Grand Rivers, KY to Iuka, MS

Total Miles Traveled 193

Follow our Track

We had a great time visiting family and friends this summer, our grandkids are now all teenagers and young adults so we really appreciated being able to spend time with them.  We enjoyed anchoring out with them too; they really enjoyed fishing, swimming, and kayaking. 

We managed to pull up some interesting objects while anchoring this summer.  One of them was a keeper, a 25 pound Danforth anchor that I'll use for a stern anchor.

A passing storm

Sophie's 13th Birthday

Our friends from Indiana, Darin and Linda, stopped by as they were completing a cruise from Knoxville, TN to Evansville, IN.  The Tennessee River and all of its connecting lakes, is one of the most beautiful bodies of water we have cruised on.

We did have an unforgettable experience though.  On July 12^th we were awaken at 3 a.m. with someone pounding on our boat yelling the “pier is on fire”!   Our friends Bob and Deb were spending the weekend with us so waking up from a dead sleep to all of the commotion was a very stressful experience.  Our slip was on the opposite end of the pier from the fire, but only 7 slips away, by the time we were awaken the whole end of the pier between us and shore was engulfed in flames.

My first thought was to get everyone safely to shore but we were able to disconnect power and our lines and leave our slip.  The wind was blowing very hard and an approaching storm was coming which was fueling the fire.  As I ran around the front of the boat I could feel the heat traveling in our direction.  I noticed our friend’s boat a few slips down from us was still dark so I ran down to their boat, beat on it as hard as I could yelling at them to get up.  I ran back to our boat and everyone thought I was already on the fly bridge and was pushing the boat out….sure glad they didn’t leave me.

Since we were in a slip, I had all of the boat instrumentation powered off.  I started the engines and backed out of the slip but had no radar or chart plotter in the blackness of night.  On top of that, I forgot to put my glasses on with all of the confusion.  I was able to keep the boat away from the other piers and boats until we had everything powered up and was able to leave the marina to an anchorage a couple of miles away.  We were fortunate that the storm held off until we had our anchor set.

We have heard that a newly purchased houseboat was the source of the fire but it is still under investigation.  Thankfully no one was injured but 11 boats were lost in the fire.

Bob Williams took this video while we were leaving the marina.

https://www.facebook.com/1289341117/posts/10218552908915832/?sfnsn=mo&d=n&vh=i

Green Turtle Bay marina was full before the fire so we had to find another marina to spend the remainder of the summer.  We moved to Prizer Point Marina on Barkley Lake, about 25 miles from Green Turtle Bay.   Our friends Steve and Libby on m/v San Souci keep their boat here and we are both on the same pier.

We also participated in a Trump Parade on Kentucky Lake, I don’t know how many boats participated in the event but it stretched several miles and ended with a giant raft up in the afternoon. 

We returned to Green Turtle Bay for a couple of weeks on September 12^th to prepare for departure and to visit our friends at the marina, it’s amazing how fast the summer has slipped by.  We departed Green Turtle Bay October 5^th and traveled 38 miles to an anchorage on Kentucky Lake at Panther Bay. 

You can see the silhouette of our boat on the shoreline. 

 The next morning we traveled 48 miles and anchored behind an island at Rockport Landing.  The nights have been cool, and so far the early morning fog has burnt off not long after sunrise.  When leaving Rockport Landing we had a clear sky but after traveling a few miles we entered a valley between two hills,  and fog.  

Fortunately by the time we arrived at the valley, the fog started to break up and we were able to continue at a slower speed.  We arrived at the Clifton Marina that afternoon and met another Looper m/v Aquarius II.

Pickwick Lock has started dropping Pickwick Lake level to winter pool.   Kentucky Lake has already dropped about 4 feet, so the additional water being let out of the Pickwick dam has caused a considerable increase in opposing current.  We have lost about 2 mph at our normal engine rpm.  We departed Clifton Marina with clear skies on October 8^th planning to get though Pickwick Lock well before dark.  After traveling only a couple of miles we encountered another fog bank, this time we decided to pull out of the channel and anchor until it cleared.  

We waited two hours before it lifted, delaying our arrival time at the lock to 5 p.m...  After locking through we were able to anchor in a cove on the Tenn-Tom Waterway, about 2 miles from Aqua Yacht Harbor Marina just after sunset. 

We arrived at Aqua Yacht Harbor Marina around noon on October 9^th.  We will stay here through Sunday and wait for the remanence of Hurricane Delta to pass.