Cruising Florida in May

[Tom Little]

We have owned our new TomCat a little less than a year and have cruised only a dozen nights and about 60 hours on the engines. Last week we began our first serious cruise from our west coast Florida home to the St Johns river. The round trip distance is about 1000 miles.
We departed Punta Gorda and traveled to Ft Myers via the east side of Pine Island. This rarely used passage had no less than 3 feet over the worst bars and averaged 5 ft. We had this route to ourselves along with the porpoise and birds.
The locks on the Okeechobee Waterway are on limited openings because of the low water in Lake Okeechobee caused by Florida's continuing eight year drought. So we spent the second night at Roland Martin's Marina in Clewiston. It was free beer night on Friday with Millers giving away their new "64" as an introductory spectacular. Needless to say, the Tiki Bar at the marina was jumping.
The next day we crossed the lake with the wind blowing 15-18 and gusts to 25. The TomCat handled the 2 ft waves with a lot of spray and we made the last lock in time to get to Stuart by noon. We had planned to stay off the route on the weekends to avoid the overcrowded waterway. At the Riverwatch Marina they ran a big rent-a-boat business with apparently the only qualification was how many of your family you could get aboard.
On Monday we cruised north to Eau Galie. Tuesday we continued to Daytona Beach. This is my wife's home town and we will stay several days.
So far, we have traveled about 306 miles in 6 days in relatively short legs. We have traveled this route many times over the last 23 years, but in our large sailboat and even larger trawler. It is a real pleasure to run at a fast cruising speed over sometimes boring stretches of the ICW.
Our TomCat has been set up primarily for cruising with a roof top air conditioner, inverter, inverter batteries, and a Honda generator. We are traveling heavy with food, ice chest, engine oil and books,books,books. Although we have placed as much weight forward as practical, the scupper drains are close to the waterline. When two friends came over the other night, the cockpit flooded a little bit when they stepped aboard.
Our two stroke Evinrude E-Tec 150 are delivering a little less than 2 mpg. At 3500 rpm we cruise at 25mph and are burning a gallon of oil for each 88 gal of gas. One day we ran at 4500 rpm to cross the lake and meet lock schedlues and cruised at 37 mph. At that speed the the gasoline consumption stayed constant but the oil consumption doubled.
More to follow.

[Molly Brown]

From my crew to yours....A safe and enjoyable trip. We crossed the state over the New Year holiday but made a right at Stuart and headed to the Keys. We did spend 2 weeks on the St.John's over the same holiday 2 years prior and it was wonderful. You've got the "cat's meow" (boat) for a trip like this. What will you do with all that extra money you'll save vis a vis the trawler? Glad to hear your out and about with the new boat and hope you will find yourself content with the choice. Looking forward to your posts and hopefully some pictures as well. At the very least, we'll be looking for your to lead the Peace River and the Saturday Night Before Christmas boat parades! Fair Seas, James

[drjohn71a]

Thanks for posting Tom,

I was wondering how those big E-Tec's would perform. Aren't they a little lighter than the Honda 150's?

I know that heavily laden/scupper back flow can be unnerving now and then, but I have had no performance nor safety problems so far.

Keep on posting!

John

[Tom Little]

The E-Tec two cycles are about 50 lbs lighter than the Honda 150s. The big selling point is the reduced maintainence and the long warranty.

On the ICW we have had to contend with the 6 ft+ wakes by large fast motoryachts. We were airborn on our first attempts to pass. Now these yachts moving at 15-18 knots keep us behind. We have had some success in asking them for a low speed pass, but we sometimes have to wait til a wide lagoon appears such that we can get well away.

When meeting the big wakes we found that moving laterally to the wakes causes steep careening and some potential danger. Now we meet the wakes at dead stop, ride over the first wave with lots of power, go to neutral and repeat the action for each wave. IF we do not follow this procedure, we ride over the first wave and take the next over the foredeck and around the pilothouse.

The winds continue to blow out of the SE at 18-21 knots but the gusts have moderated. We will leave Daytona Beach on Friday for St Augustine.

[marvin4239]

Tom glad to hear you are enjoying your trip. A heads up on Saint Augustine Saturday they are having a Crawfish Festival. I don't know much about it or exactly where it is. I may cruise down for the day for lunch at Osteen's Seafood. I'll keep and eye out for you. Leaving St Augustine north between the Bridge of Lions and the next bridge there is some shoaling be sure to stay within the day markers which are kind of tricky. Basicly bare to the starboard as if you are going out the inlet. Beyond that it's a pretty easy trip up to the Saint Johns. Have a safe trip.

[Tom Little]

Thanks for the heads up on the Crawfish Festival. We will be in St Augustine all weekend at the Municipal Marina, if it is not to rough.

The Scandvik plumbing fixtures in our TomCat terminate in a thread size that appears to be "English Standard" The factory screwed the hose adapters with "american" thread with massive amounts of teflon tape. The occasional rough ride has caused those fittings to leak. Attempts to tighten them works for a little while. Another boater here in Daytona Beach had the same problem on his Carver Motor Yacht. He said that West Marine sells and adapter which allows regular "american" threaded fittings to screw on properly. The local store here was out of stock. Will try again in St Augustine and JAX.

We run out of fresh water faster than we should with a 30 gallon tank. Today I discovered that with the load we are carrying, the stern is well depressed. The fill and vent hoses on our tank are on the aft end. Hence, we leave an air bubble in the front of the tank and can fill it only about 2/3. So we are carrying only about 21 gallons of fresh water.

[denny-o]

The Scandvik plumbing fixtures in our TomCat terminate in a thread size that appears to be "English Standard" The factory screwed the hose adapters with "american" thread with massive amounts of teflon tape. The occasional rough ride has caused those fittings to leak.
***************************************************************

If that is indeed the case, it is not acceptable... If it were my boat I would surely bring it to the factory's attention...
Perhaps someone on here will bring it to their attention...

[Tom Little]

Traveling up the ICW was a real pleasure today with little traffic. This was the first time that we have cruised our TomCat in almost perfectly smooth waters. Always before we were contending with the slap of the chop on the hulls. Now all we heard was the low hum of the E-tecs.
Today was the first time we have been passed while underway. We cruise at 25 mph which is the speed limit for much of the ICW. On an unlimited section a Donzi passed us to my great surprise. It was a temptation to unlease my 300 horses which usually run at about half throttle and show him what a real boat can do.
Jacksonville is a heavy industrial port. There was no ships moving, but lots loading/unloading cargo. There was only one short no wake zone which was being patrolled by US Customs. The wide St Johns extends all the way to Palatka.
We had planned to refuel at Palatka, but all gas docks were closed. We turned back downstream to Chrystal Cove Marina and got gas an a place to stay for the night. The temperature reached 94 this afternoon and hanging on the hook was not an option.
Weather forecast is for a front to blow through tomorrow, but we will continue south as the river becomes narrow and less subject to wind. Meanwhile at the dock, the 15 knots is blowing off the stern and splashing in the cockpit. Should shift tonight.

[Tom Little]

The shores are covered with houses and the river is covered with crab trap markers. Lake George is 10 miles long and 5 miles wide and 7 feet deep. Easy crossing in chop. Anchored in Morrison Creek, an oxbow of the old river in perfect solitude, except for the wildlife. There are many oxbows left over when the river channel was straightened and the deep ones provide excellent anchoring. The bottom is black mud and very sticky. We try to anchor in 4-6 ft to reduce the scope necessary which leaves less to clean when leaving.
Next day continued on to Hontoon State Park with a lovely $8 marina, which overlooks comercial rent-a-boat establishments. This part of the river is given to fishermen, houseboats and pontoon boats.
Next day explored Lake Brelsford before continuing upstream south to Lake Monroe. The section of the river between Hontoon and Blue Springs State Park is the best of the St Johns in my opinion.

[marvin4239]

Tom congratulations on your trip. If you intend to dock at the Sanford Marina if given a choice pick the north side the birds seem to congregate on the south side and can be pretty annoying. Don't forget the frozen raccoon at the IGA store. On another note if you plan to go back North of Jacksonville I just read the Fernandina Harbor Marina caught fire last night and is without power or water. I don't know the extent of the damage but do know one crusier was burnt to the water line.

[thataway]

Don't know how I missed this one--but the British Standard Thread issue has been brought to the C Dory factory in 2006, shortly after I purchased my boat--lots of "Bostick" to "seal them". I got new BST--fittings, and got an adaptor--don't remember where. I cannot comment on the newer boats.

This is truely one of the best times of year for boating in the N. Florida waters. (also GA and S. Carolina) Just starting to get hot, but cool evenings. Enjoy your posts and sounds like a great trip.

[Tom Little]

We cruised up the Hontoon as far as we could go, a distance of about 7 miles. The first mile or two was occupied by fishermen and houseboats, then we had the river to ourselves. The banks are covered by old growth cypress which in turn are draped with spanish moss. Altogether a very scenic cruise. Anchoring is possible anywhere and solitude is guaranteed. We had hoped to return to the St Johns via one of the drainage canals. The charts show 4 ft. The trees have overgrown the canals such that TomCat was too tall.
We headed north to Seven Sisters across Lake George and anchored for the night. Since the cool front blew through a coupe of days ago, we have had day time temps in the upper seventies and nights in the sixties. The bugs are not a problem. We have had no no-sees and few mosquitoes. Quite a contrast from our SW Florida home. We were told that the bugs arrive in June, then look out. Our boat is covered with a heavy dusting of bugs each morning but they did not bother us.
Tidal flow begins about Little Lake George with about a 6 inch difference. With the salinity change, the crab pots return. The river widens out and unspoiled nature is gone once we approach Palatka, so we will run to Jacksonville for the night.

[Tom Little]

We have completed our cruise the length up and back on the St Johns River, from industrial Jacksonville to Lake Monroe. The wide northern river is lined with homes and commercial establishments that continue until Little Lake George. The relatively natural sections from Buffaloe Bluffs RR bridge to Lake Monroe are lined with cypress trees and spanish moss. The oxbows and tributaries are largely very scenic although houseboats and fishermen compete for your solitude.
The waters are stained brown I expect from the cypress trees. We had hoped to swim and dive but the visibility is terrible. The alligators were everywhere and they did not make us feel comforted. At the state park springs, the signs said no swimming in order to not molest the gators.
All together the St Johns did not compare favorably with other rivers we have cruised in Florida, such as the Lostman's River in the Ten Thousand Islands or the Shark River in the Everglades. We saw the same wildlife, but in lesser quantities that on other rivers.
However, cruising anywhere is great fun. After cruising the SE US, Bahamas and Carribean in our much larger boats, my wife says that our TomCat is her very favorite. The easy handling along side or anchoring, the speed to cover sometimes boring distances with ease, and the relative comfort of this boat make it special to us.
Now we are headed homeward bound to complete this 1000 mile cruise.