Day 19 - October 2, 2012: Kentucky Lake to Panther Bay

After our rest day, we ventured out to see Kentucky Lake which is the lake created by water in the Tennessee River getting backed up by the Kentucky Dam. So it really is both the Tennessee River and Kentucky Lake simultaneously. Unlike the rapid flowing rather narrow Illinois, Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, the Kentucky Lake is very wide with dozens of inlets and bays.

The breadth of Kentucky Lake

Lake shore with trees and rock cliffs

The bays have creative names like Pisgah Bay, Smith Bay, Duncan Bay, Sugar Bay, Higgins Bay, Rhodes Bay, Vickers Bay, Turkey Bay, Rushing Bay, Ginger Bay, Bird Bay, and Hughes Bay. Based on looking at charts and reading reviews written by boaters who have stayed along this area, we choose Panther Bay on the eastern shore near Dover for tonight's anchorage. We liked this bay because it is quite small providing privacy and intimacy with the nature around us.

Panther Bay off Kentucky Lake

A very private and intimate bay

We launched the dinghy and took a late afternoon ride around the bay. The dinghy is a hard shell catamaran style which is somewhat unusual. It is very stable, can get up and plane with both of us aboard and will carry 4 people or our 2 bicycles or plenty of groceries. It reminds me of my youth when my father bought a small wooden boat with an outboard and let me and my best friend take it out exploring on the Grand River. We thought we were Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer.

Larry running the Nissan 9.8 hp 4 stroke

Anne enjoying the fresh air and scenery

There are Herons everywhere nesting and fishing and are unusual in that they fly with their long necks retracted. They feed by standing in the water waiting for their prey and quickly spearing them with their very sharp beak.

A Heron on the dock in Green Turtle Bay

This Heron was fishing off our anchorage in Panther Bay