Green Turtle Bay Marina to New Johnsonville,TN

Green Turtle Bay Marina and Resort was a great place to relax and enjoy the community of boaters and the interesting town of Grand Rivers.The resort and the town were decked up with 'mums' and pumpkins and the biggest gourds we'd ever seen nicely arranged on and around bales of straw. Very colourful.This town is a popular destination for boaters as well as tour buses. The biggest attractions being Patti's settlement- [restaurant, shops and history.] and the theater in the heart of the town. This place really hums in the summer with 2 beautiful lakes formed by a dam on the Tennessee River and  another on the Cumberland River.  The land between the 2 lakes is  parkland..We were on the dock that looked after transient boaters. Some were loopers like us ,some were on their way to Florida, others were 'River Rats'[they loved exploring the american rivers]. Everybody had a story. Twice we gathered on the gazebo for a happy hour to share our tales and glean advice from other's experiences. Our boat neighbour for the week was Kevin on the 'Irish Rover'. He hailed from Minnesota .Bill and he shared a lot of stories.Sat. eve at sunset Kevin surprised us with his music on the bagpipes. He finished with 'Amazing Grace'.Thank you ,Kevin.
 We walked to town on Sunday and took in a sermon on forgiveness in a local church. Friends in our marina were loaned  a car . They invited us to go with them to Paducah, [a city we had gone by on the Ohio River the week before.] to do some shopping. This was about half an hour drive.-by boat it was about 3 days plus a lot of scenery. We were fascinated by the murals on the sea wall that told the history of the area.After eating  out at a great eatery we headed back to our boats.They were fellow Christians . It was special sharing with them. Thanks Dave and Peg Miller. We enjoyed sunny warm weather the whole week. at GTB.
 Thursday we headed down Kentucky lake[Tennessee River]. It rained off and on and was cooler.It was a quiet trip to a lovely anchorage in a little bay called Fort Heinan cove. We shared it with a few little fishing boats that came in and out of this bay. No other pleasure crafts joined us.The next morning we  travelled  on to Pebble Isle marina near New Johnsonville.The autumn colours and the rolling hills were ever changing with the clouds and sun. I guess we are moving south with the changing season. Yesterday we walked through Old Johnsonville  national park. One of the civil war battles was fought there. And the 'Old' town was moved when the Kentucky lake was formed in the 1940's
 The river is low so a few boats that came here today needed   Boat US to help them through the mud, so they could come into this marina.
looking forward to Sunday.We'll upload photos soon. reception has been up and down all day. We thought we had loaded pictures but failed..'til later.

to 'Green Turtle Bay Marina' On the Cumberland River

After a wonderful time at home for thanksgiving and family time we are back on the mid American Rivers. We arrived back at our boat midday on Thursday, Oct. 13th.giving us the afternoon to prepare for our next day and week..The next day it was sun in your eyes and again finding our sea legs, just a bit of adjusting. After about 15 minutes we settled into the demands of watching for buoys and directions on our chart plotter as we motored along from the Illinois river into the mighty Mississippi. The cities of Alton on the Illinois side and the St. Loius on the Missouri side had many bridges and barges stationary along the 'wall'. The banks along the Illinois side as far as St Louis were beautiful limestone cliffs with trees arrayed in fall colours.After St Louis the Missouri side was more picturesque . We had 2 locks to go through that day and 10 miles of a canal before we arrived at 'Hoppies Marine Services', 76 miles from Grafton our previous marina.Because the current carried us at about 4 knotical miles per hour we moved along at an average of 11 'knots'[A knot is 1.15 regular miles.] This trip took us about 7 hours.We were thankful to be safe and sound at 'Hoppies' just before 3.We did meet up with some big 'tows' on the way, one had 35 barges.Fern and Hoppie made a great team.Over 50 years of experience.Fern does a seminar every eve, letting the current boaters like us know about anchorages and river conditions. We did have some excitement shortly after arriving there . A collection of barges had broken loose from the tow and were moving downstream towards our area. If they had floated to the opposite bank too early some of them  could have headed back  towards the marina. Hoppie headed out in his little boat with 2 logs secured to the bow . He was able to give them just enough of a push in one corner to make sure they were diverted the right way.Everything turned out okay with only a minimal damage to the first barge. Fern had called the tow and coast guard right away and a section of the river had to be closed to boat traffic 'til all was under control. With Fern's info and a good night's rest we were back onto the River on a beautiful sunny day  to our first anchorage at mile 99 behind a wingdam[these divert the current]. It was a good anchorage and well away from the barges.There are no marinas along this stretch of the Upper Mississippi, so the next day off to little Diversion River.at mile 46. Again this anchorage worked for us, only we had to stay close to the mouth since the river was silting in. Another sunny warm day.We enjoyed one more sunny warm day before the weather changed. This time we anchored behind a wingdam again, at mile 7.7.We were almost at the mouth of the Ohio river.It starts at mile 981 mile ,0 would be at it's source. From here on the lower  Mississippi continues south of the mouth of the Ohio.

 Awakening to a cold rainy day we dressed in warm clothing and rain gear. Visibility was good and we had no trouble meeting with barges\tows.In less than an hour we were motoring up the Ohio River.Also a big river with lots of barge activity. Most were at loading docks. lots of coal and gravel on these .We took photos of a huge new lock under construction.It is taking 20 years to build.to be finished in 2013. It is to replace the 2 locks we will be going through.We anchored at mile 950 very close to shore and well away from the shipping line.Glad to warm up in our cozy cabin with the furnace going. wed. was cold and overcast.
 Wed. night we anchored behind an island at the start of the Cumberland River.
A pretty and winding river. we enjoyed the scenery, the quiet and the sunshine.
 We didn't meet up with any moving barges, only some loading at the big mining areas-gravel and lead.. After going 'up' in the biggest lock[Barkley Lock and Dam] so far on this adventure we came to Barkley lake, still on the Cumberland , to 'Green Turtle Bay Marina and Resort' at a little town called Grand Rivers. A love

 you may try to google the area .The Tenessee River[Kentucky Lake] and the Cumberland R. are both a lake for a stretch because of a dam on each river.We plan to explore this area for the next 5 days .We were without wifi for a while- thus a long blog.I also realized we haven't filled you in on our tour of St.Louis -Lewis and Clark Museum and the History museum,hope to blog a few photo's of that on another blog.

St Louis the big arch

Cliffs on the Missouri side of the Mississippi

 Tow looking for his missing barges

Hoppie helping divert the direction of barges

TheHoppie's marina Adriana 1 behind flag

Sunset at the mile 99 anchorage

River activity at Cairo at the mouth of Ohio river

New Lock and dam being built on the Ohio

Gravel and lead mine on the Cumberland River

Entering Barkley Lock on the Cumberland going up 57 ft

Green Turtle Bay Marina at Grand Rivers Kentucky

Real paddle wheeler

Grafton -St Louis-- and home

From Peoria we had 2 more Locks, met lots of Tow Barges and enjoyed two anchorages[one in between 2 green markers in a wide part of the river and the other in behind Bar Island just south of Beardstown] ,a dockage and dinner at Illinois River dock and Mel's Restaurant.We had the company of 'Sea Q west' on this part of our journey. And our friends on 'Another Dawn' were our scouts . They were ahead of us and kept us posted  as to their stops and anchorages.What a help!!

At the Illinois River Dock

Grand vista over the Mississippi river at Grafton

Sunset as seen from Adriana 1 at Grafton

Finally on Thurs. Sept. 29th we did arrive at Grafton. This is a lovely new marina. It is also the marina we had planned to leave our boat while we made our trip home for Thanksgiving weekend.So after setling in and cleaning ship we rented a car for Friday afternoon . This made it possible for us to go to ST Louis on Sat., Church on Sunday and home on Monday.

Heritage harbour Marina, Ottawa to Grafton

The journey continues.We arrived at the beautiful new Heritage Harbour Marina a bit after 6pm.we found everyone very friendly and helpful. The next day they gave us a courtesy car[also new] so we could go to Ottawa for provisions , look after laundry and see the town. Our friends on Sea Q west tried to come into this marina only to find out the entrance was too shallow for them- they draw 6 feet. We heard they had been advised to go to the town dock by the evening staff. Bill phoned them right away to say they would have problems there.They went on to a lovely anchorage just south of Ottawa.
 We got to enjoy this anchorage, Sheehan Island  on Friday eve.A lock  called Starved Rock Lock had been under repair for a few days and was going to open from 6-8 am on  Friday to let some boats through. Sea Q west was near this lock so they made it down on time but had to let us know the lockmaster was not holding it open any longer. Our B plan was to go to Sheehan Island .It was well worth it. Scenic - limestone cliffs and quiet. A nice day to relax and do some reading.

 Saturday we were able to get thru. the lock- no problem.A power boat joined us in the lock.It followed us most of the way to Peoria. We were excited to go there since we knew Sea Q West and Another Dawn were also going to be there.When we arrived there the Pinta and the Nina were also at the Peoria town dock now  displaying full rigging. They were set up for the public to tour.

our boat along the wall

The water front was a busy place but only those touring the Columbus ships and boaters using the slips could come onto the docks.Many people talked to us from the wall. It was a bustling place because of the beautiful weather and the restaurant and other festivities including an art show, homecomings and the ship tour.Saturday evening we figured out we could worship at Grace Presbyterian Church[PCA] in Peoria on Sunday if we could only get an address.We could not find a phone booth so Sunday a,m we headed up the street in to downtown Peoria in search of a hotel with the hope of finding a taxi cab there . We were thankful the taxi driver was there and he also knew where the church was so he thought. When we arrived at the location it now was being used by the Baptist congregation and was already in worship so on his phone he found the new location. This congregation had built a new building on the outskirt of town very recently.After hearing a sermon on Psalm 46 and esp .on verse10 and lots of singing we  were stopped by the Allens who took us under their wing . First it was alovely lunch at church then out to their home before they took us back to our boat.We shared fellowship and encouragement with and from them.

Grace Presbyterian Church

The Allens on Adriana 1