April 21, Day 300 – Six Mile Creek to Murphy Creek

We spent a very relaxing morning – actually, lazy might be a better description. The loud racket of last night was gone and all that remained was the cheerful chirping of birds. After breakfast we did a few chores: taking garbage up to the restaurant dumpster (never pass up a garbage receptacle), tried to update the blog (poor internet service) and checked out the schedule for the rest of the St. Johns trip. Our buddy boat, Second Star, is having their daughter join them in Sanford so we’ve adjusted the schedule a little, but then we’re not really on a schedule.

We finally declared ourselves ready and pulled away from the dock around 10:45. Boy these early morning schedules are murder. Our final destination for the evening was Murphy Creek, approximately 26 miles away. However, on the way we wanted to check out a couple of things. First, we wanted to check out the docks and anchorage in Palatka. We plan to stop there on our return trip so we scoped out the area so we’d know what to expect. Second, we’d heard about a free dock at a Burger King restaurant on the water. We thought it sounded kind of neat to eat fast food right on the water. Unfortunately, that dock was in total disrepair and it looked like the Burger King had even moved from the waterside to across the street. So much for fast food. (Well, our arteries probably thanked us.)

We pressed on and soon approached the entrance to Murphy/Dunn Creek. We took the turn to Murphy Creek as it appeared to be better for larger boats (we’ll probably explore Dunn Creek by dinghy). We came across 2 boats; one we had seen at Peck Lake a few weeks back and the other at Ortega Landing this past weekend. We found what we thought was a nice spot on the creek, primarily based on the fact that the fish were jumping, and dropped the anchor. We were all settled in by 4:30.

Gerry tried a little fishing from the boat and Linda did a bit of computer stuff. Since we hadn’t had lunch (remember we were stopping at Burger King but it was gone) we had an early dinner. After that Gerry, Linda and Jana went for a sunset dinghy ride up the creek. This is a beautiful area, but we didn’t see much wildlife – maybe tomorrow.

Early morning -- beautiful and peaceful -- even the noise had stopped

As I went to drop off garbage, snapped another picture of the Outback Crab Shack -- this time the front entrance.

Monk's Vineyard at the dock

Heading out in the morning -- Second Star towing their dinghy.

We cruised passed a power plant which provided energy to a paper mill just down the road.

We checked out the public docks in Palatka. They looked perfectly adequate.

Second Star turning left into Dunn Creek. We went a short distance and then turned right into Murphy Creek.

As we headed up the creek we were treated to beautiful scenery, unspoiled by any homes or other buildings

We saw a small boat going by with 2 dogs. As they passed, we realized it was the boat we met at Peck Lake -- the people that were from this area who had been living aboard their boat for 15 years.

Second Star rounding the corner and asking -- "Does this look okay". Yup !!!

A shot of our anchorage to the left

Our anchorage looking forward -- at Second Star

Anchorage to the right

... and our anchorage looking back. Gerry is working hard at fishing

We went for a quick dinghy ride after dinner. Here's a bit of the shoreline -- very similar to yesterday's.

The sun sinking behind the trees

The water was as smooth as glass, but a small power boat had just gone by, leaving small ripples in the water.

Second Star at twilight