Wow, we went over a dam today! Spooky sensation! With the Ohio high from the rain dumped by the remnants of last couple of hurricanes, the Corps of Engineers lowered two weir dams as their companion locks were underwater. When the weir dams are down you bypass the locks and sail over the dam. I know that's how it works. I've watched tows do it. It's still scary!

Lots of tows on the Ohio. Cairo and Paducah are major terminals. They require a lot of attention - trying to sort the moored tows from the moving ones.

We've seen a number of specialized dredges mining sand from the river. It's an interesting concept. Who owns the land they are digging up? Being on a federal waterway what's the implication on taxes?

We anchored for the night behind Towhead Island at the mouth of the Cumberland River. There is a 1 1/2 knot current running and the wind is still strong and behind us. The boat doesn't know which way to point, into the wind or into the current, so it compromised with the anchor amidships about 30 feet to port. Weird! Anchor watch tonight.

10/30/04- Our anchor held all night. The boat upstream broke loose about 2am and re-anchored below us. At 4am very strong winds swept through bringing a little rain and the end of the wind. I fell asleep.

I woke up at 7:30am to a beautiful warm dawn and started coffee, then prepared the boat for travel. By 8:30 we were following Amantes up the Cumberland River. The river is about the width of the Wolf River in New London, but ranges 19 to 30 foot deep. The two tows we meet were narrower (3 wide) and smaller (12-15 barges) than those of the Mississippi and Ohio. The river has more kinks than a snake causing us to constantly announce our position before sharp blind turns. The Cumberland was distinctly different than the other rivers due to its high soil banks and occasional stone cliffs.

We reached the Barkley Lock and Dam at 2pm. This was the highest lift so far, an estimated 40 feet. a quarter of a mile above the lock we turned starboard into Green Turtle Bay Marina - the first full service marina we've seen since leaving Lake Michigan. We'd spent the last 4 days and 3 nights on the boat unable to land - and we're still talking to each other.

10/31/04- We took a down day at Green Turtle Bay and picked up an internet card, parts we needed, and groceries. We walked in Grand Rivers, KY (20 minutes) for supper at Patti's Iron Kettle - great down country cookin'. Meet Greg & Sharon (M/V Latitude Dancer), a crew of Canadians on S/V SolSean, and Tim and Boone (Ann Arbor, MI) on a 53' Cheoy Lee S/V (sailing vessel). The stories are great! The Cheoy Lee takes the record for draft at 6' 9"... yes, they came down the Cal Sag and Illinois. They grounded a few times, but only when trying to get to bars.

Green Turtle is full of large sailboats. They claim an 8 month season though the marina never closes and the water doesn't freeze over - though they have freezing weather. Everyone claims we've paid our dues and that the rest of the trip is prettier and easier.

11/1/04- We left late, washed the boat, fueled and pumped-out while waiting for a v-belt to arrive. Had a nice run up to Paris Landing State Park in 20 knot headwind and haze. The Tennessee River is Kentucky Lake here. The shore line is beautiful with hills, coves, and pines. I could easily spend a summer sailing here.

11/2/04- Rained all night and we woke up to drizzle. We'll pay particular interest to the "River Report" on NOAA (our radio weather channel) for heights. Departed Paris Landing at 8:30am and headed up-river in rain. It was a quiet trip, only met two tows and a couple of runabouts. Saw a lot of pelicans, hawks and a few bald eagles. The terrain along the lake was great - lots of islands, bluffs, sandy shores.

We arrived at dusk, 4:30pm, at Perryville Marina. A nice facility off the lake in a quiet backwater. Fueled, showered and read. No phone or web connections again. I believe that a satellite phone would be the only reliable tool on this part of the waterway.

11/3/04- We departed at 7:30 after touring an all aluminum Tucker houseboat with Mr. Turner, the owner. Very nice craft for these waters! He's running two boats south to Mobile! His other boat was a 30-something Bayliner with twin diesels.

The weather is stuck on repeat, gray, drizzle broken occasionally by rain. Our goal is to be just below the Pickwick Dam so we can lock tomorrow morning.

The landscape is beautiful as the lake narrows into a river. The stronger current has slowed our progress to about 6.5 miles per hour. Met only three tows and two pleasure boats all day. Pretty quiet this time of the year. One tow captain wanted to know where we were taking that beautiful sailboat.

We saw the second deer of the entire trip today - again it was one swimming in the water, crossing the river. Ruth got a closer shot with the telephoto lens.

About 2:30pm we ducked in behind Wolf Island upriver from Savannah, TN for the night. No enough daylight to make the lock and only one other promising site to anchor and it's only two miles further upstream. Dropped our anchor and 75' of chain in 18 feet of water and 1.3 knots of current.

After supper a small sailboat pulled up in the dark calling "Arrrgh Maties - prepare for boarding". Was he surprised when we weren't the 50' sailboat he thought we were. He retreated before we could offer him a raft-up. He anchored downstream of us for the night.

11/4/04- Anchor up at 6:35 and headed upstream for Pickwick Lock. Enroute we passed Shiloh National Park and it's riverfront outlook. Lots of eagles, hawks and water birds. We arrived at 9:15am to find the lock closed - they had a diver down doing some inspections. By 10:30 we'd cleared the lock and powered upstream to the entrance to the Tenn-Tom waterway. We arrived just in time for a white-out, mist and driving rain. Luckily there was a marina there so we ducked in to take a partial down-day and catch up. The Grand Harbor Marina is a first class operation! We've 449.7 miles to go to Mobile.

Return to Loop Route

On to the Tenn-Tom

The Ohio, Cumberland & Tennessee

Welcome to the Ohio

Sandy Ohio river banks

Barkley Lock, the highest lift so far
55' seemed like a lot

The Ohio, Cumberland and Tennessee

These seemed more like rivers as the construction wasn't apparent. Travel slowed as we powered against 1.5 to 2 mile per hour currents - in some places 5-6 mph. Heavy rains upstream sent a lot of junk and logs downstream so we had to be very watchful.

The Cumberland was a narrower river, more like the Wolf River at New London. It was very pretty due to an ever changing shoreline. The Tennessee was essentially a lake on the portion we traveled - though it became a river as we approached the Pickwick dam. This was the prettiest leg of the trip to date.

This leg offered a number of anchorages and marinas. One could easily spend a summer in the Kentucky Lake.