by Cassie LaRue
The St. Johns River is often overlooked as you travel over one of our seven bridges rushing to work, to pick up kids, or to make it home safe. Underneath those bridges is the longest river in Florida, 310 miles. The elevation level from the headway to the mouth is only 30 ft, making this river one of the laziest. When I got an opportunity to travel most of that on a boat, I could not wait. The Riverkeeper Eco-Heritage Boat Trip, put on by the St. Johns Riverkeeper, travels from Jacksonville to Sanford and back over the course of five nights and six days. My daughter and I joined them for the second leg of that trip, the three days by river from Sanford back to Jacksonville.
Our only transportation for the week was to be the SS Marine Taxi with Captain “D” Derek Brinkman at the helm and first mate (and owner of the boat) Greg Samuel on board. The SS Marine Taxi is a comfortable, USCG-inspected taxi that has great seats and tables with excellent river viewing opportunities and, thankfully, toilet facilities. You may remember it as the River Taxi that takes guests across the St. Johns in downtown Jacksonville.
With entertaining and educational speakers, my daughter and I, as well as everyone on the trip, had a delightful time and came to think of the St. Johns River as another personality along for the ride. Jimmy Orth, the Riverkeeper’s Executive Director, introduced us to the River and told us of some of the issues that the River is and has been facing. Some of the other highlighted speakers included award-winning environmental author and filmmaker Bill Belleville, whose latest project is a film entitled In Marjorie’s Wake. The film describes the real life journey of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings on the St. Johns.
We also heard from Neil Armingeon, the St. Johns Riverkeeper himself, about the plant and animal life all around us that was in danger due to pollution in the River, which is caused by large corporations and by everyday people that live along it’s banks and tributaries. We heard from historian Shorty Robbins, who developed Walter Jones Historical Park, the first historical Park in Jacksonville. She portrayed Mrs. Chadwick, a woman who was on the Maple Leaf, an American Civil War Ship that wrecked on the banks of the River at Mandarin.
We also got to hear from a St. Johns County Park Naturalist, Beverly Fleming. She has spent many years working to better the health of the St. Johns River. Lauri A.H. deGaris, a native of Jacksonville and fifth generation Floridian, also spoke. Finally, William J. Dreggors, Jr., an 81-year old, fourth generation Floridian and lifelong resident of Deland, joined us for a stretch. Bill’s vast knowledge of the early growth along the river and colorful folk stories were very interesting and quite entertaining.
After taking this compelling journey with my daughter, The Riverkeeper has cultivated two new environmentalists to champion the causes of our new friend, the St. Johns River. The better we came to know the River and all of its troubles, the more we realized that all it needs is advocates like us. Never again will I drive over a bridge without thinking about that beautiful body of water that is our lifeblood and, more importantly, our responsibility.
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