FL: St Johns River - Salt Springs and Silver Glen Springs

Thursday 4/5/2018

Depart: Palatka City Docks 9:00 a.m.

Arrive: River Forest Anchorage #1 8:00 p.m.

Distance: 32 + 6 + 33 = 61 nm

Weather swung from hot to chilly following the front that moved in yesterday. When we visited Ravine Gardens State Park day before yesterday, we had temperatures in the 80s. This morning we woke to 50 degrees outdoors. I went to bed in a lightweight nightgown and during the night had to pull a quilt over us for warmth.

When we docked at Doctors Lake Marina, one of the workers there told us to be sure to visit Silver Glen Springs. From others, we had heard that we should see Salt Springs. Our route today took us past both of those scenic spots, so Clark worked visiting those places into today’s travel plans. That meant we had to economize on our use of time to see both places before stopping for the night. Both places are side trips off the St. Johns River and required use of the dinghy to see them due to water depth constraints. We got underway later than we hoped and wondered if we would have time to see it all.

Last look at Palatka

Closed RR bridge - Buffalo Bluff
 (just starting to open for us)

Attempted "Looking down the tracks" picture
(it's harder to capture than one might expect)

Traveling down this section of the river made me wonder if we had been transported to some uninhabited place.

Very tranquil here

Then, suddenly, out of nowhere, civilization appeared,

Work area

and just as quickly disappeared to return the setting to nature only once more.

Back to nature
(many downed trees along the shore)

I read in the guide book that the osprey nests are in abundance on the river, and the further south one travels the more difficult it becomes to read the aids to navigation used as nesting areas for the birds.  The number of nests on markers we saw were too numerous to count!

Osprey guarding its nest

Different osprey; different marker; same mess!

The scenery changed repeatedly from truly rustic to cottages to marinas with house boats and back to trees only. 

Fishing in the hyacinth weeds

Property "Available" - I liked the tower on the dock
that looked like a clock tower - but wasn't

Many of the houses / cottages / structures are right on the water's edge. I asked Clark about flooding here, and he said it would most definitely flood during hurricanes as the water had a long way to go to get to the sea. Then shortly afterwards I saw a house on a hill up on stilts. 

White house on hill on top of stilts with layers of terracing in front
(Love the fact they supplied a hole for the tree to grow through
when they built the terracing)

Approaching Lake George, we passed a well built-up area.

'River Bend Condos' with docks

We found a couple of osprey nests with both parents on guard.

Mom and Dad Osprey home

Then we entered Lake George for another change in scenery.

Lake George 

Here we found the first of our springs that we wished to visit - Salt Springs. To see the Salt Springs, we dropped anchor and launched our dinghy for the 3-mile trip to the springs.

Boats at entrance to Salt Springs waterway

I found the trip to the Salt Springs beautiful but nerve-racking. Wondering where the alligators were lurking made it hard for me to relax and enjoy the ride. As we progressed further and further into the back woods, I relaxed more and more as I saw other small boats including kayaks and one person I thought was either incredibly brave or stupid on a stand-up paddle board.

Watching for alligators!

Spanish Moss hanging from trees

Naturalist looking for wildlife from her SUP

Four small dots are kayaks carrying girls
smoke in the background.

At the end of a trip that made me think of the Amazon jungle (I've never been there), we found the Salt Springs Marina and lots of activity.

Salt Springs Marina

Boat Ramp

Covered Boat Slips

Swim Area Closed to Boat Traffic

The water was unbelievably clear here.  The color of the water on the way to the springs resembled strongly brewed tea due to high tannin levels.

Two people relaxing on their rental boat in
the clear waters at Salt Spring
(see the head at bow and the feet astern!)

We did not stay for a swim as we had more places to see today. We turned around at the swim area and made our way back out to the Sunset Delight.

Scenery at Salt Springs Area

Look closely to see a turtle on the log!

To save time we towed the dinghy behind the boat from Salt Springs to Silver Glen Springs. This is the first time we have ever towed anything with this boat. The dinghy did a lot of jumping around on its “leash”. I worried that the line Clark had attached would not sustain the pull. As I piloted the boat, Clark pulled in the dinghy and attached a thicker line as the tow line.

Towing our dinghy for the first time

At the docks at Doctors Lake Marina, we were told by the dock master not to bother with Salt Springs due to the smell of sulfur and just go to Silver Glen Springs. I am glad we took the time to see both because they were as different as night and day. Where Salt Springs required a three-mile ride into "wilderness", Silver Glen Springs sat a short distance from where we anchored Sunset Delight. The scenery was very different and this place was much, much busier with people.

Silver Glen Sprngs - Do's and Don'ts

More boats here than Salt Springs

Crystal Clear Water about 74 degrees

Swimming Area - more rules

Fee Area to enter park

"Silver Glen Springs - a National Treasure"

A sailboat entering as we are leaving the area.

Since it was already past 5:00, we decided to tow the dinghy to the anchorage for the night to save time. Shortly after we got underway, however, we realized two things. First, we had about two more hours of travel time at 8 knots, and second, the dinghy appeared to be weighing us down and preventing us from making good speed. After much debate, Clark decided to lift the dinghy up onto the top of Sunset Delight to get it out of the water and reduce the drag.

While I piloted the boat, Clark set up the crane and pulled the dinghy around to the side of Sunset Delight, so he could attach the crane and lift the dinghy up onto the top deck. To slow us down sufficiently or him to do this maneuver underway, Clark had me put one engine in neutral and the other in idle speed. The channel was very narrow, so putting the boat in neutral and allowing it to drift was not an option.

He got the dinghy roughly in place, and we could now focus on getting to our anchorage choice for the night.

Dinghy "perched" on top of Sunset Delight
and held secure by crane

Although getting the dinghy out of the water helped, it did not make a “world of difference”. Also, we had a number of areas where we had to reduce speed for “no wake” areas or when passing by low freeboard boats.

Arriving at our anchorage before dark looked less and less likely. Finally, Clark suggested we pick up speed to put some distance behind us. Thankfully, we were past the no-wake zones and most of the fishermen, so he pushed the throttles forward, and we took off at a whopping-great 14 knots.

On the way to the anchorage Clark selected for tonight’s stay, we passed two other anchorages noted in Active Captain. Of the two, the one titled “Fisk Oxbow” looked the most promising as a substitute for our planned anchorage. We followed the directions to Fisk Oxbow provided in Active Captain but almost immediately came to an area where the weeds had filled in so well they had closed off access to the anchorage.

Fisk Oxbow Anchorage - Weed-choked!

The second choice in this area was also choked with water weeds. We had no choice but to turn around (no easy feat in the tight space) and continue on to our originally planned anchorage – now with even less time to get there.

We arrived at River Forest anchorage #1 just at sundown. I tried to capture a sunset picture while Clark piloted, but the area and the night sky did not offer anything very spectacular.

As Clark struggled to get the anchor set to his satisfaction, I grabbed the binoculars to see if I could spot the alligator I heard on the river’s edge. I did not see an alligator, but I definitely could hear one out there.

We finally finished anchoring at 8:00 at night – much later than preferred. I had worried about anchoring in total darkness. No streetlights provide light in this area! After sundown, it is pitch black! Amazingly, we still had enough light at 8:00 to do the job with confidence.

What a long day we had today. Fortunately, I had sufficient leftovers in the fridge to provide a quick dinner. For once I left the dishes unwashed. We relaxed with blogging and watching television until it was time to call it a night.