Green Turtle Bay, Barkley Lake, KY

(Dist: 44.0 mi; Avg Speed: 7.6 mph; TTT: 6:00 hrs)

The junction of the Tennessee River on the right and the Ohio River.

After leaving Cuba Head Island on the Tennessee River at Paducah, KY, we headed back to the Ohio River then upstream for about 11 miles. As we passed the anchorage at Cumberland Townhead Island, the two Looping boats, one from Montreal and the other from Panama City, FL swung in behind us and followed us up the Cumberland River. Another dramatic change as we left the wide open, sand beached Ohio River to the narrow, steep walled Cumberland River. There were times when both the GPS and the Fluxgate compass would not work in a particular deep canyon.

The Ohio shoreline:

The Cumberland River shoreline:

In the area there were a large number of gravel pits that were very active:

I wanted to show how much the water seems to fluctuate and although this is not the clearest water level marker you can see that the water does rise 25 -30 feet at times.

These types of markers under bridges indicate the vertical clearance to the bridge. Height clearances have not been an issue since the first few days out of Chicago.






In the next photo one can see the Barkley Dam and Lock. Our timing was much better for this 57’ lift as the lockmaster opened the gates just as we approached. On the other side is Barkley Lake and Green Turtle Bay Marina.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Docked Once Again >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

This is a nice marina and resort. There is an indoor and outdoor pool, saunas and two restaurants. The town of Grand Rivers is a long mile uphill but one can rent golf carts which we did when the stragglers arrived on Friday. It was most reasonable: a four seater for 24 hours was only $40 divided by 4 couples. HOWEVER, it is a dry county. One cannot buy a drink anywhere in the area. Fortunately we were well stocked and as we found out, one can BYOB to the restaurants.

I will give you a quick idea of marina life. On arrival after securing the boat and checking in, we grabbed the cooler and went to the pool. We had supper with another Looper couple at one of the restaurants which is really the Commonwealth Yacht Club. I spent much of the next day washing, no scrubbing, the Mississippi mud off the boat while Linda was doing laundry. By 2 PM the other 3 boats arrived and after securing them and getting caught up on their 2 nights without us, we made arrangements to go to the restaurant in town. Patti’s appears to be the only game in town but fortunately it is a good restaurant ala theme park, ala tourist shopping area. Linda made reservations, because there were 10 of us going and she made arrangements to have us picked up. Well what a surprise; the place was packed and it was already 7 PM on a Thursday night. Of course we had to wait for our table which gave us just enough time to go through the gift shops that were on site and the bakery. The meal was very good. Their specialty is a 2” pork chop and a number of the group really enjoyed them; in fact, everyone enjoyed their choices and the warm homemade bread which was baked in small flower pots. It was a fun evening, again.

On Friday a bunch of us rented a golf cart and went into town. The girls shopped and we searched out some parts and maintenance things that were needed for the boats. This took care of most of the day right up to happy hour. Happy hour was at the indoor pool and after a number of drinks and getting kicked out at 7 PM we all decided that supper had to be at the Yacht Club. This time there were 13 of us as Windsong, the sailing catamaran that I have mentioned before, finally caught up to us. For the next day, we reserved a courtesy van and 6 of us went searching for a super Walmart which happened to be in Paducah, 25 miles away. The re-provisioning was most successful: loads of groceries and of course a stop at Roof Bros Liquor Store. We got over a case of wine, nothing costing more than $8.50. We are ready now for any contingency; dry county, anchorage, whatever.

For lunch we went into historic downtown Paducah. The flood walls have all been painted with murals. It is very impressive because it is so well done. The whole town has this high wall to protect it from high water.

You can see the height of the wall and how low the river is now at normal pool. You can see in the opening how temporary walls are slid into the grooves on either side.

Now you are up to date. It is Sunday and we are staying at least for tonight and maybe one more. Another boat has decided to join us on the side trip to Nashville. It should be fun.