M/V Perfect Fit: Resting at Green Turtle Bay.

I just returned from the Spa at Green Turtle Bay, and can now catch up on the blog. We arrived late Thursday after another long day on the Ohio and Cumberland Rivers. Lock 52, on the Ohio, is etched in my memory. Our group of seven pleasure craft arrived around 3:00 PM, with the hopes of making it to the Cumberland that day. Well the lockmaster had other things in store for us. He did not allow us to lock until after sunset, so the group decided to anchor and go through at first light rather than be in the river at night (I already had one bent prop). After watching a full moon lunar eclipse I called the lockmaster at 6:00 AM the next day, and we waited till 10:00 AM to lock through. With that late start we did not hit the Barkley Lock on the Cumberland to around 4:00 PM and had to wait on a tow (commercial traffic has priority over pleasure craft) and locked out at sunset. Fortunately Green Turtle Bay Resort and Marina is only a mile from the lock. We limped in and promptly all went to the resort restaurant. It is a dry Kentucky county!!! After some discussion we were allowed to bring our own booze in for a fee. We Loopers are a rowdy lot until 9:00 PM, which is “Looper Midnight”, at which time we must be in the sack, or turn into pumpkins.

The next day, I was scheduled to have the boat hauled to check the props, but had to wait in line, as about a dozen boats were being hauled due to the number of bent props. They tell me this is the worst the Mississippi has been in 30 years. Despondent boaters and an ecstatic prop shop.

Friday night the Loopers invaded Patti’s a local restaurant, with our booze in brown bags. Several awards were given. Diablo scored the most courageous, as he made it from Hoppies in a small houseboat with one engine down and low on fuel. Roxane the most heroic for towing Hotei out of the Barkley Lock when its engines would not restart. Yours truly received an honorable mention as the leader of the flotilla from Hoppies to Green Turtle Bay. After drinking continued from the brown bags I was told the real reason was not my outstanding seamanship, rather that I speak fluent “tug boat”. It seems US Yankees and Canadians cannot understand tug boat captains on the VHF. Most tow captains are from the south, and many from the New Orleans area. They said my conversations with the tows sounded like the scene from Blazing Saddles where no one understands what any of the cowboys are saying "rubba rubba rubba". So they just followed me on faith and hoped I was passing on the correct side! R&R from Long Island still swears I was making it all up. Rhonda didn't understand a word the captains said, and could not believe it when I had a conversation in the same dialect. Wait till they get father south! Score one for the Cajun.

Today (Friday) it rained all day, so I decided to change the engine zincs, as they were overdue for a change. Well of course one broke off, and I had to tear down a heat exchanger to get it out. Naturally I tore the gasket, rendering the entire engine inoperable. Believe it or not, the supply store here had a Mercrusier replacement gasket that fits my Yanmar engine, so I am back in business. So after fixing what I broke, I went to the Spa for a massage…

We will wait till our props are back, and then head up the Cumberland (it flows north) to the Tennessee and on to Chattanooga.

Rising full moon at Lock 52.

The flotilla at anchor-Lock 52.

At sunrise we all anticipated an early lock through.

We did not get in until 10:00. Lock 52 is an old lock scheduled for replacement. The Corps is on it. It has been building the new one for 20 years. Some things don't change......

The flotilla finally out of Lock 52.

Paducah, KY.

The Cumberland is a much smaller and prettier river.

Waiting, again, at the Barkley Lock on the Cumberland River.

Here we are in the lock waiting on Diablo, the small houseboat with one engine out. It brought up the rear about 1/2 hour later. This lock brought us up 50' to Barkley Lake on the Cumberland.