65 Million Gallons?

Our 12 days of isolation were wonderful.  We left Fernandina Beach and traveled south to explore the St. Johns river.  

Jacksonville was an easy city to transit.  The waterway is wide and deep, and there are few bridge issues.  In fact, the only bridge we would need to wait for is the railroad bridge you can see open in the distance (the brown bridge span is sticking up on the left side of the picture).  Yay, if that RR bridge stays open we can cruise through with no delays...this is where Keith starts humming, ‘hi hopes, you have high hopes, high apple pie in the sky hopes’

Oh well, the train only takes a few minutes to pass, and the bridge opens automatically after it passes.

Of course there is plenty of room under this bridge, but from this angle I felt like I should hang back and let the ‘Bob Hope’ pass under the bridge first.  Rule #1...stay out of the way!

This is the most elaborate boathouse I’ve ever seen.

A very wet osprey shaking the water off before digging in to dinner.

Fort Gates Ferry is the oldest operating ferry in Florida.  It has been in operation since 1853. The small barge & push boat design can transport two vehicles at a time.  If you are visiting the Ocala National Forest this $10.00 ferry can save you a 40 mile drive.

The northern part of the St Johns River is a very large body of water, but approximately 35 miles south of Jacksonville it narrow significantly into a beautiful winding river with plenty of interesting sights.

First place award for most elaborate osprey nest.  Chesapeake Bay osprey would be very jealous of the Spanish moss curtains!

Ever since we left the Keys we have had serious withdrawal from our ability to snorkel in clean, clear water.  Thanks to information from our friends Ken and Barbara, we planned a visit to Silver Glen Spring (located off Lake George).  I feel no shame in confessing my ignorance on this topic, but my experience with springs consisted of tiny rivulets of cold clear water that usually flow from a mountain or hillside.  I had never experienced this...

This is a spring?? Are you kidding me?  AMAZING!  Sixty-five million gallons of crystal clear water (that happens to be 72° year round) comes out of the ground every day!  Keith dove down to the spring head (about 20 ft deep) and was propelled back to the surface by the force of the strong flow. The water creates such a strong current that gravel at the bottom dances like popcorn as the water shoots from the four foot opening.

We found a large school or striped bass (rockfish) hanging out at the spring.  You can see the depression that leads to the spring head  in the background of this picture.

This is the Google Earth view of Silver Glen Spring.  The actual spring is deep, but the depth from the sandbar to Lake George is only 3-4 feet.  The run that carries this fresh water to Lake George is a half mile long.  Boats (with shallow draft) can easily anchor, or beach, anywhere along the run.  A float-line clearly separates the boating area from the swimming area.  Luckily, we visited this site midweek in the ‘off’ season, but we have been told that during holiday weekends in the summer up to two thousand boats have tried to cram into the half mile shallow run.  The spring is also accessible by land, so the swimming area can get very crowded.

There were few swimmers that ventured into the deep water over the spring, but it was a funny sight to turn around and see the legs of the people hanging out on the sandbar.

Keith spotted this hogchoker sole.

We had to anchor in Lake George and bring the Whaler into the run.  There’s our wonderful little tender awaiting our return.

The run looked like an alligator nursery.  We saw several small gators along the shore.

This is where the run connects to Lake George.  Here the water is still crystal clear, but when we reached that sign we were floating in coffee, once again.

I have been a little behind in blogging, but this post catches us up.  That last picture was actually taken two weeks ago. Since that time Keith and I returned to Fernandina Beach, left Right Hand in a marina, rented a car, and drove to Maryland for our week of nonstop doctor appointments.  We will return to the boat and continue our journey north early next week.  If you are a MD friend waiting to meet up with us, we should have the boat here in mid May.  Hopefully, we will be able to hold some (Covid safe) open boat events so we can visit with all of you!