Clifton to Aqua Yacht Harbor and Gold!

Day # 730; Loop Miles to Date = 9,427

On Sunday afternoon, October 8th, we completed the Great Loop and crossed our wake on the Tennessee River on our approach into Aqua Yacht Harbor...we made it! It was a gray day, scattered with some light rain and a bit of breeze, but it didn't dampen our spirits as we were thrilled to close this journey after 2 years and almost 10,000 miles. In an unlikely and unplanned coincidence, the day we completed the loop was 2 years to the day that we left Island Cove Marina in Chattanooga in 2015. It really was a remarkable journey. We'll leave some final thoughts and a review of statistics for a later post.

 

 

A few pics of our travel day from Clifton to Aqua...

 

 

The day started out beautifully...but after only about an hour, it turned gray and cloudy. The Tennessee River remains as one of our favorite places to cruise.

We saw MANY houses along the banks on this stretch who had obviously built homes recently with high water in mind!

This just looked like a neat spot tucked up there in the rocks.

And these folks weren't taking any chances at all with high water!

We wish we had been a bit closer, and the sky had been blue, but it was still a treat to spot this pair of eagles.

The closer we got to Pickwick Dam, the stronger the current became, as evidenced by this dancing buoy. They were most likely letting extra water through the dam in advance of Nate...to make room for the expected rains. The result was that we had a 4 mph current running against us for the last 5 miles or so...a bit of slogging for this stretch.

 

At present we are actually out of the water up on the hard at Aqua Yacht Harbor. We had a few minor and planned maintenance items that we wanted to attend to, and this was both a good time and a great spot to get them taken care of. One of the items that we have been looking forward to was getting the hull buffed out and polished. We had decided along that way that there wasn't much point in trying to keep up with this while traveling, and it really needed the attention. And boy does it shine now! The boat looks practically brand new.

After the buff and polish on the hull...more pics of this sometime later on.

So, our short term plan is to hang around here at Aqua through most of this week, and then make our way to the AGLCA Rendezvous next week at Joe Wheeler. We'll be showing the boat for sale during the "Looper Crawls" and with luck, we'll find some folks who might have an interest in this wonderful tug that has been home for us for the last 2 1/2 years.

This shot taken just where we crossed our wake. On a map, it's the point where Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama join. Even the pups were smiling (that's our story anyway)!

We'll plan to post a summary with some "final" thoughts sometime in the next week...and will include some facts and figures about the entire trip. So, stay tuned...we'll check in again...