6-21 and 22-2012; Sugar Bay anchorage near Benton, KY

We only had about 5 hours of travel today so we pretended it was Sunday and slept in.  We got out on the river by 12:30 and it was another hot one.  About 16:45 we left the Cumberland River via the Barkley Canal and we were back on the Tennessee River again.  We really liked the Cumberland.  There was  beautiful scenery but if we had to choose, we would pick the Tennessee River as it has more coves for anchoring, it is wider and deeper.  It was a little weird traveling until about 18:00 before anchoring.  Stopping so late we didn't sit down to dinner until 19:30.  We both decided we liked getting up early and stopping by 14:00 or 15:00. 

CO's comments:  Before we arrived at the Barkley Canal, I told the XO to take over and get us through.  She did a marvelous job.  Summer has arrived and all the neat coves are filling up with boats early in the day.  This is one of the reasons we decided it is best to start the day early.

N36 51.469
W88 07.656

Leaving Lake Barkley State Park Marina on 6-21-2012.

Going by the Kentucky State Penitentiary at Mile 43.8 on the Cumberland River.  It is also known as the "Castle on the Cumberland" and is the state's maximum security male facility.  It was completed in 1886 and is the state's oldest prison and an imposing site along the river.  It is located in Old Eddyville where the town used to be before it was relocated when the Barkley Dam was built.

One of the few anchorages on the Cumberland, not far from Green Turtle Bay at Mile 34.0+/-.

Landscape around our anchorage in Sugar Bay, Mile 35.7 on the Tennessee River.