And Willie Said: Beach Party at Warm Creek Bay

I am Willie in Wonderland as I take some time to explore my surroundings and all the Lake Powell scenery I have heard of. After we settle into our marina slip, I begin the walk up the long steep path to the parking lot to refill Jake's dog food container. Yes, It needs to be full before we head out to remote places on the lake.

I see a group of people who have just come off a houseboat and are hauling their gear up to their vehicles. Wow! It reminds me of the Chilkoot Trail.

Well, once at the truck, I find a few more items I want to bring back to the boat, so I am pretty well loaded down on the trip back down. I stop a couple of times to take photos of the ramp (no, I stopped to rest).

Find Willie's Tug ....

Front and Center

We get a call from Jim and Joan, who anchored out last night and suggest we cruise to Warm Creek Bay, not far away from the marina, and anchor tonight. Sounds like a good idea, and we will get a taste of cruising the lake before we head out for major exploring.

We see many houseboats of various sizes and most have slides from the roof for the children (?) to play in the water.

It is good to see this rock sculpture from the water.

Important to note is that our Garmin chart plotter does not have a chip for Lake Powell waterways, so Herb sets up Navionics on his iPad. Russ and Toni loaned us books and maps and we get another map at the marina store. So we should be set.

We begin looking for Warm Creek Bay, and get a call on VHF 68 from Jim, who says he sees us with the binoculars. "Come to the starboard of the pumpout station and you will see us beached bow in."

Aha! Our binoculars find what looks like it could be a station, and there is a white dot to the right of it. That dot must be Wild Blue.

White Dot near Right of Photo

He suggests we thread our way through the soft sticks and beach if we like. We opted to anchor in ten feet of water under the keel, with 60 feet of rode, and dinghy to shore.

The happiest among us is Jake as he jumps out of the dingy and swims a bit, drinks fresh water, and rolls and rolls in the sand to dry off. This is funny to watch, but not funny when he comes near us to shake off the excess water and sand.

Being a people lover, he has a problem keeping his distance and we call him away and apologize many times to Jim and Joan. They don't have to deal with this with their dainty little cat, Isabella.

Shake!

Shake Again!

Find Willie's Tug and Wild Blue ....

Herb is standing in front of their anchor in the sand, and they have stern lines angled out and hooked on rocks.

At Happy Hour time, Herb takes Jake back to the boat for a good wash down on the swim platform -- leaves him -- and brings back drinks. Mine is in a Tervis with lid closed, and his is in a shaker to keep it cold a bit longer.

All is well. He makes the dinghy trip OK, but when handing it to me, the shaker comes open and spills some of its contents. Joan comes to the rescue to replenish the missing ingredients.

Ice cubes and ....

An advantage of the C-Dory is that it can get close to shore. The step ladder comes in handy for getting off the bow.

We play catch-up on what has being going on, and discuss our day's activities for tomorrow. Having been here before, Jim and Joan give us some suggestions and tips for exploring.

The sun dips behind the rock, and the temperature begins to drop.