O God, thy Sea is so great and my boat so small

 Friday October 21, 2022, Kingfisher Bay Marina, Demopolis, Alabama: We arrived in Demopolis on Thursday evening and are spending two nights here. I am going to post a little early as the next 4-5 days will be extremely remote and we must anchor most nights as there are no marinas to be found. Beginning tomorrow from Demopolis we enter a new section of Waterway, “The Black Warrior-Tombigbee Waterway.” This is the last stretch of waterway, 217 miles to Mobile. There are no marinas on this next section of the rivers, no towns no place to pull over and rest so we figured we take two nights at Kingfisher Harbor. With luck we will arrive in Mobile on Tuesday, and we will be spending a few nights on the boat getting ready to fly to Denver for quality family time. However before going there here is how we got to Demopolis.

Sunday October 16, 2022, Travel Day # 76 Grand Harbor to Midway Marina, Fulton MS Total Distance 55 Miles, Total Time 8.5 Hours, Locks 3. Well, we had a very brief stay in Grand Harbor as we arrived at 5:30 after the marina closed and departed at 7:30 before the marina opened (had to call them to pay our bill….( I was tempted to blow them off but it was Sunday and The Lord has been very generous on this trip so, I couldn’t do that!). We had a long day with three locks. This was our first morning on the Tennessee- Tombigbee Waterway (The Ten-Tom). The Ten-Tom connects the Tennessee River with the Tombigbee River in Demopolis Alabama, providing access from Mobile Alabama to the Tennessee River. The waterway was completed in 1985 but was in the planning stages since 1810. The waterway shortens as much as 720 miles for vessels that travel from Pensacola FL to Chattanooga TN. That voyage would only be 771 Miles via the Ten-Tom instead of 1541 miles via the Mississippi River. The Ten-Tom also helped establish Mobile as a major port for shipping good to and from the great lakes. The Ten-Tom was designated a national marine highway, links 4500 miles of navigable waterways serving mid-America, has over seventeen public ports terminals and ships as much as 1.2 billion ton-miles of commerce each year. The excavation for the waterway was greater than what was cleared for the Panama Canal. It is a most impressive feat and is a big economic driver to the communities along the waterway. It is a very narrow in many places, five hundred yards wide, which is plenty for us, just skinny when you pass a barge. The barges are not as large as they were on the other major rivers.

We have 450 Miles to go to Mobile and plan to do this in 12 days. We will pass through twelve locks (10 on the Ten Tom and two on the Black Warrior Tombigbee Waterway) with a total drop of 341 feet. When we pass through the last lock in Coffeeville Alabama, on the Black Warrior Tombigbee Waterway we will be back in salt water and will have a 2-foot tide to deal with. Two tides per day just like home but we do not expect that to be too impactful to us.

We had to go through three locks this day and the first lock dropped us down eighty-four feet. The remaining nine locks on the Ten-Tom drop thirty feet each. It started out raining when we left the marina however by 10 AM, it had stopped. It was cloudy most of the day, but it did start to brighten around 3 PM. That evening we had showers for about two hours, and this is the first rain we have been in in 6 weeks. They really need the rain but it sure is nice to be cruising in pleasant weather.

As I mentioned the first waterway is narrow and has no development, factories, or homes, it is simply a waterway, the water highway description is perfectly accurate. We did not see a lot of wildlife which we expected, and we did witness a lot on the Tennessee and The Ohio. We got to the marina which was in rough shape and did not have any amenities, which was fine. There was one other looper See Life in the marina. We had dinner and an early night as Monday is our big day sixty-two miles and four locks.

Retaining Wall they have these to control the  runoff 

James Whitten Lock, 84 foot drop.... yikes!

Monday October 17, 2022, Travel Day #77, Midway Marina to Columbus Marina, Columbus MS: Total Distance Traveled: 62 Miles, Total Time Traveled: 10.0 Hours: 4 Lock. I had talked with the Richard from See Life, and we agreed to buddy boat to Columbus together. I said I would call the lock, which was a mile away, at 6:30 AM and let them know we were planning to arrive at 7 and see if they had any commercial tows. If the tows are in the lock or upbound they will lock them through first and we just must wait, which means you float for an hour or two, which is not fun. Therefore, it is better to wait at the marina than float off the lock for an hour. He said, “get here before 7, I have a boat in the chamber now and see another coming if you get here quickly, I’ll hold the lock for you”. So, I banged on See Life hull and off we went. We got to the lock before 7 two boats were already in the camber we proceeded in and down we went. Great timing. We went fifteen miles to the next lock and found out it was down for maintenance, and we would be held up for 1-1/2 hours, so we pulled out of the channel and dropped our anchor. Two other boats showed up, and then another two showed up. Sure enough 1-1/2 hours later the lockmaster hailed us said they were ready for us and in we went. I was afraid this delay would get us the Columbia Marina after it closed it was looking like a 5:30-6 PM arrival IF all went well at the next two locks. There was no B Plan, only A!

The lockmasters talk with each other, and they knew that we had locked through together at the second lock and so that set the tone for the next two locks and so we would all lock through as a group. We therefore travel as a pack, and it does not do you any good to speed to the next lock. One boat was a small day cruiser, and he would do that, however every time we got to a lock, he was there on the wall waiting for us. So, you must have patience, which is not easy when you are trying to make up time, it was frustrating for me anyway. The good news was the other locks were all waiting for us, they knew when we would arrive, and we locked through without waiting and did so very quickly. The system works.

I had called the Harbormaster at Columbia Marina after the third lock and said we would arrive after they closed and so I wanted my slip assignment. He said, “we won’t leave until all of you folks arrive, don’t worry.” Phew! That was excellent to hear and so I finally got to relax and enjoy the Ten-Tom.

We arrived and got tied up and all six boats we traveled with were staying at this marina, it is the only marina within 180 miles, we have three sixty-mile days with one marina, so it is a remote section of the Ten-Tom. No internet or mail this day, which is the first day that has happened to us

 

Ten-Tom Waterway 

Not many houses on the river but here are a few of them 

Riverview looks like a highway!

 

 

Tuesday October 18, 2022, Columbus Marina, Lay day: We spent two days at Columbia Marina, as we have had a few long days coming up and wanted to get provisions for the next leg of our trip. We slept in until 8 AM (oh yes!) Meredith made an amazing breakfast, I did the laundry, we cleaned the boat and then took the marina courtesy car to downtown Columbus and checked out the town. We had lunch at a local restaurant Zachary’s which was excellent. Meredith has an eye for great restaurants, she nailed this one. The town of Columbus is famous for all their Antebellum Homes as well as the home of Tennessee Williams. We had a great afternoon checking out the town was very vibrant. So, we had an enjoyable day doing all the “stuff” you normally take for granted, like shopping and cleaning, but being on the boat you have to take a day to “just get er done” which is what we needed to do.

Twelve Looper boats in the marina tonight, so we had a fun Docktails and worked out a plan for tomorrow. Seven of us are headed downbound tomorrow so we wanted to coordinate our departure. We were back on the boat by 6:30. It is impactful as the days are getting shorter, sunrise in now at 7:12 AM and Sunset is 6:30PM. We have lost 4-1/2 hours of sunlight since we started this trip. Oh, and it is freezing, we woke up this morning it was 40 degrees and tonight we have a frost warning until 8 AM. So, when we depart at 7 am it will be cold and dark!

 

 Meredith made a great dinner fresh fish, and we had an early night, as tomorrow is a big day sixty miles and two locks. We are planning on a 6:30 AM radio call after See Life calls the lock and we are hoping for a 7 AM departure.

 

Tennessee Williams Home Columbus  

Downtown Columbus  

Cool building 

Wednesday October 19, Travel Day #78, Columbus Marina Columbus MS to Warsaw Cutoff Anchorage: Total Distance Traveled: 60 Miles, Total Time Traveled: 10 Hours: 2 Locks. We had seven boats departing the marina in the morning and had to co-ordinate the first lock which was just outside the marina, less than a mile away. We received clearance from the lockmaster to come in at 7 AM so we started departing at 6:45 and into the chamber we went. We were able to lock through without an issue and down we went thirty feet and out to the next lock which was fifteen miles south. We traveled a s a pack as they were going to lock us through all four locks together. Unfortunately, when we got to the second lock there was a tow headed Southbound and one headed north bound so we must wait for an hour and a half to get through the second lock which was a pain, but that’s life on the river, tows have priority. We were able to lock through the next two locks without waiting and so that was good. We had the front position in the last lock and were able to move out and cruise at 10 MPH, as the flotilla was only doing seven MPH for the first 7 hours, which was the speed of the slowest boat.

I have mentioned before but this is the section of the river where there are no towns no services and certainly no marinas. It an area of about 180 miles or the distance from Boston to Augusta Maine. So, I will post some pictures but there is not a lot to share on this section. We have the same type of day tomorrow until we hit Kingfisher Marina tomorrow night.

We found a great anchorage in Warsaw Cutoff at Mile 270. Since we were the lead boat we pulled into the cutoff and had twenty of water all the way down the channel maybe a mile and then turned around and came halfway out and set the anchor. Set the first time and we did not move all night. I will post some pictures a very pretty place. Just as we were set, See Life came in and dropped their anchor ¼ of a mile in front of us. We had this beautiful cove all to ourselves and it was a very peaceful evening. We ran the generator to cook dinner and then watch some TV and were in bed just after 9. We wanted an early start as we had a long way tomorrow to get to Kingfisher.

Loading Peat Moss 

 Warsaw Cutoff our anchorage for the night beautiful spot

Someone's  TIKI Bar on the side of the river 

See Life at anchor with a tug going by 

Passing See Life 

See Life pulling anchor

 Foggy start to the day this was at 8:30 after it had cleared and we were underway

 

Thursday October 20,2022, Travel Day #79, Warsaw Cutoff Anchorage: to Kingfish Bay Marina Total Distance Traveled: 58 Miles, Total Time Traveled: 8 Hours 1 Lock. We woke to think fog at 6 AM. See Life and Her Idea had agreed to depart at 6:45 so we would get to our first and only lock by 8 AM. Upon going on deck at 6 AM we decided to delay our departure until 8 AM as I could not see See Life ¼ of a mile away, not the conditions to cruise in. Well, we finally got going at 8:15 and started to make our way to the lock ten miles south. We knew there was a northbound tug and the lockmaster said he was putting him through first, so we had to wait our turn. The other boats we traveled with yesterday had anchored in various places and we are now a flotilla of five. We got to the lock at 9:30 and knew we might have another hour wait so we dropped our anchor and waited. We were on anchor for a little over an hour until the tug passed us in the channel, we all pulled anchor and proceeded into the lock. Once again, I snuck up to the front so I could be the first boat out and not have to pass all the slower boats in the river.

We had a very pleasant cruise and had fifty miles to go to get to Kingfisher Bay. We cruised at 10 MPH and See Life was behind us doing 8 MPH. After an hour we lost the pack and did not see them until they started to arrive at the marina after 5 PM. We got in at 4 PM, filled with fuel and got into our slip.

Just so happens that there are several loopers here as many folks cannot go below the last lock (salt water) until November 1^st due to their insurance policies. This is the last marina between here and Mobile, so folks are hunkered down here. Just so happens that Docktails last night were right by our boat, so we felt obligated to join them. We had dinner and watched some TV, we did have internet, so we took advantage of it.

 We have an excellent slip right at the mouth of the harbor which will make for an easy exit in the morning. Once again it was foggy this morning and no boats left until 8 AM. I am hoping to leave tomorrow at 6:30 so we can get to an anchorage one hundred miles away. I have a backup at mile sixty-eight but would love to get one long run in and then we could be in Mobile and civilization on Monday, but the fall back is to do the passage in 3 days. It will depend on when we get through the one lock, we have tomorrow which is only eight miles away, and if there is fog preventing us from departing before sunrise.

Riverbank Views

Riverbank Views 

Bald Eagle 

The lockmaster gave me his trade magazine

By far the prettiest section on the Ten-Tom

A tow going by us, note the wake in the last shot, they throw a lot of water around

Friday October 21^th, Demopolis AL: We had a leisurely morning Meredith made pancakes oh yea and drank coffee and jut licked back and enjoyed having no where to go. We cleaned the boat and then around 11 AM we walked into town which was two miles away. We have the courtesy car this evening from 4-6 PM and so will go to town and pick up a few things and come back and see who is planning to move tomorrow and co-ordinate with the lockmaster. We did not find that many options in town so we will see what be around town that is interesting. I am going to post this today and then I will do another when we get to Mobile and let you know how the Black Warrior Waterway treated us. One thing that is beginning to happen is due to the very low water conditions and the fact many barges are running around on the Mississippi River, the barge companies are sending the tows up the Ten-Tom, which means added traffic which translates into more delays the locks!

A walk into town for lunch main Street Demopolis  

Fair Winds