March 6,7,8, 2023 Morrison Island, Welaka and 7 Sisters

Mon. March 6, 2023  River Forest Loop to Morrison Island - 17 miles

Woke up to a bit of fog. Really wasn't that bad and had burned off by 9:30. But it gave us an excuse to sleep in a bit longer.  No hurry to get started due to another relatively short travel day, 

Good to be back cruising on a weekday and be free of heavy boater traffic.  Just a few fishermen out in their skiffs. center consoles, or bass boats and most of them were anchored or trolling close to shore. This is mostly winding natural river so not much to do but look at the river, the woods and the variety of birds on shore.  As we approached civilization and the Astor Highway Bridge we hailed and received an opening.   Rather be cautious with this bridge.  Books say 20' height, height board said 22'.  We're 21.5' so too close for comfort.

Waiting on Astor Hiway Bridge opening

Around a few more bends and we see the old tug "Tiger" anchored off the channel.  We had noticed it heading south and now it piqued our interest.  Come to find out it is a WW2 tug built downriver in the town of Deland.  They built 29 of them during the war.  This one was supposedly used on D-Day.  A couple in Sweden owned it and donated it to the Volutia County historical society as a display.  It was shipped over from Sweden and has been moving down the St. Johns. Wound up here stuck in some mud.  Now waiting for high water to return in the fall before hopefully making its final transit. Still has its original engine and original top structure making it a true survivor.  We always enjoy learning about these little bits of local history during our waterway travels.

Tug "Tiger" waiting to get moved to Deland

She does have a bit of a list while sitting on the bottom.

Reminded us of the logo for our favorite craft brewery on Johns Island

A few more turns and we anchored again at the north entrance of Morrison Island.   Big gator floated by shortly after anchoring and grunted from the woods all night.  Needless to say, no swimming for us.

Gator!!

Journey for March 6, 2023

Tues. March 7, 20203  Morrison Island to Welaka - 26 miles

We had gotten so used to making these 1-2 hour cruises that today felt like a long travel day although it was actually barely half a day.  Made the run across Lake George without issue.  Our navigation program was showing shallow water - sometimes just 3-4' in the marked channel just as you come onto the lake.   I had called the local TowBoatUS for guidance.  When told we had 4.5' draft the reply was "Yeah, you should be OK".  Not the warm fuzzy feeling I wanted and so we deviated and used an alternate channel we discovered when coming south from Silver Glen Spring.  Had 7' at the lowest so all was good. Then back around into the proper channel and we had 10'.  

Our detour around the shallow marked channel

That was it for our drama for the day. Little bit of breeze but it kept things comfortable as our final days of 80 degree weather appears to be coming to an end.  Unbelievable weather we've had on this trip but a bit cooler and wind arriving tonight.

Beautiful weather, beautiful scenery once off Lake George

Journey for March 7, 2023

March 8, 20203  Welaka to 7 Sisters - 6 miles

Just a short hop up to 7 Sisters.  Less than an hour cruise.  Much better protection from the NE winds blowing 15-20.   We even had a bit of a chop and a few small whitecaps hitting us in the bow during one particularly open fetch.  Even dug out the sweatshirts to be comfortable on the flybridge. 

Little bit of wind blown chop on the water today

Biggest surprise today was seeing 3 looper boats heading south.  Leave it to Wally, Port O Gee and Zeitgeist.  Waved, took their pictures and messaged them on Nebo with the picture.  Always fun to see other loopers in our travels who share in these adventures.

Leave it to Wally - Albin 32 Trawler

Port-O-Gee - 34' Mainship Pilot

Zeigeist - 29' Ranger Tug

We stayed here 2 nights hoping to see a couple of rocket launches.   Today we were waiting for the Relativity space launch.  First launch for this company who are fabricating 3D printed rockets. Really interesting use of this technology.  Supposed to launch at 1pm but pushed off a few times. Finally scrubbed.  Thought we could see the SpaceX launch the next day.  Went off without a hitch but nothing we could see despite blue skies. We like the night launches better for visibility.  Speaking of night - great viewing of stars and the full moon rising.

Full moon rising over our anchorage

Journey for March 8, 20203