Category: Boating

Boating in salt water and fresh water near central, east coast of Florida.

Going Boating, Catching Fish in February’s Clear Water

On a recent Thursday we had sun and warmth and finally took the boat out. The boat ramp was very busy. I can park the truck and trailer which helps so my son can back the boat away from the ramp and make room for others, but crowded lots make me nervous. If I misjudged while parking, I’m not so sure I could back the thing up! On Thursday I parked fine. Whew!

Riding south on the Indian River in our Hewes Redfisher boat.
Traveling south on the Indian River

It was a beautiful, sunny day and the water was cool and clear. First we stopped at a deep hole and three in our lines. I was using live shrimp and my son used artificial bait. I caught some small trout and a mangrove snapper, and he kept catching Bluefish, after he first caught a Jack. At first he couldn’t identify the fish, but they kept destroying the bait with their teeth – Bluefish have very sharp teeth. That was how he knew what they were.

I don’t think we have ever caught any Bluefish while fishing on the River. After reading this article about Bluefish, I guess I know why. We fish primarily in summer when the water is very warm, and the Bluefish have probably migrated to cooler places by then.

Small bluefish on the hook.
We caught a lot of smaller fish in one of our spots – Bluefish

Three Sisters is a group of three islands in the backwater area of the waterway. One of the islands has a long sandy beach area when the tide is low. When we arrived at Three Sisters the tide was going out and I decided to walk the sandy flats looking for interesting sea life and seashells.

Gray heron spreads his wings on tree roots on the edge of the Indian River.
Wings out! Heron at Three Sisters

Often the birds we see perched in trees, on sign posts, or along the edge of the water will stand with their wings spread out, like the heron in my photo above. I walked all around the sandy area and he stayed right where he was – airing his armpits wing-pits.

Bride on the sand as the tide goes out.
Tide is going out and the birds are enjoying the sandy bottom. This is where I found the seashells pictured below.

The hermit crabs were not at plentiful as they are in summer months, but I did find two little shells that intrigued me. I was only interested in the brown one at first. It had an odd shape that I never see. The dirty tan one is probably a juvenile horse conch, but I’m not sure about that either. Since the horse conch is found in this area, it’s my best guess.

Both shells contained little crabs, so I got some photos on the boat deck and put the shells back on the sand. I’m still not sure what that stubby brown shell is. Coloring is similar to a crown conch, but not the shape.

Two little seashells which are home to hermit crabs
Two little shells – with hermit crabs inside. Got some photos and put them back on the sand.

Coastal plants and flowers are something I need to learn about. One day I will gather all my plant photos to share. I have no idea what this little yellow flower is called, but I thought it was pretty growing on the shell-littered beach.

Beach plant with yellow flower
Pretty yellow flowering plant on one of the islands along the river

In the photo below you can see how clear the water was! We have a flats boat and can get into very shallow places. The water here is only a few feet deep.

Clear water in the backwater areas of the Intracoastal waterway, Indian River area.
The shallow backwater was very clear and about 65 degrees – this is saltwater.

My son maneuvered the boat over toward Oyster Bay just to take a look. Boaters must be careful navigating here because the oyster shoals can be hidden in murky water. The sharp shells grow in big clumps as seen in my photo and can damage boats. Oysters are everywhere along the saltwater river, but Oyster Bay is a community.

Oyster Bay and view of beachside condominiums
View of the coastline condos across Oyster Bay area.
Heading north on the waterway
Heading north, back to the boat ramp

My son did a little more fishing while I walked along an island beach nearby. The tide was going out, but there wasn’t much to see shell-wise on the beach.

It was a good day, and although we didn’t see too many boats out where we were, the boat ramp was busy when we were ready to leave.

Relaxing with my feet up riding in our boat along the Indian River backwaters
The one thing I do like about Florida is being out on the water

A Scary Walk in the Lagoon Where Alligators Call Home

This time our boat took us south to Mosquito Lagoon. We don’t go to this area often and I forgot that alligators can be in this water.

A few weeks ago my son and I decided to try out a new boat launch down on Merritt Island. We put in at the Biolab boat ramp, which has a good size parking lot and one small ramp. The trouble was that the ramp is in shallow water, with a marked access out to the Lagoon which was also shallow with lots of grass.

Travel Through the Canal

We put the boat in, to begin our boating day, on the East side of Mosquito Lagoon.  Then traveled north and east through the Haulover Canal. Boat ramps charge $10 on Merritt Island. I have yet to see a really good boat ramp in the area.

Haulover canal bridge
Haulover Canal bridge, heading to the West side of Mosquito Lagoon.

It was a beautiful day as we started out and we were looking for some of the Spoil Islands. That is not marked on my map. We headed further south and then backtracked to the railroad bridge. Our deserted island quest fizzled out, for various reasons, at the railroad bridge we veered right and stopped at a beach. This was a shallow area, so I walked in the knee-high water looking for shells while my son went a bit offshore to fish.

My goal was to find some living sea snails, and maybe even a cool empty seashell.  I had my iPhone and did find some nice shells.

As I walked over toward, what looked like, a dark water hole (called Roach Hole on a map), I saw a skull (photo below). As I was getting this photo, I wondered what type of animal it could be.  

animal skull
Animal skull – Gator!

I continued shuffling through the shallow water, which was murky as the depth increased, in search of seashells.  The bottom was muddy and this was obviously a place where few people ever ventured.

The only excuse I can make for my complete ignorance of the fact that alligators lived there is that I have never beach-combed in this area… but… it is part of the Intracoastal Waterway system where I usually beach comb. Except, usually we are far north of the Lagoon area, where I have never seen a gator, nor have I ever heard of one being spotted.

Alligators are known to live around the Kennedy Space Center, Mosquito Lagoon waters, which is where we were, but on the west side. ……. I simply forgot about that.  This water is not as salty as the water in the northern Indian River.  To the North, ocean tides move the water level, whereas the Lagoon water level does not move according to the tides.  I believe that gators prefer less salty water, which would explain this.

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Water was flowing toward me out of that dark blue lagoon.  In fact, it was looked more black than blue.

Alligators Are The Creepiest of Florida’s Wildlife

It wasn’t until later when I began reviewing my photos and saw that skull photo again that I realized I had been strolling casually through water that most likely held gators.  You don’t have to see them to know they are there.  Alligators will sit on the murky water bottom and wait for their next meal to come along.  When they bite, they mean business.  They will drag their prey underwater and roll until it drowns.  

The recent story of the woman who died after a gator pulled her into the water is the type of thing I think about whenever I am near fresh water in Florida.  As the story says, it’s rare, but I can recall many such stories over the years.  They mainly target small prey such as children and dogs that are near the edge of the water.  Or bite when swimmers invade their territory.

Nearly every bit of freshwater in Florida contains alligators.  My son and I just saw a small one alongside the highway, Route 528, on our way home from the airport.  We’ve had a lot of rain so the ditches were full. Although Florida is mainly a swamp, I would not purposely live near any freshwater pond or lake.  And I would never swim in one, except for the springs, which are clear.

Alligator facts you should know:  They are fast.  They may sit still on riverbanks and look lazy and complacent, but they can move when they decide to.  Once a gator chomps down on something he is not willing to let go.  They migrate on land and in water.  They mostly attack in and around water, but can be encountered anywhere.

 

More boating adventures along the Indian River.

Sometimes You Just Have a Bad Day Out on the Boat

Boating is usually always a lot of fun. I really can’t understand anyone not wanting to be out on the water. The fresh air and scenery can’t be beat although sometimes the sunshine is overdone here. But some days even being on the boat can be stressful.

Boating Pass For Merritt Island – Bring Cash!

A week or so ago we decided to try putting the boat in at a new boat ramp down on Merritt Island. Travel time to the ramp is about 30 minutes for us, but we needed to go even further to the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge to buy a year-long pass. Each visit to a boat ramp will cost $10, but a year long pass is $25. Unfortunately they only accept CASH OR CHECK and all I had was $20 cash. My son was flipping out because who doesn’t take debit or credit cards?????? I have to agree. There was no ATM on the premises, so be aware of this if you plan to visit.

We ended up with a $10 day long pass.   My son was so mad I had to leave him in the truck and go back inside to buy it myself.

Strike one.  Time wasted, no year-long pass.  A visit all the way back down to the Refuge is the only way to attain a pass.

The Boat Ramp Was Horrible

The boat ramp was alongside the eastern side of Mosquito Lagoon surrounded by very shallow water. It was a Wednesday, which is generally a slow boating day, and even though the ramp had good parking, there was one ramp and one narrow passageway to access the deeper water.  We found this ramp when we went to see the Falcon SpaceX rocket launch.

We were not impressed.  Maybe we will never use the ramp again – probably not.  But we maneuvered out to deeper water and then traveled north to the Haulover Canal. This is where we picked up the ICW to cross to the West side of the Lagoon.

Manatee Sightings – Good Part of the Day

This area (the Canal) is where manatees hang out, so going slow is key to avoid hitting them.  The water is very murky and we passed a manatee just inches from the side of our boat!  Because we are going slow, and our boat has a very shallow draft, the motor is unlikely to hit one of these creatures, but we kept a keen lookout for the telltale “bubble” of a swimming sea cow.

manatees
Group of manatees along the shore of the Haulover Canal

I did get this shot of a group of manatees gathered along the sandy shore of the Canal.  I had to blow it up and zoom in to show their gray bodies.  Hope you can see them okay.

So we saw manatees all along the canal, which is where the “Manatee Viewing Area” is, but something stunk really bad.  I think something had died because the stench in that part of the canal was disgusting.

Finding the Spoil Islands

We followed the ICW looking for the Spoil Islands, which are little islands in that area where boaters can visit and camp.  They can be rented, but I don’t know exactly how that works, or how you would keep other boaters off “your” island.  My son has been camping on the islands along the Indian River and he wanted to check out this new spot.

We wanted to find an empty island to hang out on, but the three we visited had people on them.  Because we didn’t want to go any further down south, we decided to head back.  I think the area is just too full of people (my complaint with most of Florida).

birds in mosquito lagoon
Birds on sandbar in Mosquito Lagoon

At a railroad bridge we headed out of the channel and landed at a little beach.  I did a little shell hunting and didn’t find anything interesting.  My son found this little shell on the bottom of his foot!  I had never seen one like it.  As you can see in my photos, it’s very tiny.  I believe it is called a Threeline Mudsnail.

mud snail
Tiny shell, I think is a Threeline mudsnail.
  • boat docked at the beach
    Docked at a little beach in Mosquito Lagoon
  • Lagoon view
    View of NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building across the Mosquito Lagoon
  • two yachts
    Yachts on the main channel

In this area, near the railroad track, I did some exploring while my son took the boat out to deeper water to try his luck at fishing. I’ll write about my Mosquito Lagoon shell-searching adventure in another post, but I did find some cool stuff.

A Bumpy Trip Back Home

By the time we left the area and headed back the wind had picked up. The waves were high enough to make for a very bumpy ride all the way to the ramp! I thought for sure my back would be sore as heck the following day, but it wasn’t too bad. My butt on the other hand was sore from all the bouncing.

We’ve had much better days out on the water and personally I don’t see any reason to go back down to Mosquito Lagoon. For fishermen it’s supposed to be one of the best places to catch fish. But the boat ramps on Merritt Island are horrible (and cost money), the waves can be high in the wide open area of the lagoon.  Our fishing boat is not made to run through constant waves comfortably.

The following day we went out over here near our home and had a great day… no hassles and all for free!