Day 46 – 49
Tuesday, 10/27/20, was another short travel day, so we lazed around until 11:30 before pulling anchor and heading on down river to Island Cove Marina in Harrison, TN, just east of Chattanooga. The weather was cloudy and dreary, but still warm enough for us to dress in shorts and t-shirts. Not long before we arrived at Island Cove, in a particularly wide portion of the river, Steve put me at the helm for another boat-driving lesson. This time I picked a spot on shore to starboard and another one in front of the boat and then had to keep the boat in roughly the same spot, using these two marker points, using only the boat’s two engines. No steering wheel allowed! He was very patient and stayed calm for the entire 30 minutes I was ‘driving’ the boat. A patient instructor is what I need, so I was very appreciative.
We were greeted by harbor master, Randy, when we arrived at Island Cove Marina. He was extremely nice and very helpful. He even drove us around the marina on his golf cart whenever he saw us, so we wouldn’t have to walk. He put Legacy into a covered transient slip, which was a treat. Randy’s mannerisms reminded Steve of my step-brother, Gary Kandlbinder, but his voice and appearance reminded me of Danny Litford, the home maintenance expert who appears regularly on The Weather Channel. Steve helped to catch lines for two other transient boats who joined us on “Freedom Dock” in nearby slips. Island Cove is a nice marina with an Amigo’s Mexican restaurant right there onsite, which was just fine with us! They also have their very own island that is available for event rentals, such as weddings, family reunions, etc.
On Wednesday, 10/28/20, a cold front came through as predicted and it poured down rain all day. We were glad to be under a cover for that! We stayed holed-up in the boat most of that day and ventured out that evening for another dinner at Amigo’s.
The weather forecast for Thursday, 10/29/20, was supposed to be identical to Wednesday’s, since Tropical Storm Zeta was barreling through along with the cold front. But when we woke up on Thursday morning, the rain was over and the skies were already clearing! But the WIND was really up and gusting to over 35 mph, so we were glad we’d reserved the slip for another day. When we checked our weather sites, we were amazed at just how fast Zeta moved through our area and straight up to the northeast! We used the better (though cooler) weather to hire an Uber from the marina into Walmart in Harrison and back. Travis was our Uber driver going into town. He was very chatty and wanted to hear all about our boating adventures. Nelson was our driver back to the marina and he said very little during our trip, but got us exactly where we needed to go. Uber obviously hires all different types of drivers!
On Thursday evening, we managed to find enough wifi access to download and watch several of the webinars we’d paid for with AGLCA’s Fall 2020 Virtual Rendezvous. These particular webinars covered successfully traveling the TennTomBigbee Waterway.
We had originally planned to leave Island Cove Marina on Friday morning, 10/30/20, but the winds were still howling at 35 mph gusts and higher, and the water was really rough. We decided it was probably smartest to stay at Island Cove one more day, especially since the forecast for Saturday, 10/31/20, was little wind and spectacular, post-cold-front weather.
Position: N 35° 08.179, W 85° 07.607
Distance traveled: 17.9 NM
Total distance traveled: 766.6 NM
Time underway: 2 HRS 7 MIN
Total time underway: 96 HRS 29 MIN
Total marina nights: 39
Total nights at anchor: 10
Locks today: 0
Locks Total: 10