GTB to Wolf Isle, via Panther B, Pebble Isle, Kelly's & Wolf Isle

The first photo, cruising is so much fun, cleaning fenders after use in locks. They become gross. The second photo is a hand carved wood quilt at the Paducah quilt museum. Muriel was awed by the beauty of the quilts on display. They are not just quilts they are art. Photo three, Carlie gets her first of the month bath so she can get her medications. Photo four, some of the trees are beginning to change. Photo five is some of the boats we anchored with at Panther Bay.

On Sunday evening all the loopers at Green Turtle Bay gathered for the usual cocktails, snacks, and lies (fellowship). There were about a dozen boats represented. We ate so much snack food I did not need dinner. After dinner we took the crew from Blue Max on a mystery trip to get ice cream for Bill’s birthday. We were a month to the day late but we had not seen them in that long. The next morning we left GTB with at least seven other boats, five of us running together. We had a beautiful travel day and ran to an anchorage called Panther Bay. It was quite pretty and the trees are starting to change so they were pretty also. We got anchored in time to enjoy some exploration time in the dingy and about a one mile walk with Carlie. Muriel had marinated meat for shish kabobs which we prepared on the grill. Dinner was very good! Shelly did the dinner dishes and we all got to bed early and got an excellent night’s sleep. Muriel and I rode together in the dingy to take Carlie ashore and visited with the other boats in the process. We considered briefly staying put because rain was in the forecast but decided to move on. I guess none of us really expected the heavy rains we got. We traveled 33 nautical miles almost entirely in heavy rains and thunder storms with visibility often less than ¼ mile. We hated we had left the anchorage and missed all the scenery along the way. Our lesson learned for today is that when we think it is going to rain, stay put and relax for the day and travel when we can enjoy the scenery. Kentucky Lake is a beautiful location. We arrived at Pebble Isle in light rain and got tied up nicely. The starboard engine would not shutdown. I had to enter the engine room and stop it manually. It will probably be a loose wire on the shutdown solenoid. Easy to fix when the engine room cools down.
We plan to move on tomorrow but not to go far. We have 13 days to travel less than 200 miles so we need to enjoy the good anchorages in Kentucky Lake.
Well, it rained all night, 3” to 4” and forecast for rain today, so we decided to sit out the day here at Pebble Isle and move on tomorrow. We borrowed the courtesy car along with Southern Comfort and Blue Max and made the WalMart run. This is a habit! So far, a little fog and mist but no rain. Bella Luna and C-Life left this morning. They want to get on to Grand Harbor Marina to drive on to Shiloh, Ms to visit the civil war battlefield. We will probably visit there when we get there.
We left Pebble Isle Marina on Thursday morning after enjoying homemade cinnamon rolls, made by the marina, and filling with fuel and pumping out. We finally got away about 9:30 am. We had a beautiful trip to Kelly’s Island where we anchored behind the island with our three boats and were joined by Brown Eyed Girl. They are a boat from Tega Cay, on Lake Wiley, near Charlotte, NC. They had a couple cruising with them so we ended up with 12 aboard Sunshine for the 5:00 hour. Very enjoyable time and a beautiful anchorage. There were no bugs and Muriel and I sat out on our sundeck long after sundown and enjoyed the Tennessee music coming from some campers on the far bank of the river.
We had a leisurely morning and got away about 8:45 this morning to spend another perfect day on the Tennessee River. We had planned to stop at Swallow Bluff Island to anchor but arrived there before noon and decided to continue on to Wolf Island, another beautiful anchorage behind two islands. As soon as we arrived we got the dingy in the water and took Carlie and Shelly ashore. Carlie and I walked around the island and Shelly collected rocks and fossils along the bank of the river. When I took Carlie back to the boat I bumped the boat and Carlie went over board in the middle of the channel. She never looked back at me in the dingy trying to get along side her to pick her up. She set her sights on the bank and swam all the way to the bank and I picked her up there. This was exceptional for Carlie who had to be taught to swim by Anne. Tonight we had 5:00 on Southern Comfort with Peggy supplying the munchies. She out did herself! It was great. Three boats, Southern Comfort, Blue Max and Sunshine. Oh! How we miss the rest of the combination, Ithaka. Chip and Michelle have returned to their business in Naples, Fl. There were so many good times with the four boats this summer that they are sorely missed.
We plan to run the fifty miles, with one lock, to Grand Harbor tomorrow. We will get a car there and drive to the civil war battlefield, Shiloh. We are all looking forward to this. Grand Harbor is about one mile into the Ten-Tom Waterway. We will spend a couple of days there and then head 70 miles on up the Tennessee River to Joe Wheeler State Park for an ALGCA rendezvous which starts on October 20. This will give us several days to anchor out and enjoy life on the way to Joe Wheeler.