Palatka to Hontoon SP (St. John’s)








Our friend, Nagui. His electric motor quit. 






Tim and Martha







After leaving Palatka, we headed to Astor, Florida.  We crossed Lake George, it was a bit windy, but we managed just fine.  The river is fairly large but it narrows the closer we get to Sanford/ Orlando. 

We are loving the St. John’s River!  We’re traveling with our friends, Nagui on Boundless and Tim and Martha on Margin.  The river runs opposite of most so even though we’re heading south - think Orlando/Sanford, the river is running north.  It’s hard to get used too - I don’t think I ever did.  Anyway, there’s a lot of free docks and anchorages in the St. John’s.  With the dog, docks are much easier and if they’re free, that’s the best.

On our way to Hontoon Island State Park, we stopped at Dennis  Robbins and Laurie’s home on the river.  They were sooo nice and welcoming to the 3 boats!  We all were able to stay on a neighbor’s dock wall.  They fixed dinner for us in their lovely home and gave us so much information about the St. John’s River.  They also own a Rosborough - a boat like ours.  When we purchased this boat, the previous owner told us about the Rosborough family and how kind and welcoming Rosborough owners are - it’s true!  We’re planning on coming back to go to Silver Glen Springs with other Rosborough owners in a couple of days.  

After leaving Dennis and Laurie’s, we cruised to Hontoon Island State Park, The park is still recovering from Hurricane Ian shooting it’s only open for day use.  We stayed at a marina across from the state park for a couple of nights. 

One day, we took a 10 mile day cruise, on our dinghies around the island - a “jungle” cruise as it is sometimes referred to.  We saw mor alligators, birds, turtles, etc. than we’ve seen.  It was fun!  We also know that about 9 miles is as far as we can travel with the dinghy motor.  Jeff brought extra gas in case we ran out - good thinking - because we ran out of gas!

We went to Blue Springs State Park and saw quite a few manatees.  The water was gorgeous - Crystal clear!  And if course, we hiked around Hontoon Island State Park - we had a fun 2 days!




  

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