Pebble Isle to Pickwick Lake

From Pebble Isle we went to Bird Song Creek Anchorage, a nice protected spot near the famous fresh water pearl harvest fields. It is a bit of a schlep to get there but it is worth the extra miles.

                  We saw several of the boxes on the river banks; apparently it is used for catching Catfish.

                                              A Tennessee River light house? We are not really sure.

After a couple of days we moved to Lick creek, where we stayed last year.

That evening we had a huge rain storm and noticed that our front hatch was leaking. This is not good, as the hatch is right over our bed!! We dashed out and put a tarp over the hatch and the next day Gary took a few minutes to fix it up good again. It just needed to be re sealed, thank goodness.

Resealing the forward hatch.

After a heavy rain storm we had much water in the dingy.

It was a lovely cool day so we decided to take a dingy ride over to a camp site we had passed just to get out for a bit of a walk to stretch our legs.

Come to find out it is a little marina as well as a camp ground where we were promptly invited to sit down and have a burger and beer with new friends.

Denver, Gary, me, Lorraine, Brian and Donna at The Boat Shack

No ??

Burger to share.

From Lick Creek we stopped into Perryville Marine to purchase some Seafoam a diesel fuel additive hoping that it would solve our generator problem.

We ended up taking advantage of their hospitality and stayed the night.

The definition of cruising - working on your boats in exotic places.

The Generator has been giving us a hard time starting.

Fixing the blowers

What a funny face!!

Lady Finger Bluff. 

The current was getting stronger on the Tennessee river as we were heading further upstream. We anchored at Double Islands with a fair current keeping is straight on our anchor.

We met these kayakers a couple of times.
Barb and Gene Geiger are kayaking down the Mississippi .
They perform services at stops along the way. Check out the blog @ www.paddleforapurpose.net

The following night we gunk-holed in Indian Creek off the Big Plantation Campsite, where we went for a walk to check out the sites and properties for sale.

The American Queen , we saw her on her way South and here she is heading North again.

Interesting thing about water front properties on the Rivers is that your house should be built above flood level, which means some houses , even the ones on the 20 foot high banks, are built on high stilts. It is amazing to think the water rises that high in the spring, but such so it is.

Osprey

Bald Eagle

Hawk

Our next stop was at Diamond Ilse. We anchored in about 20 feet of water at a very fast 3kt current. The next morning we woke up and the river had fallen about 5 feet overnight. 

The current was so swift I didn't let go of the swim ladder at all.
For extra safety I have a line tied to me.

The rise and fall of the water is regulated by Tennessee Electric. Because the current was much slower we headed off to Pickwick lake, the closer we got the worst the current was.

Gary served me breakfast , locking up Pickwick Lake

We didn’t have to wait at the lock which was great! We headed straight to the Waterfall anchorage that we had been told about by our friends from MV Second Noelle.

It felt very weird to me, driving the boat up a  sand bar, beaching it at Waterfall  Anchorage

Fooling around, pretending to push Time& Tide back off the sand

Weird!!

Because we were able to pull T&T up on the sand we were able to give her a good wash and wax.

This anchorage is obviously party central. Even though we were there on a week day there were many boats in and out.

Beautiful Waterfall Anchorgae

That water was COLD!!

Most of the people were friendly and stopped by to say hello.

Charles and Stephen 

One is never too old

We even got them to take pictures of us under the waterfall. Unfortunately there is always the loud boat, with the loud (shitty) music and obnoxious loud drunk people on board who ruins it for everyone.  Fortunately they left and we had the gorgeous spot all to ourselves.

Captain Morgan?? We explored the area around the waterfall, hiking all the way to the top

After all the noise and partying at the Waterfall we headed to State Line Island where we dropped the hook in nice and quiet surroundings

When you anchor out as much as we do, it is the simple things that you need that become the toughest to get. To be able to do laundry you have to stay in a marina, to be able to use a courtesy vehicle to go and do shopping, you need to stay in a marina. Do have access to wifi (most of the times) you have to stay in a marina. Do you see the common factor here?

As we were anchored out, we figured if we took the dingy to Grand Harbour Marina to get fuel, we might be able to shop at their little store on site for some eggs and fresh stuff. As we passed the boats docked we saw Mike, whom we met last year when we stayed there. Mike and his wife, Lois are leaving in two weeks to start the Loop. We started chatting and then they kindly offered to take us to the grocery where we would be able to stock up on (mainly) fresh goods. Another example of the generosity of strangers.

Mike and Lois

The wind picked up a little the next day and rain was forcasted but we lifted the anchor and headed to Zippy Cove, ( a party spot in the summer but on a cool fall day it was nice and quiet.)

These friendly folks dripped by to say hello when they saw the Canadian Flag

Our next destination is Spring Bay with it's many anchorages and beautiful scenery. We are way ahead of schedule and don't want to get to Mobile before the end of hurricane season or while it is still stink hot. 

We have seen many deer on this trip : Be careful little ones, hunting season starts soon!!

I have no idea when I will have access to wifi to post his update, sorry for the delays, we are pretty much in the middle of nowhere.


......................to be continued

Kentucky Lake - Pebble Isle

I know it has been a while since I updated the blog and I apologize. The thing is, we don't have internet access most of the times. The stupid Virgin hotspot thing I have, only works where it wants to and that does NOT include the Tennessee River, Kentucky Lake area. ( If you are thinking of doing the Loop , get a Verizon one, I believe they work better)

The Kentucky Lake area has beautiful fauna and flora - 

The graffiti filled quarry near Grand Rivers - This on is for the biggest black Hawks fan ever!! - Bob Carr

Finally after travelling up and down rivers we were in Green Turtle Bay. 
A favourite stop among Loopers, the marina is like an oasis in the dessert after the rivers.

The Nina and Pinta were also at Green Turtle

The Nina and Pinta are replica boats of the originals. The decks are black and in the brutal sun , the crew sometimes have to sleep outside because it can get so hot inside.

There is a restaurant here at GTB that throw all their old rolls in the water for the turtles to snack on. Turtles also enjoy dry cat food J

Sherry and me having a dip trying to stay cool. We have been a day or so behind MV Priorities for a while, we finally caught up with them in  Grent Turtle Bay.

How cool is this? I had an email from Moya about 6 months ago. Moya and David’s sailboat is also called Time and Tide. They contacted us a while back but at that time we didn't think we would be passing through here again so we never dreamed that we would meet. What a wonderful surprise to meet them here at GTB.

Many of the anchorages have boat launches for fishermen and an great way for us to get ashore on the dingy. This is a view of Pisgah Bay.

Anyhow, this is only the second time in two weeks I have been able to access wifi and hopefully this time it will be fast enough to post the update. ( Trying to post the blog last time - I finally gave up after 4 hours)

Every evening the wind life come out  for a drink. This deer is joined by a "cranky pants" Blue Heron. They make a squawky sound when disturbed- hence the nickname. ( Bob Carr) We have seen deer almost every evening. Some morning s we hear shot gun sounds but it is not deer season yet

We have spent the past two weeks anchoring and enjoying Kentucky Lake. It has been INSANELY hot and there were times when the bugs drove us buggy,but the beautiful anchorages and swimming holes have made it all worth while.

We have been bitten by ticks and little house fly-type flies ( The Devil's Spawn) and had to deal with swarms of black bugs that would coat the outside of the boat like a blanket!! If you kill them they leave a nasty stink, so really you can't win.

I have even been bitten by little Blue-Gills while skinny dipping....who can say that??!!

But it is all worth while.

Jake and Josie, enjoying a cool evening after another hot day

How many men does it take to change the hose on a propane tank? Randy and Gary

Randy and Sherry saying goodbye, aboard MV Priorities



Two bald eagles in flight. One evening we saw them fight mid air , presumably for territory...what a sight!!



We believe those sticks are some kinda fishing contraption for Crappies, a way to get them to breed in that particular area.

At first we thought those big fish were carp, then we thought perhaps they were catfish....thing is we don't know what they are except that they are HUGE!!

Morning mist

Little did we know while we enjoying the scenery and walk, we were getting covered with ticks!

Patti’s famous garden pot bread with strawberry and whipped butter.

We met Adrienne while walking on the beach. He offered his kayak for me to try as we have been thinking about getting one for a while now. He also taught us expressions like “The Lake is like a skillet out there” and that the bugs here simply use Deet as a condiment.  He and his brother are kayaking the Lake and camping overnight. It was our pleasure to meet him.

Pretty simple

A bobcat on shore. This poor fellow had a big scrape on his hind, unfortunately (I think) a result of a snare L

Using a suction cup handle to hold on, I am washing the bottom of the boat just under the water line.

We have read reports of Red Wolves in this area but we are pretty sure that this is a Coyote. We would hear them at night calling ...amazing!!!

The American Queen, the largest river boat we have seen on our travels.

Lizard – we named him Eddie 

Suger Bay

I cannot explain how hot it has been here. After our walk in the woods Gary just had to float in the water for a while to cool down. 

At last Gary gets to enjoy his 2’ pork chop at Patti’s. Last year we just make it here for dinner so we wanted to make sure we didn't miss out again this year. That pork chop ended up making 2 meals as left overs. It is huge!!

At the helm...

The cemetery at Cemetery Cove inSugar Bay. Unfortunately many babies are buried here. dates range from mid 1800 to early 1900

After travelling from HigginsBay to Kenlake our boat was black from all the bugs. If you squish them they leave a ugly yellow mark so I took out the vacuum and sucked most of them up, while Gary washed the rest of them off the boat using the wash-down. Yuk!

So we got to our last anchorage at Richland , (just before Pebble Isle marina) and we were just about to sit down for dinner when we got hailed over the VHF, someone on shore called to chat. Gary ended up going fishing with him the next morning.....We also met Bull and Kyala , who were out for a ride on their boat, they stopped by to say hello, see if we needed anything and stayed for a visit. Just like that , we had made new friends

Bull and Kyala

Jim and Gary after fishing.

Here is the thing; mostly a stranger is just a friend you have yet to meet. People just want to chat, ask where you re from and how on earth you ended up in their neck of the woods! We have been offered vehicles to use to go and do shopping, by people we hardly knew. Others have called on the radio, offering help or information on the area; "anything you need, just call" Everybody is so friendly, it makes one's heart feel real good!!!! We are blessed to live this life, to see the things we see and do the things we do , but mostly we are blessed by the ones who come into our lives and touch our hearts.

Lucky us. :)

So I with that in mind I would like to share a toast with  you compliments of another amazing person and friend, Jim Angel, thank you Jim!

There are big ships

There are small ships

There are many ships at sea

But the best ships of all are friendships

So here is a toast to you and me. 

.........................to be continued.