Wednesday - October 6, 2010

Lat 037 00 44; Long 088 13 57; Engine 403.48; 180 gallons


Today, I set up the Verizon wireless and that is how I am posting the last two posts. It seems to work well.

I don't think I told about our slip at GTB, but it was slip number 1. When we arrived I had to do a sharp turn to the starboard, avoid a Boat US tow boat tied up to the dock and then pull a sharp turn to the port to get into the slip. Anyways, I did it without hitting anything. The real issue was to leave the slip since the Boat US boat was directly behind us and the amount of room directly behind us was about the length of our boat (maybe about 3 feet more). Anyways, my departure plan was to back into the corner of the dock and use my thrusters to push to boat to port and hopefully avoid the dock. I think I could have done it. Brenda was a little bit worried so she went into the marina store and discussed it with them. They agreed we had the worst spot in the marina and they knew we would need help getting out. They came out and helped us move the boat just as I planned. However they helped move the bow of the boat past the dock by pushing it around. No problem - it worked. I suspect after this trip is over there will be no problem in docking anywhere at South Bay Cove, back in Georgian Bay. BTW, for those at SBC, I guess this is your last weekend, being Thanksgiving and all, we are still enjoying days of 25 degrees, but the nights are cool. Jill and Bill: Have a good winter.

We left GTB at around 10, traveled through the Barkley Canal over to Kentucky Lake which really is the Tennessee River. Kentucky lake apparently was formed in the 1930's as part of Roosevelt's creation of the Tennessee Authority during the New Deal to produce electricity. A series of dams was created, the first of which was the Kentucky Dam which created Kentucky Lake. Remember the Tennessee River flows into the Ohio River so a dam the Kentucky Dam backed up water to create the Lake.

We traveled down the Lake and it was extremely picturesque. Some of the trees are now changing colours. Lots of Bass boats out fishing. We would learn later when we came in for the night that there was a big bass fishing tournament taking place. Didn't run into too many barges and it was a nice cruise. Passed a few people that we had run into earlier and we had a discussion on channel 17 (N II Wishin, and Sea Estate). They left quite early to anchor in a bay. We continued on to Paris Landing State Park which is quite nice. It has a golf course, a hotel and the Bass fishing tournament was headquartered here at least for those around this area. We decided to stay for two nights so that I could play golf in the morning. The course is a 15 minute walk away.

The Bass Tournament was interesting. At round 3, all the people fishing returned to the marina to weight the fish they caught. The Tournament was primarily for amateurs and the proceeds were used for the US service men. The fish are kept in a tub of water on the boat when caught, pulled out at shore and kept in water until weighed. They are then taken to a large pontoon boat, put in another large tub of water, which is then taken out into the river and the fish are released.

We went for a walk after watching the weigh in and located the golf course. After returning from our walk, we ran into a couple that we met at Hoppies and at GTB. Had some drinks with them and decided to go to dinner tomorrow night since we were both staying for at least two nights.