Great Loop: Black Creek Anchorage - St. Johns River, Day 1

Beth explores Peters Creek

Exploring the Saint John’s River – Day 1

We began our exploration of the St. Johns River from Ortega River Marina in Jacksonville.  Our start was delayed as I needed to spend the morning installing a replacement inverter.  Ours had failed 2 weeks ago.  After talking with the very helpful Customer Support staff at ProMariner, I sent the failed unit in and they replaced it with a 2000 watt Pure Sine Wave unit.  The installation went well.  I only had to fabricate a part to hold the remote-control panel.  With a quick check out to ensure proper operation, we were on our way.

Passing the Ortega River Bridge at the start of our voyage.

With a noon departure, the winds had a chance to build.  Our run for the day, ~25 miles was very lumpy.  With a strong north wind, and us headed south, it guaranteed we would be surrounded by spray most of the way.  We were very happy to drop the hook in  Black Creek, just inside the highway bridge.  There are several good anchorage spots in this vicinity.  All offer good wind protection.  Once settled in place, we launched our dinghy and took off to explore.  We visited each of the three anchorages shown on Navionics.  All were quite acceptable. 

The anchorage inside the Black Creek Bridge

We then explored up Peters Creek.  It was a narrow winding creek with occasional houses on acreage.  The houses were not extravagant, but they were not run down either.  All had docks and large lawns.  Along the shore, alligators were sunning themselves on logs.  Cardinals were chasing each other through the trees, and egrets, and herons were working the shoreline for snacks.

Amy Marie in the anchorage

House on Peters Creek

Can you find the gator?

Spanish Moss

Still Waters

The water is the color of coffee from the tannins from deciduous tress

Enjoying Sunset

With a half hour till sunset, we returned to Amy Marie and had a glass of wine, talked about the day and days to come.  Then we fixed dinner.  Once the sun set, we could see lightning in the distance and knew it was a 50/50 chance we would have overnight rain.  None the less, we opened all the windows and hatched to allow a good flow of air through the boat.  Around midnight, I felt some drizzles through the hatch over our V-berth.  So I got up and closed hatches and windows (some I left open a crack).  As soon as I finished, the downpour began.  It didn’t last long, maybe 30 minutes with some lighter showers throughout the night.

Moon and Clouds

Anchorage:

We found the holding good at the anchorage just inside the highway bridge on Black Creek.  The bottom was mud.  Wind protection was good as it changed directions from north to south overnight.  It was a good, secure, and pretty spot to spend the night.  We did not find a reason to go ashore.  There was a private marina on the outside of the bridge that offered bait and boat rentals.  There were no other services.

The other two anchorages, a bit further up the creek, also looked good.

 

Track Log