St. John's River

Well, all the previous blogs have been written by Robin. But since she left our “cruise” to go on a “cruise” (you read that right) – it’s up to me to tell you what Moonshadow II has been up to the past 3+ weeks. We last left you in St. Augustine (the oldest continuous city in North America). Robin left for a 10+ day cruise with 18 other ladies to visit Portugal & Spain and so a couple of the “hubbies” (Pete Schmitz & Darryl Nelson) came down to Florida to join me (John) on Moonshadow II. We enjoyed a couple of nice evenings in St. Augustine – including watching MSU lose in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament at the Conch House Marina Lounge (a very cool spot). We then headed north up the ICW to Jacksonville and enjoyed a nice day in the pool and hot tub at Port 32. The three of us then headed south up the St. John’s River (one of the few rivers in the U.S. that flows from south to north for over 270 miles).

Our first stop was Palatka, FL where we anchored near Corky Bell's Seafood at Gator Landing and had a wonderful dinner. Unfortunately, Darryl’s father (Wes Nelson) had not been doing well and Darryl decided to leave the next morning to fly home to be with him. I’m sad to report that Wes has since passed away on April 10th,, 2023. I didn’t really know Wes very well but have gotten to know Darryl over the years and consider him one of my very close friends. I think you can often judge a person by their offspring, and if that is the case, then Wes was one hell of a man. Wes, your legacy lives on in your children and grandchildren - rest well!

Once we knew Darryl was safely on his way to the airport to head home, Pete and I continued up the St. John’s and eventually spent the next 5 nights at anchor. We visited “Blue Springs State Park” and swam near some manatees that were still there. The Blue Spring is just a hole in the ground that flows over 100 million gallons of crystal-clear fresh water out of it each day and dumps it into the St. John’s River. During the winter months, and because of the warmer (72 degree) water flowing out of the spring, it is a favorite spot for manatees to winter. In fact, in 2022 the number of wintering manatees skyrocketed to a record 724 in the Blue Springs State Park.

We eventually made it to Sanford, FL (made famous by the Trayvon Martin incident back in 2012), spent the evening at anchor there and visited the town. We then retraced our tracks back down the St. John’s River. We spent a night at Whitey’s Fish Camp on Doctor Lake – also known as the unofficial Southern Rock Band Hall of Fame where members of Lynyrd Skynyrd, .38 Special, Molly Hatchet, and other bands have been known to frequent.

After leaving Whitey’s we made it all the way to the Atlantic Ocean and spent an evening at Fort George Island Marina where we put our electric scooters to good use. Finally, we arrived back at Port 32 where we enjoyed a party that the marina was throwing for our return (just kidding) with free music, free beer, and free food – our kind of party! I was able to get Pete to the airport so he could catch up with his wife in Europe, pick up Robin from the airport on her way home, and then I flew out to Tucson, AZ to help our daughter Nicole drive back to Michigan after her 3-month travel nursing job out there. We had a great time driving back and visited the Queen Mine in Bisbee Arizona, watched a sunset at White Sands National Park in New Mexico, and visited Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota. It was a fantastic father-daughter trip!

Robin had a wonderful cruise on the Azamara Journey from Lisbon, Portugal to Barcelona, Spain. The weather and scenery were great and hanging with 18 other ladies was awesome! It was very special to share it with sister-in-law Ardis as her roommate!

Robin and I both eventually made it back to Port 32 to hop back on the boat and are now headed towards Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island. That will be our last official stop in Florida, and then on to Jekyll Island in Georgia to start our northern trek home up the ICW.