Setting the anchor in the channel at Cuba Towhead
Looking out from our anchorage to the Tennessee River we can see the Delta Queen going by
Log 26Day 102
Sunday, August 31, 2008
2:20 AM CDT
Location: Anchored at Cuba towhead just off the Tennessee River near Paducah, KY.
To see our exact location on Google maps (click here)
Weather: 72* with 60% humidity; no wind...predicted to be 91 and sunny today
I really like to get up early...but this is crazy. I got up a few minutes before 2 this morning to check things out...and stayed up. As the location above says, we are anchored near Paducah, KY in the backside of an island just off the TN River. To be honest, I’m not a big fan of anchoring all night in our boat. I don’t mind it on someone else’s boat, or a boat we have chartered, but let’s just say, with our boat...in an unknown area... I would rather be tied to a dock for the night. Because we are anchored in a strange place is why I got up so early. This back channel we are in is fairly deep and easy to navigate, and I was not certain that this might not be used by local tug boats as they moved around...because they are everywhere. So I wanted to get up (actually I did not want to go to sleep, but Deb and I agreed that with enough wine we would go to sleep) and make sure we were not in anyone’s way. It would not be good to get run over in the middle of a channel (in the middle of the night) by a barge. I’m not sure if one came by now what I would do...but at least I would be awake to try to do something.
That said...it is a beautiful morning (or is it still night at 2:45 am?) I went out on the bow when I got up and the crickets; frogs; and whatever else is in these woods are very much awake, and very loud. I can not imagine having to sleep without a generator and the windows open last night. I just checked the weather radar and it looks like the closest rain to us is in Florida associated with hurricane Gustav...so we are in great shape weather wise as well. Bottom line...no wind...no rain or bad weather...no tugs going through our channel...no issues what so ever. I should be in bed! But the weather channel is on, and the coffee is very good, and I’m boating so I may be up for the day (but I bet I take a nap later).
Yesterday we left Little River Diversion Channel at 6:45. Once we pulled up the stern and bow anchors, it was only a few yards back to the Mississippi. As soon as we pulled out into the river I wondered if I had made a mistake. It was light out and not bad in the channel, but on the river the fog was pretty thick in places. We were not a 1/2 mile down river and I could see a wall of fog ahead of us. I could also see the sun coming up, and very bright, so I was hoping it would burn the fog off...and in a hurry. There was also a barge coming up right behind us, and he only had one barge, so he was moving fast. With my electronics I could see the name of the tow on the screen so I called him and said I was going to slow down and pull over so he could come around us. My plan was to follow him for a while in case this patchy fog continued. It took only 30 minutes or so for the fog to burn off...and we had no issues after that.
By 9:45 we were in Cairo, IL...the end of the Mississippi (for us) and the junction of the Ohio River (actually the Ohio River ends here...918 miles from where it begins...but we will be going upstream) Speaking of going upstream. We were getting anywhere from a 2 to 5 mph push on the Mississippi...now we were fighting a couple mile an hour current. So with the same rpm (1100) we went from 11 to 12 mph to 7 to 8...a big change in speed and fuel consumption.
In order to get to our anchorage at Cuba Towhead we had to go another 48 miles and two locks. The first lock (lock #53) was 18 miles away, and no issue at all. I called them and by the time we got there the lock was open and we went right in. The next lock (lock #52) was another 24 miles and had traffic backed up everywhere. They really had a mess on there hands...I’ll bet there were more than 10 barges on both sides of the locks. We ended up anchoring for a while and it took a little over an hour, but we were lucky enough to get in the lock with another tow and we got out of the lock about 4 pm.
Once out of the lock we only had about 5 miles to our anchorage. I found it with no problem and took a fair amount of time exploring the channel to decide where to anchor. Like I said above I was nervous that this channel would be used by commercial traffic, and I did not want to be in there way. Not barges...but tows running back and forth getting barges. After studying things and trying to get the anchor set (the anchor first drug a little so I let out 150 feet of chain and that did it) we finally shut the engines off at about 6 pm. Not much else to report except that when Deb went to cook dinner the generator shut down. It was a little scary (because I did not want to sleep with no A/C in this heat and humidity)...but after a fair amount of work and investigation I think the problem was we were just running too much stuff and when she turned on the stove (two burners at once) the generator said “enough...I’m shutting down”. So I shut everything down; started over; reduced the load; and it has been running fine since then.
Today...an easy 12 mile run a little further up the Ohio River to the Cumberland River (this is where the Cumberland River ends) and then 31 miles and 1 lock to Green Turtle Bay...at MM 32 on the Cumberland. This is our home for the next 16 days or so. We had plans to go up the Cumberland to Nashville, but a lock along the way is down until September 10th and we have folks coming to see us on the 11 at Green Turtle so we will just stay there and explore the area.
Well it’s now 3:30. I’ll look for a couple of pictures to go with this log...upload it...and then I think I’ll get my pillow and blanket and try to sleep here on the back of the boat. The only sign of barges are the ones going by out in the Tennessee...about 1/2 mile away. So I can rest easy.
I’ll keep you posted.
BK.
Weather: 72* with 60% humidity; no wind...predicted to be 91 and sunny today
I really like to get up early...but this is crazy. I got up a few minutes before 2 this morning to check things out...and stayed up. As the location above says, we are anchored near Paducah, KY in the backside of an island just off the TN River. To be honest, I’m not a big fan of anchoring all night in our boat. I don’t mind it on someone else’s boat, or a boat we have chartered, but let’s just say, with our boat...in an unknown area... I would rather be tied to a dock for the night. Because we are anchored in a strange place is why I got up so early. This back channel we are in is fairly deep and easy to navigate, and I was not certain that this might not be used by local tug boats as they moved around...because they are everywhere. So I wanted to get up (actually I did not want to go to sleep, but Deb and I agreed that with enough wine we would go to sleep) and make sure we were not in anyone’s way. It would not be good to get run over in the middle of a channel (in the middle of the night) by a barge. I’m not sure if one came by now what I would do...but at least I would be awake to try to do something.
That said...it is a beautiful morning (or is it still night at 2:45 am?) I went out on the bow when I got up and the crickets; frogs; and whatever else is in these woods are very much awake, and very loud. I can not imagine having to sleep without a generator and the windows open last night. I just checked the weather radar and it looks like the closest rain to us is in Florida associated with hurricane Gustav...so we are in great shape weather wise as well. Bottom line...no wind...no rain or bad weather...no tugs going through our channel...no issues what so ever. I should be in bed! But the weather channel is on, and the coffee is very good, and I’m boating so I may be up for the day (but I bet I take a nap later).
Yesterday we left Little River Diversion Channel at 6:45. Once we pulled up the stern and bow anchors, it was only a few yards back to the Mississippi. As soon as we pulled out into the river I wondered if I had made a mistake. It was light out and not bad in the channel, but on the river the fog was pretty thick in places. We were not a 1/2 mile down river and I could see a wall of fog ahead of us. I could also see the sun coming up, and very bright, so I was hoping it would burn the fog off...and in a hurry. There was also a barge coming up right behind us, and he only had one barge, so he was moving fast. With my electronics I could see the name of the tow on the screen so I called him and said I was going to slow down and pull over so he could come around us. My plan was to follow him for a while in case this patchy fog continued. It took only 30 minutes or so for the fog to burn off...and we had no issues after that.
By 9:45 we were in Cairo, IL...the end of the Mississippi (for us) and the junction of the Ohio River (actually the Ohio River ends here...918 miles from where it begins...but we will be going upstream) Speaking of going upstream. We were getting anywhere from a 2 to 5 mph push on the Mississippi...now we were fighting a couple mile an hour current. So with the same rpm (1100) we went from 11 to 12 mph to 7 to 8...a big change in speed and fuel consumption.
In order to get to our anchorage at Cuba Towhead we had to go another 48 miles and two locks. The first lock (lock #53) was 18 miles away, and no issue at all. I called them and by the time we got there the lock was open and we went right in. The next lock (lock #52) was another 24 miles and had traffic backed up everywhere. They really had a mess on there hands...I’ll bet there were more than 10 barges on both sides of the locks. We ended up anchoring for a while and it took a little over an hour, but we were lucky enough to get in the lock with another tow and we got out of the lock about 4 pm.
Once out of the lock we only had about 5 miles to our anchorage. I found it with no problem and took a fair amount of time exploring the channel to decide where to anchor. Like I said above I was nervous that this channel would be used by commercial traffic, and I did not want to be in there way. Not barges...but tows running back and forth getting barges. After studying things and trying to get the anchor set (the anchor first drug a little so I let out 150 feet of chain and that did it) we finally shut the engines off at about 6 pm. Not much else to report except that when Deb went to cook dinner the generator shut down. It was a little scary (because I did not want to sleep with no A/C in this heat and humidity)...but after a fair amount of work and investigation I think the problem was we were just running too much stuff and when she turned on the stove (two burners at once) the generator said “enough...I’m shutting down”. So I shut everything down; started over; reduced the load; and it has been running fine since then.
Today...an easy 12 mile run a little further up the Ohio River to the Cumberland River (this is where the Cumberland River ends) and then 31 miles and 1 lock to Green Turtle Bay...at MM 32 on the Cumberland. This is our home for the next 16 days or so. We had plans to go up the Cumberland to Nashville, but a lock along the way is down until September 10th and we have folks coming to see us on the 11 at Green Turtle so we will just stay there and explore the area.
Well it’s now 3:30. I’ll look for a couple of pictures to go with this log...upload it...and then I think I’ll get my pillow and blanket and try to sleep here on the back of the boat. The only sign of barges are the ones going by out in the Tennessee...about 1/2 mile away. So I can rest easy.
I’ll keep you posted.
BK.
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