Chattanooga's Chicamauga Marina -- Spa Days for Cloud Nine (9/18-20/2018)

Tuesday, September 18 the rain has passed and it is supposed to shape up to be a beautiful day.  After the rains on Monday, there is a lot of fog on Tuesday morning, so we will need to wait until the fog lifts so we can see the water.  By 9AM, the fog has lifted enough for us to shove off with Chickamauga Marina near Chattanooga our next destination.  We have scheduled a spa day for Cloud Nine that she so deserves for taking such good care of us on our excursion up and down the Tennessee River.

As we leave the marina, the fog has lifted enough for us to start our journey.  There are some gorgeous pictures of sailboats at the marina.

Fog lifting from Sailboats

Fog lifting from the River.

We have the river all to ourselves.  The water is flat, no wind, no sun yet, but we know it is coming.  Within an hour, we arrive at Watts Bar Lock.  We will be lowered 59 feet into Chickamauga Lake.  It only takes us 25 minutes to get in and out of the lock.

Doors start to open as we are ready to exit the Lock

Doors are open and we are ready to leave the Lock

We just love Watts Bar Lake, the water is clean and clear --- and the houses are very nice but not huge and look like they are built into the hillsides -- like they belong there.

We once again see Watts Bar Nuclear Plant.  With the skies so blue and soft fluffy clouds, the smokestack from the Nuclear Plant just blend into and look like clouds in the sky.

Watts Bar Nuclear Plant -- the smokestack looks like Clouds in the Sky

Now that the sun has come out and there is no wind, the light clouds and tree leaves are reflecting in the water and making a beautiful view for us.

See the reflection of clouds and trees in the water.  Just amazing

We are within 30 minutes of our destination, we see the funniest thing ….. a small "work boat" pushing a dock!!  By this time, the winds have picked up and the clouds are looking like rain....something this boat driver wasn't anticipating I'm sure.

An entire Dock being pushed down the Tennessee River.....a Unique Siting for Sure

Another fun-fact of the day is that we see the US Coastguard boat working the River putting out new River Channel Markers.

We arrive at Chickamauga Marina at 3:15PM and get settled in.  Cloud Nine is "ON Cloud Nine" knowing she is getting a "spa day" with an oil change, a tune up and a nice bubble bath.  She will be purring like a kitty after her pampering here.  Erwin Service is a well-known and exceptional Sea Ray service dealer so we are excited they will be taking care of Cloud Nine.  Gene was hoping we could go to Wally World, but we settled on Sea Ray World instead...Cloud Nine is "over-the-moon" happy we settled on Sea Ray World!!

About Sunset, Gene and I take a walk around the marina and see this "wall of electric meters".  Here is a picture of the electric meters for resident boats at Chickamauga Marina.  We've never seen this many electric meters in one place before!!

And Gene is such a fan of Sea Ray and Erwin being a premier Sea Ray dealer, he just had to have his picture taken here.  He could likely go back into the workforce if Sea Ray would hire him to sit on boats and maybe even sell one once in a while!!

And we cant end a night without taking a sunset picture or two.  Sunsets in the fall are so colorful and gorgeous.

Sunset overlooking Power Lines to Chickamauga Dam

There are more Sea Ray model boats at this marina than any other marina we have been in.  Gene is truly in Sea Ray Heaven.....

This is the largest Sea Ray boat at this marina -- and the largest one we have seen in person.  It is a 2018 Fly Bridge 55' plus swim platform boat that was bought in Ft. Lauderdale, FL and had a Sea Captain drive it to this marina.  It took 9 days on the water to come up the west coast of Florida, to Mobile, up the Tennessee Tom Bigbee River and then to Chickamauga Marina....and oh yes, the fuel bill was $12K. A boat of this size/type costs in the $1.8M range.

Friday morning we will leave this marina, pass through downtown Chattanooga and stop at Hales Bar Marina Friday afternoon -for the night - a 40-mile ride.

It should be a great travel day and we are looking forward to getting back to traveling on the water after Cloud Nine's spa day.

Love my Captain.....Love Cloud Nine.....