CRUISING Archives — Page 13 of 19 — Trailer Trawler Life Blog – Cruising USA & Canada

Flaming Gorge Dam And Back To Carter Creek

July 12, 2013
Lisa Favors
CRUISING, Flaming Gorge, INLAND LAKES-West

We cruised the length of the gorge all the way down to the Flaming Gorge Dam and checked out Cedar Springs Marina. The canyons are not as prominent in this area, mostly lowlands and scrubby brush. Then we headed back to the canyons to a spot we scouted out earlier in the day for our second night anchored in the Flaming Gorge Reservoir. Our second night at anchor was in Carter Creek. A busy little creek but other than a boat that beach anchored and camped on shore by the creek, we were the only ones anchoring in Carter Creek…

Family Cruise – Flaming Gorge Reservoir

July 12, 2013
Lisa Favors
CRUISING, Flaming Gorge, INLAND LAKES-West

Family Cruise – Flaming Gorge Reservoir A year ago we promised our nephew and his new wife Heather that we'd rendezvous with them during our Flaming Gorge trip, it would also be the first opportunity we've had to meet their young son, West. Even though there were a few glitches in the plan just before the appointed time, it worked out and mid-Saturday morning we met them as they made their way down the dock to our boat. We had been out in the gorge for a couple of days and returned to the marina to meet them. Even though…

Simply Gorgeous – Flaming Gorge Reservoir

July 11, 2013
Jim Favors
CRUISING, Flaming Gorge, INLAND LAKES-West

"If you liked Lake Powell, you should consider cruising the Flaming Gorge Reservoir." Shortly after we cruised Lake Powell in 2011, we started to hear about a place called the Flaming Gorge Reservoir from other boaters. They said, "If you liked Lake Powell, you should consider cruising the Flaming Gorge." With a little research, we found out that the reservoir was formed upon the completion of the Flaming Gorge Dam, in 1964. That was the year the Beatles first toured the U.S. Flaming Gorge Reservoir is located in southern Wyoming and northeast Utah on 91 miles of the 730-mile-long Green…

Arriving at Lucerne Valley Marine – Flaming Gorge Reservoir

We couldn't help but notice the desert-like environment we found ourselves in as we approached Lucerne Valley Marina on the edge of the Flaming Gorge Reservoir. After three full days of driving across the country and camping at RV parks along the way, we arrived at Lucerne Valley Marina early afternoon on the fourth day. We were more than ready to test out the waters of the Flaming Gorge Reservoir. As we drove from Green River, in Wyoming, south along the western side of the Gorge we couldn't help but notice the desert-like environment. After making the turn and driving…

Preparing, Packing and Planning for Our Trip West

June 17, 2013
Lisa Favors
•USA-WEST, CANADA-EAST, CRUISING, Desolation Sound, Flaming Gorge, Gulf Islands, INLAND LAKES-West, OREGON, Puget Sound, San Juan Islands, Seattle

Planning for the trip west! After spending this past winter holed up at home in northern Michigan remodeling our kitchen, we feel we're more than ready for some new cruising adventure. We are preparing, planning, and packing to head west soon to begin another fun boating season. First, we'll visit the Flaming Gorge Reservoir on the Green River in Northeast Utah/Southern Wyoming. Then we'll continue on to Puget Sound in Washington State, there we'll put in at Anacortes and cruise north into Canada's Gulf Islands, Desolation Sound, and more. Check back often, the fun is soon to start.

McKernan Creek Anchor Before Joe Wheeler State Park

We like anchoring in McKernan Creek! After leaving Grand Harbor Marina, we made two anchorage stops before we got to Joe Wheeler State Park. The first, Little Bear Creek (above and below), was a new spot for us while our stay at McKernan Creek was our third time at anchor there. Both anchorages met with our satisfaction and provided a colorful and comfortable night on the hook. On the move again early the next morning we passed the bridge at Florence, Alabama (below). To get to McKernan Creek we had to lock through the Wilson Lock and Dam. At 110…

Time To Disembark at Grand Harbor Resort Marina

End of the line, Grand Harbor Resort Marina. After being on the hook a lot lately, a visit to Grand Harbor Resort Marina, located where the Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama borders come together (we're officially down south at this point), hit the spot. It has all the amenities a long-distance boater appreciates including a well-stocked ship's store, an elegant boater's lounge, laundry facilities located right on the dock where you can sit by the water as you wash and dry your clothes, they also have several loaner vehicles and they almost beg you to use one to explore the nearby…

Returning to Diamond Island to Anchor

Diamond Island welcomes Kismet back to its beautiful anchorage. A beautiful fall day presented itself to us as we headed out, from Clifton Marina early the next morning, with a plan to anchor out at Diamond Island. With bright blue skies and a pleasantly warm day, we basked in the scenic beauty along the Tennessee River during our cruise. Lots to see with many boats on the water, some Loopers passing us, and people fishing or relaxing along the sandy shoreline of the river. The houses along the river are interesting to look at and we enjoyed seeing this herd…

A Little Piece of Paradise in Clifton, Tennessee

Clifton Marina exemplifies southern hospitality! When we're cruising day after day and anchoring out overnight, we get to a point where we'd like to take in the creature comforts a marina will afford. Most marinas offer the essentials of power, water, fuel, laundry, and showers, but every once in a while we are "wowed" – our second stay (the first visit was during our second Loop trip in 2008) at Clifton Marina in Clifton, Tennessee was exactly that. The welcoming reception and unique experience we received while in Clifton could just well be this part of the country's well-known southern…

Trying to Stay Dry in Lick Creek

Kismet says "Hi" to 0 Regrets in Lick Creek! Staying in the travel mode of leaving late and quitting early we only cruised 15 miles today, stopping to anchor out in Lick Creek. This was our first time in Lick Creek, a new experience in a natural setting. We worked our way into the unmarked serpentine channel with the aid of our GPS, and traveled past a few deadheads and very shallow water to an area with 5 to 9-foot depths. It was well away from the river barge traffic, so we settled in for a cozy afternoon warm and…

Blue Creek Anchorage By Cuba Landing Marina

Blue Creek anchorage is just past Cuba Landing Marina. Leaving Pebble Isle Marina we had our sights set on an anchorage we'd never been to before. Twenty miles upriver at MM116 of the Tennessee River is Blue Creek, Cuba Landing Marina is located there. (The photo above, and below, shows the entrance to the marina and the cove we anchored in.) Having just left a marina we inched our way past Cuba Landing to a shallow, relatively open cove. We found a few more boats anchored there for the night in 5 to 8 feet of water. We've never anchored…

Pebble Isle Marina – Known For Their Southern Hospitality & Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

Pebble Isle Marina owners Randy and Tami are well known for their infectious southern personalities. On our way to Pebble Isle Marina today, At MM-78.2, we passed the Louisville and Nashville RR Bridge (above). It is a non-functioning bridge at this time, probably only used for fishing now. Shortly after the bridge, we passed an abandoned, partly submerged, building (photo below). The Tennessee Valley Authority purchased many acres of land in preparation to create Kentucky Lake. The Kentucky Dam was completed in 1944, when the area was flooded and many towns below the new water level disappeared. Lake Barkley was created in the early 1960’s…

Cypress Creek Anchorage – Tennessee River

We left Duncan Bay knowing we'd travel south on the Tennessee River for only 4 hours, so it wasn't going to be a long day. Twenty-nine miles later, at mile marker 62.6, we made a starboard turn into Cypress Creek, then another right into the first cove. What we found was an anchorage that provided us with calm waters in very protective, natural surroundings. Because of our short cruise day, I took advantage of the calm water by continuing my work on the dinghy davit bracket installation (see next post). I like to maximize my downtime by having a few…

Landing in Duncan Bay – Tennessee River

Duncan Bay was our choice for a peaceful night on the hook! Our three-week goal was to travel 250 miles on the Tennessee River while meeting Loopers on their southern migration and concluding our trip after attending an AGLCA Rendezvous at Joe Wheeler State Park Marina in Rogersville, Alabama. With three weeks to enjoy this famous heartland river, it felt good knowing we could really take our time leaving a spot late in the morning or deciding to stop early in the day to relax and familiarize ourselves with a new anchorage. With that said, we left Green Turtle Marina,…

Third Time’s a Charm – Tennessee River Cruise

Kismet will be cruising the Tennessee River for four weeks! For die-hard boaters, like us, there's no better feeling than heading out on the road (for trailerable boaters) on the cusp of an adventure, we were just itching to do a little river cruising. We took our Kismet on a 680-mile road trip, from Traverse City, Michigan, before we floated her off of the trailer today into Lake Barkley at Green Turtle Marina, in Grand Rivers, Kentucky. Our intention is to cruise the Tennessee River for the next four weeks. We had spent a couple of days at home, prior to departure, rigging…

Mackinac Island – The Path Less Taken

September 9, 2012
Lisa Favors
CRUISING, GREAT LAKES

Mackinac Island is our FAVORITE Michigan cruising destination! Mackinac Island is a very busy tourist destination during the day. So when visiting the island, Jim and I try to focus our daytime activities on walking in less congested areas. Our favorite route starts by walking up the steps leading to the steep bluff just across the road from the marina. Most day-time visitors to the island walk or ride bikes along the path at the bottom perimeter of the island. It's fairly busy there at the bottom, that's why we choose to climb to the top of the island. The view…

Launching in Mackinaw City – Post Wedding Trip to Mackinac Island

Mackinaw City seemed to be the logical choice to launch Kismet for our trip to Mackinac Island. Our son, Skyler, got married to, Sarah, on Labor Day Weekend. Most of our summer was focused on this big event; except for a few boat trips, we stayed close to home preparing and enjoying all the activities. I have to confess it took quite a toll on our blogging ability. After it was over, we needed to decompress and Mackinac Island came first to mind. This island is unique in its ability to transport a visitor back in time, one of our…

2012 Venetian Festival – Charlevoix, Michigan

Charlevoix the Beautiful! In stark contrast to our time cruising the North Channel this summer was our five-day stop in Charlevoix, while on our way home, for the 2012 Venetian Festival. One of our all-time favorite festivals. We called Charlevoix's harbormaster, Hal (below-right) to receive our slip assignment soon after we arrived in Round Lake. Before we knew it we were tied up snug on B dock ready to partake in the festivities. Thanks, Hal! Our dock mates, Jan and Jean (above), spent considerable time and effort planning a weekend-long dock party on B dock complete with a tiki hut…

Croker Island – A Rocky Paradise

Croker Island – Rocks, Bears, and Blueberries! As cruising trips go this one ranked up toward the top of our list, but like all good things they must come to an end. We left Little Current to make way for one of our favorite anchorages in a popular cove at Croker Island; this will be the last real stop of our North Channel trip. The cove at Croker Island has a high rocky bluff that protects anchored boats from high winds and/or foul weather from the big waters of the more exposed North Channel. While…

A Little “Downtime” in Little Current

Little Current – The Biggest Little City in the North Channel! A trip to the North Channel wouldn't be complete without a stop in Little Current, the biggest little city in the North Channel. It's true that Little Current is not only the largest city in the North Channel, but has everything a cruiser might need with gift shops, parks, restaurants, and grocery stores, all within walking distance of the marinas. Little Current is also home to the North Channel's Cruisers Net, somewhat similar to the net we encountered during our trips to the Abaco Islands. We had a great…

Frazer Bay Hill – View From the Top

Frazer Bay Hill – You Can See Forever! On our second day, back at anchor in Marianne Cove, Jim talked me into hiking up Frazer Bay Hill. He'd heard the view, overlooking the Bay, was spectacular and well worth the "climb" up. Well, it certainly was steep and very rocky, but we were rewarded with a view of Frazer Bay that was just plain stunning. We dinghied a short distance from the anchorage (you can see the sailboat masts peeking out of the cove - top-left) to start our hike up the hill. We followed these faded red…

Back to Marianne Cove Anchorage

Marianne Cove anchorage, is a popular spot among boaters cruising the North Channel. We returned to Marianne Cove anchorage to spend another peaceful night in Canada's North Channel paradise. The view off the back deck of Kismet at sunset (above). Coffee in the morning on the back deck of Kismet while in the Marianne Cove anchorage. Don't I look relaxed? It's a guy thing (above). Early morning chores getting done. I love trying to capture the reflections of the trees on shore in the water (below). Okay, I think I have about a hundred of these photos, all different of course,…

Day Trip Up Baie Fine to the Pool

Baie Fine, a Canadian fjord, runs east and west up to the Pool. We liked Marianne Cove so much, we decided to make it base camp for a few days. On the morning of our second day, we pulled anchor to take a day trip up the majestic Baie Fine, a fjord that runs east and west. Baie Fine is a total of about 10 miles long, narrowing abruptly for the last two-mile stretch to the confines of its end, "The Pool." We had a clear, calm blue sky day for a slow poke of a cruise making it that much easier…

First Time in Marianne Cove

Lots of Room in Marianne Cove Tonight! On our way up Baie Fine, we saw this marker on shore (above). It's a marking for the red buoy – the channel through this area is so narrow they had to mark it on the rock instead of a red buoy. On this day we chose to try a new anchorage (new to us) at Marianne Cove. We've anchored at the Pool (located at the furthest end of Baie Fine) before and enjoyed that area, but we've heard so much about how well-protected and beautiful Marianne Cove is, we decided to stop short of the Pool and…

Meeting Captain & Crew of the Thomas James

Thomas James – Visit with an Exchange of Boat Tours! While cruising through the Killarney Channel, on our way to Collins Inlet, we received a call on our VHF. After switching to channel 68, Bill, the guy hailing us, told us that, as he was standing on the balcony of his channel-side home, he noticed our red Ranger Tug slowly cruising by. He said he was so excited to see the "cute tug" he'd love to have a tour and chat with us about it as he had never seen one in person before. As we were trying to figure out his…

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