Sanford, north to Jacksonville! 3/23 thru 5/14/2022

 March 23 thru April 28, 2022  (We went home for 3 weeks in there!)

We arrived at Sanford Boatworks and Marina on March 23.  This was a ‘homey’ place, and reminded us of our first marina, Olverson’s.  It’s been run by one family since 1924.  We got comfortable there, ate at the Gator’s Restaurant a couple of times.  We welcomed our friends, Dennis and Denise Sprenkle, for a visit.  They came once and took us to Deland to visit friends of theirs.

Dennis picked us up for our flight home – spent one night at their Orlando house.  We were home for about three weeks – as much as I enjoy traveling on our boat, I do miss my house, my neighborhood, my family and friends.

Dennis met our return flight and returned us to the boat.  The Boatworks is about 2 miles from the downtown of Sanford.  We did ride our bikes that way once, but it isn’t a very kind route!

After returning from Michigan, we got a few days in Monroe Harbor, right in downtown Sanford.  Lovely town.  Lots of interesting shops and restaurants.  And, we were lucky the weekend we were there, that the Art Festival was held.  We don’t have much room on the boat for more ‘stuff’, but we do have room for jewelry!  I bought several unusual pieces!

We also got the chance to meet the couple whose Youtube channel we follow, Technomadia.  They have the same boat as us and were kind enough to let us see their recent carpet installation. 

road just outside the Sanford Boatworks & Marina

In canal by Sanford

home near Sanford Boatworks

love this home near Sanford Boatworks!

another home near Sanford Boatworks

Love this tudor style!

lovely Spanish moss-draped trees

even the electric boxes in downtown Sanford are lovely!

piece of mosaic art in the square

whimsical sculpture in a Sanford restaurant

piano art in the visitor's center

fountain in the square

lovely gardens througout downtown

love this old clock

bright mural in an alley (and Dan!)

me as a butterfly!

on the wall of a store in downtown

a visitor!

we finally saw an alligator on the river!

riverside home with great boathouse/deck!

May 14, 2022   

We say goodbye to the St. Johns River.  We passed Jacksonville and entered the St. Johns River on March 20, and are just now exiting the river.  Wow!  We have enjoyed our exploration of the river very much!  I already wrote about Sanford, the town that is as far south as our boat can go.  We left Sanford on May 4.  Between March 20 and May 4, we stopped four times before arriving back in Jacksonville.

1.      Hontoon Island State Park – our favorite!  The Island can only be reached by private boat or the ferry that will take you across the river.  Because the slips at the island marina are for 25 foot boats, we had two possibilities for our 50 foot (over all length) boat.  The two T-heads provide 50 foot length – we just had to reserve two slips.  Turns out we were the only boat in the marina when we arrived!  We stayed there 5 nights.  During that time, there were several boats that came and went, plus one that came and stayed 2 nights.  After the park closed at 5:00, there was only our boat and one ranger who lived somewhere on the island.  So beautiful and quiet.  We saw a turtle throwing sand out as she dug for a nest.  A crow was standing by to snatch eggs as she laid them!  We saw all kinds of birds.  The scenery was beautiful – cypress trees and knees, Spanish moss, huge live oak trees.  We rode our bikes all over the island.

While we left the boat in Hontoon Island, we went for a two day visit to my cousin, Anne’s place in Pierson, Florida.  Always good to connect with our last relative on my dad’s side. 

We took our dinghy out and cruised completely around the island.  It was a bit challenging, since parts of the way were completely covered in lily pads!  We slowly cruised through each of those sections, then stopped the motor while Dan picked off the huge bundle of lily pads, then continued on until the next!  It took about 3 hours to go around.

While on our dinghy journey, we stopped at Blue Springs State Park.  Going from the river, where the water is tan from the tannin, to the water in the springs was dramatic!  The water in the springs was crystal clear – we could see blades of grass, every detail of fish in that water!  During colder weather, the manatees gather there to enjoy the warmer water of the springs.

Dan trying to read the sign facing the water!

Dan, to demonstrate size of the tree!

Love these cypress knees

Nice color, along with the birds!

2.    Drayton Island anchorage.  Nice quiet place, boat was still in the same place when we woke up – always a good sign!  Not much to say about the anchorage.

3.    Palatka City Dock.  Very nice docks, and our favorite price – free!  There were some nice murals all over town.  Many of the storefronts were vacant; however, many of those had projects underway.  We were shown plans that showed what a couple of those blocks will look like in a year or so.  I’d love to go back next year to see that!  There were only 2 restaurants, one serving outside from their food truck kitchen, and one Mexican restaurant.  We chose to eat in the Mexican restaurant, and the meal was very disappointing!  There was a diner from the 1930’s that looked interesting, and we stopped there for a delicious milk shake.

4.    Doctor Lake Marina, just north of Green Cove Springs.  We needed to collect our accumulated mail in Green Cove Springs.  The marinas there were full, and with the windy conditions, we didn’t want to try the town’s free docks.  We had pulled in there on the way up the river, and their docks are a bit shaky.  So, we stopped at Mandarin Holiday marina (also no room for us) for their less expensive fuel ($5.25!), and stopped for the night at Doctor Lake Marina.  People in the marina were friendly – I don’t think they see many transients!  We took an Uber the next morning to pick up our mail.

 

Jacksonville – where we entered the St. Johns River.  We have friends we met in Key West a few years ago, Lee and Betty Kryskewski.  They just moved to a condo in Jacksonville, the Plaza.  The property has a marina, so we took a slip there.  We were warned to come in at slack tide, because the marina is right on the river there and the tide could cause problems with docking.  We didn’t wait until full slack tide, but we did ok.  We walked to dinner with Lee and Betty.  We stopped at a little hole-in-the-wall Italian place that they hadn’t yet tried.  We decided that, if we lived in Jacksonville, that little restaurant would be one of our go-to places!  Delicious meal.  Next day, Lee drove us to the Navy Exchange, the hugest we’ve seen.  Got some needed provisions, particularly some large items that would be difficult on the bike!  We spent the day doing chores, including laundry on Lee and Betty’s machines, then had dinner on the boat.  Lee and Betty came to the boat after dinner for a glass of wine and conversation.  Super nice couple – we enjoyed their company!  Around 9:30, the nearby ballpark had fireworks, which we enjoyed.

Next morning, we couldn’t leave until the tide turned to slack, so we went to breakfast with the Kryskewskis.  What a delightful place – a used book store/café.  Jacksonville has a lot going on – they are turning the docks that were the shipyards into a museum district for the city. In a couple of years, that will be a big draw!