Vintage

Friday, June 20, 2008
Chattanooga Times Free Press
 

After an eight-day journey from Port Everglades, Fla., the Tennessee River Gorge Explorer docked in Chattanooga on Thursday.The 70-passenger catamaran, the newest attraction of the Tennessee Aquarium, will offer educational tours of the river gorge beginning June 27, launching from the Chattanooga Pier, aquarium officials said.

The gorge is home to more than 1,000 kinds of plants, trees, grasses and flowers, plus 184 species of birds, 63 species of mammals and 193 species of butterflies, according to the Tennessee Aquarium’s Web site. Operators of the boat said it can reach speeds of more than 50 miles per hour and, with twin propellers, turn on a dime.

“This is the best-handling boat I’ve ever been on in my life,” said Capt. Mike Hosemann, a Chattanoogan and one of the ship’s three captains. The boat can decelerate from 35 miles per hour to a full stop within 200 feet, he said.

Media representatives, aquarium officials and community sponsors of the $2.9 million custom-made vessel were invited to ride the boat for the last 35 miles of its journey to Chattanooga. During the final leg of the vessel’s journey — from Hales Bar Marina in Guild, Tenn., to the Chattanooga Pier — the Tennessee River Gorge Explorer hit speeds of more than 33 miles per hour, Mr. Benson said.Coast Guard approval is needed before the boat can reach its top speeds on the river, he said.

Jack Kruesi, president of the board of the Tennessee River Gorge Trust, said the organization protects almost 17,000 acres of the 27,000 acres that can be seen from the Tennessee River in the gorge. The trust is a nonprofit group founded in 1981 to protect the river canyon. “Anything you can see from the river, we want to protect,” said Mr. Kruesi, who rode on the boat’s maiden voyage through the gorge on Thursday.

The vessel is built so the wake it creates at high speeds is minimal and no damage is done to floating docks, fishing boats and the banks of the river, Mr. Kruesi said.The vessel also has angled seating and large overhead and skylight windows for wildlife viewing. On the trip Thursday, riders saw osprey, a broad-winged hawk, barn swallows and a great blue heron. “We think this is an opportunity for people locally and (from) out of town to go through Tennessee’s Grand Canyon and see one of the most gorgeous pieces of property east of the Rockies,” Mr. Kruesi said.

GORGE FACTS
The Tennessee River Gorge begins around Williams Island on the Tennessee River about five miles downstream from downtown Chattanooga near Baylor School. Sometimes called “Tennessee’s Grand Canyon,” the gorge is a 2,000-foot-deep canyon about 27 miles long and one-half to three-quarters of a mile wide. The departure of the 65-foot-long vessel from its berth just south of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., was delayed for a day when its window skylights loosened during transport, said Thom Benson, aquarium spokesman. Repairs were made in Port Everglades, and the boat set off on June 12, he said.

IF YOU GO
The Tennessee River Gorge Explorer will offer educational tours of the gorge beginning June 27, launching from the Chattanooga Pier. For more information, visit www.tnaqua.org/visitorInfo/rge.asp. The River Gorge Explorer has six TV screens displaying images of the wildlife and foliage that riders might see in the river gorge, including bald eagles, wild turkeys, rattlesnakes, great egrets, hummingbirds, river otter, mallard ducks and greenback herons.