referring to our distance along
the Osage River to the dam, and
about 10 miles plus a long no-
wake zone from Party Cove.
1 P.M.
We arrived at the 1.5-mile-long
party spot o cially known as
Anderson Hollow on maps.
Party Cove was a dirty se-
cret, attractive in its salacious-
ness of thousands of boaters
drinking, dancing, sometimes
stripping and, not so rarely,
other illegal acts. In its hey-
day, Party Cove might see over
3,000 boats rafted together
with a precision that belied
the apparent chaos of so many
boats and people in one place.
But, as we rounded the
point at the mouth of the cove,
it appeared deserted but for
a few dozen boats scattered
deep in the hollow. In fact,
there were multiple rafts of
fewer boats, not the endless
rafts of rub-rail-to-rub-rail
partiers I expected. Along each
side of the bay, smaller coves
of ered one or two boats soli-
tude — an unheard of solitude
on Party Cove just a few short
years earlier. And there were
still some secluded pockets of
water available.
Party Cove was no more,
and no one who lives at the
lake is sad to see its demise. I
mused that enforcement was
working. Mosher disagreed.
“I wish it was something we
did, but it was probably more
a change in demographics.
People just started spreading
out. They go to many dif erent
places now,” she explained.
With the cost of marinegasoline (approaching and
even exceeding $4 per gallon),
perhaps boaters aren’t willing
to travel as far to be in the big
raft-up. And Anderson Hollow
is a good long cruise from
many parts of this 92-mile-
long waterway. Then there’s
that 2-mile-long no-wake
zone. There are dozens of
coves closer to home port, like
Linn Creek Cove at the 31-milemarker or Ha Ha Tonka Cove
in the Niangua Arm.1:15 P.M.
Mosher stopped a pontoon fi rst
in Party Cove because three
passengers were dragging their
feet in the water at the bow —
a clearly dangerous practice.
They knew it too as they moved
back inside the gate. Mosher
reminded them of the risk they
were taking of falling into the
path of the prop.We learned not every-
body is sad to hear from a wa-
ter trooper as another boat
throttled up at a reasonable
distance from the rafted boats.
“Pull your ladder up!”
Mosher shouted, pointing to
the dragging appendage. She
repeated the command in a
surprisingly booming voice
for the thus far soft-spoken
trooper. “Pull it up!”“Thank you! We love you!”
they yelled back, blowing
kisses as one of the crew se-
cured the ladder, which they
would’ve likely lost at sea.
We headed out of Party
Cove and back toward Red
Bud Cove, where we’d meet
up with my boat crew, or so I
thought. Halfway there, a pon-
toon boat was cruising along
with two men sitting on the
sun pad over the motor. The
violation was becoming cliché.
Mosher waved them down
and pulled alongside. The boat“IT’S REAL EASY TO FALL OFF OF
THE SUN PAD WHEN YOU’RE
MOVING. IT’S ALSO ILLEGAL.”
Anderson
Hollow Cove
had plenty of
open water
for peace
and solitude
on that July
Saturday.86 | BOATINGMAG.COM | MAY 2018