Blue View 11 Oct - 22 Oct 2013

22 Oct 13.  

I got up and was moving by 7:30 am this morning. Notice I said "I " because Miss Linda was happy staying in bed reading while her Skipper was going down the river as we wanted to be in Demopolis tomorrow. By the way, since we started traveling the south Linda has been called Miss Linda several times by locals.  She now wants to believe that in a previous life she must have lived here and hopefully was a bell of the south but as she suspects probably a tart chamber maid with big bosoms. Hum. By the way we do know we are getting close to the south as we saw I first alligator today.  I guess no swimming for us I these parts.  

Mile Marker 236! 

21Oct 13

The good newsIs we didn't get kicked off the docks and had a great night for free.  The bad news is that we planed to be here today so we could visit the tourist center and the steam powered Snag-boat Montgomery. Well our timing was off as they are closed sunday, monday and tuesday.  Today is monday.  I still got a chance to go on it and look in all the windows but thats all. So after our quick tour we pulled the dingy motor and started our day.  The lock was lifting a barges and we only had to wait about a half hour to be drop down.  We did about 30 miles and as per Skipper Bob we stopped at a great anchorage Warsaw Cut Off at mile marker 274.8.

20 Oct 13

We left Columbus at about 10:30 am and only did about 19 miles today as this time it's my turn to do some sightseeing.  I wanted to stop near the Tom Bevill lock and visit the US Snagboat Montgomery.  This was the last steam powered sternwheeler to travel the inland waterway of the south and is open to visitors during the week. We arrived at our anchorage location around 2:30 and as usual the water level is to low. Across from our to be anchorage is the Pinkensville recreation center and beach. Linda saw some fishing docks and we decided to see how much depth there was.  Believe it or not this was a 25 ft fishing pier and we had 15 ft of water.  We tied to the dock as the park is empty.  Hope we don't get kicked off.  

19 Oct 13

Today we visited the Waverley Mansion.  We had the courtesy car booked for first thing in the morning and drove the 15 minutes to tour this old Southern Mansion.  Even for me this was a WOW. Not only the building was impressive but the story behind the family that build it and now the family the owns it.  A must see.  We only had the car for two hours so we had to rush back and as it was we were 15 minutes late returning the car.  When we got back to the marina we had to proceed through the Stennis Lock.  One important thing we had to plan is weekend timing for the locks.  During the week they are open 24 hours a day and will lock you on request. On weekends they run them every two hours on the hour. Some are on the even hours and others are on odd hours. As most of the locks are approximately five miles apart and you  travel five miles an hour you should be able to start on an even hour and hit the next lock on an odd hour. If all goes as planed. We are finding out not much ever goes as planned. We only traveled four miles to the town of Columbus and dropped anchor in a side river.  We are only a short dingy ride (paddling) to the town pier and went for a walk and dinner. We tried alligator and crawfish for the first time and believe it or not this beef eating boy actually liked it but I still had to have my small burger and fries.  Anyone in Columbus must stop at Hucks restaurant.  Awesome food and service.

In case your wondering Linda pointing to DevOcean at Anchor. 

Although I had alligator & crawfish I still needed my little 3/4 lb burger

18 Oct 13

After a great sleep and of course waiting for the fog to lift in the morning we continued down the waterway to the Aberdeen lock.  After doing the lock we traveled and a little more then 20 miles to the Columbus Mississippi Marina. On route we had a great arial display because of the Columbus Airforce Base. The Columbus Marina was a good location and surprise surprise we meet up with about 10 looper boats.  The marina channel has lots of water and provided a courtesy car for two hours. That evening we met up with other loopers for a drink and compared notes. We heard of a few nice spots to stop in on and of course exchanged boat cards.  By the way I have to explain boat cards.  When traveling by boat you have boat cards made up (same as business cards).  When ever you meet new people you exchange cards.  This is great as you get boat info,email and blog info.  This is how most people keep in touch. It is unbelievably how many people are retired and living on boats and even who some people are still working via Internet and doing the loop. 

17 Oct 13

Big day today.  We had almost half a dozen locks to go trough within a 40 miles run.  So before we raised the anchor we radioed the first lock master to request going trough.   Not a problem we are told. Another pleasure craft Lauren Grace called in to join us through the lock system.  The first lock was a breeze and as we left the lock master called the next lock to informed them we were on our way. In the next 30 miles we have a lock at about every five miles or so. Our goal was to do five locks then stop and anchor for the night at Amery.  As it was, no such luck. The channel didn't have enough water for us, so we called the Lock master and requested to continue on trough the Amery lock. We then proceed to Acker Lake for our anchorage.  The problem is that this years water levels are low and any information we have on charts, books or guides are off by as much as five feet sometimes.  No major issues other than to be very careful when going into shallow areas.  

16 Oct 13

Today was different story.  We woke up to rain and debated either staying dry and warm or moving on.  Well guess what!  I got wet.  Both by taking a swim and then sitting in the rain.  We did need to put some Miles behind us so we completed 39 nautical miles. We also had no choice to travel this far as there is a 25 mile canal strech that you cannot stop and anchor.   We dropped anchor at a great spot 1/2 mile before our first of many locks for the next day. 

15 Oct 13

While having a chat with new acquaintances Bobbie & Les Perkins. They told us of a wonderful anchorage not too far from the marina but it's going the wrong way.  Still we decided it was going to be our first stop.  So we traveled a whole two miles back and dropped the hook at the Redneck Marina.  Perfect location we went for a hike and had a drink with our new friends.

12 - 14 Oct 13

We only had a couple of miles to travel to Grand Harbour Marina.  It's a fairly new marina but open to the channel with limited transients slips and washrooms.  This marina is again entirely floating but no posts here.  They are anchored in the water with winches holding the marina in place.  As the water level goes up or down it's adjusted with the winches.  Great people and they do have 10% off everything for Loopers including fuel.  At over $4.00 a gallons it's over .40 cents off.  Great deal.  The other nice thing we found at most of the marinas, is that they provide curtesy cars at no cost making it easy to resupply, visit or pickup rental cars. While here we did rent a car and traveled to see Memphis and Graceland.  It was nice to see but very commercialized and I think I'm countried out and maybe even musiced out.  

Oct 11th

We left Double Island and were planning on staying at a good anchorage behind Diamond Island about 10 miles before the Pickwick Dam.  This was going to be 40 nautical miles and a big day considering we were going against the current.  When we approached Diamond Island there were already five vessels in the anchorage and it was only 3:00 pm.  The Dam was another 10 miles so we decided to push on and anchor 1/4 of a mile on the other side of the dam. What we didn't plan on was waiting over an hour at the dam.  By the time we went through is was dark.  No problem, the anchorage was supposed to be toward a marina with a well marked secondary channel.  First rule: Don't believe everything your charts and GPS tells you.  Second rule: " See first rule". The markers were virtually non existent but luckily the path on the Gps was accurate and Linda did find the anchorage as I was on the bow looking for markers.   So what did we do wrong?  We didn't expected to wait at the lock.  Always leave lots of time for the lock.