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!