Murphy

Leaving Jacksonville behind, we passed Maxwell House, which we could smell every day

This is Jacksonville Landing, downtown in the background, and the Irish Pub to the far right

Eight forty five Friday morning we untied from Metropolitan Park with the help of "SaSea Sally", whom we met in Marathon.  At ten o'clock we stopped at Lambs Yacht Center for fuel and pump out.  This is our first fill up since Fort Myers Beach back in December.  I thought this was where we had boat work done back in 2009, but once we pulled into the Ortega River neither one of us recognized anything.  I guess that boat work was done in Doctors Lake like Ray thought.  Forty minutes later we were headed back out of Ortega River, but had to wait for a train at the railroad bridge this time.
Four hours later we dropped anchor in Palmo Cove.  We decided not to try the Outback Crab Shack.  Maybe on the way back.  It is hard to believe that its address is St. Augustine.  We can't be going in circles.
Saturday morning we departed just a bit earlier than yesterday.  We had to bypass Palatka this time.  They were having a bass tournament and had the city docks blocked off for them.  They were supposed to be done at 3:00 p.m., but we were too early.  We took a look at Corky Bell's Seafood restaurant at Gator Landing, but it looked a little more upscale than we were expecting.  We continued south.  You could tell it was getting closer to 3:00 p.m. when bass boats were racing towards Palatka coming out of every nook and cranny you could see and couldn't see.
We turned up Dunns Creek, then off into Murphy Creek that wound around Murphy Island.  It did not take long to spot alligators.  The first one was sunning itself on a fallen tree.  We continued about a third of the way up where we found a nice wide spot with shallow water.  Perfect for anchoring, especially compared to some of the very deep spots there were in some of the turns.
We laughed because one of the comments we read about this anchorage said it was boring.  We like boring.  Nothing can happen if it is boring.  We were not bored though.  We spotted our second alligator of the day swimming across the creek mid afternoon.  There were various fishing and ski boats going by periodically, then later in the evening a group of several canoes came by.  Each of the sporadic groups was funny in their own way.  It seemed to be a group of boys with a few adult males.  They mentioned camp, but we never figured out where that was.  Probably on the main river, which we bypassed by going this way.  Anyway, the first group asked if they were half way yet.  The second group hollered "Hello fellow seafarers!" in unison.  We overheard the third group say "I think this is a lot farther than my dad thought it was."  The straggling group was having a tough time staying motivated.  Once they got going again one of the boys was singing a funny repetitive type song.  We hope they made it back to camp safe before dark.  We spotted a couple more alligators just before nightfall.
It was such a still and peaceful anchorage.  Not a sound to be heard besides the wildlife.  I was sleeping perfectly well when Ray asked be at about 5:00 a.m. if I heard that noise.  In my grogginess I asked him if it was the sound like distant thunder.  After coming awake some more I realized there was not a chance of rain any where around.  He informed me that it sounded like something more prehistoric as he got up to investigate.  I asked then if he thought it was a dinosaur, being funny.  He replied more seriously, "No, more like a dragon."  I got so tickled at the idea that he woke me up at 5:00 a.m. to tell me he heard a dragon?!  After settling back in bed, it did happen a few minutes later.  He was right, it did sound like what you would imagine to be a dragon breathing.  I assumed it had to be an alligator, but it did sound like it must have been close enough to hear it breathe.  He got up again and tried shining them, but only spotted one in which he said was far behind the boat.  Getting back to sleep took a little bit, but once we did, we didn't wake up again until late in the morning for us.  We couldn't believe not a single boat had gone by yet.  We made breakfast first, and then just as we turned off the generator we heard that sound again.  Still a mystery, we made jokes all day as to what it might have been.
We finally got underway this morning just before 10:00 a.m. with all of our exciting delays, including two more alligators spotted before we pulled up anchor.  We continued around Murphy Island via Murphy Creek, seeing several more alligators.  They continued to be noticed throughout most of the day.
Once we reached Lake George, I believe the second or third largest lake in Florida, we turned more westerly and headed for Salt Cove.  We anchored near the mouth of Salt Creek just before 3:00 p.m.  We almost immediately got the dinghy down and headed up the creek four miles to the head at Salt Springs.  I thought I had been to every spring in and around central Florida, but could not remember this one until we got there.  It seems I was here as a child possibly with a church group or something.  Anyway, the spring water was so beautifully clear compared to the tannin water we have seen for a while now.  We had mentioned wearing bathing suits before we left, but thought the water would be too cold.  Once we were there we wished we would have done that and brought an anchor.  Some boats were anchored in less than waist deep water.  We got our entertainment instead though by watching people get their boats back on their trailers at the boat ramp.  We purposely sat there for a little while just to laugh.

The spring water, probably at least twenty feet deep here.

Two bald eagles in trees above the fishermen spotted on our way out.

When we returned to "The Second Noelle" at about 6:00 p.m. Lake George was a little rougher than when we anchored with the east winds increasing, so we moved about a mile and a half back to the west side of Drayton Island near Kinsley Point for calmer water, although the winds are predicted to decrease throughout the night.  It has been nice so far in the evenings though having enough breeze to keep bugs away and perfectly cool temperatures for sleeping.