03/05 - 03/07 - Hontoon Island, Florida CBGT

Joyce and I want to thank everyone who helped make the 6th annual Hontoon Island Gathering the best ever. And I mean EVERYONE! The only minor complaint I had was that all the volunteer jobs were taken. Isn’t that fantastic. The park staff is always informing me how great our group is, no mess, no fuss and no problems.

Our group, through the Clow auction, 50 50 drawings (which both winners donated their winnings back to the park) and all money donated for meals after expenses came to $1,215.00. We are working with the park manager to find a suitable project to fund. The project will be a memorial to our departed friend Hank Clow. More on this later.

I also want to thank David Marchand and Dr. Bob for the exceptional presentations. The visitor center was filled to capacity with interested C-Brats.

The boat gadget contest was a big hit again with a tie between Rosanne Smith and Bill Smith. One entered a flower vase and one had the new HD thermacell base. I’ll let you guess who entered what.

While we are on our way to Jacksonville, we are already planning for next year. If you haven’t been on the St John’s River yet, put it on your list of things to do.

God bless all our C-Dory family.

Tom and Joyce

PS .....Pat and Kathy, we are calling you our House Boat honeys! I promise to share the cookies :wink :wink
 
Hey C-Brats: just wanted to say thanks for being so open to soon-to-be newbies. What a great group. Everyone was so helpful and informative. Special thanks to those that welcomed us on their boats and shared their stories. Looking forward to cruising with you in the near future. Casey & Teresa McKnight
 
Just wanted to say thank you to Tom & Joyce for another great gathering. Wendy an I have been to all sex gathering and they just keep getting better every year. Sorry we can’t be with all going to Jackson. When we were In Jacksonville we ate at a place called Clark’s fish camp on Julington Creek. This probably the most interesting restraint we ever ate at. Hope you all can stop there. We went by our C-Dory
 
I'll try uploading some photos when we get to free wireless. Larry, all "sex" gathering? I missed that one. Tom, you holding some secret stuff after hours? :mrgreen: Ok, this is definitely a family affair. (Sorry about making fun of your typo Larry!) And I think maybe that restaurant you mentioned is the one Tom is leading us to tomorrow. Oh, Pat and Kathy, just wanted to let you know, Tom did share the cookies tonight. There was just enough for each of us, a dozen even. :mrgreen: (Ok, there might have been more than that in the bag he passed around...)
 
Greetings from the edge of the Everglades!

Sunny and 87 degrees here today ( and most of the last 5 days), so we are not anchoring out in the 10,000 islands and Everglades as planned.
Calusa Island Marina is very nice with air conditioned restrooms, showers and laundry, ramp that can float a TomCat at any tide other than dead low, and any-size trailer storage for $10/day, transient rate @ $2/ft.

C-Otter shows us way more wildlife every year on their St John’s adventures.
We rented a 2-person canoe today at Seminole-Collier State Park to venture down the remote part of the Blackwater river. We saw a single Ibus, a small gator, and heard some Osprey kids but never saw their nest. Lots of mullet jumping.

Overall, very disappointing compared to what I remembered about wildlife in the Everglades as a kid.

On the other hand, 85 degree weather is available to you in no more than a 6 day drive at a leisurely 500 miles per day…so what are you waiting for?

John
 
Gulfcoastjohn":1zfho7fx said:
Greetings from the edge of the Everglades!

Sunny and 87 degrees here today ( and most of the last 5 days), so we are not anchoring out in the 10,000 islands and Everglades as planned.
Calusa Island Marina is very nice with air conditioned restrooms, showers and laundry, ramp that can float a TomCat at any tide other than dead low, and any-size trailer storage for $10/day, transient rate @ $2/ft.

C-Otter shows us way more wildlife every year on their St John’s adventures.
We rented a 2-person canoe today at Seminole-Collier State Park to venture down the remote part of the Blackwater river. We saw a single Ibus, a small gator, and heard some Osprey kids but never saw their nest. Lots of mullet jumping.

Overall, very disappointing compared to what I remembered about wildlife in the Everglades as a kid.

On the other hand, 85 degree weather is available to you in no more than a 6 day drive at a leisurely 500 miles per day…so what are you waiting for?

John
Click to expand...

Its been a long time since I have been down that way. But there was tons of wildlife back in the 80s for sure. I cannot recall the channel down that way where you go thru some pretty protected waters and there was platform campsites available. Are you familiar with that area? I am having an brain freeze right now.
 
For those that want the dates on their calendar for next years St. John's Gathering, March 3-5th, 2020, is what Tom shared with us. We had a great cruise up to Jacksonville. Mystery Girl and Midnight Flyer went a little bit farther to dip their outboards in the Atlantic. Today, the Midnight Flyer and Tully B cruised a long day trip back to Hontoon Island, while C-Otter, Lil Joe, Thataway, Calm-C and Mystery Girl started their way back much more slowly, stopping at Doctors Lake. Sadly, this great excursion and social event for us, will come to an end this weekend, as we load up Midnight Flyer and head back home to the cold Midwest! I've got a lot of photos to sort through, and still have not been able to access free wireless. I'll work on uploading photos to the thread's album when I have some time to do it, and not on limited data. Tyboo Mike, has anyone discovered a way to gang upload photos yet? Colby
 
What a great sounding gathering. Colby Thanks for passing the next years dates already. I just put them into my phone. Maybe,,, I hope so.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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Thataway, Mystery Girl and C-Otter are still out exploring the St. John’s River. Anchored behind the Seven Sisters Islands last night and off to Dunn’s Creek and Crescent Lake today. Plan on going to Bull Creek campground on the Dead Lake. So much to experience cruising this area. Plan on allowing extra time to explore before or after the gathering.

I’m looking forward to a good fish dinner tonight.....Tom 🐟
 
Going to start uploading photos to this thread's photo album. Getting late, and on Flying J wireless, so I probably won't get many done. But should be home Tuesday evening, then during the rest of the week, I'll upload a bunch. Enjoy. This is a great gathering. BTW, the official gathering is only 3 days. It's the unofficial cruising before and long after that makes it what it is! Colby
 
Great addition of photos to the album guys... I like the water colors,Nice break from boating in brown stuff on many of the inland rivers and the a lot of the ICW.
 
I still have a lot more photos to upload, and will get to it after we get home tomorrow. What I uploaded was maybe about 30-40% of what I have to upload. Colby
 
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