Barely a few thousand people live on the 250 miles of coastal salt marsh, rivers, and beaches that stretch along the Eastern Panhandle from Mexico Beach to Crystal River on the Southern Border of the Big Bend area of Florida.
My wife, Tamara, and I plan to take our 40 foot Catamaran Crusiers Houseboat from our home in Port Richey, Florida just North West of Tampa up the Coast about a hundred miles to the Suwannee River. Three years ago we sailed our boat from Atlantic City, New Jersey to our home in Port Richey.. a distance of 1700 miles. So this trip will not be our first exploration.
Our boat, officially unnamed, measures 40 feet by 12 feet wide. It has two fiberglass hulls that make it more of a catamaran than a pontoon houseboat. Although it looks more like a single-wide mobile home on floats than a ocean going yacht it serves its purpose surprisingly well. We only draft 20 inches and that is the key to a successful exploration of this part of Florida. We can go where conventional yachts cannot.
Our floating vacation home is fully equipped with a king size bed, flat screen HD TV, full size refrigerator, hot and cold running water, shower, and of course that Florida neccessity Airconditioning! We have two driving stations one in the cabin and one in a flybridge mounted on the huge upper deck. My lower helm is fully equipped with a GPS chart plotter and autopilot. We have made numerous improvements to the boat such that it is vastly superior to when we sailed it down from New Jersey on the East Coast Intercoastal Waterway. We also have a fine 14 foot aluminum center console we tow with the larger boat for use as a dinghy.
The Suwannee is a large completely untamed river. This "wild river" flows without any manmade diversions from its source in the Great Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia to the Gulf of Mexico on the west coast of Florida. The River was of course made famous by the Song, the official song of Florida by the way, which has the memorable refrain of "Way Down Upon the Suwannee River". Today the River is the least settled and least Developed large River in Florida, and indeed the Southeastern United States. It is one of the last bastions of the Gulf Sturgeon an endangered species of ancient fish which grow to 9 feet and 300 pounds. In fact many visitors have been injuried and even killed on the River when these three hundred pound fish jump out of the river and hit them!
The lower parts of the Suwannee near the mouth are mostly covered by wildlife preserves. There are areas which have little human presence. Numerous springs feed the Suwannee and we plan to explore them. For those of you unfamilar with Florida Springs they are a natural wonder to behold. Crystal clear water pools or flows out of the ground at 72 degrees year round providing habitat for both the threatened West Indian Manatees, who find seek the warm water as a refuge in the Winter, and the not so endangered White Beach Manatee most common in the Summer months.
Should be a most interesting trip.
West Indian Manatees swimming in a Spring along the Suwannee River. West Indian Manatees average about 65 pounds at birth and can grow to 4000 pounds at maturity. They only eat plants. Their closest relative is the Elephant. It is illegal to molest West Indian Manatees in any way.Florida White Beach Manatees in their natural summer habitat. Although Beach Manatees are a mere 6 pounds at birth they have been known to exceed 600 pounds at maturity. They exist on a diet rich in fats and carbohydrates. They reproduce at an astounding rate and are not in any danger of extinction. While it is legal to molest Adult White Manatees it is not advisable as it may result in 18 years of support payments.
