THURSDAY APRIL 1ST

We left the window open last night, and boy was I glad for my flannel jammies! Great sleeping weather though.

We crossed Lake George. It is a large body of water and it took us and hour and 20 minutes to cross it.  Lucky for us, it was a calm sunny morning. If there would have been wind from the south, it would have been a rough ride. There was constant radio chatter. The only thing we could figure is because Florida is so flat and we were out on the middle of a large lake, but we heard chatter from Tampa Bay, Jax, St. Pete, and other places.

The auto-pilot has been fixed, making for a much more relaxed drive when crossing open bodies of water.

The river has now narrowed and the scenery is worth the journey. Many creeks, streams, oxbows and small rivers feeding into the St. Johns. They are lines with numerous varieties of aquatic plants. It must be something to see when they are all in bloom.

We have also entered gator country. Most of them we saw were good size. Probably around 8 to 10 feet long. The one small one we saw was probably four feet long.

Remember, you can click on any of the pictures if you want to enlarge them.

They were all basking in the sun along the shoreline.

Well, ready or not, here come your gator facts. It takes about 10 to 12 years in the wild for a gator to reach breeding size. Which is 6 feet long.

Males average a bit over 11 feet long and females average a bit over 8 feet long. Their average weight is about ½ a ton!!! As Ross put it, “that’s a lot of gator”.

The female will lay her eggs in a nest and bury it but stays close by to defend it. After 65 days the babies start squeaking and grunting inside the egg. The mother will then uncover the nest so the babies can hatch and get out.

What surprised me is the hatchlings hang around the nest area for 2 to 3 years. During the first year of that, the mother will protect them. Who would have guessed that a cold blooded reptile would make such a good mom?

We arrived at Hontoon Island State Park. There is a marina here, but they were full. So we backtracked a short way and anchored just inside the Dead River. (scarey sounding place after spending last night at Buzzard Point!) Dropped the dinghy in the water and headed back to the park. We took a short hike, but it was a bust. Didn’t even see a bird on our hike. 

Since we had the dinghy down, we took a several mile ride up the Dead River. Lots of turtles. These are Red Bellied turtles. The locals refer to them as "cooters".

This Anhinga was drying its wings in the sun.





The swamps on shore are flooded cypress woods. Creepy and lovely at he same time.

We ate dinner on board and enjoyed the sounds of the swamps. Once the birds settled in at dark, the frogs started up. I have no idea what size they were, probably tiny, but they made a croak like they must have weighed a couple of pounds!

The night is clear and still. We can see the reflection of the stars in the water.