2007.1 - Suwannee River

NOVEMBER 22-25, 2007

We were looking for a new and different place to do our traditional Thanksgiving mini-cruise this year, and hit upon the lower Suwannee River. We have been canoeing on the upper parts of the river, but have never been on the lower river, between the mouth at the town of Suwannee and Branford, about 75 miles upriver. The plan was to put in at Suwannee, and see how far up the Suwannee and Santa Fe rivers we could get, stopping and exploring springs, parks and towns along the way.

Back in the olden days, the Suwannee was a major transportation artery in north central Florida. Beginning in the 1830’s paddlewheel steamboats like the Madison and the City of Hawkinsville plied up and down the river – and they are still there today, sort of. The captain of the Madison scuttled her in Troy Springs to keep her out of Union hands during the Civil War, and the City of Hawkinsville sunk in 1922 near Fanning Springs. Nowadays the river is pretty quiet. A few rental houseboats cruise the lower river, but it is not a popular cruising destination. There is probably good reason for that – There are no official charts of the river (at least not that we could find), there are no aids to navigation of any kind, no marinas, no fuel docks, and the rapidly fluctuating water levels pose a challenge for anyone without local knowledge. We were able to find one cruising guide covering the area (Rick Rhodes Cruising Guide to Florida’s Big Bend) and a very helpful web site with landmarks and cautions along the way (www.kempter.com). Another useful resource is the local Water Management District website at www.srwmd.state.fl.us. At this site, you can check on real time water levels at various places along the river. When we went, the level was 1.76 feet at Fanning Springs/Wilcox, which is REALLY LOW. As a result, we had to pick our way over shallow spots, rocks, and snags that would not have been a problem with a couple feet more water. The props and skegs took a bit of a beating.

NOVEMBER 22, 2007

We left Vero Beach with Top Cat, our Glacier Bay 2670, on her trailer for the trip over to our start point in the town of Suwannee. We stopped in Gainesville for a wonderful Thanksgiving brunch hosted by our nieces Tammy and Stephanie, which broke up the long drive nicely. By 1400, we were in Suwannee, a very “Old Florida” type place right on the Gulf of Mexico. Our destination was Miller’s Marina (352-542-7349), a smallish place with a launch ramp, dockage, and rental houseboat fleet. We got launched and set up, and got a nice little covered slip on the floating dock in plenty of time for cocktail hour and to start in on preparing Thanksgiving dinner. Jayne has perfected the one-pan full Thanksgiving feast, as I have mentioned in previous logs, and this time was another winner. Her recipe is given below:

One Skillet Turkey Dinner

(Serves 2-4)

½ split turkey breast w/skin & bone

1 can corn

1 container of pre-made mashed potatoes

1 jar turkey gravy

Butter or margarine

Stuffing

• 1 box stove top savory stuffing

• 1 small can mushrooms

• ¼ cup chopped celery

• ¼ cup chopped shallots

• ¼ cup almond slivers

1 can whole cranberry relish

• Season turkey breast with salt and pepper

• In a one gallon zip lock container, prepare stuffing according to package and add additional ingredients; close bag and mix it up.

• In large skillet (w/tight fitting lid) melt butter on medium high heat

• Brown turkey breast skin side down, lower heat and cook for additional 20 minutes uncovered.

• Remove turkey from pan

• Melt some more butter and put stuffing in pan to brown on one side

• Form it into a large patty with spatula and flip and move it over to one edge of the pan

• Place turkey breast on top of stuffing

• Place potatoes in one pile on another edge of the pan

• Drain corn and place on another edge of the pan

• Place a small container in the pan to warm gravy; fill with gravy

• Cook all ingredients on medium low for about 20-30 more minutes or until everything is heated through. Check bottom of stuffing and potatoes occasionally to make sure that they don’t over brown.

• Serve with cranberry.

Then it was off to bed, and heading upriver tomorrow.

NOVEMBER 23, 2007

Before heading upriver, we first head downriver to the Gulf of Mexico, so we can say we started from the ocean. This is just about 3 or 4 miles, and then we are on our way, heading into about a knot or so of current. Besides manatees, we are keeping a lookout for sturgeon as well, as the Suwannee has become famous for jumping sturgeon. These are big fish, and a few people have been injured by colliding with them. The stretch from Suwannee to Manatee Springs State Park (25 miles) is mostly undeveloped wilderness, with a couple of small settlements here and there. There is a large sandbar called Jack’s Bar that sticks out from the LDB (that’s Left Descending Bank, i.e. the bank on your left as you go downriver, as opposed to RDB, or Right Descending Bank) at latitude 29 degrees 26.605 minutes. We also found a very large, very shallow area at 29 22.704 that appeared to be best passed on the RDB. The low water is proving to be a bit of a challenge, and we are having to go a lot slower than I thought. We are following the rule of thumb of always favoring the outside bends in the river, and when I get in 10 feet or better, I get up on plane, and slow down to trolling speed when the water shoals up to 5 feet or less. The water is dark and tannin stained, so there is no chance of seeing an underwater obstruction. One eye is glued to the depth sounder, and one hand is on the throttles the whole time.

We pull up to Manatee Springs State Park, on the LDB side at mile 25.1 upriver, for a break and to take a short hike. Manatee Springs is a first magnitude, 109 Million Gallon per Day spring that is worth a visit. There is a courtesy dock right where the spring run joins the river, and a boardwalk takes you up to the park and the headsprings. There was a good sized herd of manatees loafing around at the end of the spring run. We are too far out in the boonies for cell phone service, so we find a pay phone and call our friend Christie, who will be joining us for the next couple of days. We plan to meet up at Fanning Springs, the next stop upriver.

Fanning Springs (on LDB at mile 34.1 from the Gulf, latitude 29 35.354) is another nice State Park centered around a beautiful spring. Smaller boats (less than 2-3 foot draft) can go right up the spring run and tie to a floating dock right next to the headspring. There is also a 45 foot long floating steel dock on the main river just downstream from the US19 highway bridge where you can tie up to access the park and the town. We walked about 2 blocks and had a nice lunch at the Lighthouse restaurant, and then took a snorkel in the spring. It is not very deep, but is crystal clear and a constant 72 degrees. We then got Christie aboard and her car securely parked, and set off again upriver about 1430. With the low water, it was slow going up the river, but on the other hand there was no issue with clearing the low (fixed) railroad bridge at mile 37.6. This bridge has a stated clearance of just 10 feet, but with the low water it was more like 15-20 feet.

We kept pushing upriver to look for a likely place to spend the night, and settled on Guaranto Springs, on the RDB at mile 55.0 (latitude 29 46.750). There is a small spring here, and Dixie County has built a nice little park and launch ramp and 40 foot floating dock on the site. We tied up to the floating dock for the night. Very quiet and peaceful. Dinner tonight was lobster in a sherry/butter sauce, with shallots, celery, and mushrooms, served over rice. Hey, just because you are small boat cruising is no reason to rough it, plus this is Jayne’s and my 5th wedding anniversary tonight. There was a beautiful full moon, and we took a long walk along the deserted country roads.

NOVEMBER 24, 2007

This morning we had a quick breakfast, because we wanted to get as far upriver as possible before having to turn back. Because we are making such slow progress with the low water, we won’t be able to get to Branford/Troy Springs on the Suwannee and also be able to go up the Santa Fe. We decide to do the Santa Fe, since we can always drive to Branford. The Santa Fe joins the Suwannee on the LDB side at mile 66.9 (latitude 29 53.204), and is narrower, but maybe a little deeper, than the Suwannee at this point. Some of the biggest, most awesome cypress trees you will ever see line both banks. We go up the Santa Fe seven miles to the confluence of the Ichetucknee River, which is really a huge, crystal clear spring run coming down from Ichetucknee Springs State Park. Here we stop for lunch, and reluctantly turn around and start heading back downstream.

We rejoin the Suwannee, and see a large group of “pickle fork” racing boats picnicking on the bank right at the junction of the rivers. These guys will pass us later today at speeds of 80-100 mph, with their punched-out Mercury outboards screaming like banshees. I guess they know exactly where they are going, and don’t draw much water anyway, because if they hit a rock, all you would find is splinters! At our far more sedate pace, we stop next at Rock Bluff Springs, aka Goat Ball Springs, just a couple hundred feet upstream from the CR 340 bridge, on the LDB side at latitude 29 48.000. There is a nice little spring run we kayaked up (although it is totally wadeable as well), where there is a group of small springs surrounded by a large concrete wall. I snorkeled in the largest spring, a very deep vertical fissure that went a lot farther than I was willing to dive down.

Heading on downriver, we found a couple more little pothole springs just off the main river that were also worth a quick snorkel. We stopped for the night at another Dixie County launch ramp/park facility, also with a nice 40 foot long floating dock. This was Purvis Landing, on the RDB side at mile 41.0 from the Gulf. Here we spent another very nice quiet moonlit night. We see wild hogs on the opposite shore, and I get to see my first sturgeon, jumping about 100 feet from the boat.

NOVEMBER 25, 2007

Today we have a lot of ground to cover, 40 miles back downstream to the town of Suwannee and then a 5 hour drive back home. We start off with a huge skillet scramble of ham, cheese, potatoes, and eggs to fortify us for the trip. We nosed in to a couple of other small springs along the way, but before you know it we are back at Fanning Springs, where we drop off Christie and continue on down to Suwannee. The balance of the trip was uneventful, in the sense that I didn’t hit anything very big very hard, and we got back to Miller’s Marina around 1300, loaded up, and fought the holiday traffic back to Vero Beach by 1830. It has been another great little cruise, we learned a little more about this part of Florida, met some interesting characters along the way, and had a terrific time.