Boating with Alan and Linda (Friday, September 30th, 2016)

We've spent the last few days getting moved in to the Havasu house, boating and relaxing.  

We met our friends down on the river below the dam (Parker Strip) a few days ago, and got to see their oldest son and his girl friend who were in town visiting. Their boys and our girls grew up together, and have literally known each other since they were in diapers.  It's so fun when we get to see one of their kids! 

Sitting on the dock at Road Runners on the Parker Strip

Today we're going boating with the same friends.  Their son and his girl friend have gone back home, so it's just the four of us.  

Alan with his hat on backward

Me with my hat on backward.  Somehow, I think his looks a little better!

First we took a loop around the island, and then made our way north through the channel.  I've mentioned before, that you see everything in Havasu, and today was no exception.  Today we saw a paddle boarder sitting on a chair, and paddling through the channel.  I think he has the right idea!

Then off to the river!  

There we are few boats parked on the sand bar today, but not many.  

The river is beautiful through Topock Gorge

There are beautiful natural arches throughout the gorge

We're all watching for a nice sandy spot to call home for the day.  It's not too busy today, so we shouldn't have too much trouble.

And here it is!  The sand is really soft, and the beer is cold.  What more could we ask for?

We enjoyed an incredible day, hanging out on a sandy little piece of Heaven in a place we call paradise.  And as we pulled the boat off and started wiping it down, we were treated to another beautiful Havasu sunset!

Up the Colorado River (Monday, September 21st, 2015)

Our friends Alan and Linda have friends in town from Colorado, so today we’re heading up the Colorado River from Lake Havasu.

As you’re leaving the lake on the north side, there are two entrances to the river, the one on the right is shallower, and as Alan says, “Trim her high and let her fly”. The other entrance, to the left of the cattails has been dredged to keep it deeper, but is a no wake zone, so it takes time to get through it. Since we had Alan’s friends with us, we went to the left and took our time getting into the river, which made all of them more comfortable.

Steve on the lookout, coming into the Colorado River from Lake Havasu

A View through the cattails, back towards Lake Havasu City.

We're finally up to speed in the river, with the other three boats following us.

Coming into Topock Gorge on the Colorado River.

A natural arch, visible from the river.

Topock Gorge in the distance.

Topock Gorge getting closer!

Topock Gorge, so peaceful as it is another no wake zone.

Topock Gorge

Topock Gorge

Once you get into the river, it gets deeper and easier to navigate. The drive up the river took us through Topock Gorge, which is rugged and gorgeous, with natural arches and sand dunes mixed in. About 25 miles up the river, we passed under the railroad tracks and the I-40 bridge between California and Arizona.





Just after going under the bridges, on the right is the entrance to Topock Marina and restaurant. I have talked about this Marina in an earlier post (July 29th, 2015). But if you keep going a little further, on your left is the entrance to the Pirate’s Cover Resort. Both of these marinas are accessible by car or boat. Pirates Cove is nice because it has really nice sandy beaches and boat slips, which are available to anyone using the restaurant, bar or store at the resort. They also built a huge zip line that goes across their marina, but we think that it was shut down for some reason, since we have never seen it in use, even on busy weekends. 

The river entrance to Pirates Cove, you can see the zip line tower in the distance

The marina at Pirates Cover with their cabins in the background.  The restaurant is off to the left

We all had lunch at the Pirate’s Cove Restaurant. Steve had a pulled pork sandwich and fries ($11.99), I had a hawaiian burger and fries ($10.99) and there was a $2.00 up charge if you wanted a side salad instead of the fries. Coors lights were $4.50 each, diet Cokes were $2.99 each, and a side salad without a meal was $5.99. 

After lunch, half of the group headed back to their camping spots on the lake and the other half of us headed over to Topock Marina, so they could see it. 

Coming back down the river.  You can see Topock Marina on the left before the bridges.

The river entrance to Topock Marina

We all had a drink in their salt water pool, and then headed back to the river. As we headed down the river there was a storm coming in, it got really rough in the river and as we got to Topock Gorge, it started to rain. The boat we were in with Alan and Linda is a fast, low profile boat that handles waves well, but doesn’t offer much in the way of protection from the elements. Their friends had a higher profile boat, but their bimini (sun cover) and the tube they had tied on the back were giving them trouble in the wind, so we headed back up the river to see if the squall would pass. At about 5:15pm we needed to make a call on what to do so that we could get out of the river before sundown. Navigating in the river after dark is really difficult, especially in a storm. So we decided to head back down the river toward the lake. Going through Topock Gorge was really rough, as the waves were white-capping, and coming directly at us, but once we got through the gorge, the wind calmed down, and the waves calmed down, and our ride back to the boat ramp was quite nice. We didn’t think there would be a sunset since there were so many clouds, but to our surprise, as we were loading the boat, we got to enjoy a wonderful sunset peeking out from under the clouds!

The sunset view from the boat

What in incredible day we had with everyone.  Special thanks to Alan and Linda for including us in this adventure!