Way Down Upon The Suwanee River

About a year ago I posted a tale about me and a close friend who went in search of her family property at the confluence of the Suwanee and Sante Fe Rivers deep in central Florida.  The property had been purchased by her father many years ago and passed down to she and her siblings.  Pat hadn't seen the property since she was a child and when she first told me about it my immediate reaction was... let's go.

We tried to find it by land but failed as the property is not bordered by a paved road and you must pass through adjoining property to reach it.  Even with her older brother's instructions, we couldn't locate the small dirt trail leading to it and settled for tipping a few beers across the river at a small RV park and fish camp named Ellie Ray's.

About a week ago I got an email from Pat telling me that her cousin, Al Jr., had agreed to take her to the property on his pontoon boat and did I want to go.  The rest is history.

Launching at Ellie Ray's.  The river is as low as I have ever seen it which makes the spring-fed Sante Fe crystal clear and stunningly beautiful.

Captain Al at the wheel.  Couldn't have asked for a more congenial host.  Al is 80-yrs old and happy to spend a day on the water.  Ellie Ray's in the background.

My friend Pat, a Florida gal who grew up in the little town of Mayo, not far from here.  Her son Travis in the navigator's seat.  Not long after this picture was taken the boat stopped running.  After pulling off the engine cover and cleaning the gas filter, I discovered that the gas line had come loose.  Day saved and on we go.

The Sante Fe River on a brisk February day.  If you look closely you can see the discolored water.  That's the river bottom, clearly visible about 8' down.

The confluence of the Suwanee and Sante Fe.  This is a view from Pat's property looking across the Suwanee (which curves to the left) towards the Sante Fe just behind the sandy beach across the river.  These two rivers are American Heritage rivers and truly old Florida.  There are houses along the banks but also miles of forest.  As I was walking the beach I heard a familiar chortle and was a little confused as I assumed, at first, that it was the hundreds of black vultures resting in the trees on their migration.  Then I spotted the sandhill cranes, a thousand feet above, their wonderful call filling the air.  As we lunched at the site we enjoyed tangerines from a wild tree on the property and were rewarded with visits by a manatee and a large sturgeon.

I had seen on Google Earth that there were three depression ponds on the property and I wanted to walk to one of them for a look-see.  The pond was dry but I was greeted by a meadow of day lilies.

A view of the Sante Fe on the return trip.

On the way home we passed Hannah's and had to stop for a photo.  I always love getting out of the city and back to the land.  Out here, the air is clean.  Just breathing gives you energy.