The St. John River

OK, here is a trivia question.  What is the longest river that flows in Florida?   OK, OK, here is another.  What is the longest river in North America that flows north?    My grandson, Max, just studied all about the Nile in Africa.   But no, this one is in North America, and yes you guessed it..... The St. John river in Florida.   It flows over 300 miles from near Stuart to Jacksonville, and runs parallel just 30 miles from the Atlantic coastline.  The good folks of Florida tell me that this is the REAL Florida.   It is not the beaches of Destin, or South Florida, but here in the marshes and estuaries of the St. John.

Morning Mist

Our friendly neighbor

Live Oak, Cypress, Spanish Moss, and Lily Pads line the river for hundreds of miles.












I have been surprised at how shy these big guys are.   It is hard to find one who will sit on his log long enough for me to take his picture.... Smile








Our good friends from Wichita, Roger and Carla Smith, joined us this week.   It was one of those deals, that we called them on Monday, and they drove to Jacksonville and were on the boat by Thursday.  Fun.   It is a perfect place to cruise on Rock Chalk as they joined us at the Ortega River Landing, and we are cruising south until we cannot go further on the St. John.   Then we will turn back north and cruise back to Ortega Landing.   Roger and Carla are avid bird watchers, which is a talent that Shelley and I definitely lack.   They are birds out there in this marshland....right, and lots of them?   You bet.   There are Coots, Sandhill Cranes, Scissor-tail Kites, Bald Eagles, High Build Grebes, Ospreys,  Tri-colored Heron, Snowy Egrets, Cormorants, Anhingas, Great Blue Herons,  a whole colony of Wood Storks,  and many many more.  Wow!!

Our binoculars have had a work out.   The river is lined with the lily pads, and fallen trunks of trees.   If you keep a sharp eye, you see the gators sunning themselves on a log.  The locals like to water ski or wake board here.   Ummm... What is wrong with this picture?   At least on Table Rock Lake in Missouri, there were not critters that might bite my arm off if I fell off my ski.

Six Mile Creek and a local flying in.    Carla, Roger, and Shelley

We will dock at Sanford tomorrow, which if you can believe it, is a northeast suburb of Orlando.  On our way to Sanford, we will stop at the Blue Spring River which is supposed to be full of manatees.  They love the warm spring water that flows out of the ground there and into the St. John.  That is as far south as we can go, so we will turn around and head back north and stop at places that we missed on the way down.   Some cruisers spend 3-4 months on the St. John.   We will do it in 8 days.   Are you surprised?

I have not mentioned it, but it has been cold in Florida for the past 10 days.  It has been in the 30's at night, and several days with highs in the 50's.   Brrr.   Today was better, but  at least there is no snow here.  We will fight off all the alligators, and make our way back to the Atlantic.   More later,   Marc