While Todd was out fishing in the dinghy, he came across a very nice couple who wanted to look at the boat. Wade and Sue came on board and toured the boat and we visited with them for a while about what it's like to live on a boat. As with several people we've met, they want to become live-aboards some day and are always interested in looking at different types and styles of boats. They currently have a home on Guntersville Lake and invited us to join them for dinner next time we're in the area.
We continued downriver Monday morning, through the lock into Wheeler Lake, and anchored that evening in Goldfield Branch where we had stayed on our way to Chattanooga. Tuesday was forecast to be rainy and cool and we decided Goldfield would offer us adequate protection if strong winds accompanied the rain. We woke up Tuesday to a chilly, rainy day. By late afternoon, the rain seemed to have passed and we considered going a little further downriver but decided against it since the wind had picked up and the main lake was quite choppy.
We left Goldfield about 8:30 Wednesday morning planning to get through Wheeler Lock and at least get close to Wilson Lock before calling it a day. Wilson Lock is the one that is still under repair and we didn't know how long we would have to wait to go through the two-stage auxiliary lock. Somewhere around Decatur, AL we discovered that we had no fresh water. When we stopped to take a quick swim, Todd checked into it and found that a hose had come off the water pump and a good portion of our fresh water had drained into the bilge. We had just filled up at Alred Marina a few days ago and had 250 gallons on board at that time, but we didn't know how much had pumped out between the time the hose came loose and when Todd reattached it.
When we got near Wheeler Lock, we called the lockmaster who told us he was finishing up with a barge and would be ready for us in about 30 or 45 minutes. We told him we needed to stop in at Joe Wheeler State Park to get ice and refill our water tanks, and he said that was fine. Within a few minutes, he called us back on the radio and told us we needed to be down there by the time he finished with the current barge because he had another one coming upriver that needed to lock through. Since we didn't want to miss an opportunity to lock through ahead of the next barge, we quickly got ice at Joe Wheeler State Park and decided to deal with the water issue later.
Wilson Lake is only about 15 miles long, so we called the lock when we were an hour away to see how long we would have to wait to lock through. We were told that they thought they would be able to get us through in about two hours, so we decided to maintain our current speed and stop at a marina near the lock to refill the water tanks. After having done that, we arrived at Wilson Lock 30 minutes ahead of schedule and were able to lock through about 45 minutes later. At this point, it was about 2:30 p.m. and we knew we would either have to stay at the marina in Florence or make it back to an anchorage on Pickwick before dark, which was going to be close since we still had 40 miles to go. But we elected to go for it and finally reached Waterfall Cove about 6:30 Wednesday evening after a very long (10-hour) day on the water.
Kelly showed up at the waterfall Thursday afternoon. Prospector Bill and his wife Nora who live aboard their boat at Aqua Yacht Harbor arrived in a pontoon a few hours later. Below is a picture of Kelly's two dogs: Harley (Rat Terrier) is on the left and Lucky (Jack Russell Terrier) is on the right. They love coming to Waterfall Cove!
This is a picture of Bill's and Kelly's pontoons parked next to us, along with a big catamaran that pulled in for a brief visit.
This is one of the many barges that regularly pass by the waterfall.
As evening approached, Kelly called his wife Melissa and asked her to order pizza for all of us, so we left the waterfall in Kelly's boat and followed Bill and Nora back to Aqua Yacht where they left their pontoon and came with us to pick up Melissa and Caroline (Kelly and Melissa's daughter) and, of course, the pizza. On the way, we were all jamming to Motown music and having a good ol' time, as you can see by the pictures Todd took along the way!
This is Prospector Bill who may love to fish even more than Todd!
Below is a picture of Bill, his wife Nora, Kelly and me.
This is Kelly, his wife Melissa and their 12-year-old daughter, Caroline.
Todd and Nora were rocking the boat while sitting in the Captain's chairs on the front of Kelly's pontoon.
Kelly came out again Friday morning and resupplied us with cubed ice. Bill also stopped by and brought us three blocks of ice after learning from Kelly that the local grocery store carried them. Bill and Todd then went out fishing for a while but came back empty-handed - what's up with that?!!!
Bill headed back to Aqua Yacht and we had a relatively mellow day visiting with Kelly and then rode with him to pick up Melissa and Caroline later that afternoon. Caroline did some wake boarding on the way back to the waterfall and then Kelly and Todd grilled hot dogs for all of us before they headed home for the evening.
After they left, Todd and I entertained ourselves by watching a group of guys throw "washers" on the gravel bar in front of our boat. Washers is a game similar to horseshoes, but instead of tossing horseshoes you toss big painted washers and try to land them either in a box or, preferably, in a cup in the center of the box. At any rate, they were a fun group of guys who entertained us until dark.
About 7:45 a.m. Saturday morning, one of the big rental house boats came into the cove and promptly began blasting us with some pretty obnoxious music. By noon, the cove was full of boats, which is unusual for this time of the year, but the Darrel Worley Tennessee River Run concert was that evening at Pickwick State Park, and many of the boats were apparently just hanging out at the waterfall until it was time to go to the concert, which began at 4:00 p.m.
About 3:30, there was a mass exodus of boats from the cove. We had been invited to raft up with Bo and Terri at the concert but decided we would just hang at the waterfall instead since we aren't country music afficiandos. Bud (the Iceman) was also going to the concert but he stopped by on his pontoon to tour through the cove before joining the other concert-goers and to bring Todd some Bloody Mary mix and Louisiana hot sauce to spice it up with.
Bill came by again Sunday morning and brought more Bloody Mary mix and block ice, but we were still in pretty good shape with the block ice he had brought us on Friday, especially since Bo and Terri were planning to bring us more cubed ice later that morning. Several boats gradually made their way into the cove, but it was much quieter than it had been on Saturday. The big rental house boat had pulled out Saturday afternoon, presumably to go to the concert, came back Sunday morning for a while, left again, and then came back that afternoon. They ended up spending the night in the cove Sunday evening and pulled out early Monday morning, but they were pretty subdued by Sunday evening.
We spent most of Sunday afternoon visiting with several of the other boaters who were pulled up on the gravel bar beside us. Bo and Terri brought us ice about mid-morning on Sunday and then came back late that afternoon to hang out for a while. Bud also came by again in his pontoon, towing his Sea Doo, which he promptly untied and went to check out the boaters in Panther Cove just across the lake. It was getting late when the other boats started to pull out, so we invited Bo and Terri to join us for dinner and spend the night on the boat.
We had a nice evening visiting with them and woke up to a cloudy Monday morning. Rain was forecast to move in early, so Bo and Terri headed back to Aqua Yacht around 8:00 a.m. just as it was starting to rain lightly. The rest of Monday stayed cloudy and rainy, and I spent the morning in the kitchen baking a loaf of banana nut bread and a loaf of regular bread and preparing homemade chicken and noodles for dinner. Todd read a little, napped a little and cleaned on the boat a little between rain showers. All-in-all, a pretty quiet day at the waterfall.
Over the past week, Todd also started cleaning what we call the "moustache" off the bow of the boat. The moustache is essentially a brown stain that develops at the water line on the bow, similar to a milk moustache on a person. He had to use hull cleaner to get it off, which also removes the wax, so after getting rid of the stain he had to wax it. This required quite a bit of time and effort, so he did half of it on Friday and finished up on Tuesday. Hopefully, the wax will keep the stain at bay for a while.
Although many people were swimming in the cove and swinging off the top of the waterfall this weekend, the water has become noticeably cooler since we were here three weeks ago. Todd and I both took a dip on Monday and even though it felt good, if a bit chilly, it won't be long before the chill will keep us out of the water altogether. The nights have also begun to cool down to the point of having to occasionally add a blanket to the bed. At this rate, it appears the fall weather may arrive before we make it very far south. In fact, it is forecast to be in the upper 40's by Tuesday evening!
Bill stopped by again Tuesday morning but the Aqua Yacht chase boat he was driving was promptly called back to the marina, so we only saw him for a few minutes. About noon, Kelly came out and then Bo and Terri showed up in her 19-foot Tahoe about an hour later with all kinds of food and goodies in tow. We spent the afternoon chatting on the sundeck and then I went with Kelly to pick up Melissa and Caroline who were bringing pizza for dinner again while Todd finished waxing the bow of the boat. Bo and Terri went back to Aqua Yacht to put her boat in dry storage and then they returned in Bo's 31-foot Sea Ray. We ate pizza and visited until dark and then everyone headed for home.
The 40's that had been forecast for Tuesday evening didn't materialize, but it did get down into the 50's again. Bud called and invited us to his house for dinner on Thursday, so we will take the boat to Grand Harbor tomorrow, pump out the holding tanks, do some laundry, update the blog, get a few things from town and then leave the boat there for the evening while we go to Bud's.
Kelly came out Wednesday afternoon and graciously brought us more ice. We enjoyed a beautiful, sunny afternoon and then went with Kelly to pick up Melissa after she got home from work. Shortly after we returned to the waterfall, a rental houseboat pulled up on the gravel bar and began collecting wood for a fire. Kelly and Melissa left before dark and the houseboat crew started their fire shortly after that. We were kind of hoping they would invite us to join them but they didn't, so we spent a quiet evening on the boat. The houseboaters told us they were only staying until midnight and, sure enough, they were gone when we woke up Thursday morning. This is a beautiful sunrise photo Todd took this morning at the waterfall.
As many of you know, we plan to leave the boat at Grand Harbor Marina around the middle of next week and go back to Missouri for a couple of weeks to visit family and friends. When we return to Pickwick, we will spend a few days saying our good-byes to the many wonderful friends we've made here and will then begin heading south. We hope to spend several days on Bay Springs Lake and then continue down the Tenn-Tom to our home away from home, Demopolis, AL, where we plan to meet Todd's parents and boat up the Black Warrior River before they continue their journey to Orlando, FL to spend Thanksgiving with Todd's sister, Jennifer, and her two girls, Shannon and Sarah. We will update the blog again while we are at Grand Harbor next week, before leaving for Missouri. Until then, we appreciate your patience with the infrequency of our blog updates!
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