Adventures of Boreas: Day 264 – Palatka, FL to anchorage at Morrison Island near Astor, FL

The St. John’s River is an amazing place to travel. This definitely feels like a river – it reminds us of our travels this past fall on the Tennessee and the Tenn-Tom. There is lots of tannin in the water so it is a dark brown color – not muddy or dirty looking, just brown. We left Palatka this morning and traveled 35 miles to Lake George where we stopped for a visit to Silver Glen Springs Run. It is very shallow near shore where the spring feeds into the lake, so we anchored about three-quarters of a mile off shore, then joined Frank and Carrie in their dingy for the trip to shore and up the spring. As soon as we got to where the spring empties into Lake George the water immediately got clearer – just a few yards up the run and the water was crystal clear. We took the dinghy as far up the run as they would let us and then we tied it to shore and walked the rest of the way in. We were able to swim right over the spring. The water over the spring was about 20 feet deep and the most amazing crystal blue color. With the mask and snorkel we could swim right over the spring and watch the water bubble up from underground.

We thought about spending the night right there, anchored in Lake George, but the wind came up and we decided to find a more protected anchorage. We moved just a few more miles up the St. John’s River and anchored next to Morrison Island. This is a great anchorage. We arrived just before sunset and enjoyed watching (and listening) to the wildlife settle in for the night. We saw (and heard) alligators, frogs, herons, coots, egrets and lots of other birds. It was a beautiful peaceful night at anchor. Not only were the moon and stars bright, the evening was lighted by fireflys.

Miles: 41.5 Bridges: 1 Locks: 0