CG Live! Eagles, Alligators & Osprey

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Tuesday morning we got a late start from the marina. The weather was threatening, a cold front was on the way. The brown water of St. Johns River was full of white caps, making it difficult to dodge the crab traps. We would make a bend in the river and the waves would flatten out for a while, then it would open up and be choppy again. The rain was intermittent, but it never really rained hard, nor did it last long.

We passed Green Cove Springs in the gray weather, knowing that it was probably quite pretty in the sunshine. We’ll take pictures of it on the way back north. Before we got to the bridge just north of GCS, we saw two Coast Guard helicopters fly overhead. Then we noticed one of them was chasing a boat that was zig-zagging across the water at a high rate of speed. The helicopter would chase, then shine a light on it, and the boat would stop. Then the boat would take off again and the helicopter would chase. We realized they were doing drills, which was confirmed when we saw that the boat said “Coast Guard” on its side. Did I mention that we saw three law enforcement boats on the ICW north of St. Augustine practicing stopping and boarding?

We anchored south of Bayard Point and the sun came out and the clouds thinned and disappeared. It was a beautiful, unspoiled spot, we saw no other boats until after dark. Then it was another helicopter/boat chase, this time in the dark. When the chopper shined his light on the boat, it stopped. Then the helicopter circled for a while and the boat turned on his blue lights every once in a while, I guess to show that they were the good guys. I didn’t know you got live entertainment like this on the St. Johns.

Wednesday morning we got an earlier start on another glorious day. The St. Johns is a beautiful river, with miles of natural shoreline. I didn’t think there was this much virgin land in Florida. We passed by Palatka, then had to wait for a train at a railroad bridge. While waiting we watched flocks of snowy egrets flying overhead and down to the water.

Most of the channel markers we passed today had huge birds nests on them, made of sticks and twigs and festooned with streamers of Spanish moss. Most of them were occupied by Osprey. I’ve never seen so many osprey. We saw bald eagles, too, one flew over the boat after having swooped down for a fish. During the last few miles of the day we saw several alligators swimming along the edge of the river. Woohoo, we’re getting into the wilderness now!

We anchored south of Welaka in Little Lake George by Mud Creek Cove, where we watched more osprey, a couple of eagles, and some seagulls swooping for fish. Another beautiful anchorage.

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Photos

Storm clouds leaving
looking south from our anchorage Tuesday

Coast Guard
this is a bit far away for a good picture

clouds leaving
beautiful skies

Palatka Yacht Club
that's what it says on the houseboat

Osprey nest
on channel marker, one bird in the nest, the other on the sign

railroad bridge
opening for us after train passed

Wednesday night anchorage
mud creek cove

Comments

[GMHixson]

Wednesday
WOW---cool picture of the bald eagle---isn't it fun watching them? Not like AK, but still---we're enjoying the adventure, keep up the good work with the blog, the pictures are wonderful---makes us think we're there with you!!!

[peggy]

ooooohhh / aaaahhhhh!! loverly!!!! miss you!

[Tommy]

Yawn
We have everything but the alligators here.