Houseboat Trip on Lake Powell, Arizona/Utah

I had this whole blog entry completed before Christmas and while doing a final review, I lost the whole thing.  Ugh, I was mad!  So I've been dreading the need to recreate this whole thing again.  Here's take 2....

Time for our houseboat trip to Lake Powell in Arizona and Utah.  Here we are at Bill's house getting ready to leave for the drive to Lake Powell.  I can't imagine what his neighbors must think with all this stuff in the driveway and street!  We took both ski boats on the trip this year.

 

 

Circled here is our destination of Lake Powell's Wahweap Marina.

This was our view as we're approaching Page, Arizona from the south.

We arrived at the houseboat yard on Thursday evening.  At 7PM they let us in to the yard so then the guys unload all the gear and the girls go food shopping.  We sleep on the houseboat in the yard for the night.  The next morning, we got a VERY early wake up so that the houseboat can be towed to the lake and launched.  We also have to launch both ski boats and get the trucks and boat trailers parked in the lots near the launch ramp.  Bill Jr, Adam, and Jeff launched Bill's boat and Christina, Al, and I launched our boat. 

The launching of Silver Moon

Bill Jr, Adam, and Jeff

And now we are underway!

Christina enjoying her morning on our boat

Due to the VERY, VERY low water level in Lake Powell, we were unable to take our normal route through the Castle Rock Cut.  This year we had to take a much longer route before we headed to our desired area in the San Juan River.
 

This is us cruising along the detour.  Unfortunately this longer route also ate up a lot of gas!

Now this is a good visual of just how low the lake level is.  This is the Antelope Point Launch Ramp.  Normally trucks would be launching boats from this ramp.  Now it is only usable by people carrying their kayaks down the steep drop off.

Bill Jr and Bill at the upper deck helm

This was our route from Wahweap on the left to the San Juan River on the right.

It is very important to follow the channel markers to find the correct route.  This trip we got a little lost and made some bad turns trying to get back on our route up lake.  It was around this time that we were supposed to meet up with friends of Dan.  Unfortunately earlier in the day Dan jumped into the lake with his cell phone in his pocket and it fell out and was lost.  So Dan had no way of calling them so we never connected.  Later we found out they had boat trouble and had to be towed back to the launch ramp.  It just wasn't meant to be.

Al and Bill looking for channel markers with binoculars

After a very early start to the day and the extra long ride up lake with the detour and then into the San Juan River, we found a good parking spot.  The guys and Christina got the anchor ropes set to secure us to shore.  We spent five nights in this spot. 

Over the next five days we spent time water-skiing, wake boarding, paddle boarding, kayaking, eating, and relaxing.

Al

Nancy

Nancy

Nancy

Al

Al

Nancy

Bill with Bill Jr observing

Bill Jr

Nancy and her reflection

Nancy

Christina

Christina

Christina

Maureen

Maureen

Christina

Al driving our boat

During some relaxing time, Al gave Christina a guacamole making lesson  

 

 

One day we were having trouble with the generator.  A repairman "had" to bring a boat about five hours to reach us to make a minor repair.   And since the guy was coming out to us, we asked him to bring us more gas.  This would give us more peace of mind for our return trip at the end of the trip.

Now that was taken care of, it was time for more fun out on the water.

Adam

Uh Adam, this doesn't look like a good landing

Where's Adam?

Our boat

Time to chill out

Bill Jr and Bill kayaking

Every evening a group of three people were responsible for cooking dinner and cleaning up.  We set up tables on the top deck and all ate together.

Bill Jr, Dan, Christina, Maureen's arm, Adam, Bill, Jeff, and Al

Christina, Maureen, Adam, Bill, and Jeff

Dan

Dan

Dan

Dan

Al relaxing on the top deck with a good book

More chillin' time off the back of the houseboat

Our boat

Bill's boat

Bill Jr

Bill

Bill

After five days it was time to head back towards the Wahweap launch ramp with one more night on the lake before we return the boat.  After the anchor ropes are stowed and the houseboat is underway, the ski boats go out ahead and get in some final skiing.  Nancy took Dan, Maureen, and Christina in her boat while Al and Bill Jr took Adam and Jeff in Bill's boat.

Unusual clouds visible below Navajo Mountain

Christina

Dan

Dan

Maureen

Adam, Al, Bill Jr, and Jeff

Once the houseboat arrives at the entrance to the San Juan River where it connects with the rest of Lake Powell, it's time to connect the two ski boats to the back of the houseboat for the rest of the trip to Last Chance Bay where we spend one night. 

Caption Bill steering the houseboat from the lower helm

Inside the houseboat

The long days of cruising on the lake are some of my favorites.  Just relaxing and watching the beautiful scenery go by.  The "kids" were not as impressed and were all reading or on the phone.

Jeff, Christina, Adam, and Bill Jr

Al

Al, Maureen, and Nancy

Hope we don't get lost on the way back!  Dan keeps Captain Bill company as we make our way back down lake.

We found an anchorage in Last Chance Bay as usual and got anchored for a night.

One of the anchor ropes in the foreground.  Check out the low water level visible in this area!

Photo courtesy of Christina

On our last night it was Jeff, Adam, and Bill Jr's turn to prepare dinner.

Captain Bill, Jeff, Dan, Bill Jr. Christina, Adam, Maureen, Nancy, and Al

Nancy, Adam, Maureen, Jeff, Christina, Dan, Al, Bill Jr, and Bill

The next morning was another early start with the two ski boats headed back to the launch ramp ahead of the houseboat because they are faster.  We were looking out and following the channel markers very closely to not get lost so we had no problems.  The guys just followed Al and me in the other ski boat.  We had to get the two ski boats and the houseboat back to Wahweap Marina by 10 AM.  

Maureen (photo courtesy of Christina)

The houseboat was returned on time and with that another fun houseboat trip is over.

It's a wrap!  (Bill)

We were very fortunate to be able to take this trip.  The week after we returned, the Wahweap launch ramp was closed and no more houseboats could be launched due to the decreasing water level.  

After spending a few days back at Bill's house getting cleaned up from the trip it was time to return our ski boat to storage in Boulder City and then take the RV and head east for our summer/fall trip.