We arrived in Jacksonville late Saturday night and have been pretty much just cleaning and re-provisioning. Not too exciting. This morning brought bright sunshine and warmer temps. It is good to be traveling again.
We are headed south on the St. Johns River. As you can see from this photo, our wake is a brown color. Much different from the blues and turquoise of the ICW and the ocean. The water almost looks like coffee. The river is fed by rain and also from the Floridian Aquifer. The brown/black color is caused from tannins created by leaf litter and decayed aquatic plants. It is fresh water, however. We haven’t had a chance to explore any yet, but there are crystal clear springs that also feed the river. The water temps remain in the 70’s year round and it is a winter hangout of manatee.
Shortly after leaving Jacksonville, or Jax, as all the locals refer to it as, we passed The Jax Naval Air Station. The primary activity of this facility is antisubmarine warfare training. This is one of the sub hunters. It’s a 4-engine turbo prop. The probe thingy sticking out of the back of the plane is a “magnetic anomaly detector”. So it detects anything magnetic out of the ordinary, which may mean a sub lurking and spying.
We saw many of these helicopters too. They train in sono-bouy operations. They hover over the water and drop a cable into the water and practice listening for subs, or other vessels. It’s said that they often practice on passing boaters. Oh, oh!!
Our destination for the night was Palatka. The local Quality Inn has a nice dock, with power, for $45. They also throw in breakfast. After what we’ve been paying to marinas the last few months, this seems like an unreal bargain.
Couldn’t let the beautiful day go to waste so we put on some shorts and tee shirts (yeah!!!) and went to explore Palatka. We rode around the historic district. Most of the streets were made of brick.
This was one of many amazing homes we saw. The Live Oaks lined the streets and the air was sweet with spring blooming flowers. Almost expected Scarlett O’Hara to be sitting out on the porch.
This old church is St. Mark’s Episcopal. It was built in 1853. During the Civil War it was used as a Federal Army barracks. During which time it suffered considerable damage. The original building has been altered, but is still in use today.
Our bike ride took us down along the water and the public landing where we noticed sheriff’s cars from many different counties. Of course being snoopy and wondering what the heck was going on, we had to ask. Turns out they had over 25 divers out under the Palatka bridge looking for evidence in the 2007 shooting murder of a Dayton Beach woman. They must be using metal detectors because I would think the water is too dark to see in
After that bit of disturbing news, we appreciated the flowers in bloom that much more. Huge bushes of Azaleas are in bloom everywhere you look.
Palatka is known as “The City of Murals”. The murals depict the history, culture and treasures of the city.
This one is titled “To God Be the Glory” and is of Billy Graham. The Rev. Graham was baptized in Silver Lake, near Palatka. And his first pulpit was at the Peniel Baptist Church in east Palatka.
This mural is of the Putnam House, circa 1891. It is painted on the side of the original building. It was once a very elegant, prestigious hotel that took up an entire city block.
