North Star on the Great Loop Journey: Blue Springs State Park not National

Preparing for the trip

Captain Jerry has been making the final preparations to North Star, our 32 foot Cape Island down east trawler. We are anxious to leave our landlubber lives behind and begin our long awaited journey around the Great Circle. Join us as we travel 10, 000 kilometers: through the historic Trent Severn Waterway; the pristine waters of Georgian Bay; the North Channel of lake Huron; and hop from beach to beach on lake Michigan. We will visit Chicago and begin our trek along the rivers: Illinois; upper Mississippi; Ohio; Cumberland: Tennessee; Tenn-Tom Waterway and the Black Warrior. We will have transited through 68 locks at this juncture. We have chosen the inner route from Mobile Alabama to Tarpon Springs Florida and the shorter Ocheechobee Waterway to reach the East coast of Florida. We will skip over to the Bahamas to wait out the winter before heading North on the Atlantic Inter Coastal Waterway.
The 10 years of researching and planning are finally at an end and we invite you to come along on our adventure.

Friday, March 16, 2012

Blue Springs State Park not National

We had a perfectly hot day to visit the deepest spring in Florida at 140 feet. The water is a constant 72 degrees so in winter when the St. Johns River is cold, the Manatee congregate here. We did not see any since the river is warmer than the spring right now. I did get a nice swim in and today we are going back to snorkel. It is a little cool but the water is so clear and there are no alligators.
We had a great night at anchor, it is firefly season and they were lighting up the trees. We could hear all kinds of grunting again as well as some hooting from owls. We are here with a houseboat and I am finding that to be a crowd since we are not used to sharing anchorages anymore. In Canada there would be 20 boats at one spot and I did not mind, I am spoiled.
There is mist rising off the water this morning as I watch young folks rowing in dragon boats. We are really enjoying this part of the St. Johns River, it is peaceful, full of wildlife and the spring green is everywhere. There is little habitation unlike the wider part north of Polatka.