Feb. 20, 2023 Black Creek to Corky Bells

Mon. Feb 20, 2023 Black Creek to Corky Bells

We wound up spending 4 nights at anchor in Black Creek. Weather picked up a bit as expected overnight on Thursday into Friday. Forecast was rain and a significant drop in temps as a front passed through. We had less rain than expected but pretty constant SW winds. Then it swapped to the NW, N, and NE as we spent a cool day bundled up just chillin. Winds continued blowing Sat. so decided to stay put another day. Sunday finally was a nice day with temps into the 80's and sunshine so we decided to hang another day and get some exercise with the kayak. Seems everybody with a boat or jet ski had decided it was a good day to go out too. Our quiet little anchorage was rocked until dusk.

Peaceful anchorage on Black Creek

Paddling along looking for - and finding - gators

Nice view while out kayaking

Monday we finally headed out towards Palatka. We had options here. Possibly go into town and head for The Ravines State Park for a walk about. Either use the free city dock to tie up or possibly anchor out and dingy to the dock. Another option was to go across the river to East Palatka and tie up at Corky Bells Seafood. They have a long dock that's pretty protected and they allow you to stay overnight as long as you eat at the restaurant. The trip from Black Creek to Palatka is pretty underwhelming. The river is wide so little to see on either side. We let Otto do most of the work. The river will start narrowing after Palatka. Still - just a nice day to be boating. Virtually no traffic and warm enough that we operated from the flybridge.

Martha taking a turn at the helm while John does engine checks below.

Got to Palatka and American Cruise Lines had their ship tied to the city docks, so that option was out. Unobstructed wind was blowing a steady 15 with higher gusts making anchoring less feasible - especially if we would need to launch the dingy for a shore excursion. Best option was to head around the bend to the dock at Corky Bells. A little better protection and we had the dock entirely to ourselves. Good drinks and food and we even got in a quick walk to a local grocery store for a few more fresh veggies.