"Today we sail the Gulf"

“Today we sail the Gulf”, the words have been spoken.

With calm anticipation she slips her dock before day has broken.

On a calm bay at dawn with an outgoing tide Skipper sets her course for the magical ride.

Northern Light has surrendered her soul to the three that will guide her to a new port on the sea.

Learning these waters for the very first time reminds one to respect the sea, wind and brine.

The sea can be calm or a desolate place, a graveyard of ships from the old human race.

With a face like a mistress, or hard, wrinkled white while deep in its heart there is no light.

But today all is well and fresh for the three, as their spirits have brought them here to the sea.

With their minds full of wonder, they’ve left the fair shore to dance on the waves with their ship once more.

Again deep love for the water is unbroken.

“Today we sail the Gulf!”, the word has been spoken.

Gary T. Gaudreau

1/22/2009 1300 Hours

Gulf of Mexico near Panama City, FL aboard Northern Light

Tennessee River

After spending 2 beautiful days on Kentucky Lake at spectacular anchorages, it is time to continue our trek south. Weather has been perfect (sunshine & temp in the 80’s) and swimming off the back of Northern Light has been refreshing.
We are now on the River again and taking our time heading south. Today was another pretty day on the Tennessee. We saw a lot of fisherman mostly in fast bass boats going from one spot to another in their pursuit of the “big one”. We encountered a few tow barges and actually passed a few on the #1 whistle. The scenery along the river is just beautiful, many trees, rock ledges, little islands and a lot of birds heading south like us. The white pelicans are the most interesting and we have seen very many of them. We are spending the night a Cuba Landing Marina near Sugar Tree, TN (about 75 miles SW of Nashville). It is a small quaint marina with all the facilities we need.
Tomorrow morning we will continue our journey south.

Land Between the Lakes

Thanks to the TVA, the Kentucky Dam was built in 1938-1944 to form a beautiful lake on the upper Tennessee River. The dam is the longest dam (8,422 feet) on the Tennessee River and a major generating plant in the TVA system (199 megawatts). The reservoir behind the dam is 184 miles long, the largest artificial lake in the eastern United States.

We arrived at the Kentucky Lakes Recreation area from the North a few days ago. We are enjoying our time at present location of Green Turtle Bay Marina, near the historic town of Grand Rivers, KY. It is a beautiful place and a favorite of many veteran Loopers. A lot of our Looper friends that we have met on the way are also here at the marina. This is a photo of Pat & Lynn from Ontario, Canada that we have been traveling with. Check their web site (Adamant1.ca) it is quite interesting.

Kentucky Lakes Recreation area consists of 2 major lakes, Lake Barkley to the east and Kentucky Lake to the west. Both are about 35 miles long and 2 miles wide separated by a land mass in between called appropriately “Land between the Lakes”. There are many parks, hiking trails and small marinas throughout the area. The next few days we will be exploring the Kentucky Lake/Tennessee River at anchor and at a few select marinas on our trip south.

Going with the Flow-Down River + Our First Locks

We finally left the big city of Chicago and had a beautiful trip down the river. Made it all the way to Joliet where Bill joined the crew this afternoon. It is great to have him aboard. The river is still at flood stage so the current is very swift and has lots of debris floating as a hazard. It was exciting going through our first locks. Very little barge or other boat traffic so our trip was quick. We left Crowley Yacht Yard at 7am and arrived at Joliet about 1pm. Many thanks to the staff & crew at Crowleys. Appreciate all your help and advice. A great day on the river!