My 2016 boating season

[Ronnie]

I started my boating season today and decided to document it here with a few pics and tips of every trip.

Trip 1: Shasta Lake, went to the Caverns. $26 for adults, $13 for children. Includes round trip patio boat rides across part of the lake , no more than 1/2 mile, and bus rides to and from the cavern along with a 45 minute walking guided tour.

If possible boat to the bus location instead of driving to that side of the lake. It will save you a lot of time.

Here are a few pics of the boat I rode today.

 

[tdonoughue]

Oddest jet boat I have seen. Did you pitch an upgrade to them?

 

[Ronnie]

@tdonoughue , I brought my own. Wanted to start small this year since I had a relatively long first tow of the season plus the boat just isn't ready yet.

Day 2, we took an early morning tour of Shasta Dam . It was free. My kid loved it.

After lunch we dropped the skis in the water and took a 20 mile tour.

Afterwards my son and I went out alone for another 2 hours.

It was a Great day, we had the lake to ourselves almost. Probably because the water is still a chilly 60 degrees, the high air temp today on the lake was 77.

If you want to stay near the water you can't get any closer to it than the bridge bay resort. Right off the freeway. They have lodges and covered births within sight / a stones throw of each other. The rooms are almost all under $100 a night, right now, and you can rent a boat / house boat from them as well. Overnight births are $25 a night. They have 3 ramps, two for guest / public use. One is a lot steeper and harder to maneuver in than the other. Also have a full service marina. This is my new favorite place that I'll come back for long weekends not day trips for. 227 miles from San Francisco. Mostly straight freeway With little traffic.

 

[scot71]

Great pictures @Ronnie! Especially the one with all of you in it.

 

[Ronnie]

@scot71 , thanks. My wife insisted on bringing the dog so I had to rig up a seat for her. Which reminds me, the resort and area generally is very pet / dog friendly. We didn't have to hide her or sneak her in. The pet fee at the resort is $10 per night per pet. She even went on the cavern tour , for free.

Shasta lake is huge. Here are screen shots of our route and stats. 3.5 hours with little stopping and we barely scratched the surface.

 

[Freezer41]

wow, you did get to a lot of the lake though and its great to see it full! I'll probably try to get up there in early or mid-May

 

[Volffas]

@scot71 , thanks. My wife insisted on bringing the dog so I had to rig up a seat for her. Which reminds me, the resort and area generally is very pet / dog friendly. We didn't have to hide her or sneak her in. The pet fee at the resort is $10 per night per pet. She even went on the cavern tour , for free.

Shasta lake is huge. Here are screen shots of our route and stats. 3.5 hours with little stopping and we barely scratched the surface.
View attachment 35213 View attachment 35214 View attachment 35215

What app are you using to track your route? I have been using My Tracks for years and Google is saying that it will stop working on April 30th. So I need to find a decent app.

 

[Ronnie]

I've been using navionics with optional features for the past few years. It was around $60 for my tablet and $15 for my smart phone but I've heard that the perpetual licensing model on this has changed to an annual subscription which I would be Reluctant to buy into is the price was more than $20 per year.

 

[RightStuff]

Just bumped into the site below with pictures showing water levels of Shasta lake, pretty interesting to see what a difference in a year can make.

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=87822