Grand Rivers, KY to Iuka, MS

Total Miles Traveled 194

We have started our annual cruise south, leaving Green Turtle Bay Marina September 30^th.  We had a great summer visiting family and friends and cruising the inland lakes and rivers!

We were fortunate to avoid any damage to our boat or our marina this spring.  Kentucky Dam Marina was hit hard with flat line winds that broke loose three boat piers, damaging several boats and major damage to the piers.  The Moor’s Marina was hit with a tornado the following week, totally destroying the piers and several boats.  Both marinas are located only a few miles from Green Turtle Bay.

Having fun on the water…….

Brian skiing for the first time in over a decade.  Moni’s cousin Tammy and her husband Tony pulled Brian around Barkley Lake….until the big plunge.

I think he is still feeling muscle pains after two months.

Big fish catches and fish fry.

Yep, they get their fishing skills from their mother.

Dinghy poker run at Green Turtle Bay

Friends Dan & Deb

Attending my sister Edie’s 70^th Birthday party

One of our summer projects was to make covers for our exposed teak.  Moni did an awesome job sewing all of the Sunbrella covers.

Largest boat we’ve seen on Kentucky or Barkley Lakes.  This monster is leaving the Barkley Lock, viewed from the Thirsty Turtle.

Although we are heading south during the first week of October, we are experiencing temperatures in the mid 90’s and lows in the 70’s with very high humidity.  We decided to stay at marina’s cruising south until we get a break in the weather.  

Our first stop was Paris Landing Marina.  They have a unique lake water level indicator.  The top of the crossbar indicates the height of Kentucky Dam above sea level, 375 ft.  The top of the middle crossbar indicates normal summer pool of 359 ft.  It’s hard to see the bottom crossbar in the water because of the reflection but it indicates winter pool of around 354 feet.  The lake is down about 4 ft from summer pool.  Paris Landing is approximately 44 miles from the Dam.

Another project this summer was to get a precise measurement on our air draft, the distance between the water and the highest point on our boat.  Our friends Bob and Deb Williams helped us get a rough measurement while at Key West last spring, it turns out we were really close.     

With our antennas up, our air draft is 24 feet 10 1/2 inches.  This railroad bridge at normal pool is 24.6 feet above the water at normal pool.  Since we’re close to 4 feet below normal pool we won’t have to call the bridge for opening.  We had to request an opening when cruising north in June.

We passed this Coast Guard vessel pushing a barge of red and green buoy’s. 

Our first lock was Pickwick Lock and Dam; we arrived at the lock about 2:30 with a temperature of 95 degrees.  Luckily we didn’t have to wait as the lock was ready for us.  After raising us 55 feet to Pickwick Lake we continued to Aqua Yacht Harbor Marina, located at the beginning of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway (Tenn-Tom).

There are several Loopers here, and our friends Charlie and Robin McVey from m/v The Lowerplace.  Charlie and Robin just completed the Loop for the second time and now have their Platinum AGLCA burgee.  They purchased a house here a couple of years ago and invited us and several other Loopers to their house for a cookout.

We are staying at the marina until Tuesday October 8^th as thunderstorms are predicted for Sunday and Monday….and a big drop in temperatures and humidity.

 

The device I use to track our movement https://share.garmin.com/RickVicars is not working properly at this time.  I have contacted Garmin and they are working on the mobile issue.  The link works on a computer but not on some tablets and phones.