Lorelei IV: Green Turtle Bay Marina to Panther Bay

October 3, 2015

It was so nice to wake up and to be able to take Sasha for her morning walk by just stepping onto a dock and going! She enjoyed sniffing out all her old haunts around the parking lot and circle drive by Pier 12. After a nice breakfast, we took the dinghy to the main dock at the marina and took a walk down to the beach area. Sasha looked at me expectantly and immediately went to alert when I produced her Frisbee from under my coat! She had a good time having us both throw the Frisbee for her to catch.

Too soon it was time to go back to the Lorelei IV and to get her ready to head out. The day was overcast but not as windy as yesterday, so we planned for a relatively short day, depending on the conditions on Kentucky Lake. Since Kentucky Lake is large, running a long straight stretch through Kentucky and part of Tennessee, the winds affect it more so that it always seems to have a fair amount of wave action.

Lorelei IV in the slip at Green Turtle Bay

We passed one of Sasha’s favorite places to anchor, a small cove just south of Pisgah Bay, MM 31, because it has a nice sand beach. It is the site of the village of Birmingham which was flooded when Kentucky Lake was created. There are still some old foundations under the water, so you have to know where it is safe to anchor. On nice weekends, it is a very popular place for day boaters, some of whom camp overnight.

Site of Birmingham (MM 31) just below Pisgah Bay

It was a nice traveling day, so we looked on the charts and the PO’s (Previous Owner) logbooks, and picked out Panther Bay as a possible anchorage. We arrived there around 3:30 and found a beautiful quiet anchorage well protected from the wind. The entry seemed narrow as we were going in since the red buoy looked awfully close to shore when viewed through binoculars. The charts and Garmin were right, however, and we saw that we had plenty of room once we got close. Boswell Backcountry Camping and Access Point was close by, so we took Sasha to shore for potty and play time. The remaining shoreline is quite rocky since the water level is close to winter pool. Sasha did not seem interested in doing any “business” on a nearby shore when we took her there after supper, so we plan to take her back to Boswell in the morning.