Depart: Doctors Lake Marina Fleming Island 9:50
Arrive: Palatka Free City Dock 2:30
Distance: 37 nm
Clark called ahead and learned that the free city docks at Palatka are available on a first-come-first-served basis with "plenty of room" available. We made our way there with wide open, calm water for our ride today.
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| St. Johns River |
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| Cranes! on St Johns River |
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| Green Cove Springs! (where our mail delivery service is located) |
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| Osprey nest on Red Nav Marker 44 |
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| Arriving at Palatka City Docks |
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| Palatka City Docks |
Clark checked the weather forecast and saw a storm coming later in the day. After securing and double-checking our lines, we pulled out our bikes for a tour of the area.
We started our exploration along the riverside, biked from there to the North Historic District and then to the South Historic District, toured Ravine Gardens State Park, and ended our trip at Baskins Robbins for a frozen treat.
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| Welcome to Palatka City Docks! |
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| Submarine Memorial along Riverside Dedicated to the USS Tang - lost in WW II 10/24/1944 |
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| Veteran's Memorial Plaza "This memorial is raised not for the cause of war nor for the prizes of victory: rather it is dedicated in honor of the men who fought and died for freedom." |
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| View of "Palatka Memorial Bridge" Conceptualized in 1921 in memory of WW I |
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| The Spirit of the American Doughboy |
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| WW I Memorial American Soldier |
We took the walkway under the bridge to continue our tour.
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| A long wooden dock travels alongside the bridge and then under the bridge to allow pedestrians and bikers access to both sides. (with a nice shady spot for fishermen in the middle) |
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| Bronson-Mulholland House Built c. 1853 |
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| St. Mark's Episcopal Church c. 1854 Used as a barracks during Civil War by Federal Troops |
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| Fort Shannon Placard Fort used as Quartermaster Depot During Second Seminole War |
From the North Historic District, we traveled through town where we saw some beautiful murals. We only saw a few of the marvelous murals scattered about town.
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| Depiction of 1774 Pilatka (note the different spelling of the town name) |
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| USS Columbine (1862) - Battle of Horse Landing Side-wheel Steamer Ambushed and captured in 1864 by Confederate Soldiers during the Civil War |
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| Florida Wildflowers |
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| Murals of Putnam County Jail, Putnam County Courthouse, Bronson-Mulholland House, Palatka City Hall, and Old JT&K Railroad Station |
We then continued on to the Southern Historic District where we saw "The Hammock" section of town.
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| Tilghman House c. 1884 |
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| Probably once a very ritzy house, but now Clark says it reminds him of the Adam's Family. |
Although we wondered if the weather would hold out for us, we continued on to visit Ravine Gardens State Park. We knew eventually rain would come our way, but we figured we still had time to explore. As I struggled to ride my bike up a rather steep incline under the hot sun towards the park, I muttered to myself, "I should have known something with the word ravine in it would involve hills!" I did not make it to the top on my bike, I caved in halfway up, took a break and a long drink of water, and then walked it up to the top of the hill.
The entrance fee for pedestrians (or bikers) to enter the park was $2.00 per person. We decided to splurge and pay the admission fee. We picked up a map at the Civic Center building and then biked the perimeter of the park to check out the ravine and the gardens.
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| "A kiss of the sun for pardon. The song of the birds for mirth. One is nearer God's heart in a garden Than anywhere else on earth. |
As we entered the section where we could bike the perimeter of the park, we saw a sign that read ...
It did not stop us from continuing on our way.
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| Historic Stone Steps to Suspension Bridge - Proceed with Caution (we decided to pass on this adventure however) |
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| Looking down on suspension bridge where we saw hikers walking. (After seeing the hurricane warning sign, I wondered if it was safe.) |
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| Ravine View - looks more like a jungle! |
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| Looking down at the ravine |
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| Clark got close enough to see a section of the ravine that actually contained water! |
Towards the end of our perimeter ride, we came to a park-like setting which seemed great until we read the signs.
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| I am happy to report that we did not see any alligators! We did not wait around for them to appear. |
Most of the bike trip around the grounds was on a slight incline, flat, or downhill until we reached this spot. After the alligator pond, it was uphill to the exit. Once again I faltered and had to walk my bike after reaching halfway up the hill. Afterwards, at the top, Clark did some extra exploring while I sat in the shade to recover.
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| Court of States and FDR Obelisk |
The building on the grounds had restrooms, filtered water, and air conditioning. We took advantage of all three. When we decided to leave, we headed towards the exit where we were stopped by an automatic gate which either did not work or only worked for cars. We could not get out of the park via the exit! As I walked my bike across the grass looking for an alternate way out, I remembered the "venomous snakes" sign I had seen earlier. Needless to say I felt a little uncomfortable, but the alternate route to the entrance was a long way around.
We found the only way out was via the entrance (at least for bikers) and joked that we could enter but we could never leave! After a hot day of biking we decided to head for ice cream. The only non-soft serve place we could find was Baskin Robbins, so we asked Google Maps to take us there. On the way, we rode over a lot of cobblestones (i.e. bricks) and got to see the not-so-great side of town.
When we walked up to the door, we found a sign telling customers "We are short staffed. Go to the Drive Thru". I tried the door and it opened, so we went in. The man working there started serving us when I said we were on bicycles, but the woman working there became very agitated that we had come in. "That door is supposed to be locked!" she said and then proceeded to drag a garbage can in front of the door to deter customers from entering. Clark and I agreed that we had never seen a place that so very much wanted their customers to just go away!
While we ate our ice cream, more customers arrived. Some got in - I know not how - to cause the woman yet more angst. Some did not get in as the garbage can and a locked door did deter them. No one on foot seemed inclined to use the drive thru to get their ice cream. I wonder why!
After we left there, we headed back to the boat. Along the way we passed the oldest diner in Florida. Having just filled up on ice cream, we did not even consider checking it out.
The weather had held out nicely for us while we toured the town / city. Not too long after we were safely back on board, we got a rain storm. Clark said, "I'm glad we got back when we did!"
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| Raining in Palatka! |
First came the rain and then the sun came back, so we had rain and sun together which equaled a rainbow. Unfortunately, Clark's attempt to capture the rainbow failed. After the rains ended, however, he did get his daily sunset shot.
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| Sunset over Palatka, Florida |
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