Miami to Eastern Tennessee Hatteras 53my

A few months ago we decided to move our 53 to Watts Bar Lake on the Tennessee River, just south of Chattanooga. We ll move up this way eventually (already bought land) and while we ll still be living in miami for a few years we re just fed up with the crowds. Biscayne bay, once a gem, has become ghetto charter grounds with some anchorages now downright nasty if not dangerous with jet skis running wild

we just competed the trip in 18 days, 181 hours run time, 1500 gallons of fuel. No major issues beyond a broken gen belt and a couple of air con issues quickly fixed.

the 17 locks were a new experience but no big deal. This lake is just beautiful with hundred of coves, rolling hills etc. And at 60 sq miles it’s bigger than Biscayne bay! We re anchored for the afternoon in a nice little cove. Love it.

and in addition to paying a fraction of the dockage cost, I can afford full coverage insurance for the first time in 15 years. No more sweating come hurricane season.

Here is a video of the trip with all the locks etc.

Thanks

we ve spend a couple of weeks up there so far and love it. Watts Bar Lake and especially the Piney River area where the boat is docked is really beautiful with hundreds of coves and bays to anchor in

here is an example of a couple of anchorages

What do we have in sofl? It s all mangrove shoreline, no elevation. At least up there we don’t have the ghetto charters, the idiots on rental jet skis, the loud (c)rap and regatone…

lake Norris is landlocked and much smaller

We went out almost every day in the two weeks after we got there and were amazed at how peaceful it was with empty anchorages, no wakes and no traffic even on weekends ends. In summer! The video above was shot on a week end…

Bimini has turned into a s—thole… it’s Hialeah by the sea. I hate going there on the job and wouldn’t spend a dime going with my personal boat? The keys have no real beaches, just crowded sandbars. Yes some nice snorkeling but that’s about it. The Exumas are amazing but we spend quite a bit of time there, on the job but often off the clock between owners trips, so we re not going to go with our personal boat.

biscayne bay used to be paradise. Not anymore. The only remaining nice spot is Eliot Key being a national park… but that’s just one spot. After 35 years I m ready for new horizons

flamingo? Thousand islands? Same mangrove view

I actually look forward to cool weather boating. We ve rented toons on the lake many times before over the years, even late October and while there could be cold days, temps go back up quickly into pleasant range

as to waterfront restaurants, I do better on board and very few options in miami anyway.

And then of course there is the fact that my dockage is now $195 instead of $1925… and my annual insurance $1150 full coverage, vs just unaffordable.