Depart: Blue Springs State Park Anchorage 8:50
Arrive: Monroe Harbour Marina in Sanford 10:50
Distance: 14 nm
Even first thing in the morning, people busily enjoyed Blue Springs State Park.
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| Folks launching boats at the start of their day |
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| and conversing by the side of the river. |
Passing through the park area, we had "Idle Speed, No Wake" warnings. How exciting to reach a spot where the signs read "Slow Speed, Minimum Wake"!
I left Clark to pilot the boat and went below to wash last night's dishes that I just could not face last evening. When I came back up top, Clark told me I "missed the action". Two deer crossed the river in front of our boat. He said they swam faster as we got closer (I would too!)
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| One of Two Deer Crossing the St Johns River |
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| Both deer made it safely to the other side! Yay! |
Much of the scenery was a repeat of other parts of the river. We did pass a large area of cedar trees. It has been a while since I traveled on fresh water. They are distinguishable by their root system.
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| Trees near Monroe Lake on St Johns River |
We passed through a railroad bridge on the way to today's destination. Of course Clark tried for his "into infinity" picture.
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| Not quite! |
After passing under the Route 17/92 and Route 4 bridges, we entered Monroe Lake on our way to Sanford, Florida.
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| Railroad bridge in distance, then Route 17 bridge, with Interstate 4 bridge the closest. |
We arrived at Monroe Harbour Marina mid-morning where several folks from the neighboring boats greeted us like old friends. They quickly had our lines secured and, almost before saying hello, offered us the use of their cars or a lift to the grocery store. Before checking in, we checked the weather and decided that, if we could, we would extend our stay to four days instead of the two we originally planned to avoid the predicted rainstorms.
When we checked in, the woman at the desk said, "We didn't know you were coming." Meanwhile, we were asking for an extension on our two-day reservation. Something got lost somewhere, and of course Clark could not remember who he talked to several days before when he made the reservation. It turned out not to be a problem though to stay four days until the dock master heard we were from New Jersey, then he said we couldn't stay. (Only joking!) He said it was no problem for us to stay the full four days.
Although I thought of it first thing in the morning, with all the excitement, I totally forgot about the farmer's market until someone reminded me. We closed some windows in case it rained and ran out to check on their vegetable choices before the market closed for the day. Clark had read 2:00 closing, but we wanted to be sure not to miss anything good.
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| Vegetable Stand at Farmer's Market in Sanford, Florida |
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| Marigold Square Market |
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| Marigold Square Market |
I found a food truck selling wonderfully smelling fried fish. Unfortunately Clark wanted healthy food for lunch. He offered that we go find a restaurant where we could get a sandwich. Wandering the streets, we found a place off to one side called "Mattie's Bakery and Eatery". Here we were greeted with a very warm welcome by the owner's husband. We found the simple, sandwich fare we sought. Since this place is a bakery as well as an eatery, I decided to indulge in a piece of their homemade pecan pie! Yummy!
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| "Wisk Chandelier" at Mattie's Eatery |
We walked about town a bit as we made our way back to the boat.
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| Free Trolley in town |
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| Downtown Sanford, Florida |
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| Monroe Harbour Marina |
Rain passed through the area, as predicted, resulting in an evening with no sunset picture. We relaxed and watched some television until time to retire for the night.
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