Motor sailing for 3 days has been fun but exhausting. The little air cooled Honda 2 HP motor is like having a lawn mower always running next to you.
The biggest disappointment today was no wind. Especially as we crossed Lake Monroe which has become my home turf for sailing. Also the sun continues to beat down on us. So far I have avoided getting sun burn. Still there were several high points today so let me start at the begining.
Our night on Lake Harney was uneventful, at least once we hid from the midge hatch. I tried to sleep below deck but it was too uncomfortable dealing with the center board. I gave up a little after midnight and slept on the new hatch lid. It was actually very pleasant compared to being below. The mosquito net did its job and on deck I felt a nice breeze all night. We did have one visitor. It was around 3 AM. Probably a fisherman setting some lines.
Crossing Lake Harney and going north brought about a big change in scenery. More buildings lined the river. There were now channel markers leading the path. More and more boats. No bad. Just different.
Johnathan got into the Buff crazy today. I gave him one of my extras so he could give his a face a rest from the sun.
One of my goals for this trip was to get some photos of Bald Eagles. I thought that the good shots would come south of 46 but the only ones we saw were off in the distance and flying further away. I got very very lucky on this section of the river with two opportunities. The first was two egles in a tree and then a single bird on top of an dead palm tree and then in flight. Awesome birds!
Our first stop was a resturaunt at the 415 bridge called Gators Riverside Grill. They filled us up with ice but we still had enough gas to motor on. I put this place on my list to come back and eat at one day soon. Next to the restaurant is also a marina. They had this funky advertisement on the side of the building. Mail Pouch Tobacco. It had all kinds of cool old Florida character.
We crossed Lake Monroe at about noon. I was very disappointed that we didn't have enough wind to sail with any decent speed. I tried. I could see the American flag in Sanford showing signs of a breeze but it wasn't happening on the lake. Multiple times I shut the motor down and felt for breeze that just wasn't there. I was also a little disapointed that we had reached this point early. I had hoped that we would have arrived here in the evening to sail with the Lake Monroe Sailing Association's Wednesday Night Rum Race.
Making it to I-4 signified 100 miles so far. As we made our way under I-4 we encountered our biggest traffic obstacle yet. The river ship Romance. The picture makes it look like we were clear but moments before this we were on an course to meet under the bridge. We both thought better of it and rounded up. Johnathan quickly snuck past after the bigger boat was through.
Our intent was to make it to Blue Springs to finally go swimming after three sweaty days on the river but the weather didn't cooperate. As we passed the Wekiva River and marker 96 we were being overtaken by dark clouds. The Swamp House at High Banks was right there so we elected to pull in and have a bite to eat while waiting out the storm. The food here is good but expensive. Two cheeseburgers and soda ended up being a $22 lunch.
By the time we got back on the water it was too late to make it to Blue Springs and the weather had cooled off. Instead we headed for Hontoon Island which is where I sit writing this post. We really didn't have to stay here. Its another unforseen expense but it has clean showers. And Electric which is recharging my laptop right now. Enjoy the pics. Tomorrow may be our last day heading north.......
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