Wilkins Lock Boat Ramp Pool

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 181 - September 28, 2017

I was up early for Baxter duty and went to shore while Patty was making the coffee. When I got back, we were treated to a very nice sunrise at our Bay Springs Lake Five Fingers Thumb anchorage!

Bay Springs Lake sunrise!

Today we knew was a day of locks! We were hoping to get through the Amory Lock at Mile 371 to an anchorage at Mile 366, but we fell a little short! Right out of the chute at our anchorage, we were in the Whitten Lock (84', this is a big guy). Six miles later we were in the Montgomery Lock (33'), and eight miles farther on, we were in the Rankin Lock (31'). We had no waiting at any of these, we were green lighted to enter as we were approaching them. Things were looking good at this point!

Whitten Lock looking back over Daydream's transom!

Then we got to the Fulton Lock. We could see a tow in the lock chamber going down on our AIS. The lock master told us that he then had a northbound tow to bring up and we would be able to enter when that tow exited. Well, how come I knew something the lock master didn't know? From our AIS we could see that the northbound tow was more than three miles away and traveling at about four miles an hour. We waited...and waited...and waited, as other southbound pleasure craft arrived behind us. The wait was over two hours. We are pretty sure that the lock master had plenty of time to lock us through before the northbound tow arrived, but it was not our place to tell the lock master!

So it was pushing 5:00 p.m. when we got to the Wilkens Lock arrival area at Mile 376, and there was no inviting anchorage immediately downstream, so we decided to wait until tomorrow to transit the Wilkens Lock. There were two Active Captain anchorages immediately above the Wilkens Lock. One was off a marina, and landing would require using the marina's boat ramp, which I am reluctant to do. The other was off a pubic boat ramp in a little pond immediately adjacent to the Wilkens Lock requiring the lock master's approval, so I called the lock master on the VHF to request permission to anchor there.

We have, frankly, had some difficulty understanding the southern lock masters. He said a lot, and neither of us understood any of what he was saying. I thought I heard him say "That's fine," but he went on and on, probably with some cautionary instructions, but we were really without a clue about precisely what he had said. The important thing for me was that I did not hear him say no! 

We proceeded into the pond, and did not immediately see the boat ramp, which was quite a ways in. We passed through an area a little less than five feet deep. Finally we saw the boat ramp and the depth increased to eight to ten feet. We set the anchor and I got the kayak down, as Baxter was certainly due for his shore trip.

Wonderful anchorage at COE boat ramp at Wilkens Lock

I was amazed when I paddled the kayak up to the wide concrete boat ramp and walked up, since from the water side, none of the improvements were visible. This is a Corps of Engineers facility, and it is gorgeous. It has a big concrete parking lot, trash cans, restrooms and a nice large grassy area. I let Baxter romp in the grass to his heart's content, and when his business was done, he hopped back in the kayak on his own and we paddled back to the boat! I gave this anchorage a five star review on Active Captain, since there had been a number of negative reviews.

We transited four locks today, and tomorrow we are hoping to transit the Wilkens Lock, the Amory Lock and the Aberdeen Lock, and anchor a few miles upstream from the Stennis Lock at Mile 334. We have finished the Divide Cut and the Canal Section and are starting the River Section of the Tenn-Tom today, which will eventually take us down to Demopolis, AL, where the the Tenn-Tom Waterway ends and the Black Warrior - Tombigbee Waterway begins. We are almost beginning to be able to smell the salt water!

Bay Springs Lake

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 180 - September 27, 2017

Our haul-out was scehduled for 9:00 a.m., but we were finished with breakfast by 8:30 a.m. so I walked up to see if we could get started a little earlier - no dice, they had another boat on the big lift that they needed to get inside and blocked, but Tony said he would come down and get us at 9 a.m., which he did. Patty walked up to the TraveLift and Tony rode on the bow as I eased around the corner. I drove into the slings, and Tony tied them with ropes, since our boat is actually a little short even for their small TraveLift! Pretty soon Daydream was up in the air, then the TraveLift was rolling to our parking spot, and finally we were parked and I was able to get started!

Daydream in the TraveLift at Aqua Yacht Harbor

With each service I have done, I get a little more confident about what I am doing and more efficient at doing it! I started draining the lower unit oil into my container first, and while that was draining, I got the oil evacuator pump set up. It took Patty's finesse to get the little tube down to the bottom of the crankcase through the dipstick hole, but once the flow was going, siphon action kept it going! While the oil evacuator tank was filling, I filled the lower unit from the bottom up with fresh 90 weight gear oil using the nifty little lower unit oil pump, put the plugs back in, and put the lower unit oil pump away. I had put oil absorbent pads down, but I only had to wipe the lower unit with a paper towel and for the first time I did not spill any of the gear oil. When the used oil had stopped flowing into the evacuator tank, I put an oil absorbent pad below the oil filter, and then removed and replaced it with a new oil filter. Again, for the first time, I did not have any oil flowing out the rear seam when I removed the old oil filter. Then I added six quarts of new oil through the oil filler hole, so I can top it up after we have run a bit today. The last thing we did was to put the used oil from the oil evacuator back into the empty quart bottles. I wish I could say we did not spill anything in that process, but that would not be true! But since we were working over oil absorbent pads, none of it got on the concrete. I wish I had known we would be directed to dispose of the used oil in a big bulk tank - I could have done that directly from the oil evacuator without putting it in the empty quart bottles, since the oil evacuator has a switch to reverse the direction of flow. 

MityVac fluid evacuator recommended by my friend Jody Kidd.
This paid for itself the first time I used it!

We were done in about an hour and a half from the time the TraveLift was parked until we were cleaned up and ready to be put back in the water! We got held up leaving by a big Carver hull minus its pilot house (the pilot house was on a separate trailer up in the parking lot, no idea how they are going to deal with putting it all back together!), which was transferred from a flatbed truck to the big TraveLift. Then it took a while for the flatbed truck to maneuver out of the way. It was quarter to noon before we were back in the water and on our way!

Aqua Yacht Harbor is on Yellow Creek, which is the point of departure from Pickwick Lake for the Tenn-Tom Waterway, so on leaving Aqua Yacht Harbor I simply took a right to head down the creek. It is all downstream from here to Mobile Bay, no more chugging upstream! We were cruising down the "Divide Cut" section of the Tenn-Tom Waterway fairly soon. The Divide Cut is a 25 mile long constructed ditch with rip-rapped banks and drainage features with energy dissipating baffles. It is not really too scenic!

We passed two tows headed north as we were headed south on the Divide Cut. I had not started Coastal Explorer so we were without AIS. but a boat following us communicated with the tows, and we were the beneficiaries of those communications!

We exited the Divide Cut about 4 p.m. onto Bay Springs Lake, which has a lot of great anchorages. We settled on one called Five Fingers Thumb.

Screenshot of Five Fingers Thumb anchorage, a very nice spot with a sandy beach!

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Sandy beach at Five Fingers Thumb anchorage on Bay Springs Lake

I had not had time to shower at the marina after doing the outboard service, so the first thing I did when we got to our anchorage was to take a shower with our nifty little Helio shower. This has a two gallon tank, a foot pump and a seven foot hose with a shower head on it - much better than a gravity fed sun shower!

Pat showering with Helio on bow! I am wincing because the water was too hot@!

Helio tank and foot pump.

The evening was quite a bit cooler than the last several had been, so all we needed for a good night's sleep was the Endless Breeze fan set on our little folding table aimed into the vee-berth!

Day Two at Captain's Choice Dock, Aqua Yacht Harbor

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 179 - September 26, 2017

As we were having our coffee in the cockpit, Robbie and Sam were just loading the final dock cart of Robbie's belongings. Early this morning Robbie's sale of his Carver 440 was resurrected by the buyer's wiring the 10% payment to the broker. There is still the survey and sea trial, so perhaps, as Dr. Bob suggested, Robbie is a little premature in removing all this personal possessions! My sense though is that just having completed his Loop, Robbie is very anxious to return home to Pensacola!

Promptly at 9:00 a.m., Matt from Captain's Choice arrived with our new Group 31 battery. I had already disconnected the cables from the battery we had purchased at Green Turtle Bay and re-oriented it to accommodate the new battery. Matt knew we needed an additional short cable to wire the two batteries in parallel, but said he wanted to see exactly what was needed and we would go to the hardware store. The hardware store had a perfect cable for our needs. I bought it and we went back to the marina. Matt arranged the two batteries and strapped them down, and wired the parallel cables, the boat positive cable and the boat negative cable, as well as the short cable to the inverter and another short cable to the shunt for the Victron battery monitor. I'll let the on-board Guest charger charge the new house battery bank all night and then reset the Victron monitor tomorrow!

Patty washed the laundry, cleaned all the vinyl, and took a shower. I went up and talked to Tony about their pulling me out on the small TraveLift so I could do my outboard service. I had put everything I needed for the service in a dock cart and wheeled it up. My scheduled time kept slipping though, and when he was ready to pull us out it was 3:30 p.m., and I was not confident I would be done by 5:00 p.m. when they all go home and lock the yard, so we re-scheduled for tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. and I put my dock cart inside their building. This means we will be here one more night, and probably not start down the Tenn-Tom Waterway until about noon. That should still allow us time to reach Bay Springs Lake, which has a lot of good anchorages.

The day was really hot, with the temperature pushing 90, and also very humid, clearly an evening to run our little air conditioner for the third time so we can get a good night's sleep!!

Our little AC really cools the cabin down!

I am getting anxious to get the outboard service done and get on the move again!

Captain's Choice Dock, Aqua Yacht Harbor

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 178 - September 25, 2017

When I took Baxter to shore at our Sulfur Creek anchorage by Pickwick Landing State Park on the shore opposite the marina at about 7:00 a.m., we followed the trail back from the water's edge, and came to a fork in the trail - one direction said "Campground" and the other direction said "Cabins. So the State Park must wrap completely around Sulfur Creek. We were anchored directly out from the cabins, which are right above the marina, so I followed the trail to the campground. There were a couple of RVs there, and a number of empty sites with power and water. It looks like a nice place to camp! 

I paddled Baxter back to the boat and unloaded him, and then paddled out by myself and took a few shots of The Good Life, Angel Louise and Daydream at anchor in Sulfur Creek at Pickwick Landing State Park. The sun was just just barely over the tops of the trees and the water was very calm!  Ed and Sue on Angel Louise have lived aboard for 11 years.  They have taken the boat across the Atlantic and done a European Loop similar to this one.  They are they only boat to have done both loops.

Daydream at Sulfur Creek at Pickwick Landing State Park

Daydream at Sulfur Creek at Pickwick Landing State Park - nice reflection of bow!

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The Good Life at Sulfur Creek at Pickwick Landing State Park

Angel Louise at Sulfur Creek at Pickwick Landing State Park

The Good Life and Angel Louise both weighed anchor and motored over to the Pickwick Landing State Park for fuel and pump out, and we are not sure when or if we will see them again, because we are heading down the Tenn-Tom Waterway in two days, and they are headed for the AGLCA Rendevous at Joe Wheeler State Park at Wheeler Lake on the Tennessee River. 

We had a leisurely morning, since all we have to do is motor to Aqua Yacht Harbor maybe 11 miles away from Pickwick Landing State Park. We had tried to call Dr. Bob's friend Spencer, who lives on Pickwick Lake, but only got to his answering machine. We left a message on Spencer's answering machine but did not hear back, so we left around 11:00 a.m. We got to the fuel dock at Aqua Yacht Harbor, fueled up, and motored past the Aqua Yacht Harbor Slips to the Captain's Choice dock, where Capt. Sam had told us we could tie up, and Matt from Captain's Choice would be bringing us our new Group 31 12 volt battery so we would have a second battery to go with the Group 31 we had purchased at Green Turtle Bay. The two batteries will be connected in parallel doubling our amp hour capacity, as the single Group 31 was discharging a little more than we liked in the mornings we anchored out. 

We got tied up at what we thought was the Captain's Choice dock, but it turned out it was the part of the dock that belongs to Aqua Yacht Harbor, and the Captain's Choice slips, while on the same dock, were on the part farther out! So we had to move about four slips to be where we were supposed to be! 

Soon after we were tied up, we met Robbie Robinson from Pensacola, who had just crossed his wake on the Loop in a Carver 440, which he purchased through Captain's Choice, and which Captain's Choice had just sold for him. The contract is all signed,so he and his friend Sam are in the process of moving Robbie's belongings out of the Carver to his pickup truck, and they invited us to join them for dinner.

While we were passing time, I wandered up to the Aqua Yacht Harbor Ship Store and Service Center to inquire about possibly using their TraveLift for a haul out so I could do my own outboard service. The service manager said that would be fine tomorrow afternoon, and his price was fine with us, so this will be my fourth and final outboard service on the Loop. I have done two of them myself, one in North Carolina (thanks to Benton Blalock!) and one in Kingston, N.Y, while Irish Boat Shop in Harbor Springs did the third service which involved replacing the internal filters. I will change the oil, oil filter, lower unit lube and fuel filter, and I feel pretty good about being able to do this service myself!

We had our sundowners and pretty soon Robbie and Sam knocked on our door, and they took us up to a little BBQ place called The Rib Cage just up the road from Aqua Yacht Harbor. The ribs were fall-off-the-bone tender, with a rub not quite as good as my own "Wild Willie's Rub" from the book Smoke and Spice by Cheryl and Bill Jamison, our go-to book for Q, but very good nonetheless!

Robbie got a call during dinner that the buyer had just informed the broker that he could not come up with the 10% payment due tomorrow. Not sure how this is going to end, but Robbie and the broker are going to be dealing with it tonight for sure!

After dinner I went to bed early, and Patty read for a bit! Tomorrow morning I will get everything ready for Matt from Captain's Choice, who will be bringing our new battery down and installing it! Tomorrow afternoon, after Matt installs the new battery, I will do the outboard service, we will stay here one more night, and then we start a new leg of our Loop as we head down the Tenn-Tom Waterway!

Sulfur Creek (Pickwick Landing State Park anchorage)

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 177 - September 24, 2017

Since it will be another ~50 mile day with a lock at the end with an unknown wait to transit, we got another early start! We started out a bit ahead of The Good Life and Jet Stream, but each of them in turn passed us! We had decided we didn't want to pay the fuel penalty for the extra 1 mile per hour, so we settled for our usual 6.67 mph and 1 gph, at least for the most of today's cruise! When Jet Stream passed us, K.C. got a nice shot of Daydream running in the Tennessee River!

Daydream on way to Pickwick Lock on Tennessee River

Along the way, we passed an area with a marginal T-Mobile cell signal, and Patty Googled how to reset the Verizon Jetpack. Turns out you remove the battery and then press and hold the reset button down. When we put the battery back in, the Jetpack came back to life, at least for the time being, and we once again have internet when we have a Verizon cell tower nearby, which is a WHOLE lot more places than there is any T-Mobile service!

We cruised along just fine at our usual speed until about five miles before we got to the Pickwick Landing Lock, when we noticed the current getting a little stronger, then a mile or so along, a LOT stronger, until finally right before the lock we were struggling to make 4 or 5 mph and burning a lot of fuel at that! We found The Good Life anchored a short distance from the lock, and we anchored between The Good Life and the shore. The lock master informed us that he needed to lock two tows through, and that it would be a two to four hour wait, so we resigned ourselves to wait! While we were waiting, Angel Louise, a sailing catamaran without a mast, went past us and anchored a bit closer to the lock.

Fortunately, the lock master called on the radio after about an hour and said he was going to lock us through with the second tow, which was a single barge, and that we should enter the lock on the horn and be sure we were tied up behind the tow.  When the horn sounded, we all entered the lock and secured our lines, and the 55 foot ascent began! Gail on The Good Life took a nice picture of Daydream at the top of the lock on the wall!

Daydream at top of lock wall at Pickwick Landing Lock

The lock master directed us to exit the lock prior to the tow exiting, and as soon as the horn sounded, we were on our way! 

I called around trying to find a place to sell me a second Group 31 12 volt battery, since we discovered over the course of three nights that a single Group 31 was on the very bottom edge of adequacy, and we wanted more comfort in our reserve amp hours! I called a couple of places, and amazingly, Sam from Captain's Choice at Aqua Yacht Harbor called me back and arranged to have the second battery delivered and installed on Tuesday, and offered us a free tie-up at the Captain's Choice brokerage dock, so that is where we will be heading tomorrow.

The Sulfur Creek anchorage is just past the Pickwick Landing Marina up (non-odoriferous) Sulfur Creek. Gail emailed us that game time would be at 6:30 p.m.on Angel Louise! There was a dandy place on the shore opposite the marina to land Baxter, and with that out of the way, we had our sundowners and dinner, and then paddled over to Angel Louise.

Getting onto a sailing catamaran from an inflatable kayak was the first hurdle, but that was nothing compared to my trying to understand the rules to the evening's game. This involved an octagonal wooden board with holes for marbles, with the men playing against the women, and cards having weird properties, like only go backwards, or must be split between two marbles, or allow you to bump an opponent, and so forth. I did not and never will understand the rules of that game, and if I never have to play it again, it will be too soon!

Tomorrow we motor over to Captain's Choice brokerage dock at Aqua Yacht Harbor for our new second battery!

Clifton Marina

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 176 - September 23, 2017

We left Rockport Landing at 7:30 a.m. since we needed to go more than 50 miles today to Clifton Marina. This means get up early, a quick trip to shore for Baxter while Patty makes the coffee, one cup of coffee and a piece of toast, pull the anchor and get underway! The second cup of coffee has to wait until we are motoring up the Tennessee.

Underway I called the Clifton Marina and made a reservation. It can be chancy calling on the same day you want to stay at a marina, but the lady said it would be no problem and they could accommodate us.

There is not a lot to see along the banks but there was this one interesting house WAY up on top of a rock cliff!

House on top of cliff on Tennessee River

We ran the whole way at a faster RPM than we usually do, and paid the price in fuel consumption! We usually do something on the order of 1 gph to achieve about 6.7 mph. To save an hour, we booted it up to 7.5 - 7.7 mph, which put us right around 2 gph. So the extra one mile per hour cost us pretty much an extra gallon per hour. Still, the big boats wish they had our fuel budget! 

When we got to Clifton Marina, it seemed as though they were overwhelmed with several boats coming in at more or less the same time. When I first radioed in, they said they would have someone direct us and catch our lines. When we got inside the Clifton Harbor, they told us to go to "the end of A dock." I asked for a slip number but was told the slips have no numbers.  So, being quite literal, I proceeded past the beginning of A dock to the end of A dock, only to find that there were no open slips there. I radioed again, and he said to tie up on the outside right under the big "A"! Not to quibble but that is the "beginning" of A dock, not the "end" of A dock! Well, I guess that was ONE end of A dock, but he could have told me that right off! I  had to do a little tricky maneuver at the far end to get turned around in a pretty narrow fairway, which I managed to do and get back out from the "end "of A dock to the "beginning" of A dock where we tied up. Oh, well!

We had a little excitement shortly after we got there. Three women in a runabout let one of them off at the dock next to the boat ramp, and she promptly fell in!  I went down to help her back up onto the dock, but all she wanted was for me to bring her shoes to the steep rock bank! The other ladies were yelling "Let him help you get out," but she wanted none of it. I brought her shoes to her at the water's edge, and she finally managed to get out. We then watched the ladies try to get the boat onto the trailer. The boat went on, the truck started up, the truck came back down, the boat floated off. Repeat over and over. This went on for half an hour so so, and they had not succeeded when we went to dinner! We are guessing some alcohol had been involved!

There were several other Loopers there, including Dennis and Dana on Pharm Life, Gail and Bob on The Good Life, and Scott and K.C. on Jet Stream. We all had dinner on the marina's patio. The marina restaurant had a very limited menu, but we all had the shrimp basket which was pretty good. Fries only, no coleslaw, potato salad or other side! Choice of beverage apparently was ice tea, sweetened or unsweetened!

The three ladies must have finally succeeded in loading the boat, since when we went back to Daydream after dinner, the truck, trailer, boat and ladies were all gone!

Tomorrow we move on to Pickwick Landing Lock and Pickwick Lake! This will mark the end of our journey on the Tennessee and the beginning of the Tenn-Tom Waterway!

Rockport Landing, Tennessee River

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 175 - September 22, 2017

The trawler that had been anchored up the bay pulled out quite early. We had our usual morning routine, Baxter to shore, coffee, breakfast, then weigh the anchor and head out! As far as we can tell from the charts Kentucky Lake ends somewhere near Dry Fork Bay, and the channel narrows and becomes the Tennessee River, and it also appears that is approximately the location we left Kentucky and entered Tennessee. We decided on Rockport Landing as our anchorage for tonight, the only open question being how it would be to land Baxter, but we thought we would take a look at it first.

The cruise up the Tennessee was uneventful. We did not really see much that was interesting, and we made pretty good time. We only saw two types of boats on the river - the go-fast bass boats with the pedestal fishing chairs and pontoon boats! Again for almost the entire time we had no cell service. As we got closer to Rockport Landing, we had a weak cell signal. Along the way, we got an email from Gail Thomas on The Good Life. They heard somebody come into Dry Fork Bay but did not know it was us, and we of course did not know it was them in the trawler! Gail said they were headed for an anchorage at Mile 106.5 behind an Island, and I asked if that was by any chance the Rockport Landing anchorage in Active Captain, and it turns out it was!

The Rockport Landing anchorage is one of the deepest anchorages we have encountered. Depths between 35 to nearly 50 feet all along the middle of the channel. We probed the edge of the channel looking for a shallower spot, but the best we could find was 32 feet, so that is where we set the hook! The adjacent shore had a little inlet back to a pool. The inlet had rocks on one side and mud on the other, so I knew I could land Baxter on the rocky side. Gail and Bob on The Good Life were anchored a few hundred feet in front of us. Where we ended up was not really protected by the island, but there was a pretty good sand bar to protect us from wakes, and the winds were predicted to be light.

It was another hot day, so the first order of business was to take a swim! Just like Dry Fork Creek, the water was clear and nice and warm - no shock to any part of the anatomy when it hits the water! Gail emailed that they had started their genset and turned on the air conditioning and invited us over. So I put the second seat in the Sea Eagle, and we paddled over to The Good Life. Gail had snacks and I confess that I drank one of Bob's Bud Light Platinums. Hey, it was cold and fizzy, and went well with the cheese, crackers and smoked whitefish that Gail set out!

Gail and Bob lived in the same area we live in, we live 15 miles  north of Bellingham, and they lived 15 miles south. Bob was a Navy man, and after he put in his 20 years, he went back to school and became a librarian at Western Washington State University, from which Patty and I graduated in 1968. They have four kids - quadruplets! Gail showed us pictures of their kids then and now. Gail and Bob have sold their Bellingham home and are relocating to Olympia to be closer to their grandchildren. They are planning to cruise The Good Life all the way around through the Panama Canal back to Olympia. They are well aware of the hazards of the Pacific Ocean off Northern California, Oregon and Washington, but think they can do it. We sure hope they are right!

We probably visited for an hour and a half, when I realized I needed to head back for Baxter duty, so we said our goodbyes and paddled back to Daydream. Like last evening, it cooled off nicely, and we felt no need for a fan let alone the air conditioner. It looks like we will both head for the Clinton Marina tomorrow, some 53 miles away. We'll have to get up a little earlier than normal and burn some fuel! 

Dry Fork Bay, Kentucky Lake

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 174 - September 21, 2017

I popped wide awake at 6:30 a.m. and went up to shave and shower. Even at that early hour, most of the bathrooms were in use. Greeen Turtle Bay has the same kind of self-contained bathrooms with vanity, toilet and shower that Trent Port Marina and Alton Marina do. This kind of bathroom facility is much more convenient than separate restrooms and showers! 

When I got back to the boat, I put the kayak on top and took Baxter up for his morning ablution. Back down at the boat, Patty had coffee made and breakfast ready for me to cook. I have a weakness for Hungry Jack hash brown potatoes and fried eggs! They are dehydrated, and in that form probably last longer than most marriages. When rehydrated and drained, they cook up just the way we like them, crispy and brown on the outside!

Patty wanted to make one more run in the loaner car to the grocery store in Grand Rivers for some items we forgot to buy yesterday, and fortuantely the Jeep was available. While she was gone, I washed the dishes, filled the water tank, and disconnected the electricity. When she got back we motored around to the fuel dock. Counting the 14.5 gallons added at the Little River Diversion Channel, we had covered the 257 miles from Hoppies to Green Turtle Bay on only 51 gallons of gas for a combined downstream / upstream average of 5 mpg! So take note, C-Dory people who want to do the Loop - you do NOT need to worry about the run from Hoppies to Green Turtle Bay IF you slow cruise, and it is even better now that the Paducah fuel dock is open. If you have to run fast, well, you are on your own then!

We left the fuel dock, headed out of the marina, and it was only a short distance until we were crossing from Lake Barkley into Kentucky Lake via the Barkley Canal. Kentucky Lake is the Tennesse River, just like Lake Barkley is the Cumberland River, but both are so wide and flat that there is no perceptible current. The water in Kentucky Lake is very clear, unlike the Illinois, Mississippi, and Cumberland. Running in the lake, we were astounded at the number of dead fish just floating in the water. We didn't count them but we must have seen dozens. We are cruising along the Land Between the Lakes side of Kentucky Lake, and there is simply no development along this pristine shoreline!

About halfway to our chosen anchorage, we heard somebody hail Daydream on the VHF, and we responded, It was Dan and Peggy Bowers on another C-Dory, Lake Effect, from Illinois. They asked if we had time for a visit, and of course we did! They motored over from a cove on the other side of the lake, and we rafted for a short but very pleasant visit! Lake Effect was also flying the AGLCA Looper burgee, but Dan explained that they were really doing it in sections, and their problem was that if they liked one section, they kept going back to it instead of going on to the next section! We exchanged boat cards, took mutual photos, untied and were each on our way!

Lake Effect on Kentucky Lake

Daydream on Kentucky Lake, Dan Bowers photo

Somewhere along the way, our Verizon Jetpack died on us. One minute it was working, and the next minute it would not turn on or charge. Of course our T-Mobile phones have not had any service since...well, maybe Joliet? So we are without internet or telephone communications. In some places, text messaging worked but not on Kentucky Lake. So we are simply cut off. Somewhere I have to find a Verizon store and get the Jetpack repaired or replaced.

We reached our anchorage, Dry Fork Bay, about 3:30 p.m. A trawler was anchored in Dry Fork Bay farther into the bay when we got there, and a little bit later a sailboat cruised in and anchored. We could not tell if either of them were Loopers, but our guess was that the Trawler probably was and the sailboat probably wasn't. There is a very primitive boat ramp at Dry Fork Bay, and we anchored a short distance off the ramp. The first thing we did was to go swimming! The water here, in addition to being clear, is quite warm, so there was no shock getting into the water as there had been in Georgian Bay and Lake Michigan where I had previously gone swimming. This was Patty's first swim and it was incredibly refreshing! We are looking forward to a few more swims on Kentucky Lake! While in the water, I took the opportunity to take a brush to a lot of the gunk at and just above the waterline on Daydream's hull. I got a lot of it off, but there is some staining that will have to wait until we get home to be dealt with. FSR (Fibergalss Stain Remover) followed by Shurehold Buff Magic should do the trick!

Trawler anchored at Dry Fork Bay

Sailboat anchored at Dry Fork Bay

This is probably the nicest anchorage we have been in so far, and Kentucky Lake apparently abounds with similar anchorages. Patty thinks some anchorages in Georgian Bay were just as nice, and I can't argue, but this is the one I like best. Because the Land Between the Lakes is completely undeveloped (except apparently for several marinas that we see on Active Captain), every anchorage is remote and peaceful. 

After sundowners, we had one of our new favorites for dinner, Cobb Salad, with lettuce, hard boiled egg, ham, bacon bits, blue cheese. tomatoes and kalamata olives, artfully arranged, and dressed with a lemon - oil dressing.

I know the sun rises and sets everday day, but we were treated to one more gorgeous sunset at Dry Fork Bay!

Sunset at Dry Fork Bay

We sat in the dark in the cockpit talking and enjoying the night sky until it was time for bed. This was a near perfect day on Kentucky Lake!  

Second Port Day at Green Turtle Bay Marina

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 173 - September 20, 2017

After a good night's sleep thanks to running the air conditioner all night, we had a luxurious morning with coffee and a "Sunday breakfast" on a Wednesday! Green Turtle Bay has a couple of loaner cars, and we went to the office about 9 a.m. to check out a car for some errands!

We first headed over to the GTB Ship's Store, where we got a new flag to replace our rather shabby looking one,and seven quarts of oil for the next oil change, since we are not sure where we will be when the next service is due. Then we went over to the GTB Boat Works to pay our bill for the new battery, where we ended up talking for quite a while with Gary, who is the manager of the Boat Works. EVERYTHING here is part of the Green Turtle Bay Resort and Marina operation, including the marina, the Ship Store, the Boat Yard, the Yacht Club, Dockers Cafe, the Condo Rental Office and no doubt other stuff that I don't even know about!

We next headed into Grand Rivers, population 350 to go to the grocery store. It is a really well stocked little grocery store, and we got everything on our shopping list except a few perhaps somewhat exotic items like lentils, almond flour and won ton wrappers! The gal at the check-out stand told us that the Green Turtle Bay Resort and Marina company owns 50% of the grocery store and many of the other businesses in town, while the lady who owns Patti's Restaurant owns the other half of the businesses in town!

We stopped again at the Ship Store on the way back because I wanted to get a better pair of slip on shoes, and I found a great pair! I don't know the brand name, but they are cushy, ventilated and really comfortable. My old Walmart rub slip ons got deposited in the dumpster. The old shoes had started making my feet hurt, maybe because my feet had swollen or something, but these new slip ons are the cat's meow!

Three other Looper boats arrived late in the afternoon and are on our little dock in front of the office. We had seen and heard all of them on the VHF at various places around the Loop. Mike on Dash Away, a Monk 36, started from Vermont. Tom and Paula on Tango Papa, another Monk 36, started their Loop at Green Turtle Bay, and with their arrival back at Green Turtle Bay, they crossed their wake to complete their Loop! Among Loopers, crossing your wake is a very big deal! They are not sure what is next in store, but they said they anticipated cruising at least six months our of every year!

Tango Papa, a Monk 36, in slip next to Daydream, has just crossed her wake at Green Turtle Bay!

We will be sorry to have to leave Green Turtle Bay tomorrow morning. We really like this place!  But if we want to cross our wake in La Belle to retrieve and drive back home in time to enjoy Christmas with the our children and grandchildren in the mountain chalet we have rented in Skykomish, Washington, we need to press on!

Port Day at Green Turtle Bay Marina

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 172 - September 19, 2017

Here is the day's feature photo, since I wasted the great shot of the green turtle that belonged to today's blog post on yesterday's post! This happened because I always write each day's post the following day. So today's lead photo was not taken here, was not taken yesterday, and actually has nothing to do with today's blog post! It was taken back at the Little River Diversion Channel, but I still like it and wanted to share it!

Bringing Baxter back from boat ramp at Little River Diversion Channel.

Today was our day to attack our "to do" list! The first item was the house batteries. When we got here yesterday, even though we had been running from Paducah to Green Turtle Bay, something like 42 miles, the Victron showed the house battery bank, (two 6 volt East Penn deep cycle AGM batteries wired in series) at only 10.8 volts, and a direct read of the batteries confirmed that. I ran the "recondition" cycle on the West Marine battery charger all night, and by this morning the batteries were reading only 12.4 volts, and  that was no doubt the surface voltage, so they had not recovered sufficiently to continue to use them for the rest of our Loop.

I was ready to just replace the batteries, but I decided to consult with the person most of us turn to with C-Dory, indeed boating, related questions, Dr. Bob Austin. I also had a question for Bob about an ugly ding we had suffered at Hennepin when a wake from a passing tow caused Daydream to come crashing down on the metal edge of the slip before I had the spring line secured to keep the boat from moving forward. A great big chunk of the gel coat was simply gone.

Big ding in gel coat at bow from Hennepin

 On the ding, I was planning to slap some Marine Tex over it as a temporary repair until Jim at Sterling Kayaks in Bellingham could do a proper repair (Sterling Kayaks builds very high end expensive kayaks but also does general fiberglass repair). Bob urged us not to do that, since it would have to be ground out, making the proper repair more difficult. I ended up simply covering it with strapping tape, which should be good until we get home!

After talking with Bob on the phone about the batteries, he recommended a simple test to make sure that the cause of the low voltage did not lie upstream with either the alternator or the VSR (voltage sensing relay), specifically, to start the engine and then read the voltage directly at the battery terminals. Lots of charging voltage was present at the battery terminals, so I called the Green Turtle Bay Boat Works to arrange for delivery to our slip  of a new battery, a single NAPA Group 31 deep cycle flooded cell battery, and one of their guys to remove the old batteries and put the new one in. I paddled the kayak over to the Ship's Store to price the new battery and get its dimensions to make sure it would fit.

I could have done it all myself, but having struggled with putting those AGM batteries in last spring, I thought it was better to "call the man."  Randy from the Boat Works came over and did the job, and I was more than happy to pay for his time rather than getting down on my belly and wrestling those heavy buggers out and then dropping the new one in! Randy had the old batteries out, the new one dropped in, strapped down and wired up, and the old batteries loaded up for disposal in short order. So two of our "to do" list items were accomplished!

The Sea Eagle was covered in mud from multiple trips to shore on the Mississippi River. I had last cleaned it at Alton, and so I got the dishpan of Dawn and the "evil sponge" (we have this concept of the "good sponge," which we use for dishes, and the "evil sponge," which is too far gone to use for dishes but can be used for anything else!), and got the Sea Eagle reasonably well cleaned up, while Patty did the laundry. I did not do the thorough cleaning, which involves a product called "Kaboom" (the spray can that shoots out foam, not the bottled stuff, it is actually a toilet cleaning product, but works great on a variety of surfaces), because I am pretty sure that it will get muddy again down the line, and I will do the thorough cleaning back in Birch Bay!

We walked up to the breakfast / lunch cafe here called Dockers, and had a pretty good lunch! Then we walked down to visit our friends Dana and Dennis for a tour of their Selene 43, Pharm Life. The name is a play on words based on the fact that Dana and Dennis are not farmers but are both pharmacists who have recently sold their pharmacy business, Stadium Pharmacy, in Independence, MO, in the Kansas City area. Pharm Life is a 2000 Selene but looks new to us inside and out. It also is immense. The pilot house is bigger than our entire cabin. The main stateroom has a full walk-around bed. There are two heads, one with a full bathtub. The woodwork is all gorgeous. With a single Cummins diesel engine, it is not a fast boat, but is very economical to run, burning about 3.5 gallons per hour. With a 950 gallon fuel tank, it has an impressive range. Nice people with a nice boat!

There were green turtles swimming off Dennis and Dana's slip while we were there. The prior people in the slip had been feeding the turtles cat food, so we decided to try cat food at our slip! It was a great success, and very fun watching the turtles come right up to the boat. 

This is such a cool picture, I decided to post it again today, since it really belongs to this blog post!

We have been hauling a little Frigidaire portable air conditioner around since St. Augustine, but had not encountered any temperatures that seemed to require an air conditioner - until we got here! Today the temperatures hit the high 80s, and it was time to see what this little air conditioner could do! We set it in the cabin doorway, hung a shower curtain down behind it, turned it on, and adjusted the controls to "High cool"! Wow, in very short order, the cabin was no longer an oven! We are going to have a comfortable night despite the heat!

Our little portable air conditioner!