Rock Quarry/Party Cove

We drove the pontoon boat over to the "The Rock Quarry" aka "Party Cove" several times this last trip.  I did another post about it last year.  Alex hadn't been over there yet and we wanted her to see it and get a chance to jump off the rocks.

At a depth of 105 feet, the rock quarry is the deepest part of the lake.  It's also extremely popular for a number of reasons.  In the summer boats pile up in there, tie up together and it's one huge party.  We usually try to go early, swim and jump off the rocks and skedaddle outta there before the party boats arrive.  The rock cliffs are about 2.5 stories high and it's a right of passage to climb and make the leap.  People also bring spray paint and decorate the rocks, and recently someone hung a new swinging rope that we were dying to try!

Alex leaping in....

Here's a photo of the cliffs, just to give you an idea of how high they are and how they are decorated with paint....

Alex makes her first jump!

Chablis leaps!

Tony and Alex go together - aren't they cute?

Kyle climbing higher....

The second day we went back armed with 4 cans of spray paint.  The kids had sprayed their names on the walls many years ago, but only Kyle's name still remains.  We aimed to make our mark again.  Kyle is scoping out a good spot....

We took turns holding the boat steady.....

Even I had to get into the act....

Chablis writing her name....

Tony and Alex working hard....

Kyle's nickname is "fo-a-min-jar-o."  Don't ask me why, but the kids all have crazy names for each other and that one is his.  That took the longest to write...

Alex, Tony, Chablis & I all managed to squeeze ours close together....

All finished with the spray painting!

Kyle and Chablis headed over towards the rope swing....

It's a short climb....

Kyle takes off first....

 Then Chablis....

And finally Tony....

The party boats started pulling in, so we pulled out....

And Kyle ended the morning by doing some somersaults off the boat!

The Rock Quarry is always a good time!

The Rock Quarry aka Party Cove

We've spent a lot of time the last 2 days at The Rock Quarry, aka Party Cove, on Kentucky Lake.  Lots of lakes have that popular cove where everyone likes to hang out and The Rock Quarry is the place to be on a hot summer day.  The quarry is about 105 ft. deep.

Most weekends you can barely even get into the cove because of all the boats and jet skis that are lined up and tied together.  It's one huge party and I can tell you it is definately not rated PG13.  This is not the place to take the kids on the weekend.  But early on a weekday morning it's usually pretty empty, so we headed over to swim, rock climb and jump into the water.

Over the years people have painted the rock face with pictures.   Some of them are actually pretty good.  Jumping off the high ledge of the cliff is sort of a "rite of passage" on the lake.  But I don't know which is more fun - climbing and jumping or sitting in the boat and egging on those standing at the top.  People of all ages have made the climb.  Some people get up there, look over the edge and immediately take the plunge.  Others get up there and stand.  And stand...  And stand.   The longest I've ever timed a stander is about 1 hour.  This poor girl got up there and just could not take that first step.  Everyone down below was shouting up tips and encouragements.  "Hold your nose,"  "Don't close your eyes,"  "close your eyes,"  "climb back down,"  "You can do it!"  When she finally gathered up her nerve and made the leap, a collective round of applause went up from the boaters below and when she broke the surface, she had a grin on her face the size of Montana.

 Yesterday when we went Tony decided to be the first one to swim over and  venture up...

You have to shimmy up the rocks and there is also a thick rope to help you along some of the more difficult places.

 Here's Tony walking along the top level, contemplating the jump.

And here is Tony taking the plunge.  This is the first year he's done the climb and jump!

For years we've been trying to find the beach that had this tree rope and this year we finally found it.  The kids enjoyed climbing the tree, grabbing the rope and swinging out over the lake.

Afterwards we headed back to Party Cove because Tony wanted me to climb the cliff and jump with him.  I've done it before, but never with my son, so we decided to go for it...

Here we are sitting at the top...

And here I am plunging towards the lake. 

Jumping from the cliff is an "at your own risk" adventure.   I'd advise against it if you don't feel comfortable with heights, climbing or jumping off cliffs. 

Tonight we had another evening of white bass fishing.  Darryl caught a few really nice ones.

And Barb finally caught a nice bass and will get this picture hung on the "Bass Wall of Fame" at the house..

Tomorrow I'll show you the pictures from Maggies Jungle.  It's just getting too late to load them tonight.

I'll leave you with another nice sunset.  See you tomorrow!