Posted: 05/10/2009 at 12:24am | IP Logged

Ok, wife and I took a trip to Island Cove and took pictures and personally checked out the motel rooms. Check the upper ones (2 queen beds) and was pleasantly surprised as to the space. Took several pics of the island and and such in between rain storms moving through. Also took some shots of the view in front of the marina in the main channel.

View of main channel in front of the marina from which you can see from the view of the room balconey.

View of the 12 rooms driving into marina, first 6 are accessed from stairs in front, top 6 are accessed from level (no steps) upper rear. If anyone is handicapped, choose the upper level rooms #7-12, lower are 1-6.

Rear upper level parking and access to rooms 7-12

view of upper rear parking lot area

Looked at this charcoal grill - NASTY but this area could be used for the cookout, there's also a pavilion on the lower front level with a good size deck.

2 queen size beds. Lower level has King size bed (1). Couldn't get into Cabin A or B as they were closing in 30 minutes by the time we arrived (they are on eastern time, I'm on central).

Here's a pic they have from the web site of one of the upper rooms.

Bathroom (no handicapped toilets here)

chairs in the room

dining area in the room

mini fridge, coffee pot and sink (there's a sink in the bathroom too), all rooms have 27in TV - don't know about wireless internet, but I'm betting its a no.

balcony patio. These rooms I was given a rate of $65 a night, but you must reserve before the end of May 2009 to get that rate and you must say you're with the PontoonStuff.com group. If any trouble with getting that rate - EMAIL ME and I'll take care of it. After the end of May the rete will be $75 a night which still isn't bad compared to their standare $89 a night rate.

View of Cabin B ($300+ a night) four bedrooms and two and a half baths, a completely furnished kitchen, a separate dining room, pool table and wet bar, a washer and dryer, a gas grill, cable television, telephone, and bed linens.

View of cabin A (also $300+ a night) five bedrooms and three baths, a completely furnished kitchen, a gas grill, cable television, telephone, and bed linens.

View of the island from a distance

Walkway to the island at Island Cove where we're thinking of having the cookout

View of the dock at the island

Island has a swing set for the kids

picnic area on the island

the stage under the covered pavilion on the island

Think this will be enough - view of the restaurant from the island

Posted: 05/29/2009 at 10:24am | IP Logged

Hey Wildcat,

Tried to make reservations at Island Cove in time for the discount, and was told you were making all reservations. What now?

***removed email address to prevent spam bots from harvesting***

Posted: 05/29/2009 at 12:20pm | IP Logged

For those of you that are going to be staying in RV's, it looks like Harrison Bay State Park For more information call: 423-344-2272

Directions:

From Chattanooga: Take Exit 4 off I-75 onto State Route 153. Travel North on Hwy. 153 and at the sixth exit , Hwy. 58, turn north. Travel approximately 12 miles to Harrison Bay Road on the left. Follow the signs to the park entrance. The park entrance is approximately one mile on the left. From Knoxville: From I-75, take Exit 25, Hwy. 60. Travel on Hyw. 60 approximatley nine miles to Hwy. 58. Turn South at Highway 58 and travel approximately 15 miles to Harrison Bay Road. Turn right onto Harrison Bay Road. The park entrance is approximately one mile on the left.

Posted: 06/06/2009 at 12:47pm | IP Logged

I have found these long lost pictures of the area. I have more pictures , but can't find them. The area IS very populated in areas closer to the bridges and hiways. These pictures are of my fishing spots. There is a park about a mile, by water, from where you will be staying and one can park campers there.say 3 miles by car.

Posted: 06/07/2009 at 4:33pm | IP Logged

If someone has room for 2 extra on there toon, I need a ride,,,I will be more than happy to pay boating expenses. Plus I think that I can talk with the right person to see that you get the first plate of jambalaya,,,,,.

Charles what is the schedule of happenings,

Posted: 06/17/2009 at 8:34am | IP Logged

This get-together is cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances.

Posted: 06/17/2009 at 3:12pm | IP Logged

Charles,

I am sorry that this event was cancelled. This is the first year that I would not be able to go on vacation due to the economy going from bad to worse. I already lost a good friend of 40 years that could not see himself going into bankruptcy and the poor house after making millions. I hope you enjoy the lake and someday when things get better my wife and I might join you.

Frank

Posted: 06/21/2009 at 2:14pm | IP Logged

cuzzx, I saw that house up on the hill not too far from the marina. This morning after having some issues with the starter bendix not staying engaged (going to have to rebuild the starter, it was the issue), then finding that after a mechanic has their hands on it, you need to check behind them as I found a fuel line I put on (and know it was TIGHT) they replaced another fuel line and must have taken it off (other line) and put it back on and didn't tighten the hose clamp (so I dumped almost half a tank in 2 days). Thought it would explain some weird running problems between 2500-2900 rpm (vibration in the motor it seems and shuttering). We traveled around a small area of about 3 miles and I could get 5500 rpm but only 19.6mph GPS, so feels like drag, but can't raise the motor up too much without prop cavitation. But we noticed after I tightened the fuel line, the gas needle was moving anymore (as before we could steadily watch it move) .   Island Cove is a pretty nice place, but horrid to turn and launch as people seem to just park anywhere (and usually in the way). Got to talk to another guy who's brother runs the marina shop here at Island Cove that they are expanding the area and redesigning it. They launch on average 80 boats a day from dry storage.  They gave me a temporary covered slip (nice of them) but it was a LONG way (for me with a bad knee anyways), but I was grateful for it, as the uncovered slips were even further away (I'd have died from a heart attack its been so HOT/HUMID). Today wasn't too bad but the winds definitely more than 10mph (said it be calm with 5-10), calm must have been before 5am cause I was up at 3:30am (set the alarm clock wrong - its eastern here and I'm central), my wife was ready to kill me . So after an hour I couldn't go back to sleep, so I put the water on for cappicino (love that stuff in the can), so I was finally able to prod her out of bed so we could go cruising / fishing. Got the batteries good and charged after the intial problems starting (doesn't start too good when air gets in the fuel line) . So we got back to the slip, backed the boat in (so we could fish off the front of the boat). Wife was trying to quit after a while, said put it next to the dock edge (had a meal worm on it). Messing with the tackle box and I turned around and thought her line was caught on the dock when I realized it wasn't - 'Honey, turn around and grab your pole, you got one' I said, she set the hook (didn't think she needed to. Now I can't post the pic of her (her hair was mussed up, you ladies - got to have your hair perfect for a pic) but I got a pic of the catfish she caught just moments before it got off the line (she didn't want to handle it after all) . She took pics of ducks, and everything else.  We did find several restuarants in the area (within 6 miles) and a really good ice machine that'll give you either 20lbs loose in a cooler or a 16lb bag for a buck 25 just down the road from the marina (self serve 24hrs a day) that was well lit at night. Its also not too bad for handicapped folks, other than there is a 2in lip at the entrace to the room, but beware of the tub if your balance isn't good (like mine). It has no slip grips, but not near enough for me  (I'm really clumsy since my stroke a few years ago).

We tried the Fox Cay (pronounced Fox Key) restaurant at Island Cove, thought the oysters were a little overcooked (usually the case with fried oysters) , but meal was pretty good. (Friday lunch). Friday night we found a Cajun restaurant (something NewOrleans), the crawfish etoufee was umm, ok I guess  but I've had MUCH better but the little bait sized crawfish was real, but tasty although I did have to ask for more seasoning (must have thought I was a yankee doodle dandy like the other Chattanoogians . The live 2 man jazz band was great and I don't care for jazz - give me old time rock and roll man, like led zepplan, 3 dog night, cream and such.  Temps for Friday was 105 heat index melted almost every one of my led string light glue mounts, yesterday was 107. Oh and the good part was, didn't notice any misqitoes (it was 88 degrees at 11pm). Had Chinese for lunch today, (mandrain gardens) and it was a lot better than I expected from a place that didn't have a buffet (ok, well yeah, I like pigging out on occasion even though I am dieting - but I'm on vacation OK )    So Island Cove will rank high on my list of go back to places (room rentals was good too even at $85 a night). So we'll go back out tonight and fish some more then find a GOOD mechanic (or I'll probably just do it myself), rebuild the starter, continue to decarb the engine and recheck compression and try and figure out the vibration issue that occurs between 2500-2900 RPM (going to check the reeds when I get home) as it only indicates a problem in that range.  I'm going to recommend to Island Cove that they take out the tubs and put in walk in showers at some point. They got a nice marine store too and lots of bait places nearby. Oh yeah, we checked out the State Park that was just up the road - very nice and supposely have a catfish house restaurant, but we haven't checked it out yet (mostly because we couldn't really tell where it was) but they really got some nice fishing areas with attractors on the piers (although it didn't appear anyone was having any luck), I figure the fish were in deeper water since surface temps of the water showed it to be 88 degrees.  So that gives me and the wife 3 places we like within 2 hours of home for fishing spots and places to stay. Guntersville, AL (highest place cost wise to stay), Joe Wheeler State Park, Rogersville, AL (cheapest place to stay and fishing also very good, not quite as good as Guntersville) and Island Cove (middle of the road) and better than the other two locations for locating pretty good food (I don't drink).  Oh I forgot to mention the live band at Fox Cay in Island Cove. Those boys were good (and LOUD) and played my kind of music (good ole fashion rock and roll type songs). During the lunch we had earlier in the day, it was carribean canned music (ok for one - two songs, gets old real quick after that) . I usually avoid mexican restaurants on nights they have live bands (and will NOT eat at one in which I hear the juke box before I get through the door).  Yep, its a shame we had to cancel this trip, but think I'll be back again this year. (for sure next year, got several trips planned already this year).

Oh and I did talk to a couple of pontooners at Island Cove. Couple of them really liked the LED docking lights and one of them wanted to buy a set, so hopefully we'll see them join up soon.