riding on the st. jons river

me and a few friends want to go on a 2 day trip to the st johns but i have several questions. any help is greatly appreciated

1.are the lots of good places to ride
2.does it get too shallow to drive anywhere
3.is there anywhere to camp out overnight, doesnt have to be a true campground.

thanks again

Depends on where you are. About 30 miles south of Jax. there is a place called Black Creek. It's the best place anywhere in that area to ride. Gets a little busy on weekends, but it is extremely deep and there are no really wide open areas for the wind to chop up the water. We have a place on the water there, so feel hit me up if you are in the area.

we will be starting out on the south end and im not sure if we will make the full run to jville, its 300 miles isnt it?

yea, you wont make it all the way up there.
i have been to lake beresford and monroe.
monroe is deep enough but can get chopped up by the wind and theres only one channel that you can ride in i believe so you cant ride near the sides of the lake.
and beresford is 6-8 feet at the most. you can ride in it but as you pull the rider up, you'll see a load of c*ap get chopped up from the initial start up.
im not sure if i would want to ride in the channels but its up to you

so is there anywhere to ride or not?

yea
theres lakes here and there, but it might be a 30 minute boat ride to the nearest lake depending on where u are.

I just got back from a little over night trip. We camped on Hontoon Island. There is a launch right across from there. Its about an hour north of Orlando. Only promblem is there were gators galore! And I do mean EVERYWHERE! We watched several 5+ footers swim by the boat. I would wait till after mateing season.

Smooth water was only a few mins from there as well.

so there were gators near your camp site or where you were trying to ride? were you in a campground or just in the woods somewhere. were there gators abundant in the smooth water or just by the island

jeremy: was this during the day that you saw the gators?
me and my dad saw plenty of them at night but none during the day.

Plenty of places to ride. Use the river in the "wake allowed" ares (there are alot of Manatee zones). There are alot of gators but I haven't been eaten yet, they're pretty cautious of you. In my opinion it's one of the best places to ride for smooth water.

(Message edited by tennyson0 on May 20, 2006)

ok so now that we have decided that there are places to ride we need to find a camp site. any more info on hontoon island

best place for smooth water, during the week. at weekends it gets real choppy.
ill be at beresford on thursday if anyone will be there
were gunna hire a pontoon, take our sea ray, and my uncle is taking his ski nautique so if anyone see's us, say hey

The River has a TOn of places to ride, many small creeks and such that have little or no traffic on the weekdays. It's like anywhere else though, smooth in the am and pm and choppy during the day.. I will second the above comments about the gators-They're everywhere down south. I'm in J-Ville and we just saw the first one of the year in Julington Creek this week, during the day! Also be advised, some lady just got killed by a gator in Lake George (south St Johns) I know there are many places to camp, unfortunately I am not sure of any names, There is one in Trout Creek, some fish camp...If yoiu make it up to Julington, let me know and we'll put the posse together and come show you where to ride..

chase what are you doing on here again? seriously you need to invite me to ride sometime! My boat is up at lake weir so you are closer!

oh yeah, I have ridden in the st johns near Astor a few times, just south of the boat launch. This was always early in the morning prior to heading to silver glen springs.

if depth is a concern consider installing a depth finder and scoping out the area you are going to ride in before you start.

ive got a depth finder, guess the amount of gators is all im thinking about now

You gotta look at it like this, (well this is what I keep telling myself as I ride at night and in the early morning) Alligator attacks are so uncommon, in fact there has only been like 20 total in the US since 1948, so the chances of you getting attacked are so slim that it makes you not worry as much, and the chances of you getting bit in a place where someone else just got bit-even slimmer!! That's hw I get through the riding in Gator country...I used to worry about sharks when I surfed but at least there are like a couple hundred guys surfing at one time..more choices on the menu...not the same with wakeboarding, if there were a couple hundred guys wakeboarding at one time, I don't think I would be riding anymore!!!

(oh yeah 3 of those 20 attacks were in florida in the last month...all died)

what's up on that Roam board???

the river you can always find glass... some shallows spots but overall one of best places to ride...

guaranteed to see gators... dunno how they'll be during mating season... but i'd def pick your spots if you go... we were coming right out of orlando near lake jesup (gator nation for lakes)

No gators in our camp site. During the day we saw several, big and small. To ride past them was very common. At night shinning a light down the shore line it was hard to tell where one set of eyes started and the others stoped. Sure gator attacks are uncommon but within the last two weeks there have been three deaths here in Orlando, one was just a jogger running. It is in the middle of mateing season that some say is will last longer this year. Riding in the St. Johns for the next few weeks is something I would avoid at all cost.

Yo Tim, I guess I am getting back into it after everyone left me to ride alone! you should see me ride now, inverts are all there but don't ask me to do a regular wake jump!?! I have a long road back I'm afraid.

Anyways, get your butt over here during the week or early on a weekend, the chain has gone nuts with morons! You are ALWAYS welcome.

Chase

your going to see alot more gator attacks because of the size of the gator population. there isnt enough of what they should be eating in there ecosystem so anything that moves is a target

All those attacks weren't in orlando, one was in FT Lauderdale, One on the west Coast and one in Lake George. Just a correction-don't want to give orlando a bad name....

Orlando, South Florida, St. Johns.....dosen't matter to me. A death because of a gator is a death because of a gator to me. I know attacks are not that common but in an area as populated as the St. Johns I am not going to tempt fate...anymore

Yes, better safe than sorry....everyone stay off the river this weekend.

Hey MPLV, fellow tmc'er, I wouldn't hesitate riding the river, but like others said get out early if it's a weekend to avoid crowds...weekdays you'll always find butter. I'm more afraid of being run over by a drunk in a runabout than being mauled by a giant lizard with very, very big teeth.

What up Chase? I'm sorry to hear about your crew. I know Sean left for Texas and Shane dipped out pretty quick. They're good people. Anyways, glad to see you're getting back into it. We've been riding during the week after work and weekends.

We'll be at the Glen this Sunday in a reverse red MasterCraft along with a Navy Blue SV-211, a MC 190 with a black tower and maybe a few others. Anyone going to be at the Glen on Sunday?

(Message edited by wakeguru on May 23, 2006)

Hey David! Dang, I'd almost forgotten about you guys. Too bad we live a million miles from each other, I'd love to ride with you guys. I hope you are doing well!

Chase

I guess sometimes it feels like a million miles. You know you're welcome at our house any time...it looks ten times different than the last time you were there.

I've still got your number, so I'll give you a call sometime soon.

Please do David, I will make the trip if you will in return!

ok, i rode on lake beresford today. hired a pontoon and loaded it down with people. we took our sea ray, and my uncle took his ski nautique. everyone is fine. lake was glass all day until it started raining in the afternoon. we saw one gator about 4 feet long on the way back to the marina but that was it-it was in the channel.
so what im saying is, im still alive, and you won't die if you ride there

...but, you could still die.

So, Burns - how was the wake on that pontoon boat that you had loaded down with people? (that was a joke...in case you thought I seriously thought that you were riding behind a pontoon boat....you weren't riding behind a pontoon boat were you?)

no, we definately were not riding behind a pontoon boat. but my dad was going to see if he could, just so he could get a picture, and then it started raining. i was amazed how easily it planed, even though it had way over 1000 pounds in people and drinks, and it only had a 60hp engine.

No doubt, I wouldn't expect it plane either.

We'll be launching at Ed Stone Park Sunday early morning to get the good water and drag some gator bait around. Hopefully, we won't have to divert to Beresford, but if we do we'll look for an overloaded pontoon boat and a grom ripping behind a Ski Nautique.

haha
watch out for the coast guard. they will be there on patrol this weekend!