Hontoon Landing

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DeLand, FL
Hontoon Landing

🌳 The St.
(1)

Johns River's most beautiful grounds
🛏️ 16 riverside rooms with full kitchens
⛵ Pontoon & fishing boat rentals | ⚓ Slips
🚗 1 hr from Orlando | DeLand, FL
📞 (386) 734-2474

Follow for river updates & last-minute openings

05/31/2026

Some photos tell a bigger story than the people in them ever knew.

This week, Beverly Berg-Hansen shared these with us from her family’s collection.

On the left: her parents, Bill and Dorothy Ressler. On the right: Bill and Virginia Fisher — the owners of Hontoon Marina at the time. That's Bill Ressler on the left in the Hontoon Marina cap. Bill and Virginia Fisher, the owners, are on the right. The Fishers were part of the founding family that started this place back in the 1950s.

Second photo: Beverly and her son Michael at the Hontoon Island State Park sign, 1975.

Third photo: A fishing boat heading out from the marina, 1980.

Three photos. Three decades of one family’s connection to this stretch of the St. Johns.

Hontoon has been part of people’s lives since 1958. The Fishers built it. Families like the Resslers made it home. And 67 years later, people are still sharing their stories with us.

If you’ve got your own Hontoon memories, we want to hear them.

🌳 Follow Hontoon for stories from the river — the ones worth remembering.

(Photos shared by Beverly Berg Hansen. Thank you for trusting us with your family’s memories.)

05/29/2026

This is what a weekend at Hontoon looks like from the inside. 🌳

One of our original cottages — full kitchen, queen bed, separate living area, walk-in shower. The kind of place where you make coffee in your own kitchen and drink it under the oaks outside your front door.

No Wake Zone sign on the wall. Spanish moss overhead. The St. Johns River a two-minute walk from your porch.

Available this weekend. From $150 a night.

Call (386) 734-2474 to book.

🌳 Follow Hontoon for last-minute openings and weekend availability.

05/27/2026

Most people cruise past her and think she’s just an abandoned boat sitting in the St. Johns. She’s not. 🇺🇸

This is the Tiger — US Army ST-479. Built in 1944 on the shores of Lake Beresford right here in DeLand. She crossed the Atlantic and helped tow the artificial harbors used during the D-Day invasion. A 140-ton WWII veteran sitting in the river she was born on.

Built in 1944. Honoring 44 fallen from West Volusia County who never came home.

Some things line up the way they’re supposed to.

The DeLand Historic Trust Inc is working to raise the funds needed to dry-dock her permanently as a memorial to those 44 service members.

05/24/2026

Most people who’ve boated the St. Johns near DeLand have seen this boat. 🇺🇸

Most don’t know her name.

This is The Tiger. She was built in 1944 along the shores of Lake Beresford by American Machinery Corporation. She served in Europe — supporting forces during the D-Day invasion and along the English Channel.

After the war, she disappeared from local memory. She was eventually found decaying in a canal in Stockholm, Sweden, and in July 2022 a group of private donors brought her home to Florida. She sits now in the St. Johns near DeLand, waiting.

The DeLand Historic Trust and local preservation groups are working to raise around $50,000 to haul The Tiger out of the water and permanently dry-dock her — as a monument to the 44 known service members from West Volusia County who lost their lives in World War II.

Tonight, and tomorrow, we remember them.

🌳 Follow Hontoon for stories from the river — the ones worth remembering.

(Photo taken from the water this week.)

05/22/2026

Memorial Day weekend boats — we have a few left. 🚤

Available this weekend:

Sunday: 1 pontoon available, 1 bass buggy available — small fishing pontoon, seats up to 4

Monday: 2 pontoons available

Pontoons seat up to 10, BYO gas, life jackets provided. Perfect for Blue Springs runs, fishing, or just floating the river with the family.

Half-day (4 hours) from $200, full-day (9-5) from $269

Call (386) 734-2474 to grab one before they’re gone. Walk-ins welcome if you’re already in DeLand.

🌳 Follow Hontoon for last-minute openings

05/20/2026

Fresh plantings around the resort this week.

Crotons, cordylines, hibiscus, and podocarpus going in around the cabins and walkways. The grounds are part of what makes guests come back — and what makes them stay a little longer than they planned.

A lot of small details add up to the feeling of being somewhere different.

Cabins, boat rentals, and slips open this Memorial Day weekend. Call (386) 734-2474.

🌳 Follow Hontoon for life on the river.

05/18/2026

Meet our least-paying guest. 🦝

Raccoons are part of the deal when you stay or dock on the St. Johns. They’re smart, curious, and absolutely will get into your cooler if you leave it open on the boat or unsecured on your cabin porch.

A few things I’ve learned in 10+ years of running this river:

✅ Don’t feed them. Once they associate humans with food, they get bold — and a bold raccoon is a problem raccoon

✅ Keep coolers, trash, and food locked up overnight, especially on boats

✅ They’re mostly nocturnal, but you’ll see them around dawn and dusk

✅ If one shows up at your cabin, just leave it alone — they’ll move on once they realize there’s nothing for them

They’re not dangerous if you respect them. And honestly, they’re part of what makes this place feel like real Florida — not a sanitized resort.

🌳 Cabins, slips, and boat rentals available. Call (386) 734-2474.

Follow Hontoon for weekly river updates and wildlife reports.

05/17/2026

Sunset from Room 15 🌅

This photo was taken last weekend by LouAnne Green Ljungquist, who left us a comment we won’t forget: ‘Your place is amazing! We will return.’ 🐊

This is what makes Hontoon different. It’s not what we say about ourselves — it’s what guests see from their own window, and what they take home with them.

LouAnne, we can’t wait to have you back.
To everyone else: cabins, boat rentals, and slips available for the upcoming weekend. Call (386) 734-2474 to book your own sunset.

🌳 Follow Hontoon for stories from the river.

Photo credit: Louanne Green Ljungquist

05/15/2026

Memorial Day Weekend at Hontoon — Room 7 is open. 🌊

One of our mini suites: full kitchen, king bed, separate living area with recliner and pull-out couch, full bath. Sleeps up to 4. Steps from the dock, the water, and grounds guests keep telling us feel like a resort.

From $220/night. Available May 22nd - 25th

Pontoon and boat rentals also open this weekend if you want a full Florida holiday experience.

Call (386) 734-2474 to book — once she’s gone for the weekend, she’s gone.

🌳 Follow Hontoon for last-minute openings and weekend availability.

05/12/2026

Look what turned up at Hontoon this morning 🐍

Meet our newest (temporary) guest — a yellow rat snake, completely harmless and one of the good guys around here. These guys keep the rodent population in check at the marina and on the docks.

Florida wildlife is part of the experience at Hontoon. Sometimes it’s manatees, sometimes it’s a curious snake in the parking lot.

He was relocated safely to the woods. 🌿

Boats, rooms, and slips open this Memorial Day weekend — call to book.

Address

Deland, FL

Telephone

+13867342474

Website

http://www.hontoon.com/

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