June 1, 2011. Hales Bar Marina to Island Cove Marina

Hales Bar Marina

We slept well last night, and were up by a little after 5:00. At about 6:15 we pulled out of Hales Bar and headed toward Chattanooga. There was quite a bit of debris and floating logs as we got started, but it gradually got better and better as we travelled upstream. The heat was tough today - high of 97 degrees!

We continue to see dozens of osprey each day, many times on thier nest, with young.

As we entered the 25+ mile "gorge" where the TN runs in the canyon created by Raccoon, Signal and Lookout mountains, I discovered why it is such a favorite cruising ground. I can only imagine what it would look like in the Fall as the leaves are changing! We tried to take good pictures and video, but they don't do justice to the views in real life.

One suprise I had was the fairly consistent cell phone service I had in the gorge. It wasn't always there, but probably over half the time we had a signal strong enough to make a call or check e-mail.

When we got to Chattanooga, I began to worry a little about getting to Island Cove before they closed. We needed ice and thought I remembered them saying the office closed at 5:00 PM. When we figured in loosing an hour due to them being on Eastern time, I knew we'd have to get through Chickamauga Lock quickly to make it in time.

We arrived at the lock a little before 3:00 Eastern time, and had to wait for another boat that was locking down to clear. We then entered the lock with another small boat, for the lift up to Chickamauga Lake. We exited the lock at about 3:35. We called the marina to tell them that we would be close to 5 oclock getting there, and were pleasantly suprised to learn they didn't close until 6:00! We arrived about 4:50 and pulled into the fuel dock, found the office and got our slip assignment, gate code, bath-house key and information that the restaurant next door was open.

We washed our faces and headed straight to the restaurant, the Fox Cay. Abby and I had catfish and Glenda had grilled tuna. We probably drank about a gallon of water each and enjoyed the air-conditioning!

Back at the boat we straighted up, drained the ice chest and got the berths ready for sleeping. Then Glenda and Abby took off to the showers while I downloaded pictures and videos to the computer.

The "Gorge"

The Chattanooga Star

We've seen the river from this Highway many times. Today the view was reversed. It's much better without the truck traffic!

American Indian Statue.

The famous Delta Queen, now a floating hotel in Chattanooga.

This must really be pretty when the leaves change!

This osprey let us get pretty close before leaving her nest. She didn't go far.

Mountains all around you!

 Glenda Says:

We got off to an early start this morning but no coffee.  Tom saw a boat launch with a store and offered to stop and see if I could get a cup of coffee.  I ask a man fishing there if he thought I could get a cup of coffee at the store, he sort of chuckled and said probably not but I could get a cold beer.  As we were tying up a couple rode down in their golf cart and I ask them if I could get a cup of coffee at the store.  She said no since the owner did'nt drink it he did'nt sell it.  She offered to go to her place to make me some.  You know some people are just so nice.  I declined of course and we went on our way. Abby  went back to sleep until about 8:00 ,but she was awake early enough to see most of the  beautiful scenery.  Many of the houses along the route are beautiful.  We loved the one with the indian statue.  But the area called the "skillet"  was the most beautiful.  There were mountains all around us.  In years passed as I have driven through Chattanooga I have always said I wish I could see this view from the water.  Today I was able to.  We arrived at the marina too late again for Abby to get in a swim.  But she was a good sport.  We fed the ducks and the fish and we ate a nice meal at the "Fox Cay" resturant.  Heck Abby thinks its cool that the showers had a dispenser with body and shampoo soap.  Come to thnk of it that is pretty cool!

Abby says:

Today two funny things happened.  Daisy was laying in her bed on the stepdown but she was too close to the edge and flipped over.  She did not like that!  And for the first time someone was in the lock with us.  They had a dog and a cat on board the boat with them. (Papa claimed he saw a bird in there too but me and G.G. did not see it)  The dog started chasing the cat and the man began to yell loudly!.  Here at the marina there are all kinds of ducks.  About 7 came over to our boat and G.G. let me get a piece of bread and feed them.  There were so many different kinds of ducks, 3 white ones, 1 multi colored one and 4 green headed ones.  We ate supper at Fox Cay, a wierd name for a resturant. But it was good.