August 7, 2007 - We were up early at Carrabelle and checked the weather for our final open water leg from Carrabelle to Crystal River, FL. Everything looked the same as the day before; almost no wind to speak of and one foot or so rolling swells with no wind waves. This is good weather for Shorty to run fast in so off we went. We eased down the river channel toward the Green One Buoy and there we would call up the first of four waypoints we had put in the chartplotter the day before while we were waiting and doing our laundry at the marina. We told the chartplotter to go to the first waypoint and there was the line drawn on the chart to guide us there. It gives you the true bearing to the waypoint which is a buoy out in the Appalachicola Bay. We arrived there in seven minutes running at 18 kts. The it was time for waypoint number two and we repeated the same process and arrived in about 20 minutes. The third waypoint was for a buoy further down the coast and we put it in and when we arrived a US Coast Guard Buoy Tender was actually trying to pick up the buoy and service it so we called them on the vessel and told them the reason we were heading for them is that we were using it as a waypoint. So they held off station and let us round the buoy and turn south on the final leg and waypoint which was 75 miles away across open waters of the Gulf of Mexico and then we had a further 30 miles to go to cross my original wake at Buoy Number One at the entrance to Crystal River Channel. We did all this and crossed my original wake at 2:25 PM on August 7, 2007 and turned up the channel of the Crystal River toward Shorty’s home and Pete’s Pier Marina where we met Mike from Three Rivers Marine and Shorty was loaded on a trailer and taken to the dealership where he will be available for a new owner who wishes to have a superb boat with a good pedigree. The total miles will be refigured but the first estimate is about 5100 miles under the hull from Jan 15, 2007 to August 7, 2007. They promptly cleaned off Shorty’s mustache from the muddier waters encountered on the trip and went on to clean the outside and he looks like new. There are a few things more to do and then he will be ready for a new owner. So anyone I met who is interested please contact Mike Shotwell or anyone at www.threeriversmarine.com.
On the last day we had a beautiful pastel sunrise and just a glorious day on the water watching the dolphins that would occasionally surface just a ways from the boat and swim with us for a few minutes and then later on more would do the same thing. We also think that we may have seen one of the giant sea turtles lying on the surface until we got real close and then he dove. We did not see any sharks. The ride was wonderful and Shorty just loped along doing anywhere from 16 knots going up waves to surfing off of them at 21 knots. It was both wonderful and a very sad and emotional day knowing that this was the last leg of the trip and Shorty and I would be parting company in just a few hours. My eyes would well up with tears and I tried to be tough but it just wasn’t to be and when I passed Buoy One at Crystal River the tears flowed as I thought about all of the wonderful times Shorty and I had on the trip, the people, the marinas and above all the scenery. I thought about the support of my wife from the beginning for the trip and the calls each day to tell her that I was safe and sound and where I was at the moment and to tell her how much I missed her and wished she were there at the moment to see what I had seen that day and what was coming. I thought about the time spent with Bob Keller and on the last 1200 miles with Gary Honold whose wife was kind enough to allow him to go with me. It was an absolutely amazing ten days of travel from Green Turtle Bay in Grand River, KY to Crystal River. I also had super support from everyone at Three Rivers Marine who was the dealer for Cape Cruisers especially mechanical help from Kenny, the friendly voices of Laurie and Adelaide when I would call with a problem and most of all Mike Shotwell who I could count on for anything I needed especially when Shorty was washed up on the sandbar in Florida by a big Sport Fishing boat that went past when I was anchoring.
I know I have probably forgotten many people but I had a beautiful trip and I felt at times that the Shorty Cole who died before we could do the trip together and who I named Shorty for had his hand on my shoulder and I could hear him say, “Go get it, I know you can do it.” I can’t say enough about the boat; it just handled everything I put it through and came out with that lapstrake grin saying now that was fun and see you tomorrow morning as we went to sleep at night at a marina or on anchor.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Monday, August 6, 2007
August 3,4,5,6 2007
August 3, 2007 - The goal for today was to come from Demopolis, AL to Bobby’s Fish Camp and refuel and be ready for tomorrow when he hoped to run from there to Mobile Bay. We made it to Bobby’s place and fueled up and it was only noon so we decided that instead of paying a dock fee there we would go the three miles to the last lock on the trip and after going through it just anchor somewhere downstream where it looked like a good place to do so. Thus we are anchored about 30 miles downstream and traveled 150 miles today with no trouble at all. We are running the fan off the inverter and will use the little generator to run the microwave so we can cook. It is too hot to even think about starting the Coleman Stove. Gary has been in swimming and now is on the sand bar stalking something. The flies are terrible and we will put the screens up when the breeze dies and continue to kill the ones who show up. We are hoping that out here on the water it will be cooler sooner than it has been doing in a marina that is off the channel and in a little bayou somewhere. We have had more commercial barge traffic today and since we anchored here two more have gone by going upstream. This also completed all of the locks on the Great Loop Cruise for me as my destination is now Crystal River, FL.
We have really enjoyed the varied scenery that we have had going down the river. It has had some industrial plants but mostly it has be clays, sand, rock and even again today some bluffs in places that I would not have expected them to be. We see some neat birds every day and today was my first time to ever see a kingfisher at work fishing. Finally we saw a small deer today alongside the waterway. We also have seen lots of summer homes and RV’s but more within reach of the average person instead of these huge mansions’s which I saw many times on this trip. We had expected the waterway when we got this far south to be consisting of swamps and such but so far it has not.
It is about time to fire up the generator so we can cook our stuff fast and then shut it off before it heats everything up.
August 4, 2007 – This morning we woke up on the Tombigbee River at mile 71 on anchor. It was a very peaceful and quiet night with only two tows that we heard go by and they sort of light up the cabin when they sweep the shoreline as they proceed through the night toward their next destination on the river. Since we had gone through our last lock for trip all we had to do was eat breakfast and pull up anchor and start on down the river. We hated to disturb the silence as there was a deer foraging on the shore next to us. The shoreline today contained some really large Cypress trees with lots of the cypress knots that grow in the root system just above the water. There were also some large pine plantations and along with them the paper and pulp plants which produce the Alabama scent of money so you can’t complain about the smell. We passed some more tows on the way to Mobile where we encountered numerous different things we happening on the water such as fleeting of barges and unloading and loading of ships. We reached the head of the bay in the city of Mobile about noon today and it was just about totally smooth with the exception of all the wakes made by all the fishermen out on a Saturday and running around the bay here and there. We followed the buoys down to the mouth of the bay where we made a port turn to get into the Intracoastal Waterway going east toward Florida. We are not very far from the Florida border the way we see it on the chart. Tomorrow morning when we get up we will pass Perdido Pass on our way east. It has been seven days since we started this leg and we believe we have already logged 700 miles toward Crystal River, FL. This is an exciting time again because we are in waters which we have never navigated in before and having two sets of eyes is really helpful. We also are contending with all of the weekend traffic and as an example of that which is very typical of Sea Ray Captains one just stopped in a narrow channel and then proceeded to back up across the channel and then turn around and when we went past him he yelled and shook his fist at us because we evidently did not wait for whatever other maneuver he had in mind to do at the time. The channel we were in was barely two boats wide at the time and we thought he might have gone aground while he was doing it because we heard someone call for Sea Tow right at that time and he was definitely out of the channel which something you don’t do in Florida unless you have local knowledge.
The place we are staying tonight is Zeke’s Landing Marina and they have a whole fleet of fishing boats and a restaurant that will cook the fish you catch while they are fresh from the gulf. They are also having a fishing tournament and so there are bunches of people here and boats as well. We are again the orphan back in the corner but they put us right next to the lower priced restaurant on the dock and the smell of fish has us believing that we just may have to indulge ourselves with something good. We of course think we deserve this because of the wonderful day we had crossing the bay and because it is another hot humid day. I am just watching a huge double-decker fishing charter boat going out to the pass. We are on one side of the road and on the other side is the Gulf of Mexico and the beach. Of course there are Condos everywhere in sight which is blocking the Gulf breeze. We are also in palm tree country again. The seafood smells is overpowering and remember the choices are seafood or Chef Boyardee or Dinty Moore so need I say more about who might win out. Then tomorrow it will be onward and eastward toward Crystal River.
August 5, 2007 – I am sitting here watching a very beautiful sunset fade away in darkness as I write the day’s installment. We traveled from Orange Beach, Al to Apalachicola, Fl which is 30 miles from our next destination which is Carrabelle, FL and then the final leg to Crystal River, FL. Today’s run was 187 miles in total distance. Also as I am sitting here there is a giant alligator that they say is seventeen feet long just cruising through the harbor looking for handouts from the fishermen who are coming in with their boats this evening. He also has a buddy who hangs out with him but who is considerably smaller than he is.
Today’s travel was through large bays, narrow canals and then through some salt marshes this evening on our way here. We had some pretty good chop on the bays and traveled through some terrific downpours of rain which had no lightning in them. The longest bay was thirty miles and some sections of the river channels were about fifteen to twenty miles before the next open water. There was more of the swampy type of terrain today with large cypress trees with all of the knees sticking up on the root system. The bay water averaged probably ten feet deep and the beach sand was white and looked like sugar. This being the weekend we also had to watch the boat drivers and make sure we did not hit anyone of anything that was around us.
The shrimp fleet is up the river from Scipio’s marina and they have been heading out to the gulf ever since we got here in every type of boat imaginable.
August 6, 2007 – This report will be very short because the only move we made today was from Apalachicola to Carrabelle, FL on the Apalachicola Bay which did not give us much to see or do in thirty miles other than watch for markers, shoals and make sure we got into the correct place at Carrabelle. The marina is called The Moorings at Carrabelle and it is a first class marina. We have been sitting here since we arrived and going over the chart for tomorrow and making notes and finished putting in the waypoints we will use on the Gulf portion of the trip which is just more navigation over open water and making sure we arrive where we want to be.
We just finished lunch and are going to do laundry this afternoon so we have that done and once we get to Crystal River and find a way home that will pretty much be it.
This is the first time in a few days that I am going to be able to post. I could not get a good cell tower the signal some days as we were too much in the boondocks or the cell lines were all used up on the weekend and I kept getting a busy signal
We have really enjoyed the varied scenery that we have had going down the river. It has had some industrial plants but mostly it has be clays, sand, rock and even again today some bluffs in places that I would not have expected them to be. We see some neat birds every day and today was my first time to ever see a kingfisher at work fishing. Finally we saw a small deer today alongside the waterway. We also have seen lots of summer homes and RV’s but more within reach of the average person instead of these huge mansions’s which I saw many times on this trip. We had expected the waterway when we got this far south to be consisting of swamps and such but so far it has not.
It is about time to fire up the generator so we can cook our stuff fast and then shut it off before it heats everything up.
August 4, 2007 – This morning we woke up on the Tombigbee River at mile 71 on anchor. It was a very peaceful and quiet night with only two tows that we heard go by and they sort of light up the cabin when they sweep the shoreline as they proceed through the night toward their next destination on the river. Since we had gone through our last lock for trip all we had to do was eat breakfast and pull up anchor and start on down the river. We hated to disturb the silence as there was a deer foraging on the shore next to us. The shoreline today contained some really large Cypress trees with lots of the cypress knots that grow in the root system just above the water. There were also some large pine plantations and along with them the paper and pulp plants which produce the Alabama scent of money so you can’t complain about the smell. We passed some more tows on the way to Mobile where we encountered numerous different things we happening on the water such as fleeting of barges and unloading and loading of ships. We reached the head of the bay in the city of Mobile about noon today and it was just about totally smooth with the exception of all the wakes made by all the fishermen out on a Saturday and running around the bay here and there. We followed the buoys down to the mouth of the bay where we made a port turn to get into the Intracoastal Waterway going east toward Florida. We are not very far from the Florida border the way we see it on the chart. Tomorrow morning when we get up we will pass Perdido Pass on our way east. It has been seven days since we started this leg and we believe we have already logged 700 miles toward Crystal River, FL. This is an exciting time again because we are in waters which we have never navigated in before and having two sets of eyes is really helpful. We also are contending with all of the weekend traffic and as an example of that which is very typical of Sea Ray Captains one just stopped in a narrow channel and then proceeded to back up across the channel and then turn around and when we went past him he yelled and shook his fist at us because we evidently did not wait for whatever other maneuver he had in mind to do at the time. The channel we were in was barely two boats wide at the time and we thought he might have gone aground while he was doing it because we heard someone call for Sea Tow right at that time and he was definitely out of the channel which something you don’t do in Florida unless you have local knowledge.
The place we are staying tonight is Zeke’s Landing Marina and they have a whole fleet of fishing boats and a restaurant that will cook the fish you catch while they are fresh from the gulf. They are also having a fishing tournament and so there are bunches of people here and boats as well. We are again the orphan back in the corner but they put us right next to the lower priced restaurant on the dock and the smell of fish has us believing that we just may have to indulge ourselves with something good. We of course think we deserve this because of the wonderful day we had crossing the bay and because it is another hot humid day. I am just watching a huge double-decker fishing charter boat going out to the pass. We are on one side of the road and on the other side is the Gulf of Mexico and the beach. Of course there are Condos everywhere in sight which is blocking the Gulf breeze. We are also in palm tree country again. The seafood smells is overpowering and remember the choices are seafood or Chef Boyardee or Dinty Moore so need I say more about who might win out. Then tomorrow it will be onward and eastward toward Crystal River.
August 5, 2007 – I am sitting here watching a very beautiful sunset fade away in darkness as I write the day’s installment. We traveled from Orange Beach, Al to Apalachicola, Fl which is 30 miles from our next destination which is Carrabelle, FL and then the final leg to Crystal River, FL. Today’s run was 187 miles in total distance. Also as I am sitting here there is a giant alligator that they say is seventeen feet long just cruising through the harbor looking for handouts from the fishermen who are coming in with their boats this evening. He also has a buddy who hangs out with him but who is considerably smaller than he is.
Today’s travel was through large bays, narrow canals and then through some salt marshes this evening on our way here. We had some pretty good chop on the bays and traveled through some terrific downpours of rain which had no lightning in them. The longest bay was thirty miles and some sections of the river channels were about fifteen to twenty miles before the next open water. There was more of the swampy type of terrain today with large cypress trees with all of the knees sticking up on the root system. The bay water averaged probably ten feet deep and the beach sand was white and looked like sugar. This being the weekend we also had to watch the boat drivers and make sure we did not hit anyone of anything that was around us.
The shrimp fleet is up the river from Scipio’s marina and they have been heading out to the gulf ever since we got here in every type of boat imaginable.
August 6, 2007 – This report will be very short because the only move we made today was from Apalachicola to Carrabelle, FL on the Apalachicola Bay which did not give us much to see or do in thirty miles other than watch for markers, shoals and make sure we got into the correct place at Carrabelle. The marina is called The Moorings at Carrabelle and it is a first class marina. We have been sitting here since we arrived and going over the chart for tomorrow and making notes and finished putting in the waypoints we will use on the Gulf portion of the trip which is just more navigation over open water and making sure we arrive where we want to be.
We just finished lunch and are going to do laundry this afternoon so we have that done and once we get to Crystal River and find a way home that will pretty much be it.
This is the first time in a few days that I am going to be able to post. I could not get a good cell tower the signal some days as we were too much in the boondocks or the cell lines were all used up on the weekend and I kept getting a busy signal
Thursday, August 2, 2007
August 2, 2007
August 2, 2007 – We checked out of the Columbus Marina this morning about 6:30 AM or so and headed out for the Stennis Lock and Dam right next door. We waited for him to fill the lock and then we headed on through and down the Tombigbee for the next lock as we had three of them to do today. As we were traveling 118 miles today we had to really get up and go. We made all three locks fine and tonight we are in Demopolis, AL. No rain showers and slime today for both us and the boat.
As we went down the river today we saw what was described as blue rock and some chalk cliffs along one side or the other. The cypress trees were still along the river and we began to see Spanish moss on some of the trees. They also have an overabundance of herons as we see many of those. This is another of those things I am going to have to research further and add to this in the future.
This is very short today as we traveled pretty fast so we could cover the miles. From here to Mobile Bay they are pretty long trips each day.
We had this cat at Columbus Marina that seemed to adopt us for some reason as soon as we arrived there and went to the office. Last night it rained during the night and Gary got up to close the windows and then when the rain was over opened them up again. We had seen the cat walking around checking out the boats before we went to bed. Well Gary missed one of the fasteners and who came through the screen but the cat and he had just started to go to sleep when the cat pounced on him. Scared the dickens out of him and he promptly put the cat out and closed the screen. This morning the cat was back in front of the office door as he knows where his bread is buttered
As we went down the river today we saw what was described as blue rock and some chalk cliffs along one side or the other. The cypress trees were still along the river and we began to see Spanish moss on some of the trees. They also have an overabundance of herons as we see many of those. This is another of those things I am going to have to research further and add to this in the future.
This is very short today as we traveled pretty fast so we could cover the miles. From here to Mobile Bay they are pretty long trips each day.
We had this cat at Columbus Marina that seemed to adopt us for some reason as soon as we arrived there and went to the office. Last night it rained during the night and Gary got up to close the windows and then when the rain was over opened them up again. We had seen the cat walking around checking out the boats before we went to bed. Well Gary missed one of the fasteners and who came through the screen but the cat and he had just started to go to sleep when the cat pounced on him. Scared the dickens out of him and he promptly put the cat out and closed the screen. This morning the cat was back in front of the office door as he knows where his bread is buttered
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
August 1, 2007
August 1, 2007 – Today was a very short travel day. We are spending the night in the Columbus, MS marina. We did this so we could get Shorty’s oil changed which we needed to do to stay in the 100 hour range between oil changes. We went through the Aberdeen Lock and Dam this morning early and then rolled on down the river. The country has gotten a lot swampier and when we come to wide parts in the channel we are seeing more cypress trees and more cypress stumps with second growth which we think looks like little bonsai trees growing. We passed a few commercial operations and docks on the river. We also came around a bend shortly before reaching Columbus and there sat the The Delta Queen paddle wheeler that traverses the rivers of the country in lots of different areas. Very surprised to see her on the Tombigbee Waterway. The gangplank was leading to the shore and at the end of it there was a tent set up and it could have lead from the shore to one of the antebellum homes on the plantations down here. Would like to have heard the old steam calliope as we did when she used to come to Clarksville on the Cumberland River ever so often. It used to echo up and down the river valley and everyone took off work to see her go by. Tomorrow morning we start a long day by going through the John Stennis Lock and Dam and then a couple more and after the long day we hope to be in Demopolis, AL.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
July 29,30,31, 2007
July 29, 2007 – Hello from Clifton Marina at Clifton, TN. Left out this morning at about 7:00 AM and we arrived here and are tied up at 5:00 PM which surprised us as we were planning on stopping at Pebble Isle for today but we passed there at noon and decided to go on a little further while everything was working fine. The scenery along the Tennessee River was quite spectacular the further south we went. We would have bluffs on first one side and then the other. The rocks were limestone, sandstone and some shale and the limestone had weathered till it had holes in it everywhere and then trees were sprouting out from the holes and fissures in the stone. It was beautiful in summer and it could only get better if you were coming through the area in the fall. We passed under several bridges today including I-40 running east and west through the state. We also saw a little change in what was growing along the river. Shortly before we went under the interstate bridge we began to see what appeared to be small cypress trees in the river’s shallower and marshier parts. We also passed numerous day beacons which at night are lit showing the rivers trail that had osprey nests in them and all along we searched all the dead trees looking for more eagles nests. There of course were numerous RV Parks and summer homes all along the river. For the farmers reading these we also saw lots of corn growing in the river bottom land on the opposite side of the river from the bluffs. One had and irrigation system set up. We also saw a few towboats pushing lots of barges and thankfully they were all headed downstream except for one and that will probably be the one we have to wait for at the locks tomorrow.
If anyone happens to be going south along the Tennessee River I would also say to you don’t neglect the small marina we are in. It has all the amenities and room for only a few transient boats so be sure to call ahead. It has a small restaurant and a courtesy car if needed to get emergency supplies and also do laundry.
Shorty is now headed south toward Crystal River, FL on the last leg of the Great Loop Cruise and it is still just as exciting as the first few thousand miles.
July 30, 2007 – This morning we got pretty early and were on the river by 8:00 AM headed for Pickwick Dam which was fifty miles up the Tennessee River. We arrived at the dam about eleven and then after querying the lockmaster found out that we would have to wait for a tow which was coming through going down the Tennessee River and that this would take about two hours. It took a wee bit more than the time he estimated and we left the lock about 2PM and were headed five miles up the Tennessee River where we turned south on Yellow Creek which is part of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway going south to mobile. We decided to stop for the night at the Bay Springs Marina which is three tenths of a mile from the first lock on the Tombigbee and hit it first thing in the morning because we have a series of locks which are very close together tomorrow and thought we might have a better chance by getting there early in the morning. The scenery on the way today was once again spectacular with bluffs on one side of the river or the other with so many layers of rock and so many colors, enough so that even a colorblind person like myself could see them they were so bright. They had layer upon layer of limestone and some places they had holes in the walls where there were swallows flitting around about on the water below. We met a couple of tows which passed us going the right way which was opposite of us going downstream. We saw one cave fairly high up on one of the bluffs. We had one disappointment today and that was the Shiloh Military Park which fronts on the Tennessee River. They need to provide a dock so that you can go up the hill and see the park on foot. We had planned to stop at least an hour but with no place to land we had to slowly pass it by and hope to return sometime to see it by car. In the river in front of the park there were numerous boats which had divers and diver flags up which were searching the riverbed for relics from the war. We slowed down and gave them some room. The area is being discovered all along the way by the rich and even in some of the small towns there were condos on the shoreline or on the top of the bluffs. It is a shame that the only thing people can do is spending all their money on personal assets instead of doing some good works to help others. I know quit griping because if I had the money I would do it too, no way, I would just get a bigger boat and do this trip again and see other places that I did not go to this time. A person who has done it four times said he has never stopped the same place twice.
We thought we were really going to suffer in the heat last night but it turned out to be pretty good sleeping. When I woke up in the middle of the night I covered up with the sleeping bag which felt good. And in the day when we are traveling it is nice because we have all the windows open and the screens back and the air and most all the flies or whatever just flow through and out the back door. If they don’t flow through they die an early death by fly swatter. They put us in the shade this evening in a covered slip and said something about rain so I will check the weather when I finish this. I am not aware of any change in the weather until the end of the week.
July 31, 2007 – We left Bay Springs Marina this morning and were just three tenths of a mile from the first lock and dam so we called and were really fortunate that there were no towboats going through the lock or waiting so we had to wait just for them to fill the lock and to lock us down. The locks are now going south so we go in with the lock full and come out at a much lower level and the first one dropped us down 84 feet to the next level of the Tombigbee Waterway. We then proceeded to do pretty good and our timing was on and the locks were just a few miles apart. Then we caught up with a sailboat and then we started having to wait for them to lock down with us. This caused us to have a major slowdown in our day. We still managed to make it through six locks and are now sitting at Aberdeen Marina in Aberdeen, MS tonight. We are just about a mile from where we go through our first lock in the morning which is the Aberdeen Lock.
Our last lock today brought a big surprise. Just before we entered the lock it started to rain. We thought nothing of it because it did not look like there was going to be much from it. We tied off in the lock and then the storm hit. It had formed pretty much close to us and then the bottom dropped out and it poured down rain. The rain came down in sheets and if you can imagine this is happening while you are enclosed in a lock with no escape. Then the wind started to blow and the lockmaster came on the radio and said to hang on because the winds 40 feet above us were forty miles an hour and gusting higher. The rope from the boat to the bollard was strained and as tight as a fiddle string and you could here the cords stressing out. I did not think it would hold but it did and the wind was blowing so hard when the lockmaster released us and the rope was so tight we could not lift it off the bollard we had to just cut it and go on. We will have to do another piece of rope for the bollards for tomorrow. That was not all, the storm was blowing the rain so hard that it was peeling the scaly mud off of the walls and it was landing on the boat and both Gary and myself. We looked a mess when it was over and everything is drying on the back of the boat. We just washed it all off of Shorty and I cleaned most of it up that came in through the window where I hold on to the rope that encircles the bollard.
That was our adventure for the day.
The scenery is again changing and it is growing hotter each day with less of a breeze but it is still a very beautiful shoreline all the way along. We are mostly in a canal but then it widens out in front of each lock. We are seeing more and more cypress trees and swampy areas and less and less bluffs and rocks as we are now going downhill toward the gulf.
We also ran across Steve and his boat Molly Inez today just a few miles before we came into Aberdeen so we are sitting here swapping stories and problems and the heat and a lot of other things. There is one more boat behind which should arrive at any time unless they decide to anchor out for the night. That is the sailboat that was in the lock with us today when the storm hit in the lock.
So much for today and the sun is beginning to set and hopefully it will hurry up and get behind the trees and then a small breeze would be nice. But I have a feeling it is going to be another airconditionerless night with the fans running full force. Somehow it manages to cool down to the low 70’s each night so far and I end up covering up in the sleeping bag.
If anyone happens to be going south along the Tennessee River I would also say to you don’t neglect the small marina we are in. It has all the amenities and room for only a few transient boats so be sure to call ahead. It has a small restaurant and a courtesy car if needed to get emergency supplies and also do laundry.
Shorty is now headed south toward Crystal River, FL on the last leg of the Great Loop Cruise and it is still just as exciting as the first few thousand miles.
July 30, 2007 – This morning we got pretty early and were on the river by 8:00 AM headed for Pickwick Dam which was fifty miles up the Tennessee River. We arrived at the dam about eleven and then after querying the lockmaster found out that we would have to wait for a tow which was coming through going down the Tennessee River and that this would take about two hours. It took a wee bit more than the time he estimated and we left the lock about 2PM and were headed five miles up the Tennessee River where we turned south on Yellow Creek which is part of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway going south to mobile. We decided to stop for the night at the Bay Springs Marina which is three tenths of a mile from the first lock on the Tombigbee and hit it first thing in the morning because we have a series of locks which are very close together tomorrow and thought we might have a better chance by getting there early in the morning. The scenery on the way today was once again spectacular with bluffs on one side of the river or the other with so many layers of rock and so many colors, enough so that even a colorblind person like myself could see them they were so bright. They had layer upon layer of limestone and some places they had holes in the walls where there were swallows flitting around about on the water below. We met a couple of tows which passed us going the right way which was opposite of us going downstream. We saw one cave fairly high up on one of the bluffs. We had one disappointment today and that was the Shiloh Military Park which fronts on the Tennessee River. They need to provide a dock so that you can go up the hill and see the park on foot. We had planned to stop at least an hour but with no place to land we had to slowly pass it by and hope to return sometime to see it by car. In the river in front of the park there were numerous boats which had divers and diver flags up which were searching the riverbed for relics from the war. We slowed down and gave them some room. The area is being discovered all along the way by the rich and even in some of the small towns there were condos on the shoreline or on the top of the bluffs. It is a shame that the only thing people can do is spending all their money on personal assets instead of doing some good works to help others. I know quit griping because if I had the money I would do it too, no way, I would just get a bigger boat and do this trip again and see other places that I did not go to this time. A person who has done it four times said he has never stopped the same place twice.
We thought we were really going to suffer in the heat last night but it turned out to be pretty good sleeping. When I woke up in the middle of the night I covered up with the sleeping bag which felt good. And in the day when we are traveling it is nice because we have all the windows open and the screens back and the air and most all the flies or whatever just flow through and out the back door. If they don’t flow through they die an early death by fly swatter. They put us in the shade this evening in a covered slip and said something about rain so I will check the weather when I finish this. I am not aware of any change in the weather until the end of the week.
July 31, 2007 – We left Bay Springs Marina this morning and were just three tenths of a mile from the first lock and dam so we called and were really fortunate that there were no towboats going through the lock or waiting so we had to wait just for them to fill the lock and to lock us down. The locks are now going south so we go in with the lock full and come out at a much lower level and the first one dropped us down 84 feet to the next level of the Tombigbee Waterway. We then proceeded to do pretty good and our timing was on and the locks were just a few miles apart. Then we caught up with a sailboat and then we started having to wait for them to lock down with us. This caused us to have a major slowdown in our day. We still managed to make it through six locks and are now sitting at Aberdeen Marina in Aberdeen, MS tonight. We are just about a mile from where we go through our first lock in the morning which is the Aberdeen Lock.
Our last lock today brought a big surprise. Just before we entered the lock it started to rain. We thought nothing of it because it did not look like there was going to be much from it. We tied off in the lock and then the storm hit. It had formed pretty much close to us and then the bottom dropped out and it poured down rain. The rain came down in sheets and if you can imagine this is happening while you are enclosed in a lock with no escape. Then the wind started to blow and the lockmaster came on the radio and said to hang on because the winds 40 feet above us were forty miles an hour and gusting higher. The rope from the boat to the bollard was strained and as tight as a fiddle string and you could here the cords stressing out. I did not think it would hold but it did and the wind was blowing so hard when the lockmaster released us and the rope was so tight we could not lift it off the bollard we had to just cut it and go on. We will have to do another piece of rope for the bollards for tomorrow. That was not all, the storm was blowing the rain so hard that it was peeling the scaly mud off of the walls and it was landing on the boat and both Gary and myself. We looked a mess when it was over and everything is drying on the back of the boat. We just washed it all off of Shorty and I cleaned most of it up that came in through the window where I hold on to the rope that encircles the bollard.
That was our adventure for the day.
The scenery is again changing and it is growing hotter each day with less of a breeze but it is still a very beautiful shoreline all the way along. We are mostly in a canal but then it widens out in front of each lock. We are seeing more and more cypress trees and swampy areas and less and less bluffs and rocks as we are now going downhill toward the gulf.
We also ran across Steve and his boat Molly Inez today just a few miles before we came into Aberdeen so we are sitting here swapping stories and problems and the heat and a lot of other things. There is one more boat behind which should arrive at any time unless they decide to anchor out for the night. That is the sailboat that was in the lock with us today when the storm hit in the lock.
So much for today and the sun is beginning to set and hopefully it will hurry up and get behind the trees and then a small breeze would be nice. But I have a feeling it is going to be another airconditionerless night with the fans running full force. Somehow it manages to cool down to the low 70’s each night so far and I end up covering up in the sleeping bag.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
June 30 to July 28, 2007
June 30 to July 28 – Well for the last month I have been visiting with friends, spending time on Shorty and organizing the charts and all for the last leg of the journey to Crystal River, FL. I have been living under my concrete shade tree long enough and been studying the weather along the leg ahead and made the decision to move closer to the end and if a hurricane does approach I can always go to plan B which is to load Shorty on a trailer and move him inland until the hurricane passes. I was going to wait for September or October before I started south but if I did I may as well store him here at Green Turtle Bay and go home. But that is not easy either because I would miss the boat and all the friends here as well. There are several people here who are going south a little later in the year and some have started now. The sailboat named Molly Inez left the other day headed for Curacao in the Caribbean by way of the Florida Keys, Bahamas and etc. Another is preparing to leave this fall for Corpus Christi, TX and around the other side of the Gulf of Mexico. I have been here long enough that it is time to take the Velcro off the dock and start moving again. Seeing people leave for their destinations makes me want to make my way toward mine. They have been really nice to me here at Green Turtle Bay at Grand Rivers, KY. There have been quite a few people on the Great Loop Cruise who are staying here awhile and then moving further south as far as Mobile, AL to see what the weather does. I have been doing some day trips while I have been here to see places that I have worked at along the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers because the Marina has a courtesy car. I have introduced some of the people to Barkley Lodge which is 30 miles by river and about the same by car. This is a beautiful state owned lodge and park and marina on the Cumberland River. Others have gone up the Cumberland to Nashville, TN and said I was right when I told them it would be a nice trip. The geese that were sporting down now have their feathers and are stretching there wings to fly. The Turtle Lady brings her day school group down to the place where I am moored and lets the children feed the turtles bread they get from the restaurant above me. Every morning when I wake up Herman the Heron is sitting on the dock in front of me fishing for his morning meal in the pastel light of dawn and working with the fish he catches until he gets them turned around and can swallow them head first. Some friends took me and others along to a bay just up the way called Smith Bay on Kentucky Lake which is a refuge and closed during parts of the year for the Bald Eagles who have their nests there in some old dead trees. One in particular can be viewed from the boat and it has two eaglets that are busy making their parents supply them with food. One has already started to get its white head and the other is just brown feathered. I don’t know whether it is true or not but someone said they will be three years old when they start to get the white feathered head, this is something I will research later after the trip is over. It has been as always a very serene and thoughtful time when I have been tied up for a while. In some ways it is much like being in a monastery where you can be alone with your thoughts and being without TV and newspapers for most of the time helps a person not to become so involved in all of the trials and tribulations of this world but see life in a much simpler way. Of course it is hard because of the internet and cell phones and all not to be connected to the world outside but there is much more time to just be alone with your thoughts. I can see why writers will just go off somewhere to write a novel or book where they are not bothered by anyone
Friday, June 29, 2007
June 23 to June 29, 2007
June 23, 2007 to June 29, 2007 – I have finally got most of the nooks and cranny’s cleaned and the boat is somewhat presentable at this point. I have been whiling away the days doing mostly nothing at which I am very good at since retiring. I go to the reading room and sit and read all the boating magazines just in case I do this trip again I will have a lot of additional research done. Some of the time I play a game called FreeCell against the computer and most of the time it wins unless I get serious. But I have also gotten the charts for the last part of the trip and have been studying them to get ready for it. I have been meeting the people here at the dock and they are a varied lot from retirees to people who just come here for the weekend. They have new boats, old boats, restored boats and they are sail boats, houseboats, trawlers and what have you. Every one of them is just as proud of their boat as I am of Shorty. I still cannot believe the distance traveled in a month’s time aboard the boat. I checked again and got almost 2700 miles in a month. I am still cataloging in my mind all of the things I saw in that period and looking at the photos to make sure I have not forgotten something.
Since I have been here it has been really hot and humid and when it rains I just crawl up in the forward cabin and listen to the rain on the bimini top since Shorty is parked in his garage under the restaurant here called Dockers and he is short enough to be in the shade amongst the dinghy’s for other bigger boats as they come to eat. Occasionally he is joined by the Boat US towboat and the Bippy Pumper which goes from boat to boat when your waste tank is full and pumps it off.
God has been providing outstanding entertainment almost every afternoon or evening when the showers have been coming in the form of thunderstorms. As I lie in the cabin it is like someone who is in charge of the drummers of the heavens has need to practice every day and reward us with the sizzle of the lightning and then the drums rolls throughout the Ohio, Tennessee and Cumberland foothills and along the lakes as the peals of thunder roll and echo back and forth off the hills going up the rivers. It seems as though the storms were saved until we are safely ensconced for a while. As the storm moves off into the distance you can hear others receiving the same show. Then the birds come back along with a cool breeze for a while until it heats back up and maybe another show is in the offing. In the cool periods after the rain it is nice to take a walk while everything smells so fresh and the leaves are gently stirring with the slight breeze. And after while reality hits again and it is hot and humid. But all of this is good for the farmers in the area as there crops were suffering in the heat when we arrived here. There is something for everyone.
A couple of slips over at four thirty in the afternoon the turtles begin to accumulate awaiting the arrival of the turtle lady who brings the daycare class down to visit the turtles. She brings bread with her and while the kids feed the turtles she shows them all of the ones she has names for and then explains all of the different kinds that show up for turtle class every day. She has sliders, boxes, mud, snapping and a whole lot of other kinds of turtles and identifies them by there shells. There is one called Nick who was struck by a boat propeller and who seems to be doing okay. I cannot remember all of the named ones but I also go feed them bread and the people above in the restaurant go outside and give them leftover bread and biscuits not eaten so there are about 50-100 turtles in the area next to my boat on a regular basis every day.
Since I have been here it has been really hot and humid and when it rains I just crawl up in the forward cabin and listen to the rain on the bimini top since Shorty is parked in his garage under the restaurant here called Dockers and he is short enough to be in the shade amongst the dinghy’s for other bigger boats as they come to eat. Occasionally he is joined by the Boat US towboat and the Bippy Pumper which goes from boat to boat when your waste tank is full and pumps it off.
God has been providing outstanding entertainment almost every afternoon or evening when the showers have been coming in the form of thunderstorms. As I lie in the cabin it is like someone who is in charge of the drummers of the heavens has need to practice every day and reward us with the sizzle of the lightning and then the drums rolls throughout the Ohio, Tennessee and Cumberland foothills and along the lakes as the peals of thunder roll and echo back and forth off the hills going up the rivers. It seems as though the storms were saved until we are safely ensconced for a while. As the storm moves off into the distance you can hear others receiving the same show. Then the birds come back along with a cool breeze for a while until it heats back up and maybe another show is in the offing. In the cool periods after the rain it is nice to take a walk while everything smells so fresh and the leaves are gently stirring with the slight breeze. And after while reality hits again and it is hot and humid. But all of this is good for the farmers in the area as there crops were suffering in the heat when we arrived here. There is something for everyone.
A couple of slips over at four thirty in the afternoon the turtles begin to accumulate awaiting the arrival of the turtle lady who brings the daycare class down to visit the turtles. She brings bread with her and while the kids feed the turtles she shows them all of the ones she has names for and then explains all of the different kinds that show up for turtle class every day. She has sliders, boxes, mud, snapping and a whole lot of other kinds of turtles and identifies them by there shells. There is one called Nick who was struck by a boat propeller and who seems to be doing okay. I cannot remember all of the named ones but I also go feed them bread and the people above in the restaurant go outside and give them leftover bread and biscuits not eaten so there are about 50-100 turtles in the area next to my boat on a regular basis every day.
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