Lake Powell Houseboat Trip

9/30 At the Marina we checked onto the boat (from hell) at 8 am. The men had their lesson on driving the houseboat and speedboat. A couple of women did the inventory and then we tried to find places to put all the stuff we brought on board. As we were doing that we were discovering all the things wrong with the boat and asking them to fix them. We had all day to do it as the wind had kicked up and no boats were allowed to leave. Several went back to their rigs to spend the night in their own beds but Bob & I and a couple of others stayed aboard.

10/1 With all back on board we were allowed to leave. One of the Bob's (we had 3) couldn't find his car and it had been towed several hours up the road. To say he was upset is a bit of an understatement. We went about 20 miles down lake to the Rincon area.
Had lunch while cruising. All 3 boats beached.
Bob setting one of the 4 anchors. The speedboats launched for some exploring of Iceberg Canyon. Only 6 can go at a time so there were two trips for each boat. Bob and I fixed a Mexican dinner that had so much left over it wasn't gone for the whole week.

10/2 Two houseboats left this morning. One had to wait for repairs. We went a couple of more hours down lake and tucked in at Cottonwood Canyon. A nice secluded cove. We launched the speedboats and went to see the Hole in the Rock. This is part of the Mormon Trail and they lowered their wagons at the "V" down to the river. They had a long drop and a great deal of it is underwater. One of the gals had been here 30 years ago and there was a beach.

At Davis Canyon we saw these two arches.


Hiking and campfires were the highlight along with relaxing. In the evening some played cards. We were here on the full moon.

10/3 We took our houseboat and towed 2 speedboats down to the mouth of Rainbow Bridge Canyon. While Randy hovered in the bay 2 of the speedboats went to Dangling Rope Marina for fuel and to get the one speedboat repaired so it would except gas. Clogged vent. When they got back and had a bite of lunch we loaded up the speedboats and went to see the bridge. There was a 2/3 mile hike to get to it. We could see it most of the hike. The ranger told us about it and then allowed us to walk under it. Back on the houseboat we headed back to the cove. Along the way one engine quit. A call was placed to the marina requesting yet another maintenance man.

10/4 The winds kicked up again and we had to wait for the repairs so it was another day of not doing anything but getting on each other's nerves. We ate, played games and slept. Repair man came and fixed the engine.

10/5 The winds died and we headed back up lake. Plans were for Moki Canyon. When we got opposite Bullfrog Marina we put in the speedboat to take a couple back to shore whose cat got stuck behind the refrigerator. Then the speedboat wouldn't work. The bilge was full of oil. Radioed in that we needed a replacement boat. By this time I was near billistic. I called and talked to a supervisor at Aarmark at their central reservations. I was so upset I went to shore along with Bob and spent the night in our own motorhome. The cat was rescued and they left in the speedboat and joined the group at Moki Canyon for the night.

10/6 The boats were returned to the marina a little after noon. Those on board had everything packed up and we loaded the cars and went back to the campground.

10/7 Bob, Randy and I saw the supervisor to see what could be done about the experience and she agreed to refund us $1200 so each person will receive $100 back. We also found out that Bob had to pay $540 to retrieve his car that had been towed.