10-22-26  Batshit crazy

We left our anchorage and were headed to Goosepond Colony Marina.  We had quite a few boats with us as we went through Guntersville Lock.  This was Mallory and Marcelo’s first lock.  It is interesting the first time through a lock, but most are just a slow spot in the river for us seasoned boaters.  Oh yes, 7 weeks on the river and we are getting cocky and calling us “seasoned boaters” Really we aren’t that naïve.

When we got out of the lock a local boat hailed all of the boats in the lock to go to a channel that he could talk to us on.  He recognized quite a few of us as Loopers and wanted to share some local knowledge. He informed us that there is a beautiful anchorage behind Goat Island ( No we didn’t see any goats)  He also informed us that there is a carving in the cliff that was done by Ulysses S. Grant and his troops, but most interesting was there is a well-known bat cave which he pointed out to us. Being the adventurous spirits that we are we canned the reservations at the Marina and pulled into the Anchorage.

He was right it was beautiful.  Scott and I did some exploring by dinghy, while Marcelo and Mallory did some fishing. We heard from a local that since the cold snap hit NO fish are biting so good luck.  So fishing was a fail,so it was time to swim.

We had two other adventures to explore.  We cruised the shore line and never saw the engraving but hoped to see if from the boat the next day. The rocky cliffs were beautiful.

We still had the bat cave to look forward to.  We ate an early dinner and just before dusk the four of us crammed into the dinghy and took off out of the bay and down the river to where the fellow boater pointed out the cave.  We took a bunch of pictures in anticipation and waiting for the bats.  This is a protected bat colony and has approximately 60,000 bats in it and when they come out it is like an explosion.  We were all excited as the mosquitos and other bugs came out.  We were tucked in next to the cliff and……….cricket  cricket cricket. NO BATS.

We pulled out our phones and started researching about what time they come out only to find out they are already hibernating.  We sat freezing in the cramped dinghy for about an hour and half to NOT see the bats.  I think we must be Batshit Crazy.

Although nothing turned out the way we planned that evening, we still had a good time exploring nature and enjoying each other’s company.  The day wasn’t a complete fail, however. As we took the dinghy back to the boat it became quite dark and we were in a really remote area and the star were amazing. You could see the milky way and a billion stars.  Mallory and Marcelo went on the bow of the boat with blanket wrapped around their shoulders. They saw a shooting star and 4 satellites. It was a great end to a great day.

PS. We talked to some people in our marina from Alabama and they were out there waiting for the bats too. I don’t feel so bad that the locals didn’t know they were hibernating. However, we did find out that we were at the wrong cave. That just added insult to injury.

Thanks for reading

Karen and Scott