We did Lake Powell different this year. We hadn't planned on going the cruise but the two oldest wanted to so we said we would just go camp on the beach. Well when we told Vickey she tried finding us a houseboat. We could've gotten one but we would've missed the DeSpain reunion and decided we shouldn't do that. So Vickey got an Air BnB and we just rented a pontoon boat.
The house was nice and we were happy to be at the lake but we all said we still prefer the houseboat.
The first day we went out and went to our old area...gunsight. We found a beach and hung out there. We saw a storm coming in but knew if we got out on the lake we would get caught in so we decided to ride out the storm on the beach. It looked like it was coming straight for us and went it started sprinkling Vickey said a prayer. Right when she started things immediately calmed down and the storm totally went right around us. It wasn't bad at all. There was definitely wind and rain but not as bad as it looked the storm was going to be. We got back to the house and Allen & Cristine were there at the house waiting for us. We made burgers and hot dogs for dinner and played Bang. They were deciding whether or not they were going out on the lake or not and luckily we were able to talk them into it.
The second day on the lake we went out to Face Canyon. We found a great beach, it was totally clean, had some rocks of varying heights to jump off and the kids were able to ride the jet ski's in the area. It was a great day. We had a a great time hanging out with the Johnson's. It's been years since we've hung out and enjoyed catching up. It was a beautiful day, no storms.
As we were heading in though, just as we were about to turn the corner to Antelope Marina, we saw a boat seat floating on the water...then we started seeing other things floating...like shoes and stuff like that. Next thing you know we saw a boat flipped upside down being beat on the canyon walls. It didn't look good. As soon as we got close the marina, you could see tons of people covering the walk way at the marina and emergency crews and many people receiving chest compressions. It was the quietest I've ever heard so many people in one place. We had parked the rental boat in that area the night before but we went around and parked somewhere else. The ramps with shuttle service up and down were closed so emergency crews were the only ones who could go up and down so we all had to hike up the ramp. We knew it was not a good scene and it totally made us thankful in all our years at Lake Powell we haven't had any emergencies like that. Allen & Cristine had planned to drive home that night from Page and they later sent screenshots showing that a rental pontoon boat with only two pontoons had broken down and another boater was helping tow it to the marina when a wave caught it and it cause that pontoon boat to capsize, trapping people underneath. CPR was being performed on 4 people. 10 people were on the boat and 3 died and at least 2 others were flown out. A 72 year old grandma & two 4 year old boys passed and the grandpa and a younger teen were flown out.. Such a sad ending to a great day and a somber reminder of how quickly things can go bad on the water.
The third day I was still shook from seeing the events from yesterday. I didn't want to go far and I was much more strict on lifejackets. We went to warm creek bay area and had a little area almost all to ourselves the whole day. It was super windy and I didn't like the idea of going through the main channel with choppy waters after seeing the accident the day before. Plus we had to have the boat turned in by a certain time and we were later getting out on the water that day so it gave more time to play then driving further up the lake.
I've seen lots of posts about a pretty photo op right behind a gas station in Page and we just happened to drive by it everyday going to the lake so on the way home I told Preston I wanted to stop and take some pictures there. It was short walk and wasn't hot yet and it did give a great background. Not everyone took their Lake Powell shirts to get their picture in though.
