Days 248-250 - Down the Tenn-Tom Part I

We woke up to another cold moring and Bob lovingly turned on the generator to warm up the cabin before I got out of bed. That sweet gesture cost us several hours of waiting. When we called the lock (just 15 minutes away), the lock master informed us that he had 4 PC’s (pleasure craft) going down the lock as we spoke. He would then need to do some maintenance on the lock and it would be a couple of hours before he could lock us down. We went ahead and left our cove to anchor out just above the lock so as to be ready whenever he opened. At least we had internet there so I could upload my blog post! About 2 hours later a local sailboat joined us. 30 minutes after that the lock opened and we both entered and tied up, ready to descend. At the last minute the lock master said two more trawlers were on the way and we would wait for them. At 11 AM all 4 of us were secured and started our way down. The two boats that joined us were Tranquillity III (who we met briefly in Ludington (Lake Michigan) and who had just closed their loop in Green Turtle Bay) and Irish Rover (we saw their boat in Guntersville before they started their loop, but they were not aboard at the time). I had fun taking pictures of everyone coming and going. We went through two more locks together before we stopped at Midway Marina to fuel up, fill up with water, and make a quick run to the grocery store for perishables.

The last lock we went through together was a bit of a wait as there was a northbound tow coming up the lock. It was such a pretty picture taking time as the water was so calm as we waited.

Tranquillity III and Irish Rover waiting at the lock

The tow boat’s name is Mr. David!

A beautiful shot of Tranquillity III and Irish Rover with the tow.

This is what a bollard looks like in the lock. Kind of reminds me of the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz.  He just needs a funnel for his hat.

Here is a picture of Karen on Tranquillity “catching” the bollard with her boat hook and line. Notice how cold she looks!

The dams here are well marked with both buoys and warning signs.

We did notice that not all the locks have spillways with them. Bob discovered that the waterway was built, not for power generation, but specifically for river travel, taking some of the strain off the Mississippi River. This spillway was especially beautiful at low water. You can see the graceful curve as it joins the lower level of the river.

Here is the lock tower. The Tenn-Tom locks have been quite well maintained and have very little turbulence when the water lowers. The walls are clean but the bollards squeak like the dickens!!! Ear plugs should be offered!

A view from the top. It always looks farther down than it actually is. This is only a 30 ft. drop.

Mike and Karen on Tranquillity III - notice the Gold Looper flag on the bow.

 

When the gates swing open it deceptively looks like Tranquillity will get squished!

And we are down! Back to the calm waters of the waterway

I'll stop here for now so I can post this.  More about the locks coming.

Docked at Midway Marina, - 11/14/17 with Irish Rover

Anchored at Columbus Cut - 11/15/17

Anchored at Sumpter Recreation Area - 11/16/17 with Irish Rover, Tranquillity III, Imagine Too, and Tortuga

Days 242-247 - Back underway again

I made it back from a whirlwind trip to Washington where I helped settle my folks in their new home and nearly emptied their home of 50 years. My sister had done the bulk of the work before I got there. She is one awesome lady (even if she is my little sister!) I crammed in as much visiting with family and friends as I could in between the packing and settling in.

Bob met me at the airport in Nashville and we made it back to the boat at 10 that night. It was a looong day that started at 4 AM. It was good to be home on our boat. Bob had done many boat chores while I was gone - installed a new water hose on the wash down system, fixed both toilets, installed new facets in both heads (even a new shower facet!), repacked the v-berth, installed bilge alarms, and many other projects.

This was our boat’s home for the last 3 weeks. The Chris Craft in front of us makes us look so little!

This guy kept Bob company while I was gone. Bob said he was there every day. He showed me his fishing skills while I was there by actually catching one! Of course I’d just turned off the video before he caught it :(

We spent three days shopping. enjoying Florence, and relaxing before getting underway once more.

We headed out Sunday morning after the necessary pump out. The Tennessee River is so pretty there with the tall, sculpted cliffs lined with beautiful homes.

It has been one month since we first entered this portion of the river, and as we back track we marvel at how fast the trees have changed. The trees were still summer green then, and now many are bare with a rare touch of bright color here and there..

The beauty of a waterfall is always special.

As we near the turn to the Tenn-Tom Waterway we realize that we are ending the re-tracing of our steps and we about to enter new territory once more. We’ve heard the good and the bad about what lies ahead, but have learned from all the other “new” areas that we have prepared ourselves as best we can and we will enjoy this stretch as we have the others.

We have seen Grand Harbor as we passed by on our way to the rendezvous. 

The marina office is lovely with gliders all along the dock.

Not sure if this lovely building is a home or part of the facility, but WOW!

As usual - there are fisherman. The man in the front caught a fish right after I took this picture. He nearly fell out of the boat!

This lovely home was just down river from the marina. Notice the fun slide next to the boat house.

We anchored for a very chilly night in a cove not far from the beginning of the Tenn-Tom and joined a small sailboat already there. It was carrying two fairly new Loopers - college friends that had read of two other co-eds doing the Loop, and decided to give it a try. We had them over to the boat for drinks and appetizers and had a very good visit. They are traveling on a 29 foot sailboat that belongs to Grace’s dad. With his help, she refitted the boat for the Loop. It is very basic - no refrigerator and an alcohol stove. She redid the all important toilet so they have the necessities. I gave them some tips on the AGLCA’s web site and Bob showed them our navigation software. Emily and Grace were a delight and we hope to meet up with them soon.

The next morning started out cold and cloudy but eventually the clouds moved off and the sun warmed us up a little bit. Bob is still thawing out though. A high of 55 up on the fly bridge is a bit nippy. He even broke out the gloves!

Lots to see around us today.

Wonderful rock formations

Goat Island that reportedly actually has goats but they opted not to show themselves to us.

Flocks of white pelicans - my first time seeing white ones!

So beautiful!

Do you think this heron wants to be a pelican? Or maybe hoping they’ll share a meal?

These two boats started out the day ahead of us. One sped up and disappeared but we followed the one all morning. I think he was flying a Looper burgie, but I’m not sure. This was taken at the beginning of the “cut”. The Tenn-Tom is a man made waterway connecting the Tennessee River to the Tombigbee River (thus the name). The “cut” is so deep that is took a full 25 % of the budget and moved more dirt than the entire Panama Canal.

Most of the cut is lined with rock but it is interrupted by streams and rivers joining the waterway. The Corps of Engineers created special constructions that prevent rivers (when in high water) from rushing into the waterway and potentially being a problem for the large tows (and small boats like us).

The cut is plenty wide for two loaded barges to pass and we have passed several of them!

We stopped for the night in this beautiful quiet cove.  We hoped to see some wildlife and were rewarded by a cute otter-like creature playing along the shore and a heron fishing for his dinner.  The stars were amazing that night.  The Milky Way blazed across the sky.  

Tomorrow we start locking through again as we hope to make it through 3 locks.

Docked at Florence Marina, Alabama - 10/20-11/11

Anchored in Zippy Cove off the Tenn-Tom, Mississippi - 11/12

Anchored in Coot Cove off the Tenn-Tom, Mississippi - 11/13

Days 215-222 Joe Wheeler - Rendezvous!

We spent a peaceful few days anchored out in First Creek by Joe Wheeler before moving to the marina.  We didn't get much wind from Hurricane Nate, but did get a LOT of rain!  Good thing we are water tight! 

One day we were showering on the bow (in our swimsuits :) ), when a guy on a SeaDoo (a beefed up jet ski) zoomed up and peppered us with questions on the Great Loop.  We invited him on board (after we rinsed the soap out of Bob's hair) and had a lovely visit.  He dreams of doing the Loop on his SeaDoo.  He travels now for about two weeks at a time, either on his motorcycle on land, or his SeaDoo on the rivers.  A very interesting form of travel!.

Everything is waterproofed, he camps along the shore wherever he can find a spot to pitch a tent.

Oh, by the way - showering on the bow is a great way to escape the 90+ temperatures we've been having! (No air conditioning while at anchor unless we run the generator).

We said goodbye to our dear friends David and Kim on Overtime as they head back home to Chattanooga after crossing their wake.  They will be missed, but perhaps they will choose to come to the Bahamas with us????

Ed and Sue on Angel Louise brought their car back from their "dirt" home in North Carolina so we had a fun few days touring the area including Shiloh.  The battlefield from the Civil War Era was well remembered with markers of many of the prominent battle sites, and a movie that was a very realistic reenactment of the battle.  After viewing the movie, you drive around the battlefield stopping at whichever landmarks you choose.
Many beautiful monuments 

and rows of cannons are throughout the area.

We stopped at The CatFish Hotel for a lunch of...you guessed it - CATFISH!  Not too bad, but I prefer the meatier Halibut or Cod.

Sue's Catfish tacos

Ed's all you can eat fried catfish

Sue and I with a Confederate soldier who has seen better days!

Saw my first sorghum field in my memory.  Looks very much like stunted corn.

With all the hot weather we've had its nice to be reminded it really is fall.  This beautiful town near Shiloh was decked out for the season.

More and more Loopers are arriving as Rendezvous draws closer.  We have docktails every night and meet more and more people.  I'm loving it!

Abby, the one eye dog, who lives aboard The One Eye Dog joins us for docktails.

The docks when we arrived - 3 Looper boats

The docks 6 days later with over 51 Looper boats in residence! (not all of them are pictured here).

We attended many presentations at the Rendezvous and learned what lies ahead for us as we transit the rivers between here and Mobile, Alabama, then enter Florida and "make the crossing" from Carrabelle, Florida to Tarpon Springs, Florida.  This is an overnight crossing (our first), so we are a bit nervous, but we received a lot of encouragement and instruction from experienced Loopers.  From there we will tour Florida for part of the winter before crossing to the Bahamas.  We are still not sure of our time table - we will build it as we go.

We did have a lot of fun times in between the classes.  The most fun was the dinghy race.  The "captain" was blindfolded and was required to steer the dinghy in reverse to a buoy and back.  All this was at the direction of the "first mate".  It was a lot of fun with much laughter.  The winner  was a "captain" who had never driven a dinghy before directed by her husband. (our friends Bev and Bruce on Seaquest). She HAD to depend on his instructions as she had no idea what she was doing! She joked that she still had to follow his direction AFTER the blindfold came off as she still had no idea what she was doing!

This couple ended up going round and round and never did find the buoy!

Jaws paid a surprise visit and tried to eat the second place winners.  

Luckily he missed!

After a week filled with learning, fun, and lots of new friends we headed back into the rivers to put our new found knowledge to work.  Our first dilemma was how to get 20+ boats through a lock that is closed for maintenance during the day.  The lock master worked with us and said if we were there EARLY, he would lock us through before any waiting tows.  21 trawlers, 1 sailboat, 1 canoe were lined up and ready to go when he opened the lock at 4:30 in the afternoon.  One of the captains offered to coordinate the operation and informed us who would tie up where in the lock.  There are only 10 points to tie up to so many boats had to "raft" on to another boat.

Waiting...waiting...waiting...

After all the larger boats were safely tied up, our lone canoe makes his way to the front of the line.

It went so smoothly that the doors were shut just 30 minutes after they opened.  

This heron appeared to enjoy the show.

The lock master was kind enough to take this picture from his perch at the top and send it to us!

As we exited the lock we were met by this beauty - a paddle wheel tour boat.  Such a gorgeous sunset farewell to rendezvous as we all continue the adventure....

Anchored in First Creek, Joe Wheeler State Park, Alabama - 10/7-10/12
Docked at Joe Wheeler State Park, Alabama - 10/13-10/19