Thursday, June 19
It was another picture perfect morning, clear, cool and calm. We had a leisurely breakfast and got underway to cruise through downtown Nashville and up to Old Hickory Lake. Diana got this picture of the entrance to Rock Harbor as we left; it includes the sign for the Blue Moon Lagoon, the restaurant that we had dinner at Tuesday night.
As we approached downtown we past this lovely waterfall. It was 15 miles to downtown then an additional 25 to the lock at Old Hickory. The direct miles is much less as the river makes several large horse shoe turns thru the city.
Here is a picture of the downtown skyline as we approached it. The twin towered building belongs to AT&T.
This is a picture of the city waterfront park and the municipal dock. We have a reservation at the dock on our return next week.
At the end of the dock is parked the fire boat.
Beyond downtown is the Gaylord Opryland complex. It includes riverboat tours. The sma
ller boat is the Music City Queen; the other is the General Jackson. The General was loading passengers for a cruise as we past. A little latter we heard her announce on the radio that she was departing and heading back toward downtown.
By mid afternoon we approached the Old Hickory lock. It has a lift of 60 feet. We waited only about fifteen minutes while they emptied the lock and in we went.
It turns out that all of the local herons know that the turbulent water of the lock produces great fishing. Not only were there eight or ten on the inside of the upper gate when we entered, when we got to the top there were a couple dozen lined up on the sidewall.
We did a little exploring of the first couple of miles of the lake and found a semi secluded bay behind a small peninsula and a couple of small islands. We dropped the anchor and spent a quite late afternoon and evening.
Friday, June 20
We again took our time getting up and underway. It was another lovely morning. The temperature was cool, no wind, and a light overcast. The overcast kept the temperature down all morning; Diana had to put on long sleeves to sit in the fly bridge.
We had a short day planned, with only about twenty direct miles to the Gallatin Marina. We cruised slowly, about 5.5 mph at 1200 rpm, up the lake. Old Hickory is a beautiful lake with a lot of development along much of its shoreline. There is everything from nice small lake homes to, large homes, to beautiful estates. This is not necessarily one of the largest but Diana liked it.
For my Minnesota readers it is like Lake Minnetonka and the St Croix River combined with the occasional heavy, large traffic to beware of.
Not far up the lake is Drake Creek, this is a side
channel that runs about three miles up from the main channel. We took the side trip and went on up most of it. This was the one section of water I was slightly familiar with. Our boat was a test platform for Gibson and Yanmar to test the small diesels. The tests were done out of the Drake Creek Marina. Last December I flew to Nashville for the final engine trial. Today was a lot more pleasant than upper forties with drizzle that we had in December.
Near Drake Creek Marina is a small island that is a large rookery for cormorants and egrets.
We continued on up the lake, exploring a couple of other side areas (there are many) until we got to Camp Creek, the channel that Gallatin Marina is on. The channel branch into two before the marina and since it was early we went exploring up the other channel about a mile before going to the marina. One side of this area has only been developed in the last few years. It is all very large homes, with beautiful landscaping. There is a golf course included and it appeared that some of the homes actually have waterfront and overlook the golf course on the back side.
Finally a little after three we called the marina and got directions to our slip. We got tied up and got the shore power connected. The sun had partially broken thru and with high humidity the AC felt good. We tidied up the boat and had a relaxing evening.
Another great day.
It was another picture perfect morning, clear, cool and calm. We had a leisurely breakfast and got underway to cruise through downtown Nashville and up to Old Hickory Lake. Diana got this picture of the entrance to Rock Harbor as we left; it includes the sign for the Blue Moon Lagoon, the restaurant that we had dinner at Tuesday night.
As we approached downtown we past this lovely waterfall. It was 15 miles to downtown then an additional 25 to the lock at Old Hickory. The direct miles is much less as the river makes several large horse shoe turns thru the city.
Here is a picture of the downtown skyline as we approached it. The twin towered building belongs to AT&T.
This is a picture of the city waterfront park and the municipal dock. We have a reservation at the dock on our return next week.
At the end of the dock is parked the fire boat.
Beyond downtown is the Gaylord Opryland complex. It includes riverboat tours. The sma
ller boat is the Music City Queen; the other is the General Jackson. The General was loading passengers for a cruise as we past. A little latter we heard her announce on the radio that she was departing and heading back toward downtown.
By mid afternoon we approached the Old Hickory lock. It has a lift of 60 feet. We waited only about fifteen minutes while they emptied the lock and in we went.
It turns out that all of the local herons know that the turbulent water of the lock produces great fishing. Not only were there eight or ten on the inside of the upper gate when we entered, when we got to the top there were a couple dozen lined up on the sidewall.
We did a little exploring of the first couple of miles of the lake and found a semi secluded bay behind a small peninsula and a couple of small islands. We dropped the anchor and spent a quite late afternoon and evening.
Friday, June 20
We again took our time getting up and underway. It was another lovely morning. The temperature was cool, no wind, and a light overcast. The overcast kept the temperature down all morning; Diana had to put on long sleeves to sit in the fly bridge.
We had a short day planned, with only about twenty direct miles to the Gallatin Marina. We cruised slowly, about 5.5 mph at 1200 rpm, up the lake. Old Hickory is a beautiful lake with a lot of development along much of its shoreline. There is everything from nice small lake homes to, large homes, to beautiful estates. This is not necessarily one of the largest but Diana liked it.
For my Minnesota readers it is like Lake Minnetonka and the St Croix River combined with the occasional heavy, large traffic to beware of.
Not far up the lake is Drake Creek, this is a side
channel that runs about three miles up from the main channel. We took the side trip and went on up most of it. This was the one section of water I was slightly familiar with. Our boat was a test platform for Gibson and Yanmar to test the small diesels. The tests were done out of the Drake Creek Marina. Last December I flew to Nashville for the final engine trial. Today was a lot more pleasant than upper forties with drizzle that we had in December.
Near Drake Creek Marina is a small island that is a large rookery for cormorants and egrets.
We continued on up the lake, exploring a couple of other side areas (there are many) until we got to Camp Creek, the channel that Gallatin Marina is on. The channel branch into two before the marina and since it was early we went exploring up the other channel about a mile before going to the marina. One side of this area has only been developed in the last few years. It is all very large homes, with beautiful landscaping. There is a golf course included and it appeared that some of the homes actually have waterfront and overlook the golf course on the back side.
Finally a little after three we called the marina and got directions to our slip. We got tied up and got the shore power connected. The sun had partially broken thru and with high humidity the AC felt good. We tidied up the boat and had a relaxing evening.
Another great day.
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