Day 9 Bolts Creek to N. Shell Marina

Last day.

Heading up to Shady Oak for breakfast, then on to the marina. Easy docking at Shady Oak:

Shady Oak Restaurant

Had a great breakfast, only one other guy in there talking to the waitress. Nevertheless, food was good.  Dumped garbage and picked up some ice. Departed the restaurant and passed under the bridge for the last leg of the trip:

Heading North on the St. Johns from Shady Oak

Headed down the St Johns for a short distance and headed up the Highland which connects to the creek to the marina:

Entering the Highland Canal

Looking out toward the St. Johns River from the Highland

Saw one last bird to photograph:

One  last bird pic

Made the turn SE toward the marina, on approach it is a narrow entrance and today was windy so I kept my speed up going in:

North Shell Marina Entrance

At the marina launching dock:

At the marina dock

I lied, there is one more bird I could not pass up. This Sandhill Crane was semi tame and came within 15 feet so I could not resist. He was next to my car as I was about to leave the marina:

Sandhill Crane at the Marina
I don't consider them a bird that can
be tamed but this bird had no fear.

Up close and personal

I am now in Georgia on my way home. It was a great trip and I will likely return. Lots of fun on a small boat.  Track for day 9 and the last day of the trip is below.

                                                Day 9 - Bolts Creek to N. Shell Marina

Click to Enlarge

Trip distance totals were 68.2 nautical miles (NM) or 78.4 statute miles (SM) and average distances per day were 8.5 NM or 9.8 SM, helpful for planning purposes.

Here is the complete track for the total trip if interested:

                                          Complete Trip Track-Shanty Boat 2016

Click To Enlarge

Day 8 - Dead River to Bolts Creek

Well the roost was vacant by sun up, all the birds flew the coop!

Not sure, but I could swear I heard a boat slowly motoring by about 4 am this morning.  I got up but too late to confirm. By that time the sound was distant and out of my sight.  

The alligators were talking to each other again this morning. One has to be within a 100' but I could not see him, the other was across the channel.  I did go online and verify the eery sound, see link below and click on the first one in the list, that is exactly what I am hearing:

                                   Alligator Calling Sounds

I am going to take it easy this morning, make a late breakfast/brunch and consider my last few moves. I like this spot and except for the boat last night which I'm not certain of, it has been very quiet here, very pleasant. Cool enough to wear my flannel shirt and vest this morning with all the windows closed up.  Had coffee and heated up my two muffins from yesterday and had those with some melted butter on top.  Very good!  

The day is fair, with lots of blue sky.  No breeze yet so it may get warm.

Made breakfast, cheesy hash browns, topped with more fresh cheese, bacon bits, and two eggs.  Toast w/PB on the side with plenty of OJ.  Great food!

Sat out on deck and read my book for a while took a pic of a smaller critter while sitting on the deck.

Gotta give time to the smaller lizards too!

  
All was quiet until a fishing boat came by. Decided that was my que to move. Put the boat in order and got underway. Difficult backing out, I was pretty stuck but not as bad as the other day. The motor still had to cut a lot of weed.

Tracked north up the Dead River, so named I believe because it dead ends!

Dang that ear itches!

Got back onto the St. Johns River and headed up to one of my former hidey holes on Bolts Creek.  Thought I saw just a little bit of the top of a gator sticking up in the weeds, he was pretty submerged. I turned back to see if I could get a pic but he dove under. Not sure if he was the big one I saw the other day.  I called that one 9-10 feet but I may have been conservative. They say adults are about 14' and can reach 17' in Florida.  The splash of this one just did not indicate the biggy.  I did not see him in his last known spot either.  A fisherman followed me in but kept going after I turned off to the south for my spot.

The bird book indicates this is a little Blue Heron

Pretty sure this is a sandhill crane.
The red hair cap is tell tale

Found my spot and got parked. Had a quick cold beer and sat on the deck.  Took a picture of my last night's parking spot for the trip:

Last night's spot for the night

Okay, I gave my last effort in fairness to the smaller lizard variety. I favor those gators, but you've got to be fair!

Can you see me, okay can you see me now?

The bag under his chin inflates and is a colorful orange but unfortunately a weed got in the way and the camera focused on the weed and not the lizard!

This is a Limpkin

  
Enough, decided to go back inside to finish this post, have a glass of wine and contemplate my last dinner aboard. 

Today's track is below:

                           Day 8 - Dead River to Bolts Creek

Click to Enlarge

For dinner I baked Red Lobster cheesy baked biscuits to go with chicken pasta, served with white wine of course!

The "last supper", chicken alfredo pasta, Red Lobster
cheesy biscuits and white wine.  Desert
was chocolates with red wine.

While eating dinner I looked out the window and saw two big eyes looking at me. I checked quickly to confirm it was an alligator, this time a bigger one.  No time to take a picture I was eating, and the way he eyed me, he was contemplating the same thing!  I looked away, and when I looked again he was gone.

After dinner I finished up dishes and set up the shower. I had an extra long hot shower figuring it was my last on-board and I had plenty of water. 

The last hour I usually have my desert (chocolate covered almonds) with red wine on the fore deck and watch the evening unfold.  Very enjoyable.  Weather is still fair, with little or no wind. Some clouds. Though warm today, it is pleasant this eve. 

Tomorrow I plan to stop for breakfast at the bridge (Shady Oak Restaurant); I stopped there previously. After breakfast it will be a short leisurely leg to the marina and the start of my return to Minnesota.

As I was finishing up the last of my wine I turned out the lamp and the moon was up full and right out my window. What a great view for the last eve with all of the night sounds clamoring outside.  A great last eve!

Oh by the way, here are the typical night sounds on the St. Johns backwaters:

                          Could you sleep with this racket?

Day 7 - Goat Is. To Dead River

Slept in until daylight today.  Got up and baked some cinnamon coffee cake muffins, ate two with coffee. Saved the other two for tomorrow morning. Washed dishes, cleaned up and took off by 9 am.

Headed to Blue Springs one more time, per Michael's encouragement. It paid off. Again, no traffic even passed me for that short jaunt. Saw maybe three fishing boats.  No one pulled in at the tree tie up on the south side of the Spring outlet. Tied up and went looking. A few people but not many.  Kayak wranglers were waiting for customers...tells you something.  It later got busy since it was only 10 am.

Took some pics of Florida Gar on my way up the walkway.  Stopped at the store to see what they had. I stopped later and bought a hot dog, chips, and a drink and later an ice cream bar. They also had ice so I will return for some.

Florida Gar (4' or more)

Kept hiking along the walkway to the spring proper and saw some wild hogs, not wild boar, but hogs that live wild.  (See below)

These wild pigs likely weighed about
50-75 lbs and were not large

Hiked up to the head of the spring, called the boil, but it wasn't that active. Divers with tanks were walking that way and I later saw them there. You can dive into the cave if you are certified.  It goes down deep and the spring has a huge output per day.

No manatee initially but before I was done I saw five, two with babes following. Hard to get pics through water but manaaged to get a couple. I decided not to snorkle today, but probably should have. Though, they have signs up all over to get out of the water if there are manatee present! I saw no one following the rule!  You can kayak up the spring with no rules about leaving the area if manatee are present.

Tough to take pics through a water suface but here are
a few.  This was a large one 8-9' accompanied by a
smaller one. The broad tail is interesting.

The flipper and head are visible here

This was a mother with a young one along side, the
young one is maybe 3.5' or so, mom is about 8'. They
average from 800 to 1200 lbs but can reach 3000 lbs.

The site has historical significance since it is the first homestead of white settlers (Louis Thursby purchased in 1856 and built the house in 1872. The house has a self guided tour but, unfortunately, it is closed Monday and Tuesday! This area was very busy back in those days with paddle wheelers regularly docking. It was a busy river landing.

Thursby House (1872)

I later dumped garbage got some more ice, a constant problem! Headed out by around noon. Backtracked along the river to the logging canal and headed west for the Dead River.  An interesting canal with overhanging trees.  Narrow and would be tight for passing boats.

Logging Canal Shots

Headed south once in the Dead River and went to the end looking for spots to park for the night. Found a good looking one but wanted to check to the end.  There was a spot at the end but I decided it would be a cooker with no breeze to keep cool. Went back to the good spot and parked.

Looking south from my parking spot, nice breeze here.

Looking north on Dead River from parking spot

I was parked by 1 pm.  Got a glass of white wine and sat down to see if the marginal internet will work.  So far so good!  Today's track is shown below:

                                                       Day 7 - Goat Island to Dead River

Click to Enlarge

The cypress is kind of a mainstay for this part of Florida and the tree below I thought represented it well, though young it just looked good.

Cypress with cattails in foreground, saw only a few of these

One of the things I enjoy is watching animal behavior and often in the evening you see some interesting things as I did this eve.  I watched some long billed water birds gather in what appeared to be a roosting tree about a 1/4 mile from me.  The birds would mostly approach coming from the north low along the water and fly up and land on the roost tree.  A small group gathered, then a about two birds chose another tree closer to me and all the birds on the first roost changed roosts immediately, very interesting.

This is roost tree #2, after they left roost tree #1,
small group at this point. Notice the size difference
of the white birds and the darker birds on the lower limbs.

I heard no sounds made, but there was obviously some communcation going on. Even more interesting is that at least two species were involved.  Some white, some dark, some with straight bills some with curved. Could have been even three species based on size. Anyway, before long four birds approached from the east and all the birds on the second roost took off and followed them to a third tree I could not see. However, before long they were all back at the first roost tree. See below:

Excuse the quality of the picture, this is at a
quarter mile after sunset. You primarily
see the white birds due to the distance, the
darker color birds are harder to see at this
range, see the picture above for reference.

I was forced in by mosquitos but I'm guessing there were 75 birds gathered by the time I went in and they were still coming, likely well over a 100 gathered by dark.  Can't explain much but it was interesting to see them interact and two or more species at that.  The final roost seemed less adequate since the branches were so small, some of the birds took 1-2 minutes trying to maintain balance on the small twigs they landed on. While the cypress had substantial branches. Hey but you know, that's why they refer to them as bird brains!

By the way, I've not had any mosquito issues at all.  Tonight they showed up in small numbers and forced me in but have not really been an issue. I've not used repellent at all.

Day 6 - Wekiva River to Goat Island

Could not post yesterday's files until I arrived Goat Island this morning.  Been getting up about 5 am or so, since I go to bed close to dark.  Had coffee and left over chocolate chip cookies I baked yesterday morning.  Did my regular morning Bible reading then started motoring as soon as it was light enough to see.  Good thing! Going down river in some current 1-2 knots, in very narrow places, made for some interesting steering responses.  You have to stay on your toes since this boat has no keel and slips and slides like you're on ice!  A little guide strip down the middle would likely help with directional control.

This is the actual St. Johns River,
gives you an idea of the size.

                                                                   DAY 6 TRACK

Click to Enlarge

Today was like yesterday never happened!!  I motored all the way back up to Goat Island and had not one boat pass me, nor did I meet any boats, but did see three boats of fishermen.  Amazing what one day can do.  Actually, I had more traffic behind Goat Island once parked.  Seven or eight boats went by gawking, including the tour boat, need to find another place off the beaten track!  Some stop and tell me they are going to take pictures, most just take them.

I one point I was confused since the boats should go around my bow, but a boat was passing astern!

See lily pad patch in the middle, 
I was stuck in the middle of it!

Turns out the whole patch of lily pads had broken off with me in tow and dragged me to the other side of the river!  (See pic above)  Trying to get out of the mess was something else!  Took about fifteen minutes to hack through weeds with the motor.

Need some kind of pole to push off when you get stuck or to pick up things if dropped in the water. I've had several items go over the side: including a pail, my chair (umbrella up and wind blew it off), my towel (again wind), etc.  Most were recovered but I had to find make shift tools to retrieve them. Need a boat hook maybe with a duck bill attachment on-board! Most of the time I tie things to the boat like the pail.

Also, for safety a ladder that can be reached from the water needs to be rigged, either one that can be pulled down or one permanently mounted.  A combined ladder/push bar rig mounted on the bow, could also help protect the bow during bow on tie ups. Not sure I could get back aboard if I fell off?  I did take the rope ladder and kind of rigged it on a bow cleat so I could maybe reach it from the water.  Not planning to test it!

Made a nice lunch of cheesy hash browns, with extra cheese, bacon bits, and two eggs mixed with some milk.  Sides were wheat toast, raspberry jelly, and grapefruit.  Accompanied with plenty of OJ.

The boats keep streaming by, not sure if the word is out or what?  I've seen more traffic here then all morning on the Wekiva and St. Johns!  Strange.

For afternoon activity I set up the chair and umbrella on the fore-deck, with all the equipment needed, Pandora playing on the stereo BT speaker over a connection to my phone inside.  The binocs standing by with camera and tripod. And, of course, a cold glass of white wine while I watch for critters, including some in boats!

Note Osprey nest at top and look closely to
see osprey sitting on limb at bottom center

The Bird

Look closely to see he is holding a fish in his left talon!

This bird had passed by twice and I noticed he was carrying a good size fish both times.  I just knew he was going to come back to the tree across the channel and eventually he did.  I watched him for at least 45 minutes and then went to post this, not once did he chaw on the fish.  Must be saving it for the kiddies but not letting mom know he was taking his good old time hanging out on a limb so to speak!  He probably was looking at me and thinking that is a good way to spend some time, but I need that glass of wine!

Made pizza again for dinner, crust from scratch, sauce, layer of pepperoni slices, layer of Parmesan, some bacon bits, layer of chunky pepperoni, layer of mozzarella, then bake for 27 minutes in oven.  Results below:

Just add a cold beer.  Too big for me so will save half for lunch or dinner tomorrow.

Went back out to check on my fine feathered friend and he was still there, but he must have been hungry too since he went at his fish in a frenzy.

Right after this he took off with what remained.  So I guess he decided to eat the best parts and take the remnants home for the kids and mom!  He did not return, so the nest was not his and may not be in use.

Sat out for an hour after a hot shower and enjoyed the evening sounds with a glass of red wine and some chocolates.  Will post this and hit the sack to read before bed, to sleep by nine pm.

Day 5 - Bolts Creek to WeKiva River

The day started quiet and ended with a lot of noise!  I left my nice quiet stop for the night and headed the short distance to Hontoon State Park to take a hike in the island park.  So far so good!  

Cooler in the morning so the hike was pleasant and I walked the full 3 mile round trip.  Bought some ice and headed out for Blue Springs Park.  

                                           Hike Track - Hontoon State Park

Click to Enlarge

Below are several shots along the trail, nice hike!

Here is the park marina, pretty quiet while I was there:

The noise began right after I left Hontoon Park, boat after boat after boat just one big train of boats going both directions! I could not believe it, so quiet the past few days and then this, it was like everyone decided to come out with their boats.  In some places at least they drove slow but when free of the manatee speed restrictions they all took off! So I began dodging wakes as I went, like driving through a mine field! Got to Blue Springs and there were boats everywhere!  The river was full of kayaks and canoes, so I just kept going, not my cup of tea.

Got a ways down and stopped at the Swamp House Restaurant, but again a zoo!  Boats lined up to get into the ten open slips for visitors.  They were all full so they started filling any slip available, fortunately after gassing up, I got one.  There was a  band playing outside at the bar and a waiting list for lunch.  Should have figured on a Sunday noon it would not be easy!  Nevertheless, I was seated soon and had a nice lunch.  

Michael-need either a bow rub strip or have a set
of bow fenders for bow on tie up like this. 
Normally slips 1-10 are for diners.

The place had two or three security guards running around
to keep people off private areas and checking in boats to eat.

Music playing on the deck, place was busy

I was off again, to once again run the river gauntlet of power boaters on the rampage!  I finally escaped to the Wekiva River...or so I thought!  Pretty soon I see one boat pulled in, then another, then another, then two pass me, two or three meet me, and the river gets narrow enough that in places it is tight for two boats to pass. Some of these idiots were going 20 mph or more!  I kept thinking it has to get better the farther I go.  It never did!  

At one point I tried to get off the beaten path and went up this narrow side channel with overhanging trees.  It didn't look promising.  At one point I scared a large gator sunning up in the woods and their was this mad crash through the brush and a big splash in his hurry to get in the water.  I scared him and he scared me!  Saw some hide but never the gator in full. He was big though.  Made a big ruckus trying to get gone!

I finally picked a spot an ran it up in the weeds and the boats kept speeding by until after about 7 pm.  (See track below)

                         Day 5 Track - Bolts Creek to Wekiva   

Click to enlarge

Wekiva River
Narrow, some current to consider, and low hanging trees!

My spot for the night

It finally got quiet after that hour so I relaxed on the fore deck with my chair and sun shade sipped some wine and ate a few chocolate covered almonds.  Since I had a big lunch I just made fried bagels, cream cheese, with some white wine.  

The shade can be clamped to anything so I can use it on
the aft seat as well.  However, it does not tolerate much wind

Set up the shower and cleaned up.  The shelter served its purpose since a couple boats went by while I was showering.  

For Michael: The shower heater is a Zodi Hot
Camp Shower and uses a one pound bottle
of propane as you can see. More info below.

As a reminder, the green set of hoops is the shelter which I previously showed you (Day 2?).  I did find a few tricks along the way.  One: keep the door toward the heater so you can reach out and put the shower head back in the large pail while soaping up, this adds extra heat to the water and conserves it at the same time. Two: tie the shelter close to the starboard side to allow some room to pass the shelter from the fore hatch.

The red shower pump and shower head I purchased on Amazon since it charges via USB and fit the Zodi fittings okay.  My old pump switch failed and had to be replaced. Since the old one used batteries and Talisa is set up for USB, the USB powered version is a better arrangement.  I pull the pump off each day and let it recharge while I'm moving during the day.  I also have a USB buss so I can charge four or five USB devices at a time. 

I found my 10' USB extension, bought for the shower pump, is inefficient so I do not use that. Removing the pump each night is not a  problem.

No Internet where I was on the Wekiva so this is posted one day late.  Sorry!