Aqua Yacht Harbor

Friday, October 3

We had a pleasant evening last night having shore power again and visiting with other boaters. Since we had no plans for the day, we slept in, and then Diana took the time to fix pancakes for breakfast. It was a bit chilly this morning with the outside temperature down to 50; we turned the heat on for about 20 minutes to take the chill out of the boat. The sun quickly rose and it was another spectacular day, a high in the upper seventies, no clouds and calm most of the day.

We got these pictures of the boat and the lodge; the second two are taken from the back deck of the boat.

Diana did a little clean up on the boat and I took advantage of more internet time to get the blog up to date. Then we went out for a walk around the park grounds. They have several trails; we selected a loop through the woods that made for a walk of just over a mile and a half. We heard many varieties of birds we also saw several deer. It was an unimproved trail with a fair amount of elevation change so we were ready for lunch when we got back. For most of the trail you can barely see the water through the trees. But just as we got back to the lodge Diana got this picture of the shoreline.

After lunch Diana used the convenient laundry and I finally got caught up on the world news (and river levels) on the internet. I also made dockage reservations for Sunday and Monday at Aqua Harbor and reserved a car for Monday. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and chatting with other transient boaters.

Saturday, October 4

We again took our time getting up. We plan a short day to an anchorage so no rush. We walked up to the inn and enjoyed their fine morning buffet. After breakfast I checked e-mail while Diana got these pictures from the balcony in front of the dining room.

We chatted a bit more with fellow boaters and shortly before noon we headed out. Since we are alone in a double wide slip, there is lots of water behind us and no wind we decide it is a great time for Diana to practice her driving. She got out without a bit of trouble. We head down First Creek to the main body of Joe Wheeler Lake. This picture is just as we are leaving First Creek, notice the calm water.

Here is just some of the gorgeous scenery we see along the lake.

We are just over two miles from the Joe Wheeler Lock. We call the lockmaster and he says come ahead he will get the lock ready. When we get close the gates are closed and the red light is on. We stop and drift, note still no wind. In a matter of a couple minutes the gates open and we are given the green light, we lock thru without delay. Diana drives again going out, she does this at many of the locks if there is little wind and no other traffic.

It is another great day of boating that we enjoy at a leisurely pace of just over six miles per hour. We proceed another ten miles down beautiful Lake Wilson and turn up Six Mile Creek, one of two recommended anchorages on the Lake. It is a winding embayment of about 200 yards in width and we explore a little less than mile before it begins to get shallow. On the port is a rock cliff (not high) with thick woods, to starboard there are boat houses and some nice homes. We turn around and go back to a likely spot to anchor and set two anchors (there isn’t a lot of room to swing). This picture is just behind us at anchor.

The anchorage turns out to be very peaceful and we watch as dozens of schools of minnows swim all around the boat, they are large schools with thousand in each school.

Live continues to be very good.