Ocklawaha River Fla

J

jimicliff

New member
Last weekend I decided to try to travel the Ocklawaha R from my home in Mt Dora all the way to its end at the St Johns river. I used my way of raising and lowering my engine to get over trees just below the surface. Some of the times I need to shut engine off as well. After about a dozen trees I was stopped by one that was all the way across and only inches below the surface. With a partner and a chain saw it might have been possible. Im afraid my stump jumping days may be over because when I anchored for the evening I inspected my stern gear meaning lower unit and trim tabs I saw that my starboard trim tab was totally disconected. I decided to disconnect it for the return trip since I would be at planing speed, no real problem since only two phillips held it on. I was hoping to go to the Hontoon Island event next month this way but thats not going to work out, I'll have to take the Queen over on the trailer as usual. If nothing else I got major adventure points, I say this because I had reached the middle of the Ocala forest and the Ocklawaha river is the northen border of this national forest. As I was returning south from my tree blockage I thought I saw a squirrel jump from a tree that was hanging over the river in front of me but as I looked harder then two monkies jumped, one after the other, then a fourth left the over haning tree. The fifth and final monkey waited for me and gave me a stare down before he left the tree. These monkeys are Rhesus macaque that came from Silver Springs. The story is that in the 1920's a glass bottom boat opperator thought that if he put some monkeys on an island that were part of his tour route it would help his business. Well he researched his monkeys for a wise purchace but the person he was buying from sent him different monkeys, Rhesus. They can swim only days after birth. I have to admit its pretty to see them alone in the middile of a forest in my 16 cruiser the "Ocklawaha Queen". I'll see some of you at Hontoon with further details.
 
Wow Jimi, that definitely seems like an adventure. What was the average depth of the river?? Why are there so many trees under the water? I assume they're living tree roots right? Because wouldn't dead logs floats?

Cool story man.
 
The Ocala forest is in the sand, the trees along the crooked river have no real root base. A simple Fla rain squal will topple a tree with no problem. The river is average 6 ft its just full of trees.
 
Neat tale! Thanks! Next trip take video - we want monkey video!

Sounds like quite the adventure.
 
Enjoyed the story! Reminded me years ago when we had our 16' Thundercraft at the marina on Big Creek - Long Point - Lake Erie. From the inner bay we had about a 2 mile run through weeds to get into the creek. Small cleared path marked with stakes - water depth 3' on a good day - no rocks though only sand to keep your prop shiny. Once commited you had to keep on plane - cut the throttle and your prop would be in the sand. If you passed another boat coming or going both stayed on plane and would make a quick cut into the others wake after passing. Once into the creek the water depth was 8 - 10' . Most years we could motor for at least 5 miles up from the marina. It was a beautiful/ peaceful cruise - like you were in a world far from human habitation. In the spring some would go up the creek with chainsaws and clear out some of the logs. Go slow and stand at the helm(to get a better look down at the water). Take the corners wide(deepest) and watch for logs. If the water got too skinny we could put the main up and use the kicker mounted on the corner of transom. Its prop was above the keel level. No monkeys but lots of fish and birds! Long Point is a World Biosphere Reserve visited by over 300 species of migrating birds. Most interesting we saw were some Sandhill Cranes.

OK now that I've put everybody to sleep I'm going to bed! :P

Rob
 
It took me a few years here as a C-Brat to adjust & appreciate all the boat information sharing that wasn't about using the boat & still I enjoy most any shared experiences involving exploration, so Rob not boring at all & thanks Cliff for sharing. It's hard to beat the fun & challenge of exploring a river whether it's hundreds of miles from other folks & huge like the Yukon or much less remote & not much more than a creek, but still having all the aspects of wilderness close about. As a youngster one of my more favorite things to do in the summer was build a raft & float it down the Russian River in Potter Valley, CA. At that time there were ranches spread out along the way, but down on the river with high banks & big trees, it was my own remote wilderness world to enjoy.
 
Jay, I think that's one of the interesting characteristics of the St. John's River. On the surface it feels like a wilderness waterway - almost like something out of a Tarzan movie ... and now we even have monkey's! A variety of birds, and if you look closely you'll probably even see a Burmese Python or two (yes they have made this far north). Throw-in some alligator's, and you have the Florida version of a real Wilderness Ride.

But get up in the air about 500 feet or so, and the perspective changes. All along the River you'll see smallish towns, and residential subdivisions that dot the landscape surprisingly nearby.

But watch out for that hippopotamus Captain(!).
...oop's, my mistake ... it was just another manatee.

Best,
C&M
 
Thanks for the interesting tales and recollections of your adventures guys.

Real interesting stuff. Will need to make sure my wife does not read the bit about the possible python sightings on the St. John since she is scared to death of snakes, and such info would likely mean our never getting to step within the state of Florida again. Considering we are looking at eventually possibly relocating there to get away from the all too long dark, damp, and dreary PNW winters, such info will just make her head spin. On our fairly recent (i.e. back in early December) all too quick (that darn job thing!) 'scouting out the area' drive from Fort Walton along much of the Gulf coast of Florida as far down to the Boca Grande area (we visited an aunt and uncle of mine in that fairly exclusive place) she almost forgot about expecting to see an alligator and/or snake every square foot of the way and even started thinking her living in Florida was doable.

Luckily, the all too brief summer cruising beauty up here on the Salish Sea, albeit in far less 'adventurous' waters (no pythons or monkey sightings anyway), help make up for some of the weather related misery in the non-boating months up here for us fair weather boaters.

Thanks again for sharing gents!

Dan
 
I can add some more to this Ocklawaha story thats for sure, I've been running it 7 or 8 years now. My first runs were on a 13 ft Whaler with a center console which is the perfect boat for this crooked river. Ocklawaha is an indian name for crooked water. In about 1840 the first steam boat made just for the Ocklawaha was commisioned. The river is an average 30 ft wide, so a boat had to be built to run it due to its narrow winding nature. Only 5 or 6 were ever built. Look up Ocklawaha steamer for pics. Ok heres my thesis, after the civil war known as the reconstruction period the Ocklawaha steamers were the only steam boats in america that had Black pilots. These steam boats left Palatka Fl on the St Johns at noon and went up the St Johns to enter the Ocklawaha for an all night cruise up the river to reach Silver Springs at noon the next day. Well trees have always fallen in the river just due to the sand and narrow width of the river as well. Well who do you think got off of the steam boat in the middle of the night to move trees out of the way, Black pilots I'm thinking.
These boats had a patent for a recessed paddle weel that helped them from being entangeled in the wood. The 16 cruiser sure is pretty special due to its super shallow draft, the techinique I use on my boat going up stream is to raise engine to where its doing a flutter kick on the surface, I'm always checking to see that my Honda 50 4 stroke is always peeing. I'm running about 1.5 miles an hour up stream but I'm not drawing much more than a foot while under way. I'll need a cracker friend with a chain saw if I want to continue my crazy ass adventures. Oh my knocked off trim tab was an easy repair with a little metal bending its as good as new thak gosh.
 
In 2011 I took my C-Dory through the Buckman Lock on the St Johns, and made it up the Ocklawaha about 5 miles past Eureka. Lots and lots of logs, many completely waterlogged and on the bottom. My goal was Lake Apopka, which seemed possible since the Army Corps of Engineers reported in 2009 taking "more than 500 fallen trees, stumps and other debris" from the river in a "major cleanup." It was still a thrilling and enjoyable trip.

I've read that restoring the Ocklawaha to its original state by removing the Rodman Dam would naturally flush a lot of this debris out of the river. I doubt that since the locks and dams higher up the river would probably prevent the natural floods needed to do the flushing. But I've also heard removing the dam might help the fishing, since fish would then be able to make spawning runs upriver. Here's my journal for the trip:

http://smittypaddler.com/cds/cdc/Ocklawaha/index.htm
 
I've had many conversations with wannabe boat owners about the fact that by far the most interesting times are when you are in a depth where you can see the bottom. The shoreline is where the action is. There are times when smaller is better. Sea kayaking has power boat cruising beaten hands down in this respect. On the open ocean it's "look, is that an albatross on the horizon?" Near shore, you have your choice of sea anemones, a perched eagle, a raccoon, bull kelp, etc. This time of year, I can poke around in a few spots and find commercial oyster bags that broke loose during winter storms. Last year, I got a good supply of Kumamotos, at least $100 worth by Seattle restaurant prices.

On Lake Powell, I used my paddle a lot as a pole to get in to a couple of areas too shallow for personal wanker craft. Free at last.

Mark
 
All great stories--and what makes C Brats such a special place, with very special people!

Dan, assure your wife that we have yet to see a python, and this includes several trips into the everglades where they are supposed to be thick. There was "open season" with prizes by FWC :

in 2016 there were over 1000 hunters, from 29 states over a month: Yet there were only 106 pythons which were killed. Looking at the stats below, you see that only a very few got the majority of the snakes and prizes:

Team Category – Most Pythons
Grand prize winners led by team captain Bill Booth captured 33 pythons and received a $5,000 cash prize. Team members include Duane Clark, Dusty Crum and Craig Nicks.
Second-place winners led by team captain Paul Shannon captured 9 pythons and received a $1,500 cash prize. Team members include Brian Barrows, Jake Carner and Chris Shannon.
Individual Category – Most Pythons
Grand Prize winner Daniel Moniz captured 13 pythons and received a $3,500 cash prize.
Second-place winner Steve Daskam captured 8 pythons and received a $750 cash prize.
Team Category – Longest Python
Grand Prize winners led by team captain Bill Booth captured a 15-foot-long python and received a $3,000 cash prize. Team members include Duane Clark, Dusty Crum and Craig Nicks.
Second-place winners led by team captain Paul Shannon captured a 14-foot, .9-inch-long python and received a $1,000 cash prize. Team members include Brian Barrows, Jake Carner and Chris Shannon.
Click to expand...

If my math is correct, 63 pythons were killed by 10 out of the 0ver 1000. The vast majority of those actively looking for a python did not see one.--and they were where the pythons were the thickest!
 
Thanks again all for the great posts and thanks Dr. Bob and Casey for the specific Python related comments which I read to my wife.

Dr. Bob....The numbers you posted do indeed prove such sightings - even if somebody was actually looking for them - are pretty darn rare indeed and seem to imply that the many news media stories lending to her perception of the "Horror of pythons everywhere" are a bit out of proportion but then again that is regrettably a feature of today's media and her fears.

However; she wanted me to point out that while we lived briefly in the Englewood, Colorado area where we rode our bikes along the many local bike trials she spotted snakes numerous times even though we had friends who had lived in Colorado forever who had never even seen snakes.

Also when we also lived briefly in Austin, TX, while walking thru the woods together she occasionally spotted snakes there too even though I had not seen them.

It seems, perhaps driven by her somewhat strong fear of them, she can spot a nearby snake when most others never even notice them. She does tend to concentrate on the ground instead of what is above her when we do visit nature so that is likely why she does find them more then most.

Maybe the hunters in the Everglades would have done well to bring her along as a spotter although they probably could not have paid her enough to do so!

Thanks again all and stay safe out on the water.

Dan
 
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