Boats
on the St. Johns
There is a remarkable
variety of boats on the river. If you travel to
Jacksonville the water is deep and broad enough to support
Navy and cargo ships, but in our area the water is too
shallow to accomodate a very large boat. There are deep
sections, but they are joined together by low spots that
won't allow a large motorboat to pass. There are 3 basic
types of boats:
Airboat
Also
called a "blow boat" because it "blows" it's
way over the water.
Airboats
are simply the most fun you can have with your
pants on. They are tricky to handle, and you have
quite a few dangers to watch out for. Read some
of the airboat stories, you'll see!
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Motorboat
Also
called "kicker boat" because it "kicks" it's
way through the water.
With
a kicker you can't get back into the cypress swamp,
and pretty much have to stay in the main river
run. But, with a small enough boat and a willingness
to paddle occasionally, you can get into some beautiful
areas of the marsh.
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My
boat falls into this category, but - being
small - can go places the larger boats cannot. After a
hurricane my boat can go on airboat trails to the deep
cypress.
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Paddle
boat
You
get the drift, right?
Canoes
are very tipsy and you can't use a motor at all
unless you rig up a special motor mount - then
it gets REALLY tipsy. Some people are hesitant
to go into alligator infested water in a tipsy
boat.
Kayaks
are not as tipsy, but seem awfully small when measured
next to an alligator.
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Lunatic Fringe |
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A kayaker mounted
a trolling motor on his craft to make traveling easier.
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Called the "Airhouse" this
vessel is a combination airboat/houseboat & kicker.
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Seadoo's
are probably a lot of fun, but they make too much
noise.
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Hunters completely
covered their boat with palm fronds.
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Rubber Rafts don't
seem safe enough from gators and submerged trees.
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Ultralites aren't boats,
but they do practice touch-and-goes on the lake.
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Another entry
in the Kayak division is this model with sail
attached.
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This little Tugboat is
parked at a local fish camp while they are building
the new bridge.
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Hurricane! 
