St. Johns, Disney, Tampa

2/6 – 13/99

I don’t usually spend time in motels while I’m boating, but I’ve often thought staying ashore at night every now and then while on a boating adventure might not be a bad idea. I had the opportunity to try this combination of nights aboard and nights ashore on a recent trip from my home in Spartanburg, SC to Florida. We’d leave Saturday morning, heading for a ramp in north Central Florida; spending a couple nights aboard before heading to a Disney Resort for a couple days. From Disney/Orlando, we’d head west to put the boat in again near Tampa and hopefully see some of Sarasota before heading back to Disney to meet up with our daughter to share a couple days of Winter Break with her and Mickey.

We left home towing the 15’11” cuddy, planning to put in somewhere between Jacksonville and Lake George on the St Johns River. The sun sets early in Feb so we started getting serious about locating a ramp at about 2pm. It wasn’t long before we came on the Green Cove Springs ramp and were in the water well before sunset.

We scooted down the St Johns for only a couple miles before we snugged up to the wooded eastern bank in about 5 feet of water. After spending nights in Charleston amidst the voracious no-see-ums, I had sewn together a net, which protects the entire cockpit from blood hungry bugs. I panicked when I realized that I had left that net back home in the garage. Our options were to liberally apply anti-bug lotion, or get below at the first sign of bugs. Favoring the ‘get below’ option, we kept a sharp eye out for bugs, but they never did make an appearance before we turned in at 8:30.

Eight-Thirty may seem a little early to turn in, but ya’ gotta remember, it gets dark about 7 and swinging on the hook in the dark on a 15+ foot boat offers relatively few post daylight options. I was ready for the sack before 8, but between us we decided to stick it out until 8:30.

Watching the sun come up over a hot cup of coffee while aboard, is for me, one of life’s greatest pleasures (and turning in at 8:30pm makes getting up at 5:30am quite palatable). We had our second cup of coffee and ‘cup of granola’ after we got under way. The boat will do almost 30mph, but we favor speeds just below and just above planing. This translates to about 8mph pre-planing and 16-18 mph post planing. We began heading south at 8mph just as the sun lost contact with the horizon. The temp was in the low 50’s; the sky was clear and the winds just evident enough to produce cats paws. It was a perfect morning.

The St Johns narrows gradually on the way up stream to Lake George. I hadn’t been too impressed with the river between the ICW and Jacksonville on a previous trip, but this section proved to be our kind of country. We like snaking along, being able to take in the birds and fauna on the banks. We eventually made our way to Lake George, then on to Silver Glen Springs.

On the approach into Silver Glen Springs you’ll notice the water becoming clearer and clearer. The spring feeds crystal clear water into Lake George…the clear view of the bottom reminded me of Bahamian waters. Up inside the approach we ran into a fleet of ’flats’ boats; the kind propelled by airplane propellers attached to big V8 engines. Farther inside it grew so congested that navigating was near impossible. At the spring itself, there are a series of buoys that describe a one way loop between the outside of a small anchorage and the shore. The anchorage was packed to the point that you could walk from one boat to another the whole way across. In addition, there were boats tied to the shore with anchors into the channel to keep them from swinging into each other. These boats varied from rental houseboats to runabouts to cruisers to cigarette boats – many running their loud motors or generators. This was not our kind of place and after a single trip around the one way loop (often having to raise our outboard to keep from fouling anchor lines) we high tailed it back to the middle of Lake George and dropped the hook for lunch.

After a leisurely lunch we headed back north, but as we were exiting Lake George, we decided to explore the creek that takes one up to Salt Pond. It was a little tricky finding our way in and the water was very shallow at places, less than 18 inches, but the solitude and birds inside were well worth the effort. We tied QT to a tree for about an hour, to do some bird watching, then made our way back to the St Johns.

We came across a secluded quiet cove off Drayton Island while taking a shortcut out of Lake George into the St Johns River and decided to hook out for an afternoon nap. We then continued back north until we ran out of daylight.

It was after dark when we dropped the hook in a shallow area just west of Whetstone Point. The lights came on in a house on the bank, and we could see a couple peering our way from the porch, but I guess they decided our 16’ boat was neither threatening nor imposing. As usual it was coffee at sunup and we were on our way north again. All too soon we were approaching the ramp at Green Cove Springs. We decided to spend some time checking out the boats at the sprawling piers at the Green Cove Marina before putting QT back on her trailer. I wonder what all those massive piers were built for?

We spent the next couple days with Mickey…m.o.u.s.e. Disney World is always a pleasure, especially if you spend your nights within the Disney facilities. Staying in Disney accommodations allows one to experience the superb Disney service, leave the car parked for the duration while using Disney transportation and being allowed to enter the parks an hour before the regular Disney crowds.

After Disney we headed west, to the Clearwater area. I figured we’d just start looking for a ramp when we arrived at the Gulf. We took the Gandy Bridge out of Tampa and turned north after crossing the ICW. I stopped at a municipal building to inquire about a ramp and learned that if I backtracked, I’d find a ramp less than a mile down the road, just south of the bridge. It was a very nice ramp with restrooms and easy parking. We were on the water, heading north, in about 10 minutes.

Not having a schedule or even a plan for that matter, we leisurely made our way north. The weather complimented the comfortable waterway so we kept moving mostly at sub planing speeds until dusk. We snuggled up to the southern shore of a spoil island about MM 137 to watch the sun set. I noticed that there seemed to be a distinct boundary of sea grass as we made our way into about 4 feet of water. We dropped the hook off the bow onto a clean sandy bottom, walked ashore for a spell, then settled in aboard for the night. About 2am the boat suddenly listed to port, waking us out of a sound sleep. I arouse to find us high and dry, now planted firmly in the sand that was left exposed by the exiting tide. We tilted the motor up allowing the boat to regain a level attitude and turned in again. The next morning as we sipped coffee, watching the sun come up, I commented on how hospitable the area was…you don’t have to go to the beach, it will come to you.

After the sun broke the horizon, we meandered north, with the traditional cup of breakfast granola with cold Pop Tart chasers. When we ran out of markers at MM 150 we followed a local fisherman out into the Gulf. It was gorgeous out there – we decided to head south outside, staying within eyeball distance of the beach to keep an eye on the happenings there. We nosed in closer at Clearwater Pass, but decided it was too nice outside to head in. It wasn’t until we approached Pass-A-Grill Channel that we decided we needed to decide whether to head in or keep going south. We opted for a compromise…we’d run the pass, head back to the ramp, load up the boat and splash again south of Tampa Bay.

We took the Sunshine Skyway Bridge across Tampa Bay. What an interesting piece of architecture. We decided Sarasota would be a likely place to put in, settling on the ramp at Lido Key. The Southwest Florida Boating Guide (our only chart) touted the anchorage at Sarasota, but after a slow cruise through the rather busy anchorage we decided we could make a few more miles south and still be settled in time to watch the sunset. We hooked out near a spoil bank in Roberts Bay for a very peaceful night.

The next morning it was coffee at sunup, then south. The trip down the waterway was as pleasant as could be. At one point we passed a fisherman on the bank, complete with chair, umbrella, cooler etc, holding a pole with the line leading out into the water. It was a postcard picture, especially since sitting right next to him looking as content as the fisherman himself was a great blue heron. Those two sure made that beach look enticing.

When Venice Inlet was to port, we swung west. We just had to see what the Gulf looked like…just a peek. The sun was shining out there, there were ever so gentle swells, and the temperature was perfect. We decided to stay in the Gulf for our trip back north.

I put a waypoint in the GPS in 30 feet of water off Mira Mar Beach. A goto at 18 mph showed we had plenty of time to get there, so we slowed off the plane for a spell, even dropping the hook for a 45 minute nap as we cleared Blind Pass.

We liked New Pass better than Sarasota Pass, then noticed that the ‘chart’ also suggested New Pass. The way in was well marked and easygoing. We scouted out the marinas and moored boats as we made our way back to the ramp. It’s always a little sad putting QT back on her trailer for the trip home, especially after such a perfect cruise, but we’d be heading back to Disney World before heading home, to spend a couple days with our daughter on her Winter Break.

Car miles = 1,934

Engine hours = 23.2

Boat miles = 278

Boat fuel = 37.1