So today we would find out how bad the boat would run. Out options again were head back north toward Green Turtle Bay or continue south to Safe Harbor Aqua Yachts in Luka, Mississippi. We started the engine and listened…nothing unusual, no vibrations. We pulled the anchor and turned to head out. At this point I am on the phone calling Green Turtle. They can’t lift us out until next week. Every marina is busy this time of year with taking care of their members and transients moving south. This wasn’t a good option for us in our minds. We could make a reservation for the next stop and get farther south and have a sure lift. We chose to continue on, so south we turned.
I took the helm and throttled forward. There was a small vibration when I got to 1600 RPM, but I figured if we kept it under that we could make progress. Our next stop was planned for about 40 miles. We were headed to another anchorage for the night: Bennets Cove. The river is marked on the charts pretty well, but it is constantly shoaling in and has wildly varying depths. We could be in sixty feet of water one moment, then drop to eighteen feet the next. We have found out the water levels are at least six feet below normal. This means the charts show ten foot, and we see four foot below our keel which hangs down about four and a half feet- this will be very clear to us soon. We passed a few barges coming up river and made our way toward the anchorage. I noticed our speed is dropping at times, and you can see the current flowing against us on the buoys in the river and some debris floating toward us. I had mentioned it is one of the few rivers flowing north, and with all the rain we’ve had recently, the current is really flowing. Against us heading south.
Now were are cruising along around five knots. We actually don’t mind the speed drop so much, but it will make our planned three day trip much longer, and the weather forecast is more rain, possibly severe, and cold coming our way. We got close to the anchorage and the charts are showing crazy depths again, going from forty feet to ten feet in a matter of a few yards. We located our buoy which was where we were going to take a path in to the anchorage, but this takes us out of the river and through some of the lower areas on the charts. I thought we had a good plan, and was following same thought process from maneuvering the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. We were slowly making our way up toward the opening, Lauren and I sitting side by side on the flybridge, eyes scanning the waters and charts at the same time, dreading to hear or feel any sudden movements to the boat or propeller. Then it happened- SCRAPE SCRAPE!! AAAGGHHH! FU%K NO!!! Like the sound of a train scraping across the track is what we heard, as well as a slowing down. I quickly realized this wasn’t the same as rocks, it was sand scraping against the bottom, but still my mind is in overdrive, thinking no way we can get stuck two days in a row! We were watching the charts! And the prop! No way!! There was nothing else to do but give it more throttle and try to push through the hopefully just sand bar. We kept our forward momentum going, but the sound wasn’t completely stopping. Lauren looked at me and said “what was that!” I basically shouted “we’re hitting bottom!”. The next back and forth doesn’t need repeated, but there was a lot of swearing, not at each other but in the moment of “we’re not getting stuck again today!” We turned every which way trying to find a way back to the deep channel. We would go ten yards, hear a scrape and go another direction, all while following charts and sometimes going in a counter intuitive direction. It seems to be deep around shore, and fill in and out as it goes out to the dredged channels. Needless to say it was a pretty intense moment for us until we finally got out to the deep water. Oh- whats this? As we are getting to the channel, a barge is coming down towards us, not giving us much room. There was also a fisherman nearby who probably heard the scraping and was wondering what the hell we were doing? Or maybe that was in my mind. The barge did come down and we held tight to the very edge of the channel, but not daring to go outside a marker. Now we are headed back north to a State Marina we had passed five miles back- Paris Landing. It is also getting to be dusk time and probably won’t make the marina before dark with our slow speed.
We had called the marina as soon as we got back to the channel and free of the barge. They were closing, but told us we could dock there tonight, told us where, and said to pay at the office in the morning. Cool, we are now headed to what we are now feeling like a ‘safe harbor’. Funny how we’ve traversed and heard the horror stories of ‘Shipwreck Alley’, The Great Lakes, The Mississippi and many other rivers, yet here we are on the calm Tennessee River in Kentucky Lake experiencing the most adversities. We made our way back north, now with the current pushing us. Maybe we will make by dark after all. We approached the marina and found our way in, again following the charts and buoys, taking us close to shore along a stretch, then turning up to the harbor. We are a little gun shy now, so not feeling too good about any of the charts, but can only go with what we have. We just have to remember the water levels are five to six feet below charts. Now I understand why so many locals up and down the rivers are not pleased with the Army Corp of Engineers; they can’t keep a normal level with the dams and it fluctuates from flood levels to this. We find the spot and dock just as its getting to be dark. Lauren takes Frank and goes in to the restaurant to check in and get gate codes, and I make sure we are secure and crack open a beer. Whew! This has been an ordeal over the last couple of days, but we’re here. Tomorrow we will head south about forty miles, but it will again be against the current, so we have to plan on leaving very early since we only go five knots. Dinner is made and we retire early for a good night sleep before an expected long day.