Just a quick question. Has anyone ever visited or stayed at the Hontoon "Resort" down on the St. Johns River. My family is having a large get together there this weekend as they frequented this place many years ago when they were all young guys and gals. I am curious as I would love to bring our boat as it looks like a great location to get the boat in the water, cruise the river and even get some riding in on either the river or Lake Beresford that is connected to the river. Is there anything that I should be aware of, other than the local wildlife which we are used to? Submerged pilings, super shallow areas, etc? Thanks in advance for any help. <BR> <BR>Brian

Hi Not a real great place in my opinion. More for fishing. Lots of no wake zones. Lots of big houseboats.

The river is some of the finest riding you will find. Protected natural shoreline and any boat you pass is going on one direction - not circles. Hours of butter. Do a search for other threads and see what others say. <BR> <BR>You will see gators but sounds like you know their habits. There a lots of places to explore that get shallow but stick to the markers and river and you will be fine. I suggest grabbing a nautical map of the river for $10, although they probably have one there, it will put you at ease about water depths and show you where you can explore. There's plenty of stuff off the river, kind of like Black Pond at Santa Fee, that you want to avoid unless you have local knowledge but those areas will be obvious. <BR> <BR>I guarantee if you don't take the boat you will be watching other boats go by and hating yourself. Have fun.

I have no idea what Nipper is talking about, not very many wake zones,and miles of riding. You can ride the river and never go to the lake. I was just there 4 weeks ago and stayed at the other place right around the corner. There are only a couple of no wake zones and you can pretty much run wide open to Astor. This is one of my favorite places to ride. There are a lot of gators but they don't bother you. As far as anything being in the water, not to my knowledge. I was there when they were having all the flooding and I had no problems. In fact I will be heading over there in a couple of weeks. The places are set up for fisherman but in my experiences there everyone is cool. So go out there and have a good time. There are lots of locals who ride there as well...

Thanks all, <BR>I am here now actually and its a pretty fun place all in all. Wind was dead and we were on the lake early and not another boat in sight for several hours. I cannot complain. I have not been up the river yet but we will be today. So far, I like it. Thanks again for the input!