Advertisement
Published: October 28th 2009
Foggy Island
This is how we started day 8.Oct 25 Day 8 237 miles down,413 to go
Rick’s detailed description of a typical day on the water onboard Amber Lee II:
We woke at 6:00 am. Rick put on the coffee and Wayne put in load of laundry with hopes that it would be done by 8:30 am departure time. We discussed the days plan over coffee. It was very foggy which made a question, will we be able to see by 8:30 am? We had our breakfast which consisted of a bowl of cereal and banana. After breakfast I folded the laundry, got ice from the ship store, paid the slip bill and fuel charges. Wayne cleaned up the galley and did misc. to prepare for departure. Wayne warmed up the diesel, I took care of dock lines as we prepared to depart. It was 8:30 and as we were about to leave the attendant came out to greet us farewell and took our bow line. We were underway at our planned time. Several other boaters shared a friendly farewell as we were leaving the marina. Harry and Leslie, onboard 'Somewhere', who we had dinner with the night before, were taking pictures as we left
More Fog
What's ahead of us Rick? and waved a warm farewell, with expectations of meeting again somewhere further down to Tom Bigbee. We did have a nice time with them the night before. From North Carolina, they shared lots of stories of their 'Loop' adventure, now in it's 7th month.
We didn't go far before we realized the fog was really still pretty thick. I went to the bow and kept watch as we slowly made progress under motor power, following the track of the GPS. Periodically the sun would glow through this thick fog, but still visibility was but a couple boat lengths.
Slow going, but a beauty of it's own. Now and then we could see a fishing boat close to shore, anchored just outside the channel. There presented itself several times a photo opportunity, either fishing boats or simply sun clearing through the fog and lighting the shoreline of an island. Wayne was diligent at the helm taking directions from my pointing port or starboard.
The sun burned off the fog within 1/2 hr and we were now underway at full cruising speed of 5.5 knots. We cruised within the channel markers for an hr before seeing another traveling boat. Being
the lone boat underway adds to the peace and tranquility of cruising these waters. Yes, it's fun to come upon another vessel, but it does seem quite adventurous when you are the lone boat.
Within 5 miles the waters narrowed to 300 ft in width. We now found ourselves in the beginning stretch of the TenTom waterway, a man made cannel.
The cannel was quite different than the first part of the trip which was more lake like, sometimes over a 1 mile in width. In the TenTom, you pretty much motor staying on your 1/2 of the waterway. We never met a boat coming from the other direction but had several, about 6, pass us during the day.
The fall colors were beautiful, at there peak. The sun was warm, no clouds to be seen, it was a 'near perfect' day to be on the water.
Midmorning we each had a piece of fruit. we took turns at the helm. The camera is always available for whoever sees a moment to capture. At noon, I made lunch in the galley, which consisted of hot soup and grill cheese sandwiches. We don't stop, we eat underway. We came
Keep on Trucken
Are we there yet? up behind a barge and followed it for about and hr. When the cannel widened into a lake we tried to pass it. Our speed of 5.5 knots was the same as the barge, so we never actually passed it but rather traveled parallel to it. We reached the far end of the lake and found a quaint anchorage at about 3:30 in the afternoon.
It was about 3oo yards in from the edge of the lake, a private spot all to ourselves. Colorful, peaceful, water as still as glass. We dropped the anchor, had a beer and just enjoyed to peace of being alone with nature.
About 5:30 I started the grill which hangs off the stern pulpit.
Cheeseburgers were on the menu tonight. Wayne prepared string beans and made a salad. Milk to drink, plenty to eat. Another meal was enjoyed onboard.
After supper we did some chores, checking the oil, adding some and doing various other small tasks.
We admired another beautiful sunset, another peaceful time of day.
This evening was finished by some reviewing of our day over a shot of brandy. Wayne sat on the deck and contemplated the sky, and I decided to compile
Locking Thru
This is the way it is suppose to be done. a story of today's events.
It's 9:20pm, my day was full and I am ready for sleep. I tuck myself into my sleeping bag and will sleep until sunrise or a little before.
Cruising is such a pleasant time. I enjoy this routine and find so much pleasure in it.
Tomorrow will start with coffee. We will leave this beautiful anchorage soon after breakfast to continue our travels south. First thing we will find ourselves passing through a lock that will drop us 85 ft.
Yes, tomorrow will be one more lovely day on the water.
........rick
Oct 26 Day 9 242 miles down, 378 to go
We began our day by going thru the first of many locks on the Tenn-Tom Waterway. We are lowered 85 feet in the James Whitten Lock. From here on we will be going down hill all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. We manage to make it thru 4 locks today. We weren’t able to sail because we had to keep up with the group of boats we were traveling with and the wind was on our nose. It was warm and sunny though, so out came the
Whitten Lock
An 84 ft drop! Thats Barefoot Shoes, a 32 ft trawler, ahead of us. shorts and tee shirts. By the time we got to the 3rd lock we were so far behind that we radioed the other boats to go thru the lock without us. When we got to the lock we had to wait 30 minutes to catch the next locking. I think that the big trawlers we were with were glad to see us on the other side of the lock. We ended the day by anchoring close to lock No 5. We will be ready to go down another 30 feet in the morning.
Critter count: otter, red tailed hawk, blue heron, small black dog that ran off with my cap (This happened when we were grocery shopping yesterday. My cap fell on the ground when I got out of the car and this little dog grabbed it and ran off with it. When I recovered my cap it had teeth marks on the bill. Now I have a cap with a little character!
Question of the day: Where is the water coming from that is used to fill the first 5 locks on the Tenn-Tom Waterway?
Oct 27 Day 10 285 miles down, 335 miles to
One Hot Sailor
Not your typical Wisconsin weather go.
Departed our anchorage and got locked thru by 8:15am. The weather has turned rainy and cool. We enter the Tom Bigbee River about 9:00 am. It doesn’t look much different than the cannel we have been in for the last 2 days. It looks like the river zigzagged around, but a straight channel has been dug. We can see some back waters now with lots of water fowl, herons and white birds that I think are Ibis. The wind is from the south so we just continue to motor. We have passed a number of wood chipping operations where trees are ground up and loaded on barges. I assume they will go to pulp mills or chip board plants. Rick and I take 1 1/2 hour turns at the wheel. It seems that Rick gets the more interesting scenery when he is at the wheel. During one of my shifts I did not see a boat, house or other human being. I did see low flying Jets from Columbus Air Base. We ended the day at Columbus, Mississippi Marina. We were greeted at the dock by a Viking football fan. For some reason he use to cheer for
The Ideal Anchorage.
Our anchorage on Bay Springs Lake the Packers.
Question of the day: Why would a football fan from Mississippi change loyalty from the Packers to the Vikings?
Advertisement
Tot: 0.131s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 7; qc: 52; dbt: 0.0592s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Kent Keller
non-member comment
Keep on Truckin'
Hi Guys, Have been following your trip with interest. Needless to say, I'm very envious. Keep the news coming. Enjoy, Kent