No more cruising!

Have you ever wondered what happens to those large cruise ships when they can no longer sail?

A cruise ship burial ground

I hadn’t, but would have guessed that they end up mostly as scrap iron. However, on the trip to Green Cove Springs, I learnt that some end up as artificial reefs on the floor of the St. Johns River.

That's useful!

Green Cove Springs is a tiny city near Camp Chowenwah where we camped recently. Then our local 'guide’/fellow camper, Stephanie, took us on a tour there.

From the pier, we could see an old Carnival Cruise ship which was going to be sunk to create a reef, but it was missing the funnel as it had been torn off as it sailed beneath the bridge which joins the area to St. Augustine.

Bridge to St. Augustine in background

The pier draws a lot of visitors whether to fish, hang out or just enjoy the view.

The aquifer is 28 feet deep 

This small city is the County seat of Clay County, Florida. The area was first inhabited over 7,000 years ago by Native Americans. 

It is developed around a warm hydrological mineral spring locally known as the "Original Fountain of Youth." 

The sulfur-smelling spring feeds an adjacent public swimming pool and a number of attractions were built around the area for recreational purposes.

The area has a number of historic buildings but perhaps the best known is St Mary’s Episcopal church. 

It was built in 1878 and has sets of stained-glass windows which are said to be among the first to be used  in the United States. 

Below these windows, you see other openings which serve as fire escapes.

St. Mary's

As we walked around the city admiring the architecture, I noticed that Senator Marco Rubio has his campaign headquarters there. 

What amused me was seeing that he had a washed-out tattered ‘Trump 24’ flag in front ofthe building. While I suspect he was displaying it to impress Trump’s base, I couldn’t help wondering if he deliberately allowed the flag to become decrepit, as Trump had so often insulted him publicly and christened him Little Marco.😅

Anyway, that’s an aside, for this small city is really pleasant and attractive.

Links.

1) Joan, my views: Glamping (joan-myviews.blogspot.com

 2) Joan, my views: Anti immigrant crap (joan-myviews.blogspot.com)

MEMORIES

A tattered Trump flag outside Rubio's office

 

Glamping

                                      A full moon shines brightly through the trees.                                                                                         

 My initial reason for joining Meet-Up on moving to Florida, is that I love to find out as much as I can about my environment, especially the outdoors, while getting maximum exercise and meeting interesting people.

Jennifer gets the campfire going

Sticking with the Boca Raton Outdoor Adventures group led by the knowledgeable  Floridian Jennifer Weise, has allowed me to do just that.    

Our latest trek was to Camp Chowenwah in Clay County, just outside of Jacksonville, Florida.

On this trip, I dragged a long-time school-mate, Sonia along, only to hear we have now been dubbed Columbus and Vasco de Gama by another. 😅 

Only hope we don’t turn out to be as wicked as those two were!

As usual,  I stray.

It was supposed to be a camping trip, but I am overjoyed that it was instead a glamping affair, with only one person Stephanie, camping in a tent. 

And because she lives in the area, she also  proved to be an invaluable guide.

                       Stephanie, the authentic trooper.                            

Chowenwah was just up my street, as it has comfortable log cabins with private indoor bathrooms, microwave and fridge. Some even have air condition, but those do not have the other private facilities outlined above. The camp even has a swimming pool and tree houses but both areas were closed due to a little damage caused by hurricane Ian.

Our comfortable cabin

In the main section, the creek came up about thirty feet, but caused no damage as it quickly receded.

The camp is a beautiful 150-acre recreation site on Black Creek, located in Green Cove Springs near its confluence with the St. Johns River.

This river is more than 300 miles long and 3 miles at its widest point. It is the longest river in Florida. It also flows in a northerly direction.

My only problem with that location is that a housing scheme was allowed to be constructed right beside the beautiful recreation area, so the animals that one would normally see in areas such as this, were nowhere to be found. 

Isn't this housing scheme just too close? 😡

 I did however run into a small water snake near the tree house area but he disappeared quickly into the pond when I tried to video tape him.

Birds however abound and one night, a din sounding somewhat like a convention of rowdy owls, appeared to be quite close.

A tree-house 

On our first night as we gathered around the campfire as a bright new moon peeped through the trees. There were loud, frequent sounds of hickory nuts falling from great heights, to the point that some of our campers suggested that if we were struck one, it could cause a lot of damage. 

Luckily, that never happened.

Ian brought water about 30 feet up

I had never seen hickory nuts before though and was curious as to why people never ate them,  although squirrels do, so clearly they are not poisonous. That spurred a fellow camper Chrissy to break one of the nuts to try it. It was no easy task and the nut crumbled, so that’s clearly one reason why humans do not bother to eat them. The pieces she gave me to try were tasty though.

With our convenient and comfortable base at Camp Chowenwah, we were able to do quite a few interesting hikes and explorations.

 So stay tuned.

Link; https://joan-myviews.blogspot.com/2022/10/anti-immigrant-crap.html?m=1

 Memories

Bridge to Jacksonville

 

Hontoon island and more

 I must admit up front that I would know very little about the state of Florida, had it not been for the "Meet Up" clubs. Especially the hikes led by Jennifer Weise, the ultimate outdoors person.

I had not camped for many decades, the last time being in Ohio. I recall it vividly. It was a warm September and we set up shop is a nice campground. 

With "guide" Jennifer

Our cottage 

Then to our horror, at around midnight, it suddenly started to snow, forcing us to have to quickly pack our tent, sleeping bags and other gear and hightail it to a warm shelter. 

I put my camping days behind me after that and had been ignoring "Meet Up" camping notices, though to interesting-looking places.

Then in February 2022, I saw a notice that they would be heading to Hontoon island and cottages would be available. 

Despite the cold spell in Florida, the thought of a warm cottage was certainly the encouragement I needed to discover what appeared to be an interesting island. So, I jumped at the opportunity. 

Hontoon Island State Park is located in Northern Florida, just offshore from the town of Deland. It boasts an interesting history, wide open spaces and a large variety wildlife.

 

The entire island is made up of shady groves of cypress, ash, oak, hickory and tupelo, which shroud ancient memories of a long line of native inhabitants.

It is surrounded by the St. John's River, so to get there you have to take the ferry operated by the park employees.

 

The ferry travels regularly

The ferry is equipped with a number of wheelbarrows which campers use to take gear on and off the boat.

I was quite surprised at the amount of gear my fellow travelers, Jennifer and Sylvia were carrying, as I had always been under the illusion that campers travelled light.

But thank God these seasoned campers didn't!

For when we got to the island, I discovered to my dismay that the board on the sides of the cottages did not go all the way to the roof so all the cold air could come in get me!

Hadn't Jennifer packed EVERYTHING, I would surely have died from hypothermia! 

For, it was the electric blanket and sleeping bag that she loaned me that saved the day.

During the nights we gathered around fire pits for supper and to keep warm and feed death-defying mosquitoes which had no respect for insect repellant!

It was a wonderful two days of camaraderie exercise and fun.

 On Monday after we settled in, we hiked about 5km and the second day it was 10 km along well marked trails and scenic routes. 

We saw lots of wild turkeys and a few shy armadillos but alas, although we saw the tracks and poop, there was no sign of the momma bear and her two cubs that lived on the island.

Next day, while some went kayaking our group traveled over to Deland. 

Here they have an excellent assortment of restaurants, and we did some sightseeing in what is a quiet, laid-back town.

Deland courthouse

On the Wednesday, we drove a few miles to Orange City where you find Blue Water Springs, another state park on the St. Johns River.

These cold-water springs are brimming with all types of fish, gators and manatees. (Sea cows).

When we arrived there around 10am, a park attendant told us they had counted 516 manatees that morning. Although we were fairly late, we still saw quite a large number of those huge, beautiful, graceful mammals swimming lazily towards St. Johns River while alligators sunned themselves on the banks.

Where the Springs and the St. Johns River meet

At one point, I thought a stupid gator had the nerve to attack a manatee (considering he has so many smaller fish to eat if he was hungry), but our guide Jennifer, insisted that he had accidentally bumped into it.        

A further inspection of the video below seems to confirm this.

It would be delinquent of me to do record this trip without mentioning a few of my fellow travelers. 

One lady, a French/American named Ilse is such an avid outdoors person that she had just finished backpacking and camping near Tampa, but she still drove over to Hontoon to join us. 

Ilse

What is amazing about her is that she appears to be very frail, weighing probably less than 100 lbs, but rides a 900-cc motorcycle on which she has circled the USA several times.

My roommate, Sylvia, an Ecuadorian/American, was a successful electrical engineer but according to her, she obeyed God's call to become a missionary. 

I have to admit that I thought she had an extraordinary imagination when she described some of her experiences in exotic and dangerous places like the Amazon Jungle, Ethiopia, Pakistan and Tibet, until she showed me a some of her photos! 

Missionary Silvia

Her experiences also included even being detained and deported From India!

Both Jennifer and I felt uninteresting in the presence of those two.

Stolen, but very relevant😅

It was really a great camping experience and to make sure I never forget this outing, the bumps and itches from the mosquito bites are ever-present four days later.

 But if you love the great outdoors, a few mosquito bites are to be expected.

     

                                                                 Memories

We three traveled together from Delray Beach

The three musketeers

The swamp at the back of the island

Theatre at Deland

At Chess Lane, Deland

A section of Blue Water Springs

A mural at Deland

Thursby House museum