Densons Island to Swallow Bluff Island, TN River

October 5, 2015

We awoke to a foggy morning, so we took our time getting up and ready to go.  Rob cooked me breakfast in bed, then we took Sasha to Densons Island again for a morning walk & Frisbee session.  The water level had gone down more overnight, so the main channel side of the island had a wider sandy area and not as much mud.

The sun was up and it looked the fog was lifting, so we started the engines and pulled up the anchors.  As we were doing so, another fog bank rolled in, so we idled for a few minutes until it looked like it was starting to clear.  When we turned into the main channel, the fog became thicker and thicker the further we went.  When we extended the radar range out to 1.5 miles briefly, it appeared that the fog was breaking up ahead, so we proceeded ahead at about 4-5 mph.  We knew there was a loading barge somewhere ahead on the LDB (left descending bank), so even though we knew we had plenty of room, we were still nervous.  Rob sat at the bow looking ahead as I kept an eye on the radar and kept the boat close to the navigation line.  We had practiced with the radar when we could see what the different radar signatures actually represented, so we knew that ¾ of a mile with a gain of 60-80% would given us good signatures and plenty of time to maneuver.  When we finally saw the barge, we were quite far from it just as we had thought we would be, but it was good to have our reasoning verified.  Within 20 minutes we were out of the fog and, looking ahead, it looked as if there had never been any at all!

Loading barge through the fog

Leaving the fog behind!

Clear up ahead finally!

That was the extent of our excitement for the day, thank goodness.  The sun was shining, the day warm, the river calm, and we thought, “This is what cruising is all about.”  We passed a few tows and barges but there was plenty of room to pass, even though we had a couple of other boats near us at the time.  We’re starting to both hear (on the radio) and see more boats which are also making the trip south.

There were a lot of nice homes and camps along this stretch of the river, as well as natural undeveloped stretches.

Nice homes along the river

Barely hanging on

Now this is a place to camp!

We got to our anchorage, Swallow Bluffs Island, MM 169.3, by 2:45 p.m. and anchored in about 20 ft.  The current coming through the cut keeps the boat fairly straight, there is plenty of room to swing if the wind should pick up.  We took Sasha to shore at Dick’s Towhead at the southern end of the cut since it has a nice sandy area for Frisbee.  We took our portable depth finder with us and noted that there is 20-26 ft of water all the way to Dick’s Towhead, and stays in the teens on either side for at least half the length of the Towhead.

Swallow Bluff Island anchorage

Dick's Towhead Island (Another beach for Sasha)

Other boats started coming in around 4:30 – 3 more in all -- so we shared what we had learned regarding depth.  Then we had a nice supper, took Sasha to shore for one last Frisbee session for the day, and saw a very beautiful sunset.  A perfect ending to a great day!

These were the real colors (no editing was done)