for the night, and some really exceptional seafood. Large groups of go-fast boats and their gold chain encrusted owners often make the day trip to the Outback from St. Augustine or Jacksonville, but not today. There are just a few other boats here, and we have about 500 feet of dock to ourselves.

The dock at Outback Crab Shack

The Crew

November 27 - This morning we get up early for an hour-long ride down a glassy river back to Crystal Cove Marina. Top Cat has been running like a champ the whole time, and I am particularly happy with my recent electrical work – every single thing on the boat is working, and everything is wired through a custom circuit breaker panel, finally getting rid of the unreliable fuse blocks that have caused electrical gremlins on previous trips. I am sort of dreading the mystery truck problem waiting for me at Crystal Cove. But we get loaded up and get on the road back to Vero Beach and the truck pulls like a sled dog the whole way – we are back home unpacking by 1500.