Desert Dory - Lake Havasu Oct 2020

[Desert Dory]

Day 1:

Well, the Mrs. and I haven't gotten away, alone, in quite awhile so, the decision was made some time ago to take a trip up to Powell for a week and just relax, just the two of us, soaking up the sun, away everybody and the hustle and bustle of everyday life. I've been to Powell a grand total one whole time in my entire life and came to the realization very quickly that, if you have a boat, and live within 4000 or so miles, and don't "need" to be in salt water, and like not having trees around, and don't mind red dirt/mud covering everything you step on, and don't have a fear of giant rocks falling from the heavens and crushing you, this IS THE place to just disappear for awhile. There is pretty much ZERO cell coverage except for a few places where, when you pass thru, your phone will get this HUGE text/info dump and you get find out about all the life changing events you've been missing out on while being naked and unafraid.

Monday, Oct 16th is now the scheduled day of departure. Things are looking good too. I had time to do a bunch of "comfort/convivence" mods on the boat and some other general maintenance stuff that needed to be done. Meals are planned, adult beverage fixin's/supplies have been restocked, blood pressure and Viagra Rx's refilled, etc, etc. I'm friggen ready baby!!! Pumped! Stoked! LET'S GO ALREADY!! YEAH BABY!!!!

Oh! But wait! "We can't leave Monday because (insert your favorite reason here) is happening and we need to be here". Me: "Ok Hon, that's cool. The weather is looking good (I work for a AF Wx squadron doing IT, really just bossing people around, but I ask the weather geeks to keep me updated). Wednesday is fine. Looking good! No problem!".

Well, then it happens, the nuclear option, absolute crisis mode. We have some dear friends that dove right in to a MAJOR family crisis and there is no way we can just ditch them and take off, even if it is to be naked, especially without reliable COMM's. The Mrs. engages full on Mother Hen, super supporter, "We're there for you", "let me drop off dinner", mode and immediately go into excessive drinking, sulking mode. We LOVE these people, they're our church family, and we would do anything for them. We talk it out and the decision is made to postpone Powell for a week (ok, not really what my selfish self wants to do but, this is what "The Big Guy" wants us to do, so that's what we're doing).

We spend the week in support mode, shuttling kids, crying, praying, cooking dinners, whatever we can do. Then, with the initial crisis winding down a bit (still far from over and still a suckfest) and, it looks like we'll be able to get out of here on Friday, Oct 23rd.

I'm absolutely lazer focused on Powell. I'm talking to the weather weenies at work everyday, getting temp forecast updates, and then BAM!! POW!!!! NOT what I wanted to hear! Our weather window is GONE! DONE! FINITO!!! There's going to be a front moving thru starting Sunday night with Monday having a high of 42 and a low Monday night of 29. The next couple of days will warm a little, but nothing significant. Not until Thursday when we're supposed to be heading back home. This is WAY too cold for these desert dwellers.

WAIT!!! What!!! NO!!! That's not possible! This is our getaway! We planned this! We're ready! I want to go to Powell!!! Maybe we can push off one more week! WHY!?!?!? Waaaaaaaaaaa...

Then, I'm sitting there in my recliner, pouting as well as any man pushing 60 can, maybe having a drink, when my blessed, beautiful wife says "How about we go to Havasu? What's the weather going to like there?"

Huh? What? Havasu? I was so focused in my Powell box it never even occurred to me that there may be other location options. "What is this Havasu you speak of?" A quick weather check shows Monday (the front moving in day) having a high of 58 and a low somewhere in the mid 40's, and warming again nicely after that.

Well! I've never been to Havasu. I've heard it's quite the party lake. Lot's of outrageously expensive go-fast boats, scantily clad beach babe's, nice little beaches scattered about, etc, etc... I"M IN!!! Let's do it!

So, that's the new plan! Havasu! Out of here by 9am on Friday the 23rd! We'll get there around 3pm, find a nice little beach to beach the boat on and, YEAH BABY!! FINALLY!

Ok. So, that didn't exactly work out the way it was planned either. We didn't get going until just after 12 noon (this was not my fault BTW) and by the time we got to the Havasu Springs Resort/Marina, got the boat launched, truck parked for the week, blah, blah, blah... it was dark. I'm not a fan of boating unfamiliar water after dark so we ended up grabbing a slip for the night at the marina. At least we were finally on the water.

[/i]

 

[Knipet]

Great lead up to what I hope will be a fun adventure. Please keep us posted. I intend to check out Lake Havasu in the years to come, as well as Powell, so I look forward to your reports!

 

[Desert Dory]

**** OH! Just an FYI for you C-Brats. When I wrote this stuff it was aimed at some non-boating folks. Most of you will already know about most stuff/terms I'm talking about. ****



Day 2:

We had a quiet/peaceful night in the marina last night and I woke up to an empty boat in the morning. My wife is an early riser and likes to get a bit of exercise pretty much every morning so I assumed she was out walking around the resort getting her steps in, which was confirmed when she showed up again a little later.

Early riser I am NOT! By the time I drag myself out of the "cave", which is what we call the V-berth where we sleep, the birds were chirping (and crapping on the Dory) and the sun was shining brightly. It was a beautiful morning and I was excited to get out on the lake.

First things first though, I NEED my coffee. I get the water going on the stove, get the coffee kit out of the galley cabinet and start grinding some beans. Now, the Mrs LOVES the smell of coffee but she's NOT a fan of the end product. I'm not sure how we've stayed married this long as this could be considered somewhat anti-social and, quite frankly, communist. She does like her morning tea though, so I get that going for her. I do have to say, this is still a far sight better than my Powell buddy Ken and his instant coffee crystals swill crap so, I guess I'll hang on to her for a while longer.

Once she gets back to the boat we sit down and discuss what the days game plan is going to look like. With no real agenda, the decision is made to head up the lake to Havasu City and check out the London Bridge and surrounding area.

For those not in the know, myself included, the bridge was purchased by Robert P. McCulloch from the City of London, was dismantled in 1967 and relocated to Arizona. The bridge was completed in 1971 (along with a canal, we REALLY LIKED the canal!), and links an island in the Colorado River with the main part of Lake Havasu City. This must be the first guy ever to actually fall for the ol "I got a bridge I'll sell ya" line!!! Hahahaha...

Coffeed up and fed, we get underway.

As we're puttering up the lake we start noticing these cool little lighthouses along the way. Come to find out, there apparently had been quite a few instances of boats running into things at night, mostly shorelines with big rocks. So, back in 2000 or so a local organization started working with the authorities to construct these 1/3 scale replicas of famous North American lighthouses in areas where folks seemed to have issues with running into big rocks. This was also done to hopefully attract more tourism to the area. There are now 27 of these things placed strategically around the lake and they have become the 2nd most visited attraction, London Bridge being 1st, at Lake Havasu.










After checking out several of the lighthouses and stuff around the island we finally make it to the north entrance of the canal. We jump in behind a 3 rental pontoon boats loaded with what appears to be butt-flossed younger folks who have no idea that you're not supposed to stop right in the middle of the friggen channel to have a chit-chat. Okay, I'll cut them a little slack because once we got around them we saw there was a Sherriff boat blocking traffic from going under the bridge.







We got turned around and headed around the island to the south entrance of the canal to check it out. By the time we got around the island and up the canal, the canal under the bridge had opened up again. The south side of the canal really is a pretty cool place. Beaches line both sides of the canal with mooring bars (places to tie to) embedded into the seawall about every 15 feet. We decide to go ahead and beach the boat so we could to the tourista thing and check out the boardwalk area around the bridge.









After walking around a bit, checking out the shops and restaurants, we decide to head back to the Dory, maybe have a cocktail, and just watch the parade of boats going by. We spent most of the afternoon just sitting there and enjoying the sights and the endless parade of cool go-fast boats carrying what appeared to be, surgically enhanced, bikini clad, young wimmin's (not that I would notice anything like that!).






How about some paddle-boarding witches!?



After enjoying the afternoon it was time to head out and find a spot to spend the night. Back down the canal we go setting a course for the coves back down the lake. It didn't take too long to find a nice little beach, with a nice view of the lake, to drop the hook. This is probably my favorite time of the day. Find a nice spot, get the boat secured, grab a beer, maybe do a little fishing, and just enjoy the surroundings. Much better than being in the marina.










Getting the boat secured also brings up the ugly blue milk crate secured to the foredeck of boat. My wife hates it! "It's sooooooooo ghetto" she says. I explain to her that this holds our anchor rode and chain and is much needed. "Well, I don't like it. Other boats don't have some big ol ugly box sitting on the front." I then explain that those other boats may have a proper anchor locker up there to store the anchor and rode but, even though there's an anchor locker under the foredeck of the Dory, there's no hatch or hawsepipe to feed the rode down into the locker. "Well, I don't like it. It looks horrible. What can we do?" I then explain to her that we could get a windlass that will feed the rode and chain into the space below the foredeck at the touch of a button, from right here in the cabin. "Oh!?? Really! We need one of those then! Then we can ditch that ugly box. It just looks so ghetto." I then explain that a windlass is NOT cheap, we're talking a grand when it's all said and done.

I guess we're getting a windlass in the next couple of weeks.

And thus ends day 2.

 

[hardee]

With a writeup like that for a "No Trip" I can't even imagine what we would have gotten if you had really gone. Hurryu up an go cause I can't hold my breath forever.

All the best and enjoy,

ON EDIT: That was written while Allen was posting the rest of his trip. Wheeyou, Thanks, now I can breath again.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

 

[Desert Dory]

With a writeup like that for a "No Trip" I can't even imagine what we would have gotten if you had really gone. Hurryu up an go cause I can't hold my breath forever.

All the best and enjoy,

ON EDIT: That was written while Allen was posting the rest of his trip. Wheeyou, Thanks, now I can breath again.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

Lol... 5 more days to post when I get a chance. Hopefully this weekend.

 

[thataway]

there's no hatch or hawsepipe to feed the rode down into the locker. "Well, I don't like it. It looks horrible. What can we do?" I then explain to her that we could get a windlass that will feed the rode and chain into the space below the foredeck at the touch of a button,

Well played. You could have cheaped out with a $45 deck pipe!

Nice photos and write up. My memories of Havasu are when we had fast boats and towed our kids on Water skis, camped on the beach. One time a slalom ski failed to float and was gone forever.

 

[RobMcClain]

You mentioned having a “peaceful night in the marina.” Did you sleep in the boat? We have tried to do that and have always been told it is not allowed - that the marina is for day use. Obviously overnight parking is fine but no overnight sleeping onboard the boat, even one that is properly equipped for it. Seemed pretty stupid to us since overnighting while anchored in a cove is fine. Do they now allow sleeping onboard in the marina, or was it one of those “what they don’t know won’t hurt them”? I’d love to know it’s now overtly acceptable!

Rob

 

[Desert Dory]

You mentioned having a “peaceful night in the marina.” Did you sleep in the boat? We have tried to do that and have always been told it is not allowed - that the marina is for day use. Obviously overnight parking is fine but no overnight sleeping onboard the boat, even one that is properly equipped for it. Seemed pretty stupid to us since overnighting while anchored in a cove is fine. Do they now allow sleeping onboard in the marina, or was it one of those “what they don’t know won’t hurt them”? I’d love to know it’s now overtly acceptable!

Rob

Hi Rob,
Yeah, we stayed in the boat overnight in the marina. The lady that checked is in was well aware that we were going to overnight and didn't mention we couldn't.

Actually, she was SUPER nice. We told her we were going to leave the truck and trailer for the week and she only charged us a $15 launch fee. I reiterated that we wanted to leave the the truck/trailer ALL WEEK and she said " Oh, that'll be fine, just park it over in the lot here by the office if there's no room down by the ramp", gave us the pass to place on the dash and sent us on our way.

So, launched Friday evening and loaded out the following Thursday all for $40. Maybe because it was after the end of their busy season, not really sure, but, we'll take it.

 

[Desert Dory]

Day 3:

And, so starts another day.

Knowing the Mrs is usually up long before I am, and having no real place to go for a walk, I went ahead and got the paddle-board off the roof so she could go for a paddle without disturbing my beauty sleep when she got up. The Mrs is a paddle-board PRO! The water temp is right around 70 degrees and she just has no fear of falling off that thing and freezing to death. She'll take off and come back an hour later looking exactly the same as when she left. I don't think she has ever fallen off of it. I'm in awe!!

Me, on the other hand, will not even get on the thing unless the water temp is within a couple of degrees of my body temp. I am NOT a fan of involuntarily plunging my body into the icy depths of some God forsaken body of water just to get a bit of exercise. As I grow older, and wiser, I'm much more in tune with my limitations. Having said that, and knowing my own paddle-boarding skills I find it's probably best that I stay in the boat and pretend I'm doing something productive or maybe do a little fishing.

When I finally drag myself out of the cave the sun is up and the Mrs is off on her own adventure. I take a pee over the side (besides the solitude, another advantage of not staying in a marina), start the water for the coffee and tea, and start grinding some beans. Somewhere during this time the Mrs shows up, of course, dry as a bone. I commend her skills but inwardly chastise myself for being such a wimp.

Today the plan is to head up the Colorado River and see what we can see up there. We'll go thru the canal again and stop for awhile to make a good, but late, breakfast, and see if anything is happening. We secure the paddle-board, cast the lines, and, with coffee in hand, shove off for todays adventure.










We make it back up into the canal and beach the boat in roughly the same place as yesterday. There's not nearly as much going on today (Sunday) but it's still a bit early. We cook up a big breakfast and take a seat in the cockpit, watch some boats go by, and enjoy the morning.






We hang out in the canal for a bit then head north making our way up the lake to the Colorado River.








Once we get up to the river things get shallow FAST. Like, all of a sudden we're in 3.5-4 ft of water. It's a little unsettling for those of us who are unfamiliar with the area so we're doing our leisurely 6.5 mph and I'm keeping a sharp eye on the depth displayed on the chart-plotter. As we're making our way up the river a couple of other good sized boats go zipping by us on the port side. I assume these guys are local and know the area so we hit the gas and fall in behind them for a bit at 22 mph.

The river is nice. A little more vegetation along the shoreline initially, and, as you travel upstream and into the Topock Gorge area the landscape changes to a more Powell like setting (high canyon walls) but, with a current. It's not quite as spectacular as Powell but super nice all the same. Topock Gorge is sometimes referred to as a miniature Grand Canyon and It was along this stretch of the river where we spotted some Desert Big Horn sheep, which was pretty cool.






We went up as far as the Topock marina which is right at the point where I-40 passes over the Colorado. We check out the marina there and head back down the river to start looking for a spot to drop the hook for the night.






Sooooooooo, this is where I'll confess my lack of proper planning. When it came to the weather, I had it down regarding the Hi/Low temps for our trip. What I TOTALLY overlooked was the forecast for winds at the time the front was going to move thru the area. Never even thought about it. I decided to turn to the Wx channel on the VHF (which had been off most of the time, another error on my part) and was somewhat horrified to learn the forecasted winds starting tonight, and all day Monday, were 35-40 sustained with 50-55 gusts. Well, THAT SUCKS!




As we're cruising down the river, back thru Topock Gorge, around the Devils Elbow, we come upon Isaac's Rock. We had noticed this spot on our way upriver and thought it looked like a pretty nice place to hang out. The only downside is it's just outside a no wake zone so if there's a lot of boat traffic (which there was that evening) you'll get rocked a bit from the boats getting on, and coming off, plane.





Another option that came to mind was a nice little protected cove we had checked out the other day. The problem with that being a 30 mile trip back down the lake to maybe find it already occupied. We decided Isaac's Rock would be it.






See the helicopter racing down the canyon? Pretty cool!






With the Dory slipped up in there behind the rock we call it good. It would be quite a bit later that night before the winds would pick up so, before going to bed, I secure the boat with 2 lines off the bow, 1 off each stern cleat, and an additional anchor off the stern.




After dark the wind started howling, and howling, and howling. Between the wind and the wave action we could definitely feel it, even hiding back there behind the Rock. We spent the night listening to the wind howling around us.

 

[colbysmith]

Sounds like a great trip. And great photos. Where did you launch, and can you post a chart photo of the area you are cruising in? I thought about stopping at Lake Havasu a few years ago on our way out west, but instead the wife wanted to see Las Vegas as she had never been there. Some day we may get the chance to stop again.

 

[Desert Dory]

Thanks Colby. We launched out of Havasu Springs Resort/Marina at the South end of the lake near Parker.

I'll see what I can do as far as a chart photo.

 

[curioustraveler]

Great Pics. Should submit some of these for the calendar.

 

[Desert Dory]

Great Pics. Should submit some of these for the calendar.

Thanks Traveler. I did send a couple in already.

 

[Desert Dory]

Day 4:

The morning arrives and we’re still behind the Rock, which is a good thing.




The wind is still howling like crazy but we’re pretty well protected sitting behind the Rock. We start the routine, coffee, tea, something to eat and I go out and check all the lines and everything is looking good. The Mrs says she slept pretty well but I had a restless night having climbed in and out of the cave several times to make sure the Dory was not going anywhere. I had thought about setting up the dinette/berth arrangement and ended up nixing that idea for a couple of reasons, A: the moon was hella bright, and, B: we haven’t made any window coverings to block said bright moon.


I did spend a couple of hours in the helm seat during the night just watching, listening, and thinking “Man, this rock didn’t just grow up out river here, it came from up there somewhere. I hope Isaac doesn’t have a brother up there just waiting to pounce on some unsuspecting C-Dory.”


The morning comes and we turn on the VHF to listen to the latest weather broadcast. No real change from last night’s report so we check the WindFinder app. Wind, wind, and more wind. We’re hunkered down and decide to just stay put. Unless Isaac’s big brother decides to jump from his perch high overhead, we should be just fine.




The day is spent just hanging out, eating, and doing whatever. I have a little 14 watt solar panel that I use at home to keep the Dory’s batteries topped off and decided to tape it to the roof since we won’t be running the engine today. We really don’t use much battery power (I changed all our lights to LED awhile back), especially during the day, but this gives me something to do for 10 minutes.




The Mrs brought some Christmas ornament craft stuff with her so we worked on that for a bit too. This is funny because she absolutely HATES anything to do with crafting. Not her thing, not in her gene pool, she can’t stand it. BUT! She’s all about relationships and works very hard at keeping the one’s she deems important, going. So, she has a couple of girlfriends she doesn’t get to see very often who are kind of into the crafting thing. They decided awhile back to get together once a month, have some tea, chat, chat, chat, and craft these Jesse Tree Ornaments. Then, after making 500 bazillion ornaments they have a big party (this is huge too because the Mrs is ALL ABOUT hospitality and LOVES to host things like this) with a bunch of other ladies who made them and, in the end, they each end up with a set of 25 handcrafted ornaments. Anyhow, we rolled and glued these little pieces of paper to make grains of wheat for the “Sheaf of Wheat” ornament. She only needs 500 grains and, me being the big helper I am, managed to knock out probably 2.




After exerting so much energy on these mundane tasks, and maybe having a beer or 2, it’s time for my old man nap.


This brings up another area where I get a big fat F-. Did you know the water levels in these Lower Colorado River lakes can change dramatically within a couple of hours? I didn't even think about this until we found ourselves in the Dory pretty much sitting on the beach with only an inch or two of water around us. I was peacefully snoozing away down there in the cave when my subconscious kicks into overdrive and starts yelling at me “Hey! Dummy! The Dory’s not moving/rocking, AT ALL, and the sound of the water lapping the hull has changed dramatically! You may want to check that out.”


I crawl out of the cave and it takes me a minute to realize what’s going on. Holy Mackerel!!! We’re on the beach and we're gonna be stuck here FOREVER! AND, Isaac’s big brother is going find this is the perfect time to release himself from the cliff above and rain down upon us!


I hop out of the Dory and try to push the boat back a bit into deeper water but that ain’t happening. I get the Mrs involved and we try rocking it back and forth from the side for a bit and then push it back. NOPE! We wiggle the back end, which is a little deeper and almost floating, back and forth, back and forth. YES! It looks like this is maybe going to work. Good thing too! The Mrs is not all too happy about being ankle deep in 67 degree water. Can’t say that I’m a fan either. Although, I do give myself a pat on the back for remembering to bring a couple pairs of my favorite Merino Wool socks.


We get the Dory floating again, lines readjusted, and then it hits me, WELL! DUH!!! We’re sitting between 2 dams! One of them might be releasing more water than the other, hence the drastic drop in water level! Did you know BLM publishes water release schedule for all their dams? I get on the interwebs (amazingly enough we have a pretty good signal where we are) and look for BLM water release schedules. Sure enough! The Parker dam downstream is releasing about twice as much water as the Davis dam upstream, hence the huge drop in the water level. The schedule says this will reverse overnight. Well, praise God! We may make it after all.


Without seeing a single other boat the entire day, and with our heart-rates back to normal, we cook up a late lunch/early dinner (we call that "Lunner") and settle in for another night behind Isaac’s Rock.

 

[Desert Dory]

Day 5:

Day 5 begins and we’re still behind the Rock, which, again, is a good thing.

The wind had laid down a bit last night and we both had a good night’s sleep. The Mrs is already up and about, made her tea, ground my beans, and has the coffee water heated up by the time I crawl out of the cave. While the wind situation is looking much better this morning we go ahead and turn on the VHF and listen to the latest weather broadcast. Wind is going to pick up again in the early afternoon but it should only get up to 20-25. The main lake will be a bit sporty with 1-2 foot, wind blown slop. Temp should be the upper 60’s to low 70’s. We’re out of here by 8am.

We fire up the engine, gather the lines and stow the anchors, and we’re on our way back down the river. With the wind at our back, and the current heading the same direction, we have an uneventful, leisurely cruise back to the main lake.








In desperate need of showers, and a porta-potti dump, we set course Lake Havasu State Park Campground right by the north entrance to the bridge canal. Normally we would have taken a shower on the beach or in the cockpit by now but the weather hasn’t been the best and wet-wipe wipe downs are getting pretty old. While they do work to freshen up a bit, they’re no substitute for a proper, warm, luxurious, shower. We have a 2.5 gallon pump up sprayer that I attached a regular sink/dish sprayer to and it works great for a nice shower. Either set it out in the sun for a while, or add a pot of hot water, and pump, pump, pump, a showering you go! Ok, it’s not quite as nice as being at home standing in the endless stream but it is a suitable sub. We also use this to rinse off our soapy dishes.

Anyhow, we make it down the lake to the park without incident. The lake was indeed a bit sporty with the predicted 1-2 foot windblown waves but, it was a following sea and not an issue for the mighty Dory.

Now, me getting the mighty Dory attached to the dock was another story. I would get up close and the wind would push us back, get up close and the wind would push us back. All I could think of was that old fishing guy in that State Farm commercial. “Ooohh, you almost had it. Ya gotta be quicker than that”. Finally, on the 3rd try, I managed to get the amidships line around the dock cleat and tied off.






A few minutes after getting the Dory secured a Park Ranger lady in a pickup shows up at the nearby launch ramp. I head on over there and explain to her that we'd like to go ahead and pay for a campsite for the night (not really going to use it, BUT!) just so we could get some showers, dump the potti, and relax for an hour or so before continuing on. She asked a bit about the Dory, commented that “It’s such a cute boat”, blah, blah, blah… and made the command decision to let us use the facilities, compliments of the AZ State Park system. SUCH a nice Park Ranger lady!!! Maybe she's the sister of the lady that checked us in at Havasu Springs!

(see that boat hook in the cockpit of the Dory? Yeah, I wish I had remembered it was there, may have come in handy)








The Mrs is wasting NO time gathering up what she needs and heads for the shower. Me. I get porta-potti dump duty. Oh Boy!!

This looks like a great place to insert a Porta-Potti Pro Tip!!!. Do you like asparagus? We do! It’s one of our favorite veggies to throw on the grill when camping. A little olive oil (sesame oil is great too), some salt and pepper, wrapped tight in some foil, toss it on the grill. Easy-peasy and delicious!

But!!! here’s the problem. Have you noticed how, sometimes after eating asparagus, your pee has this SUPER strong, almost ammonia like, smell to it? Well, we found out this does NOT mix well with the other goodies in the ol porta-potti. I can’t believe we hadn’t noticed this before this trip. We had a porta-potti in the pop-up trailer we had, and used (A LOT) for 18 years. We can't remember ever having this problem before. Even though we had the proper amount of fresh chemicals in the potti, it friggen STUNK!

In this case I think I’m going to attribute this phenomenon to the “Martini” like shake (shaken, not stirred Baby! And hold the olive please) that goes on in there while we’re underway. Bounce, bounce, shake, shake, there's a whole lotta shakin going on... Anyhow, we may ditch the grilled asparagus next time and see how it works out.

With the Mrs back from what she had deemed “THE most glorious shower EVER!”, and my potti duty completed, it’s my turn to head to the shower. I’ll have to agree with the Mrs on this one. That was one of the best showers ever.

All spiffed up and nowhere to go we decide to head into the canal because, A: we like it there, lots to see. B: It’s somewhat out of the wind. And C: this has been a cheap trip so far so, we’ll go support the local economy and drop some $$$ on lunch and beers/drinks in one of the restaurants.










After a nice lunch at the Blue Chair, and a little time loafing around, it’s time to go find a spot for the night. I had seen a sign on one of the boat tour shacks/kiosks stating one of their boat tour destinations is a place called Copper Canyon.

Sounds like as good a place as any so, we set a course for Copper Canyon and off we go.




Copper Canyon turns out to be not quite as spectacular as I had envisioned (a single trip to Lake Powell has absolutely ruined this for me), but it is nice enough. Now, had we paid for a boat tour to go see it I think I would have come away more than a little disappointed.






Anyhow, we luck out and find the only beach in the whole canyon is wide open. So, we swoop in for the kill, secure the boat, and break out the sundowner fixins.

Home sweet home, at least for tonight.








How about some wild burro's!?

 

[Desert Dory]

Day 6:

Ahhhhhhhhh, a nice, uneventful night's sleep and we wake up to a beautiful, glassy, but somewhat brisk morning. Today we're in absolutely no hurry to be, or go, anywhere. We have covered quite a bit of the lake by this time in the trip (115 water miles by the end) and really don't have a game plan. So, we just hang for a bit, sip our coffee and tea, and enjoy the tranquility of Copper Canyon.







Around 9am the Mrs decides it has warmed up enough (like I had mentioned earlier, she has ZERO concern for the water temp, because she just doesn't fall in, only the air temp) for her to get in some exercise by doing a bit of paddle-boarding. There was one of those lighthouses just outside the entrance to Copper Canyon that she wants to go take a look at. I get the board off the rack for her and send her on her way. While she's gone I'll go ahead and get some breakfast going and maybe do a little reading.

Oh! One thing I thought about while just hanging out this week is how much polishing/waxing I could have gotten done. I'll have to put together a kit to keep on board for just such an occasion. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE just sitting and doing nothing but, there where a few times where I thought it would be nice to get some of that work done.




A little while later the Mrs gets back and we have some eats, relax for a bit and she decides she wants to go for another paddle to check out another lighthouse see saw while she was out the first time.







This gets me thinking about something I've thought about a few times now. COMM's! It's time to pick up a fixed VHF for the Dory so the Mrs can take the handheld with her when she ventures off. Right now, I figure if she's not back in an hour or so, I go looking. With the handheld and a fixed radio we'll have COMM's good for several miles. If something actually does go wrong she can hit the DSC distress button on the handheld and I'll get the alert and her position will show on the map on the chartplotter. Sooooooo fancy!

While she's gone this time around I noticed a few boats have come motoring thru canyon and I can see them giving me the stink eye, along with some muffled cursing, because we're occupying THE best parking spot in the entire canyon. Tata losers.... :wave:

Anyhow, she gets back awhile later and we get things ready to go. We're only about 14 miles from the ramp where we launched so we'll just kind of slow crawl, check out some more coves and lighthouses, potential overnight spots, etc, etc, before finding a spot close to where we launched to call it a night.








While we're just puttering along around 6 mph I decide to throttle us back to about 900 rpm and 3 mph and send a silver and black Rattle Trap off the back of the Dory. It wasn't about 2 minutes later that we picked up this little striped bass. Actually caught 2 of them but the second one was even smaller than this little guy.




And more lighthouses.






HEEEEERRRRRE's JOHNNY!



We meander on down the lake and keep an eye out for potential beaches to call home for the night. We wanted to be somewhat close to where we launched from and this place happens to be right across the lake from the ramp we took off from 7 days ago. We decide this will be a great place to spend what will be our last night on Lake Havasu.

How about that! Someone even named it for us!



Now someone else is giving us the stink eye! What's wrong with these folks!!












And, so ends our 6th day.

 

[Desert Dory]

Day 7:

So, here we are, our last morning on the lake and it’s looking like it’s going to be another beautiful day. We go thru the usual morning routine in a leisurely fashion and, even though I can tell the Mrs is about ready to get home again, I’m somewhat melancholy realizing that it’s time to pack it in. I like doing this and really don’t want to go back home just yet.







As we’re packing stuff away in preparation to load the Dory on the trailer for the trip back to Tucson, a boat across the lake catches my eye. “Is that another C-Dory?!?” I ask myself. I excitedly call to the Mrs, who’s stowing stuff in the cabin, “Hey Hon! I think there’s another C-Dory over there across the lake!! Check it out!!!”. She gives me a little eye roll but stops what she’s doing and joins me in the cockpit, “Where?”. I say “Right over there” and point to a little white speck in a cove a mile or so across the lake. She’s like “Oh, ok…” and goes back to what she was doing. I go in the cabin and grab the binoculars and check out the speck. Well, sure enough! How bout that! It’s another 22 cruiser and it even has the gray trim just like the Desert Dory.


Now, it’s not every day you see another C-Dory, much less one that’s pretty much the twin to the one you have.


We finish packing stuff away, start the engine, pull in the anchors, and set a course for the white speck across the lake. Now, I could have just pinned the throttle and got over there in about a minute but I show some restraint and did the usual 6.5 mph slow cruise across.





So, here’s Gary (we’ll call him Gary because that’s his real name) and his 1999 C-Dory 22’ Cruiser, the C-Rover. Gary and his wife are here from the So Cal area and, according to Gary, they spend a few weeks every spring and fall at Havasu in their 5th wheel. They've owned their Dory for about 2 years now.

Gary likes fishing, enjoys long walks on the beach and a nice, vintage, Pinot Noir… (hahahaha….)





We talk about C-Dory’s with Gary for awhile, say goodbye, and head for the ramp. The truck’s still there (YAY!!!) and we load up the Dory, pull her up the ramp (out of the way of others, thank you) and get her ready for the road. As we’re getting the Dory ready a somewhat excited lady comes over to say hello. She’s Gary’s wife (sadly I can’t remember her name) and starts telling us they have a boat just like this, and how wonderful it is, etc, etc…. We tell her we ran into her husband Gary out on the lake and we chat for another 20 minutes. I ask her for an email address so I can send them a couple of photos. Nice folks!







Anyhow, as we wrap things up, it’s been a great week for us. The Mrs and I have been married for almost 35 years now, raised 2 great kids, and are at a point in our lives where we’re able to get away by ourselves a little more. While we have, and do, actually take “real vacations”, I think I prefer these low-key, get away from it all, trips.

I’m also finding as I reach that “Get off my lawn!!!” stage of life, trips like this are what really allow me to reboot and recharge. Whether it’s with a good friend like Ken (my Powell Buddy), my wonderful wife, or just out by myself, being out there, SOMEWHERE!, pretty much away from others, and enjoying the wonders of God’s creation is just what I need every once in a while. I'm also very blessed that my wife is not a high maintenance, queen bee type of lady, and is willing to join me in simple adventures like this.

We've only had the Dory for a little over a year now and, since we both love the water, we're finding it's just about a perfect get-away vehicle for us, even if it's just for a couple of days at our tiny local lake. Desert Dory is not a luxury cruiser by any means. But, she is simple, comfortable, and safe. I pray we can do this for a long time to come.

Cheers!

 

[TyBoo]

Thank you so much for this! I really enjoyed it!

 

[Hunkydory]

An enjoyable read & photos. Thanks much for sharing.

Jay

 

[dutch123]

Thanks for the write up and pics. Isn’t it great to meet another C-dory owner out on the water and have an instant connection! Happy cruising!