Port #29: Leaving the Turtles Behind...

Great Loop II Date: 10/05/2014
Day # 66 (Sunday): 38 miles (1699 total miles)
Locks: 0 (12 total locks)
Port #29: Fort Henry, TN
Anchorage: Panther Bay

With OBs shiny wheels on, the crew was more than ready to get back underway. We pulled away from the dock at Green Turtle Bay at sun up. The buoy markers were confusing coming out of the marina into Barkley Lake. We picked our way through the area, moved through the cut from Barkley Lake and were soon in Kentucky Lake and headed south.

Another gorgeous sunrise.

Land Between The Lakes (LBL) was on our port side (to the east) as we moved down Kentucky Lake. The landscape was changing with more hills filled with dense woods. The skies were clear, the sun was shining and the wind was so strong out of the south, there were white caps on the lake. We saw very little commercial traffic.

We passed this interesting looking commercial vessel, the Delta Mariner.  This boat carries Delta and Atlas V rockets from Decatur, AL to Cape Canaveral, FL.  We may see her again during our trip up the AICW next spring.

The hills disappear right into the lake.  I made me wonder what this looked like before it was flooded to create the lake.

The sailing line kept us near the Land Between the Lakes.

The LBL area was engineered by Tennessee Valley Authority with the help of the Army Corps of Engineers to create a recreation area on a peninsula of land created by the Cumberland River and the Kentucky River. Prior to that it was known as ‘Between the Rivers’.

The Confederates built Fort Henry on LBL during the Civil War. That fort fell in 1862, Kentucky declared itself a neutral state and the area saw little war action afterward. FD Roosevelt developed the New Deal, created the TVA, dams were built on the Tennessee River, Barkley Lake and Kentucky Lake were created.

We had planned to anchor in a cove called Fort Heiman, another Confederate installation during the Civil War. It was well protected on all sides but the south, the direction the strong wind was coming from. So we changed our plans and decided to anchor in Panther Bay, an anchorage we used during our 2010 Loop. The south bay of Panther is tucked in and well protected from the south.

When we arrived at Panther Bay, a lone sailboat was anchored at the opening into the south bay. We passed him and moved further in the bay to anchor. Well protected from the wind, we had a quiet night. A thunderstorm came through early in the morning. OB moved around her anchor but the anchor held her firm.

Panther Bay, our home for tonight.

The mastless sailboat anchored at the opening of the south branch of Panther Bay.  Sailboats doing the Loop usually have their masts shipped from Chicago to Mobile Bay because of fixed bridges with low clearance along the route.

Sunset on a fantastic evening at anchor.

The thunder woke me up before the alarm clock.  That black star is OB.  No problem...we were anchored well and very protected by the hills around us.