On the lake

Having found out that the boat tour leaves at 1.00pm we needed to check out Walmart first so we headed over on the bikes. The Page branch of this famous chain certainly lived up to its reputation. It was large (huge) , stocked various firearm related accessories ( like rifle ammunition ) and had some interesting customers ( apart from us )

But they say nothing goes to plan - and so it goes. We rolled up at the Lake Powell Boat Tour company only to be told that the 1 bo O'clock boat had only 1 place left and the 2.30 tour was full. The tour company counter staff were clear that there were no other options for 'water activities' that afternoon...... but Reg found the marina manager and discovered that we could rent a motor boat.....

When I say 'motorboat' of course I mean a 20 foot 5 litre V8 engine powerboat...

So back on the bikes and round to 'boat rental' where we signed up for two hours cruising on the lake. "As well as the rental, you'll have to pay for gas" said the young lady at the rental counter. 'No problem' we said.. 'We only want the boat for two hours...'

So we went onto the jetty where we were met by Kamilla who instructed us on the boat, the radio and the rules. She explained that although the boat had a speedo it was disabled so that clients don't actually try to beat the indicated maximum speed of 80mph. She also said to keep the revs below 4,000 as 'Otherwise it tends to use more gas'


So off we went - not on a version of the 'Royal Iris' as originally planned but on something that a certain Mr Campbell would have found to his taste.

By now the weather had cleared, the skies were blue, the sun was hot and the water on the lake almost flat.

But as for the scenery.............Wow !!

So after a fantastic fast tour round the lake we dropped back to the rental jetty... first stopping at the fuel jetty. We'd been good and done what Kamilla said (keep it under 4,00rpm) and it had only used just over a quarter of a tank !

Hmmm - turned out the tank must have been 50 gallons worth cos it took 14 gallons to fill it up ( So thats 7 Gallons per hour.... glad we're not paying UK 'gas' prices anyway )