bridges

I tried to get photos of the lights on the bridges in Jacksonville. However, I must still have the shakes. One of the bridges lifts straight up for boat traffic.

We left Jacksonville this morning, and headed back south to Palatka. A 50 mile journey.
Plan to spend more time on the southern half.

Jacksonville Landing

We found our way to Jacksonville today.  (It is a river, so we have a 50 - 50 chance of going the right way.)
We are staying at Jacksonville Landing.  It's a riverfront development with several restaurants and some small shops.  Similar to the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, but on a smaller scale.  The scenery here is great!  We're tied up just in front of a Hooters.  Of course we won't be eating there tonight.  I'm sure my photo was sent to every Hooters in the country after that incident in North Carolina.

The two sailboats on the wall in front of us are from Norway.  Yes, they sailed here.  There's three guys in their 20's on each boat.  They left Norway in August.  Sailed down Europe, over to the Caribbean, and up here.  Didn't get where they're heading next.

Electric Mosquitoes

After dinner last night we watched a movie on my computer. The boat was still hot, so we left some windows open. Mistake. Before long, mosquitoes were blocking our view of the screen.
While cruising with our pals Frank & Pat from Grey Goose, we saw Pat swinging what looks like a small tennis racquet. She told us it was bug zapper. I didn't think much about it until I saw one on sale at Harbor Freight for $2.99. So I bought one, put in the 2 D cell batteries and left it on the boat.
Last night I found the zapper and started swinging through the flock. It has a grid of very thin wires that become electrically charged when you push the button on the handle. When a bug touches the wires, it blows up with a spark. Quite a show inside a dark boat. I have to admit I had fun reducing Florida's mosquito population. However, my sinister laughing came back to haunt me later in the night.
I always dream. Most are pleasant dreams. But not last night. I dreamed I was under attack from giant hairy misquitoes who had power packs strapped on their backs. Instead of sucking my blood, they stuck their electrodes in me and shocked me with slightly less than fatal voltage. Over and over. There was so much electricity in me that my skin was glowing.
Before going to sleep last night, I had planned on sending Pat an email to thank her for recommending the zapper. Now I'm not so sure it was a good thing.

Outback Crab Shack

We walked around Palatka this morning. Not a lot to see. As we're making ready to leave a nice old lady walked out the dock. She asked if we had jackets--since it's so cold today. (it's 75 degrees). Another woman in a shop Pam stopped in told us it was going to pour down rain (a real frog strangler) and wind over 35.
Heading north from Palatka, the river gets wider. It is cloudy today, but no frogs have strangled yet and the wind might have been 15.
We stopped at the Outback Crab Shack for dinner, and will remain tied to their dock overnight if there's room for us. Another FREE dock--if you eat here. It' up Sixmile Creek. There's no sign, but once you get up here, they have what may be the longest dock ever. I read somewhere that it's over a quarter mile long. In the photo you can see it extends beyond our boat and makes a turn with the creek. There's 2 people on the far end. (And I didn't walk all the way to the other end to take the photo.) I also read that on busy weekends they have to raft up the boats 2 & 3 wide.
We are planning on going up to Jacksonville tomorrow. Not sure where we'll stay. They have a FREE dock but I've heard there are a lot of urban pioneers who hang out nearby.

St Johns Palatka

Sunday evening
We're about 12 miles downstream from where we started, but because of the side trips, we traveled 39 miles today.
Seeing all those gators today with all their teeth wasn't scary at all after the mauling I got last night from the pack of no-see-ums that attacked me. Probably a hundert bites on my legs.
On some of our travels we've seen some really nice boats and homes. Not so much today.
We are tied up and plan to spend the night at the Palatka City Dock. There had been a bASS tournament here today, and you can see the weigh-in trailer and bASS killers in the background. No other cruisers here. This is my favorite kind of dock........FREE !

Dunns creek

Sunday
We left Acosta Creek and decided to head north. Downstream. We took a side trip through Murphy Creek, then into Dunns Creek and into Crescent Lake. We spoke with some folks on the dock last night who live on Dunns Creek. They told us to expect to see some alligators. They said last year the authorities removed one from Dunns that was 18' long and weighed 850 pounds. I suspect that old gator could remeber the dinosaurs.
We did see quite a few gators. The largest was about 8'. We took about a hundert photos. I've attached two. The other photos are typical creek scenes.

St Johns River 1

We left home Friday a little before 6 am.  I told Pam we should get up at 6 and leave about 7.  She set her alarm for 5:30, but inadvertently also set her clock forward an hour.  So when her alarm went off at 5:30 on her clock, it was 4:30 in the rest of the house.   Hence, the early start.  
We stopped for fuel at the KY /TN state line.  Saw a Catalina 22 parked behind a Cracker Barrel.  Then we saw Rich and Denise Fox walking alongside the restaurant.  ( We sold them their boat.)
Then, we saw another Rosborough stuck in traffic in Atlanta.
We spent the night in the Wal-Mart parking lot in Lake City, FL.  Along with about a dozen other campers.  We were the only boat camper.

This morning, we arrived at Acosta Creek Harbor around 10 am.  Checked in at the office, then went downriver about a mile to launch.  I can be dead tired from driving a thousand miles, but as soon as the boat hits the water, I'm revived.  (Maybe like one of those Baptist river immersion things.)  The photos are of the house here at the marina and the boatyard.  I have seen boats here from California, Alaska, Virginia, New York, Georgia, Illinois, Ohio, and even another boat from Indiana.   The people on the Indiana boat sold their house and everything in Westville, IN and moved aboard to finish the older steel hull sailboat.  (On the hard.) Interesting place, and very nice, friendly people.  We're leaving our truck and trailer here while we cruise the river.  We plan to go downstream up to Jacksonville, and upstream down to Sanford.  About 70 miles in each direction. 

Before we could get to the launching ramp, we were stopped three times by people wanting to talk about our boat.  One guy in a pick up truck flagged us down to ask where the local dealer is located.  I told him "Nova Scotia".  Not one of the curious said it was "Cute".  That's a first.  (Reminds me what we called some lookers when we had boats displayed at boat shows......................"Whistle Gophers."   They walk up take a look, whistle and say.................."what's she go fer?")