Withlacoochee

Events of 22 September 2009

       We decided to stay another night in the Marina. I need the time to recharge as we've been going full bore for days. I am enjoying having a real shower which does not demand me loading the tanks with 5 gal cans. It is also nice to have electric without the generator.

       Yankeetown is a beautiful little waterfront town of 640 people located on this gorgeous little river. There seems to be only one small General Store in the whole town. They sell fishing equipment, hardware, plumbing items, fried chicken, and of course sundry goods/sodas/beer/gasoline. The houses are well kept. I suspect that many of the residents have money. Large commercial fishing boats line the river and can be seen leaving to sea about an hour before sunset.

       We took a boat trip upriver to the dam which feeds this lower portion of the Withlacoochee river. At one point a Cross Florida Barge Canal was planned to link the Saint John's River and the Withlacoochee Rivers to provide a commercial transportation route between the west and east coasts of Florida. Environmentalists challenged the project and it was closed down. The right-of-way bought up for the project was turned into a State Park. Immediately south of the Withlacoochee is part of this canal which was actually constructed. This leads to a huge lock which was to raise ships into an artificial lake formed by the waters of the Withlacoochee River. The lock is closed down and is now rusted shut. If it were not for this defunct project it would have been a short boat trip to the Rainbow River and Rainbow Springs. That crystal clear river is a true natural wonder. As it is our trip ended at the dam.

       Crackertown/Inglis proved to be nice, but somewhat downscale from Yankeetown. Gators were everywhere. We saw more of them here then on the Suwannee. I am sure that we passed hundreds and hundreds of gators on the Suwannee but they were hiding. Here the local reptilian monsters are quite at home around people and can be seen lounging around on the river banks. There are in fact several gators patrolling the area around our boat as it sits in the Marina.

       Hunger drove us to park the dinghy at a campground on Highway 19 and we walked into Inglis. We actually walked everywhere in Inglis in search of food. It is Tuesday, the one day of the week in which all but one restarant was closed. We ate at Gobblers. It was very good.

       Tomorrow we go to Crystal River.

       As we sit here tonight on the houseboat we have at least two alligators lurking on the opposite bank. The red relection of their eyes clearly visible in our boat's remote control spotlight.