It was a beautiful sunny day, about 75 degrees with barely a breeze. The St. John's River was even more gorgeous than I'd remembered. The banks covered with tall cypress trees dripping with Spanish Moss. Birds were abundant and we even saw two very large alligators sunning themselves on the banks. Within an hour we reached our intended anchorage, a large oxbow off the main channel. It was truly one of the most lovely places we've seen. So peaceful, yet full of wildlife. About a dozen enormous turkey vultures were feasting on something. I set the anchor in 9 feet with a muddy, muddy bottom and we set back to relax over a quickly made sandwich lunch.
We then set out with Matt for a ride in the Boston Whaler. Unfortunately, the engine didn't cooperate. So we pulled anchor and towed his boat to a nearby marina. Now in his boat it would have been a very short ride, in our boat it was about an hour. On my second attempt we managed to tie up at the somewhat rickety, old dock at Swampy's Landing. It seems I'd forgotten that you shouldn't approach a dock with the current behind you. I didn't crash but it was close. Thankfully, my nimble footed first mate, Coleen, jumped off the bow and grabbed the boat at just the right moment. (Of course she did get in trouble for jumping off the boat without permission, despite the outcome).
Swampy's Landing is a riverside restaurant bar/pontoon boat marina & RV park with an old Florida flair. Since it was already late afternoon, we decided to just stay overnight ($15). Prince was happy to be ashore as he'd refused to make use of the poop deck all day. I enjoyed a couple of celebratory beers while Coleen enjoyed using Wifi! Matt was able to get his boat working and soon headed back to Sanford. It wasn't the day we'd planned, but it turned out quite well.
So glad to be underway once again!
xxx