Houseboating: 14 Tips to make your cruise on Powell a terrific experience

We came on board looking like a road company from H.M.S. Pinafore. After carrying his 12th bag of groceries onto the houseboat my husband predicted, "At least we will never be hungry."

Defensively, I explained that while Lake Powell's majesty offers much food for the soul, beauty is no substitute for spaghetti when it comes to feeding a floating party of 10.

Four days and three nights later, when we redocked at Wahweap Marina, we had consumed chili, hotdogs, hamburgers, and cold cuts in addition to my mother's famous spaghetti. We hadn't caught any fish-surely a "first" for anyone spending time on Lake Powell. We had gotten lost. Why didn't anyone stress how important it is to "boat by number" before we casually ignored that marked buoy? And we survived a storm. More on that later.

We also had the time of our lives. With boogie boards in tow and a ski boat tied beside us, we set out that Thursday morning across Padre Bay. Visions of sandy beaches, evening campfires, and secluded coves danced in our heads while rock music blared from the portable dual-speaker Sound Box that teenagers consider standard equipment. I marveled how different my daughter looked without a telephone growing out of the side of her head. While houseboats are known as "homes away from home," there's a wonderful difference: no phones.

My mother took a novel to the front deck, the three boys lined up for the mechanical flipper experience known as

Houseboating

Boogie boarding behind a houseboat, and the trip was launched. We looked around the boat and agreed happily that houseboating is to camping what a five-star resort is to a Mom and Pop place by the side of the road. You bring your food and bedding, but then the similarity ends. A Lake Powell houseboating trip is a fully equipped, luxurious experience starring a top-of-the-line camper floating on long pontoons. RV's involve miles of driving; houseboats call for long hours of lazy floating.

Starting our trip in high spirits we glanced at the map and plotted our course. We were aiming across the channel for Padre Bay and beyond. Landmarks are helpful, we knew, noting the tall smokestack in the distance to the right of Wahweap Marina. According to the map, Antelope Island was dead ahead.

We suspected trouble an hour out.

"Is that a different smokestack?" my mother asked innocently, looking up from her prophetically titled novel, Lost and Found.

"No," I replied testily, "and I'm not certain why we keep seeing it."

The third hour passed, and we began to feel foolish.

Poring over our maps and Stan Jones' guidebook, we concluded we couldn't find Padre Bay. The map showed landmarks called "Gunsight" and "Gregory Butte," but to us all the rock formations looked alike.

Tip Number 1: Carry a compass. Always read the map carefully before you set off. Better yet, follow a houseboat that's familiar with the lake.

Tip Number 2: Never lose sight of the buoys. They are standard marine markers and each is numbered and color coded: red going one way and black, the other.

Tip Number 3: Relax. Enjoy the scenery even if it's not what you planned to see. The entire lake is gorgeous and firsttimers are bound to take some wrong turns.

"With over 1900 miles of shoreline to explore, it is possible to spend a year on the lake and never see the same place twice," I reported in the midst of our navigational crisis.

"In some places the water is 500 feet deep," I continued, anxious to share my knowledge. My mother gripped the arms of her chair more tightly.

"Fifteen miles a day is considered just about right for a houseboat to travel," I offered.

"But we are supposed to see more than Antelope Island," the children chorused.

Safely docked at Gunsight Canyon that evening, we all pulled chairs onto the back deck to watch a Sound and Light show. Thunder rumbled in the distance and arcs of lightning lit the far-off walls in a nearcomplete circle around us. With Moog Synthesizer music on the tape recorder,

Houseboating.

we sat, transfixed, by the beauty. The teenagers opted to sleep on the top deck, the younger boys chose the speed boat to camp in, and my mother sought an inside bunk. The four parents decided to escape to the beach. "It will be gorgeous," Judy Barry promised, walking down our gangplank. She carried her sleeping bag and a flashlight. "Tom is already..." Her words were carried off by the wind. That should have been a sign. Twenty minutes later the breeze was a small gale. Our gangplank had been blown away, our sleeping bags were soaked by the storm, and we had managed to get back onto the houseboat with much difficulty. We took stock of the casualties. Missing: one pair of Judy's thongs, one of Tom's sandal's, and my husband's blue zipper bag containing both pairs of his contact lenses.Tip Number 4: Travel with self-reliant, calm friends who don't flinch in the face of the unexpected, and carry extra shoes.

Tip Number 5: Always keep a spare pair of contacts on the houseboat.

Days on Lake Powell are filled with every kind of activity-reading and swimming, water skiing, fishing, hiking time exists only for pleasure. The range of options are surpassed only by the extraordinary scenery.

We planned our three days and nights as a journey to Rainbow Bridge and back, a distance that we had been assured would enable us to relax, hike, and let the lure of the lake soak into our systems. We hadbeen warned that it takes a day just to unwind and that a week's trip was optimum, but our schedules didn't permit it. We chose September to houseboat because while the lake is busy all year long, in the early fall the days are still warm, the water at its most clear, and the evenings cool enough for a campfire.

Tip Number 6: Plan your time and distance ratio wisely. The best speeds for a houseboat are "slow" and "stopped."

By the second day our group was water wise. "How can you let a 10-year-old kid drive this boat?" our son asked cockily, gripping the wheel. He was interrupted by our daughter returning with the speed boat. She had gone out for a ride with her friends.

"We'll go ahead and scout a campsite," Jamie volunteered. "Anyone else want to come?"

The "Captain" quickly jumped ship, and all the children took off. When we reached a cove near Oak Canyon, some 20 minutes later, the speedboat was docked, and they were running all over the sandstone mountains. Judy laughed as she watched them climb the windcombed slopes, having the time of their lives. "It looks like a scene out of Lord of the Flies," she said.

Tip Number 7: Take along plenty of teenagers and strong children. They are good for loading and unloading gear, diving for lost shoes, and scouting campsites.

By day three we experienced the eerie silence of Forbidding Canyon, stood in awe before Rainbow Bridge, skied and swam and fished and read and talked and sang and roasted marshmallows. Best of all, we did it together-three different generations enjoying the lake, the fun, and each other.

True, we did turn up Navajo Canyon by mistake and took Rock Creek Canyon instead of the main channel. But these sidetrips only made us wish to come again with more time to thoroughly explore them. We had more rain and discovered that the canyon walls framing Lake Powell are more glorious wet than dry. With rain the pastels turn a richer hue; more colors emerge. And of course we did hear a disparaging word - or two. "You've been on the boogie board three times, and I've only been on once!" But Lake Powell is paradise; not Heaven.

Above all, as our last night arrived, we yearned for more time. We had just been introduced, and now it was time to go. The only real regret we had was the missing blue zipper case. Repeated diving at the sight had turned up nothing. My husband was certain the bag was long gone.

A week later a box arrived at his office. It had a California address. Inside was the blue bag-contacts intact - and this letter. "Dear Dr. Hait,

I found this packet floating against a rock in one of the coves of Lake Powell. I forget which one. I thought that as long as I wasn't catching any fish, I will have bagged a bag, but with two sets of contacts and your name available I knew that once again a pharmacist has come to the rescue! I hope that you had as great a time on the lake as we did!Sincerely, Dick Lachman"

Dear Dick, We did!

7 MORE TIPS...