03/03 - 03/05 - Hontoon Island CBGT Deland, Florida

If the stars align and the snow gods permit it looks like I'll make it to the Gathering. Busy cutting cardboard for the auction. Meri Aura will need dockage. Do we go through the State Park system to book a space as we did last year? My dates are not firm, but I hope to arrive a few days ahead of time to enjoy putting on my favorite river.

Pat Clow
Meri Aura
 
Great Pat! We both will enjoy seeing you again! Right on, with the auction! Fun and a good cause. (Plus we get a few more "pieces of stuff" out of the garage!
 
Everyone! Less than 2 months to go till we get together at Hontoon. I’m going to ask everyone that’s attending to do two things.

1)If you have not signed up on the C-Brats Event signup please do so.

2) fill out our Online registration on this link. https://form.jotform.com/60634279765163
This will save time at the gathering.

Also....If you want to reserve a site you can do so at Reserve America

https://www.reserveamerica.com/explore/ ... 8/overview

There will be ample docking available but if your looking for a favorite dock....

Don’t miss out on the Best C-Dory Gathering in Florida. Yes....It’s the only one. Still looking for a couple more guest speakers.
 
Forfun1960":23on0mhz said:
Also it is worth bringing the Dinghy?
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We take our dinghy because we have a dog. We also like to take the dinghy birding. We use the Torqeedo electric motor, at slow speed, and camera with telephoto lens. Some great birds in the area. (Hontoon Dead River)

We will probably leave home on Thursday, and launch mid day Friday.
There are a lot of places to go. You don't have to have a dinghy. There are docks some places, some springs are great to wade/swim. I would not recommend DeLeon Springs without a person who has been there before guiding you. Also the water has to be high enough to get in there. The feature is the Grist Mill pancake house. Some go there on Saturday night, have early Sunday Breakfast, and leave Monday Morning.

Silver Glen Springs off Lake George is nice off Lake George. Don't take a short cut. Stay in deep water until you are nearly directly abeam of the entrance. There are PVC pipes and a few buoys. There will be some Bow hunting boats at night (may be at De Leon also). The water is very clear, and 72* year around.

Blue Springs is just a short distance up the River from Hontoon. Keep going South on the River and several good anchorages, on the way to Sanford. There is marina at Sanford, and a town which is nice. German Food at the Hollerbach's Willow Tree Café 205 E 1st street. Again, look at your charts for depths and keep in the channels.

There are lots of very interesting homes all along the river and side branches. Welaka is North of Hontoon, and has a free town dock. There is "Shrimp R Us More" is about 4 blocks inland. If the main restaurant is not open you can get a limited menu at the bar in a palapa outside.

Almost to Palataka is "Corky Belle's Seafood at Gator Landing". Excellent food with dock.

On Hontoon there are nature trails and great vistas. Usually one of the rangers does a special talk/ walk / van ride for those who cannot walk the walk...during our gathering.
 
Like Bob, if all goes as planned for us, we'll likely launch on Friday afternoon as well. And stay for a week or slightly more after the gathering. Assuming we aren't iced or snowed in here in Wisconsin, and barring some health issues facing us. This is probably one of the best gatherings in protected waters with great scenery and birding. Blue Springs is well worthwhile to visit. There is no dockage there, but most of us just beach our boats at the edge of the shore. There is a small park fee for walkins of a few bucks. Blue Springs is where the Manatee's winter, and depending upon the water temps, may or may not still be in there. Still a nice park to visit with it's intrepretive signs all the way back to the actual springs on a nice board walk. We love the pancake place in DeLeon Springs, and will try to get there over the weekend, if as Bob says, the water is high enough. I've been back there several times, and you're welcome to follow us in if we go. Plan to launch at Ed Stone park. Free launch and none of us to my knowledge have had any issues with leaving our rigs there for a few weeks. (Just park in the grass closest to the highway.) Mind your speeds/wakes except for in very few places, as most of the waterway(s) are slow or no wake at the time of the year the gathering is, due to the Manatees. Also, if you haven't fueled up the boat yet, Alabama tends to have the cheapest fuel on the way down from the midwest. I prefer to run through Montgomery rather than Atlanta! You'll likely spot other C-Dory's when you get there. If not, just go on down to Hontoon and someone there will know where others might be. :) Colby
 
Reminder to gather up the “boat treasures” for the fund raising auction for Hontoon Island State Park. I’ve put somethings together like a battery charger, poly-glow products, bilge alarm etc. A inflatable boat and other treasures are already at the park waiting for your bids. Pat Clow plans on being there to head this up.

Also beside the auction items bring a true short story of the scariest or dumbest thing you ever did on your C-Dory. We can all learn from others. I’ll have a hard time limiting myself to one! We will share at one of our campfires.

Joyce and I were at Hontoon yesterday as volunteers and saw that we have our first C-Dory there. Bill and Becky on the Blue Days are Marina Hosts. The water level looks good at this time to go to DeLeon Springs for pancakes.

I’ll be posting more over the next few weeks as we get closer to the Gathering. Tom
 
Forfun,
Hontoon Island State Park Marina rents canoes for very reasonable prices. If you want to leave the dingy at home and save space that's a good option for exploring the nearby Hontoon Dead River without firing up the yacht.

Tom,
If you have a Best Kitchen Gadget contest, we'll bring the 316 Stainless Steel 3 blade Turtle Shucker.

Also plan Friday PM launch, coming up from Calusa Island marina below Marco Island side trip. We enjoyed the Deep Creek post meet trip 2 years ago and will have 7-10 days. The Garmin 8212 only holds 500 tracks, and that one's been overwritten. We must be over-using this boat with over 500 tracks in 18 months. Mysterious.

Cheers!
John
 
I can send you my track for that one John! :-) (I keep them all in separate files and just load them on depending which water body I'm on.) I enjoyed that trip also. Too bad we couldn't get any farther south, but then maybe that gives us mind to try it again, maybe this year? Perhaps in the Kayaks if not in the C-Dorys. BTW, I sent you a personal email. Let me know if you don't get it. Colby
 
I think that Thisaway and Molly Brown are the only two of the current C Brats to have gone up the Econlockhatchee River. I would love to find the entrance to that again...Thataway being slightly deeper draft. But once we found the opening and used some logic..we found our way. Anyone taking a drone? This is where it might really pay off.
 
Much as I wanted to be first to explore the Econ our first attempt was unsuccessful. Thisaway and I were able to get up there but only after Bill and Becky on Blue Days beat us to it. Those two are living my dream before I canget there, LOL
Really looking forward to seeing everyone...it’s been much too long,
James
 
James, Thanks for reminding me that we did see Bill and Becky on the way up. I had not discussed with them how far they got. We went past Highway 13 bridge, but stopped at the Florida Trail/Old Railroad bridge. It might be fun to take the dinghy up further.

Hopefully the water vegetation will be diminished enough that we can make it up to the mouth of the Econ.

For those who have not done the Econ, it is a "wild" river, mostly canoes and kayaks, (although there are a few videos of PWC's). The current is minimal and there are a number of false rivers and bends. A set of satellite photos helps with navigation. The land is mostly thru the Little Econ State Forrest. There are cows and horses grazing on the lower part flat lands. As you go South (up river) there are steeper banks, and it becomes heavily forested. There is a hiking trail and a waterway (canoe and Kayak) trails. There are elevated sleeping platforms every so often--so you are safe from Alligators. We did see number of big gators and lots of birds. There is private land on the Eastern bank as you get up further in the river. There were also a few ranch buildings on the land in these areas, with a few private launch ramps. The only motor vessel was about a 16 foot flats type of fishing boat. He wanted to know how we got up there with as big a boat as the C Dory 22. Well worth doing again.

John, and Colby, no we didn't save the bread crumbs...trail. Satellite images show the mouth at: 28.705N and 81.028 W. This seems to jive with what we saw on the river. I'll have to check the log to see if we recorded the co-ordinates. Both James, and we had a false start...where we had to back out and start again.
 
Hi all. For someone wanting to cruise the river for several weeks, where are some places to reprovision and dispose of garbage? We don’t have a dinghy, so we need to tie up, wade or swim to go ashore. I’m looking for places from Sanford all the way downstream to Jacksonville potentially.
 
little wing":n3o8c63j said:
Hi all. For someone wanting to cruise the river for several weeks, where are some places to reprovision and dispose of garbage? We don’t have a dinghy, so we need to tie up, wade or swim to go ashore. I’m looking for places from Sanford all the way downstream to Jacksonville potentially.
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. Any of the towns or Marinas along the river will have some provisions and places to dispose of trash. I happen to be lucky, in that Marie is used to fixing food for long trips ahead of time. We might have to pick up some bread, but usually we are self sufficient for 4 weeks, with frozen entrees for dinner. Some eat only sandwiches, so dry food, and some canned food--or a mix. For example some of the larger towns have a good grocery store within several blocks. Most marinas have bread, beer, milk etc. The essentials of life.

Many internet maps will show all of the stores. For example Palatka has a Super Walmart about a mile inland. You can walk or Uber there. Green Cove Springs has a Walgreens about 4 blocks from the city dock. They had the essentials of Ice Cream, bread, milk etc. Jacksonville, there is a grocery store but it is a bad part of town from the very nice public docks. Uber or Lyft might be advisable there. Of course Sanford has food. From Hontoon, there are regular food runs to DeLand where some of the food for the gathering (Thanks Tom and Joyce!).
 
I would enjoy joining a trip down the Dead Hontoon River or maybe down to Blue Spring State Park for a night after the event wraps up on March 5. Anyone going that way afterwards?

David
 
DavidM":3ith80ue said:
I would enjoy joining a trip down the Dead Hontoon River or maybe down to Blue Spring State Park for a night after the event wraps up on March 5. Anyone going that way afterwards?

David
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One of the events of the gathering is often a trip up the Hontoon dead river, thru the cut to the main river, and by Blue Springs. (or visa versa) So you can go on that to see what the scenery is like--this is only a couple of house--depends on speed.

I always suggest that new boaters to an area view the charts on Navionics chart viewer--free and excellent way to see what the waters are like.. This link will bring you right to the State Park docks, and you can zoom out and move from there. Puts things in prospective.
 
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