Week 34

Week 34

Mar 2-8, 2026

Monday

We left the marina this morning to continue north. When we got to Jacksonville it smelled like coffee.  It smelled really good riding through town .  There's a Maxwell House factory right on the river. We turned into the St John's river for a side trip. We've heard really great things about this river. It's the longest river in Florida reaching 140 miles. At it's widest, it's 3 miles wide. We traveled 66 nautical miles and anchored on doctor's lake for the night after getting fuel at Doctors lake marina.   They offered us a free dock for spending over $500 on fuel but we prefer anchoring out.  More like camping in nature and quieter.  

Tuesday

Since we are in a river now, I took the opportunity to spray the boat down. I already had the hose out to spray the anchor chain. I tried to get all the salt off. This river water is so full of tannin though. I sprayed the boat with tea colored water. But even that is much preferable to that dreaded salt water.  

We traveled about 40 nautical miles to a restaurant that had a pier, corky bell's, in Palatka, FL. We heard that if you eat there, they'll let you spend the night for free. We went for a little walk and ate dinner at the restaurant. We got some groceries at a nearby grocery.  We then stayed at their dock.  

We tried to shine a flashlight along the shore to see if we could spot gators eyes. We were not successful tonight.

Wednesday

We were completely fogged in until almost 10 am. On our drive up river. South, we spotted a dock at Murphys Island nature preserve.  We had to wait for a Amtrak train bridge, so we stopped and went for a little hike. It was a gorgeous peaceful island with stunning picturesque views.  See the photos. There is camping there, but it's only accessible by boat.

We anchored on Northern little Lake George for the night a total of 22 nautical miles.

We taught our institute class We only have 10 students this block.

Thursday

We had the most quiet peaceful night at anchor yet. There was no movement of the water at all. So we didn't rock at all or have any slapping. It was awesome. 

We cruised down to Silver Glen springs to go snorkeling. We anchored out in the deeper water and took the dingy in to the springs. The water was crystal clear. It was unbelievable.  See the pictures and videos.  Riding in the dingy we saw turtles, a gator on the shore, and a baby gator in the water. It was a really warm day. We had a nice swim and ride in the dingy.  Allison got nervous when we saw the gator by the dinghy.  

To continue up the St. Johns river we were going to go under a bridge at Astor. Another boat called on the radio to warn us the bridge was broken. They weren't lifting it for any boaters. We just turned around and headed back to the anchorage that we stayed at last night. We traveled 27.2 nautical miles today.

We dinked over to the shore to go to dinner. There is a resort called Renegades on the river. It is a restaurant , tiki bar. RV Park. Marina and cabin rentals right on the river.  Nice place.  There was a sign at the restaurant beware of alligators. I looked over the railing of the patio and sure enough there was a gator at least 8 feet long.

 

Friday

We headed back to Palatka to meet Gary Bliss for lunch at Corky Bell's restaurant. He follows us as a subscriber on our YouTube channel and reached out saying he wanted to meet us. They are also loopers. His wife couldn't make lunch, so he drove us to meet her at the art museum. Her name is Hollis. They were both very nice people. We were so happy to meet them.  We took pictures together.

After lunch we continued to Solano Cove where we dropped anchor for the night. We traveled 41 nautical miles today. 

Saturday

We traveled 48.2 nautical miles up through Jacksonville to a free wall in Sister's Creek. The wind and current were so strong. The thrusters didn't even work. Luckily the boaters next door came to help grab lines and pull with all their might. Interestingly enough they are from Big Sky Montana.

We were able to get off and walk a bit around the parking lot of the launch ramp. The tide swing was pretty big here, over 4 feet. 

Sunday

We traveled 19.8 nautical miles to Fernandina on Amelia Island. We couldn't get to a church today, there are not any near this island that we could find. We went for a walk down the historic town center. It is very charming.  We took pictures at the Palace Saloon, the oldest bar in Florida.  On the way back we saw an electric carriage ride history tour. We decided to go on it and learned some great interesting facts. First the Fernandina is the deepest harbor on the east coast is here. It had 8 flags fly on this island: French 1562, pirates, British, green cross (Gregory Mcgregor), patriot, Spanish, confederate, American.

The island is almost exactly the same size and shape as Manhattan. Mr. Yulee that put in the railroad here that goes across Florida to Cedar Key was from Manhattan. So he designed it to look like Manhattan with the same street names and with a central park. Many of the upper crust came here to visit. Pres. Grant went home and said it was an unsavory place because it had 75+-95 brothels at different times. 

Florida House Inn is the oldest hotel in Florida.

Oldest continuous working courthouse in the country is here.

Right at the end of our tour a huge rainstorm hit. We had to run to the boat. A huge crack came over our heads! We sure are glad the sailboats nearby are taller than our boat!   That lighting hit very near or at the Marina.  

We met another looping couple that pulled in right in front of us. They're originally from Panama city, FL. They just started the loop about a month ago. George and Christ Reiss. We went to dinner and We talked for 2.5 hours. It's amazing how much we find to talk about. Super nice couple.  They have an R43.  He is a surgeon and she an attorney.  I love their boat name, Assisted Living!  See ya next week.