Photo Gallery
Locals expand their horizons on far-away waterways with the help of TVCC and Choo Choo Diving
Learn More
Find out more about upcoming trips at tvccpaddler.com and choochoodive.com. *While Choo Choo Diving will take any local on most trips, regardless of diving certification, TVCC typically only takes experienced paddlers on overnight trips. If you’d like to get some practice in, the club routinely holds a paddling school over Memorial Day weekend, focusing on whitewater, flatwater and canoe paddling. It’s a great way to increase your paddling knowledge and get plugged in with the club, says Rand.
Buffalo River in Arkansas with TVCC
June 11-19This scenic river features gorgeous bluff views, waterfalls, wildlife and more. The group plans to do lots of paddling, camping, fishing and relaxing.St. Croix River in Wisconsin with TVCCJuly 24-July 30TVCC will spend a week on this clean-water river in Wisconsin, complete with fishing, camping, hiking and exploring historic towns.Roatan Island with Choo Choo DivingJuly 16-23This trip will be heaven for divers, with its crystal-clear waters and legendary dive sites. Add kayaking, dolphin encounters, exploration of Mayan ruins and more, and you’ve got one great trip.Socorro Islands with Choo Choo Diving Nov. 30-Dec. 9This trip is for advanced divers and thrill seekers. These islands are well-known for Giant Pacific manta ray sightings, and travelers will spend eight days and nights aboard the Rocio Del Mar, a boat that’s custom built for divers.
The water is muddy in the San Juan River, says Carolyn Rand. The murky hue of the winding waterway nearly matches the reddish-brown walls of the canyons that tower above it.
As cruise master, Rand traversed the scenic San Juan, which flows through Utah and New Mexico, along with several other paddlers from the Tennessee Valley Canoe Club last summer. They spent their days gliding through the red water, stopping off on banks to get a closer look at the ancient petroglyph panels in Butler Wash, to explore the ruins of the pueblo-style cliff dwellings and to camp for the night.
Rand admits with a laugh that she wasn't a fan of all the sand and mud - they had to wait for the muddy water to settle in their canteens before they could begin filtering it - though the kids on the trip didn't seem to mind it. They splashed around until bedtime, at which point they'd crawl straight into their sleeping bags for the night.
Still, group overnighters are a particular joy for Rand. "I would never do a river like the San Juan alone," she says.
Overnight trips, both near and far, are a staple of TVCC.
Rand, who's been a member of the club for nearly 22 years, says the trips range from a one-night adventure on the Ocoee River, just an hour away, to trips like the San Juan in Utah, which took three days just to travel from Chattanooga to the foot of the river, and nine days to paddle the river.
Likewise, Choo Choo Diving and Aquatic Center takes locals on overnight excursions, with trips as far as 30 hours away. This month, for example, Travel Director Malu Hammans is taking eight locals on a trip to Isla Mujeres, a tiny island that's five miles long and two miles wide and accessible by ferry from Cancun. "It's known for whale sharks and giant mantas and turtles," she says. "It's an awesome place. There's not a McDonald's, no commercial food outlets. It's all locally owned by the island people, and the restaurants are phenomenal."
Hammans caught the diving bug from her sister. "I walked into the dive shop and said 'I want to be certified.'" And so she was. Within a few days she was on her first open-water dive, and within five years she hit her 1,000th dive.
Subsequently, Hammans also caught the travel bug.
"I can't tell you how many places I've been," she says with a laugh. "We have a world map [here at Choo Choo Diving] and we have red and white striped flags everywhere [symbolizing dives we've done around the world]."
As travel director for the past six months, Hammans has used her travel experience to research and conduct site visits to plan out new adventures for any Chattanoogan who is interested, whether they plan to dive or not.
"Not everybody is certified by any stretch of the imagination," she says. "Most of our trips are some place where there's something else to do besides dive." Travelers have the opportunity to do everything from zip lining, to exploring the beach and wilderness to shopping and eating the exotic local fare.
Travel Buddies
A sense of adventure is a major thread that draws in the locals who go on these trips, and the camaraderie they build keeps them coming back. "You just make friends [that last] for years. It makes a trip easier when you know people and you know what to expect from them," says Rand.
Fellow TVCC member Don Bodley agrees. He fondly reminisces on the early days of the club, back in the 1960s, when the high level of enthusiasm for the trips made up for the lack of skill on the water. "There were a lot of canoe upsets on those early trips," Bodley says, adding that many also lacked the knowledge of how to pack their food for such trips so that it wouldn't be ruined if the canoe capsized. "We observed that the people who lost their food when their canoe turned over, that evening had a better, more varied supper than those who had stayed upright. People helping people was a good part of the fun."
And it remains the same today, 50-plus years later. "Particularly on the longer backcountry trips, the cooperation among people to accomplish the trip is encouraging," adds Bodley. "Gear [boats, tents, cars, etc.] is usually shared as needed; group objectives take preference over individual wishes."
That even goes for times when the river is muddier than preferred, because there will always be another trip with a new and different kind of adventure. "This coming year we are doing the St. Croix River in Wisconsin, just because I was tired of muddy rivers," Rand jokes.