Best boating

[tmh]

What are some of the nicest places for a boating vacation with an 18 Classic? I'm looking for vacation suggestions with my boat or even renting a boat if too far from home, Naples, Florida. I would trailer the boat 700 miles to a nice destination but not much more. We don't do much fishing but watersports and swimming in nice water with nice scenery is what I'm looking for. My 16 and 18 year old sons will watch some wake board videos that appear to be in some outstanding locations.

The Keys can be fun but an 18C doesn't work well for scuba diving. I don't know if there are nice rivers and lakes in Tennessee, Arkansas, or even North Florida or Georgia. We go to the mountains in North Carolina frequently and I've wondered if I should bring the boat some time. We had a 15" Whaler on Lake Travis outside of Austin for a long weekend 30 years ago and I thought that was a very nice place to boat, but too far to drag the boat from Naples. Suggestions please!
T.M. Hayes

[Conquistador_del_mar]

We like Lake Ouachita in Arkansas. Clear water, large lake, islands, evergreens - Hot Springs within a 30 minute drive. Fabulous lake. Bill

[zelatore]

It's a seriously long haul, but I'd say everybody should boat Lake Powell at least once. I don't think there's anything else like it!

[zelatore]

Even futher away, and not really the best place for running an 18 (although Lenny might disagree), the PNW/San Juans/Canadian Gulf Islands are some of the best cruising grounds you'll find anywhere in N. America.

[tmh]

Some of the kids wakeboard videos are at Lake Powell. Is there a particular area or destination on that Lake?

[zelatore]

Most of the infrastructure is down-lake near Page, AZ and just up river from the dam a few miles. Wahweap Resort is the biggest facility and offers everything from a 10+ lane ramp to hotels and a marina with houseboat, jet ski, and ski boat rentals.

Here's a good jumping-off point for research: http://www.lakepowell.com/

Another good site for info about the lake and area: http://www.wayneswords.com/
It's a fishing site, but there's lots of good info there, including lake level tracking and info about when certain smaller ramps become usable.

Lake levels fluctuate significantly depending on each winter's snows in the Rockies. Like 50' or more. This year looks to be a good one, maybe getting closer to full-pool than they've been in decades.

The water is never really 'warm' as it's all snow run-off. But it's certainly swimable. The place is crazy hot in the summer and there's little shade so a bimini is a good thing if you're going to raft up and float.

Page, AZ is in the middle of nowhere. It's a long haul no matter where you come from. And it's a pretty small town. Gas, food, a coupe hotels, but not a lot more. Plan to bring everything with you! When I was last out there my new GPS crapped out. No problem, I'll just have one overnighted in to replace it. Sorry - fedex and UPS don't do Saturday deliveries to Page; too far out there.

The lake is pretty crazy. It can be confusing to navigate the first time there, so a GPS is handy. There are some very long twisting side canyons to explore. And it's easy to start thinking 'that rock looks the same as the last rock'. But the main channel is marked, and certainly thousands of first-timers come and rent houseboats every year and survive. And you know boating skills of the average houseboat renter aren't exactly in the Sir Francis Drake class.

RickSE on the registry is the resident expert. I'm sure he could direct you toward anything else if you need it. What little I know I pretty much learned from joining him on the lake a couple years ago.

[SMLDONZI]

Smith mountain lake in SW Virginia. Its a big, beautiful lake in the mountains. Wakeboarding seems to be big there. Great playground for an 18C. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_Mountain_Lake

[MOP]

1000 Islands ranks right up there with the best, about 1300 miles for you though.

[undertaker]

Smith mountain lake in SW Virginia. Its a big, beautiful lake in the mountains. Wakeboarding seems to be big there. Great playground for an 18C. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_Mountain_Lake



Agreed:yes::yes: will be leaving on July 9th for a week on this lake it will be our third time there awesome lake to boat on and vacation on.....can't wait:pimp::hyper::hyper:


Undertaker:boat: