After a refreshingly peaceful night, we left Aberdeen Marina as soon as possible on Saturday morning, 11/14/20, since we knew any drop in water-depths at all could conceivably ground us there. We crept our way back out of this maze with me on the bow watching channel markers and for any debris, since Steve kept his eyes glued to the depth gauge for the entire journey out. Again I watched large clouds of mud billow out from beneath the stern. We both breathed a huge sigh of relief when we successfully entered into water with depths above 2-feet!
Saturday morning, 11/14/20, sunrise from our tie-up at Aberdeen Marina.The fall color continued down the Tombigbee.
On this stretch of the TennTom, we passed the iconic phone booth at mile marker 312. Of course we slowed our speed so I could get the obligatory picture to post on The Great Loop Facebook page. Steve then came up with a theory as to why someone would randomly plant an old phone booth right on the banks of the Tombigbee. Along many of the outside curves of the river, we could see evidence of the constant erosion occurring because of seasonal river-flooding. Because the phone booth has become so popular with Great Loopers over the years, just about everyone slows down to get a good picture. Might these regular slow-downs actually help to curb the erosion at this point in the river keeping this farmland more valuable? Just a thought…
The famous phone booth at mile marker 312 on the TennTombigbee.
Continuing farther down the river we encountered long stretches with no houses or apparent civilization at all, then we’d round a bend to find groups of modest riverfront homes.
No houses, but lovely fall foliage!Enclaves of modest riverfront homes appeared suddenly as we rounded a bend.
After traversing the second lock of the day, the Stennis Lock, west of Columbus, MS, we continued on to the Pickensville anchorage. Many Loopers tie-up for the night at the Columbus Marina in Columbus, MS, but the marina has silted up so much through the years (with no requisite and expensive dredging), the water depths are too shallow for Legacy’s draft. Columbus is said to be a favored Looper stop, because of its quaint downtown area and historical significance, but because we were limited by the shallow depths, we opted to anchor-out beside the Pickensville, AL, Campground and recreation area. Using some extra line we found aboard and an empty plastic gallon milk bottle, Steve fashioned a “trip-line” to tie onto our anchor that would aid in getting the anchor up, should it become wedged underneath an old tree trunk or large branch for which the bottom of the TennTom is famous. Naturally, it’s Gilligan’s job to tie the trip line onto the anchor and feed the line down as the anchor lowers, without tumbling off the end of the bowsprit. Once the anchor reaches the bottom, the line and floating milk bottle extend up directly above the anchor , above the water’s surface. Should the anchor become hung, we’ll know exactly where it is, and the idea is for Steve to either pull up on the trip line using the boat-hook, or – if the anchor is out away from the boat – dropping the dinghy and motoring out to the trip-line to yank on it in an attempt to free the anchor from any snag below.
Scenery on the way to the Pickensville anchorage.More scenery changes on the riverbank.Houses became few and far between.More industry along the TennTom.
The wind had picked-up considerably by the time we dropped anchor, which made me nervous we might spend another night spinning on the hook, since this was a large, relatively unprotected anchorage. Fortunately, history did not repeat itself and I didn’t end up with another bad case of vertigo!
Friday, the 13th, dawned with some fog, which soon gave way to sunshine and calm waters. We have been really fortunate – weatherwise – on this trip so far. We got around early and along with Miss Conduct and Safe Haven (a single-handed Mainship trawler), we traveled through three more TennTombigbee locks, Fulton, Wilkins, and Amory. We had considered also going through the Aberdeen lock today, but changed our minds because it was getting late in the day. Miss Conduct and Safe Haven continued on, but Legacy chose to tie up at the tiny Aberdeen Marina, outside Aberdeen, MS. We had heard this marina wasn’t much more than a package/convenience store with some gas pumps, and we’d heard correctly. It’s also known for it’s long, tricky entrance. Steve called and spoke with the Aberdeen marina owner, but could barely understand his thick, Middle Eastern accent. Our biggest concern was water depths entering and inside the marina, but the owner insisted his marina could accommodate our boat’s 5-foot draft. Steve followed the electronic charts to locate the marina’s entrance, but the charts weren’t correct. They showed the marina on the starboard side of the river, when it was actually located on the port side! Unfortunately, we did not discover that until after we’d followed some small, vaguely-placed channel markers that wound around into a cove to starboard. The further in we got, the more shallow the waters became, until we were churning up clouds of mud behind our stern. Steve inched Legacy along at idle speed as we scanned the banks for any sign of a marina. No matter how hard we looked, a marina did not appear. Meanwhile, Miss Conduct and Safe Haven remained out in the middle part of the water, as they were waiting for the Aberdeen lock to clear so they could go ahead and lock-through. We felt certain they were watching us and laughing. Using several other instruments, we realized the error of our ways, and set about turning Legacy around in the small, shallow space and getting her out of there! After what seemed like hours, we managed to get back out into the river without running aground. Steve got on the radio to Miss Conduct and Safe Haven and muttered, “It helps if you know which side of the river the marina is on…” D’OH! Now that we were on the correct side of the river, we started following the convoluted “maze” of winding channels marked with “creative” markers, cypress trees and very shallow depths. We stirred up even more mud and frazzled more nerves for another thirty minutes until we finally turned a corner to see the marina. The whole way in, our depth gauge reflected less than 1-foot of depth beneath our keel. There was a really small transient wall equipped with maybe two power poles. What appeared to be the marina owner’s residence/houseboat sat just down from where the owner instructed us to tie-up. This marina offered fuel, but no pump-out facilities, which told us right off we did NOT want to accidentally fall into that water, especially with the proximity of the owner’s houseboat. Yuck… I was a bit concerned about our degree of safety at this marina, given the age and quality of cars that patronized the adjacent package store. In fact, later that evening, a group of young men worked on the engine of one of the vehicles, racing it repeatedly and loudly into the night, which made me wonder just how long it would take to finish the repair. Fortunately the noise ended by 8 pm, so I’d worried for nothing.
Legacy tied-up at the tiny Aberdeen marina next to the package store. (We never heard any banjo music, but we sure did listen for it!)Winding our way into the well-hidden Aberdeen marina. Super shallow waters! We were both really nervous with this tie-up, considering today’s date was Friday, the 13th! In addition, we learned a big lesson that we would not spend another night at Aberdeen Marina. Far too nerve-racking!
Engines running well again, on Thursday morning, 11/12/20, we rose early to gas up and pump-out at Bay Springs Marina to head for the first lock on the TennTom, the Whitten Lock. Steve called the lock master for lock traffic status and was told a commercial tow and barges were about to lock up, so we’d have at least a 2-hour wait before we could lock down. So, we motored Legacy back over to our original spot and tied back up for the wait. Oh, no – more reading and talking to each other! Finally, at 11:11 am we were locking through the Whitten Lock – the first of 12 on the TennTom.
Locking through the Whitten Lock. We had some company in this lock.
In addition to the Whitten Lock, we also traversed the Montgomery and Rankin Locks on the TennTom, along with two other boats, Miss Conduct and Safe Haven. Three locks in one day was a challenge for Gilligan!
It was a glorious weather day, which was welcome after the wind and rain we’d experienced at Bay Springs the days before. The water was still and glassy, which makes for very enjoyable cruising.
Fall foliage was still putting on a show down the TennTom.We noticed the riverside growth was beginning to change the further south we cruised.After coming through the Whitten Lock together, Miss Conduct and Safe Haven trailed us the rest of the day on the TennTom, through three locks, total.Also becoming more prevalent along the TennTom are industrial sights.Much to my delight, we began to see Spanish moss hanging from the trees on the banks. (A definite sign we were nearing the coastal south!)We passed many of these bank-side erosion control installations that seem to be unique to the TennTom. (So far, anyway.)
After absolutely no engine problems (along with hourly engine room checks performed by Steve), we arrived at Midway Marina, in Fulton, MS. The transient dock was located right next to several obvious live-aboard houseboats. One of those boats had many potted plants and vegetables on its decks, along with a GIANT wall-mounted, flat-screen TV visible through the salon windows. The other boat was located right across the dock finger from us and appeared to house Nana and her talkative 3-year-old granddaughter, along with three barking Chihuahuas. We enjoyed a nice dinner at the highly-touted Guy’s On The Water, the marina restaurant at Midway.
Legacy tied-up at the transient dock at Midway Marina in Fulton, MS.Lovely sunset from our boat at Midway Marina.
At 7:30 on Tuesday morning, 11/10/20, we left Aqua Yacht Harbor in chilly, misty and inhospitable weather. We were both dressed in layers and had the flybridge completely closed up around us to head down the TennTom Waterway, which begins in Lake Pickwick, via Yellow Creek.
Here we are at the very beginning of the TennTombigbee Waterway!
More than twenty years ago, when we sailed our various sailboats on Pickwick and slipped them right there at Aqua Yacht Harbor, we used to talk about the “someday” far into the future, when we would retire and take our live-aboard trawler down the TennTom as we started on our Great Loop. To be perfectly honest, I never saw that day as anything more than a pipe dream, as it was so far into the future and how could we possibly know what our circumstances would be at retirement age? IF we were even able to retire! Besides, what were the chances of me ever selling my home and beloved flowerbeds, selling 95% of my belongings, and moving onto a BOAT full-time?? Steve, however, never gave up hope, and – sure enough – the day had arrived. As the TennTom has multiple locks on it – none as impressive as those on the Tennessee River, mind you, but certainly plentiful – I “looked forward” to traversing three of them in one day – all wearing my rain-suit, to boot. Yippee! We cruised through the Divide Cut, which is the largest, man-made 29-mile-long “ditch” dug in the 1970s to connect the Tennessee River to the Tombigbee River, which flows into the Gulf of Mexico, via Mobile Bay. Scenery-wise, the Divide Cut is about as exciting as it sounds. No houses or businesses, just miles and miles of ditch with grass and trees foliage growing on both sides of it, running an average of 280-feet wide and 12-feet deep. Cutting this channel was one of the largest earth-moving projects in history, requiring 10 years of work at a cost of nearly $500 million. A total of 150 million cubic yards of earth had to be removed, about 1.5 times as much as for the Suez Canal. When it was first completed, the cut had no aesthetic value at all, both sides resembling a strip-mine, but over the decades Mother Nature has softened the banks with grasses, shrubs and trees.
Cruising through the “exciting” Divide Cut on the TennTom.
About 3 hours from the start of the cut, we met our first oncoming tow and barge. Steve hailed the tow captain on the radio to ask him which side he’d like us to pass him on. He said “On the Two”, which is tow-speak for passing with our starboard to his starboard. (“On the One” means passing port-to-port.) Steve started heading Legacy to meet the barge, when suddenly the port engine died and would not restart! He placed the starboard engine into reverse, and IT died and wouldn’t restart! YIKES! My biggest fears were being realized, but way earlier into our journey than I’d imagined. This was obviously a fuel issue, since both engines were inoperable simultaneously. Even though we thought we had filled both engines with diesel before we left Aqua, when Steve went below to check, he found both engines had been pulling from the port fuel tank, due to operator error (a valve was left closed that shouldn’t have been), and it was now empty, which meant both engines were fuel-starved so they would not restart. Meanwhile, the barge was still approaching and we were in its path. Steve jumped onto Channel 16 to hail the Coast Guard and let them know the situation with our engines and that we were adrift in the channel, since our hydraulically-powered anchor windlass would not operate for us to drop anchor without the starboard engine running. Holy crap! Because he was understandably shook up, Steve’s voice wavered on the radio, causing the Coast Guard operator to ask if there was any kind of medical emergency onboard. We assured him there wasn’t, so he asked us to switch off of the hailing channel (16) to Channel 22, so we could communicate freely. But when we did that, apparently the Coast Guard could not hear us, which unnerved us further, especially since our helpless boat was slowly drifting toward the port shore! Fortunately, that also meant we were drifting out of the barge’s path. WHEW! When the Coast Guard again reached us back on Channel 16, the operator asked for Steve’s cell number so he could call us. But, of course, our cell coverage on the TennTom was non-existent at that point. Ugh! Suddenly, Bay Springs Marina broke in on Channel 16 and asked the Coast Guard if they’d like them to help us, since they were close to our location. The Coast Guard agreed and Bay Springs told us they knew our location and would come to tow us back to their marina. By this time, Legacy had drifted all the way over to the side and we felt the bow hull run aground. The only thing that still worked on our boat was the battery-powered stern-thruster, which we used intermittently, attempting to keep the propellers from also hitting the bottom and possibly sustaining damage.
Several boats passed us as we languished up against the bank and offered to assist, but we advised that our help was on the way. After an hour, we finally saw our towboat from Bay Springs Marina approaching us from the south. One of the crew threw us a line, which we tied to one of our bow cleats, and the towing ensued.
Bay Springs Marina to our rescue!
Our towboat driver pulled us back very slowly, so after another hour we arrived at Bay Springs Marina in New Site, MS. They towed Legacy to the end of their transient dock, where we tied up and connected to power. Bay Springs Marina mechanic, Greg, came onboard to inspect our engines and advised the fuel system for each diesel engine was now full of air, so he’d have to bleed the air out of each before they would restart. He worked until 5:00 pm and then finished his work the next morning. The roof of the dock next to which we were tied completely blocked our satellite signal, and there was no wifi or cell coverage at the marina, which made for some long evenings. We were forced to resort to reading or actually talking to each other! By the time the engines were repaired, it was too late for us to leave, so we stayed at Bay Springs Marina until the next morning. Fortunately, Bay Springs has a courtesy vehicle, so we drove it into Booneville, MS, to Walmart and lunch at Market 105.
Scenes from Bay Springs MarinaLegacy isn’t visible in the picture, but she was tied to the outside end of this dock for two nights.
On Sunday morning, 11/08/20, we were blessed with yet another glorious fall day, weatherwise, when we left Florence Harbor Marina. We were up in the flybridge enjoying the beautiful morning and the scenery when Steve spotted none other than a DEER swimming up in front of us across the narrow waterway! It was on a collision course with our boat, so of course we slowed down to idle speed, to let it pass, because swimming animals have the right-of-way! The doe didn’t appear to be upset or fleeing from anything, she was just leisurely trying to get to the other side. 😊 We’d seen swimming deer pictures posted on The Great Loop Facebook page before, but this was our first in-person sighting. We waited until the deer had moved far off of our starboard side before putting Legacy back into gear and continuing downriver. We definitely had our topic of conversation for the rest of the morning!
Leisurely swimming deer off of our port!She had her ears cocked back toward us, but didn’t seem to be frightened.On her way to the other side!More striking fall foliage on our way out of Florence Harbor.
We arrived at Aqua Yacht Harbor at 2 pm on the afternoon of the 8th, where we again tied to the transient wall for a couple of nights of more rocking and rolling. (Have I mentioned I hate tying up on the Aqua transient wall?) Monday, 11/09/20, was boat-cleaning day, inside and out, grocery run into Corinth, MS, and catch up on laundry day. We finished our last binge-watching program on Amazon Prime, and have begun watching Fortitude – a dark drama about an extremely northern-most town in Norway, where strange murders keep occurring, despite the efforts of local government and law enforcement officials to curtail them. It’s a rather graphic (actually grizzly) program that we probably shouldn’t have started, but we’re too far into it now to quit it.
Monday, 11/09/20, was a boat cleaning and grocery run day in Aqua’s courtesy van. We drove all the way into Corinth, MS, so we could visit a Walmart. Back in our “dirt home” days, we did everything in our power to stay OUT of Walmart, and now we visit one in almost every town we pass through. Go figure!
On Wednesday morning, 11/04/20, we treated ourselves to a big breakfast up at the Joe Wheeler State Park lodge’s restaurant (for old time’s sake) and left the marina a bit later than usual that morning. We traversed two locks, Wheeler and Wilson with no problems. Over the past few days, we’ve noticed more and more seagulls and pelicans gathering in the shallower parts of the river. Apparently, it’s migrating season for both species of normally coastal fowl. A large flock of seagulls stared at us from the wall at Wilson Lock as we traversed it, all 94 feet down. Obviously, Wilson is a popular hangout during migrating season.
Our audience at the Wilson Lock.
We arrived at Florence Harbor Marina at 2:45 pm that afternoon and tied-up in our usual spot on the transient wall. We’d decided to hole-up at Florence while the latest tropical storm made its way northward from the gulf. We were not alone on the transient dock that evening, as Tug Life, a 27-foot Ranger Tug was slipped right behind us. Brian Chapin and Karen Silverton, Tug Life’s crew, invited us to join them on Wednesday evening for docktails behind their boat. They are originally from Canada and had been traveling extensively in their RV up until recently, when they decided to sell the RV and purchase a boat, so they could travel The Great Loop. We learned a lot about RVing from them, as they have been pretty much everywhere in the North American continent. Steve had to apologize to Brian for having to severely wake their boat the day before coming out of one of the locks. Ranger Tugs typically travel at a slower rate of speed than our boat does. Tug Life pulled out of the lock chamber first, forcing the other boats to follow him. Since this particular lock was spilling when it released us, we were all met with a strong current and some rough waters. As mentioned earlier, Legacy does not handle well in turbulent waters at very low speeds. In order to maintain control of the boat, Steve was forced to pass Tug Life, since they were still going so slowly. Legacy throws a considerable wake, and the courteous thing to do is for larger boats to pass smaller boats slowly to help reduce the size of that wake, but Tug Life was just going too slow for us to do that. On top of that, the channel to exit the lock chamber is very narrow, so we had to pass fairly closely. When we passed them, our wake caught Tug Life at full force and made it rock almost comically on top of the already turbulent waters. I’m sure the crew of Tug Life were not amused, however, as heavy waking can cause unsecured items inside the cabin to go flying! Steve felt really bad for having to do that and I said he should get on the radio and apologize, but he didn’t. Lo and behold, when we met Tug Life in Florence Harbor, it was the perfect opportunity for Steve to apologize in person. Brian and Karen were very understanding and didn’t seem to be upset by the event at all, which I found to be admirable, since I would’ve been livid in their shoes!
That evening, I noticed a post on The Great Loop’s Facebook page about a couple who’d stayed at Florence Harbor several days prior to our arrival and had lost their cat, Sam, while they were there. She posted for anyone who was traveling to Florence Harbor to please keep an eye out for Sam. Apparently, they let Sam off of their boat to roam around, as they’re traveling from location to location, and he normally returns to the boat within two hours. This time, though, Sam didn’t come back to their boat. ☹ They ended up staying in Florence for two additional days and scoured the marina, city park, and surrounding areas looking for their kitty. They called the animal shelters and rescues in Florence, and posted “Have you seen me?” pictures of Sam everywhere, with their names and phone numbers, in hopes of hearing from someone with good news about their cat. Being the way I am about pets, I made it my personal mission to find that cat! I kept imagining myself in that same situation, and realized how very upset I would be. On our errand-running day, I sat in the passenger seat of the courtesy vehicle scanning the grounds for any trace of a yellow tabby. When I went for my walks, all I could think of was that poor cat and those poor people having to leave on their boat without him. From her posts on FB, their plan was to rent a car and drive back to Florence to get him if he should be found. I became obsessed with that cat and its whereabouts. Steve got really tired of discussin Sam, the cat ad nauseam. On one of my walks, I had a strong feeling I was going to find Sam. I even combed the wooded areas around the marina calling his name and cooing “Heeeere kitty, kitty, kitty!” But sadly, right on the other side of those woods, directly across from the marina, was a busy highway, which I feared Sam might’ve ventured out onto the night of his disappearance, and the thought of that broke my heart even more. I’d been really missing having a pet while we’re on this adventure, but this ordeal with Sam made me realize how bad that could turn out to be! While I would never purposely let a cat of mine off the boat to go roaming, I could just imagine it darting out the door and off the boat before we could stop it and getting lost the same as Sam. It would break my heart to have to leave without it, but we would eventually have to, since this journey is on a seasonal schedule. So it’s probably best that we remain petless while we’re on this boat. (But as soon as we’re off of it…! 😊)
Even though we ate one dinner at the marina’s River Bottom Grille, we couldn’t leave Florence without eating at our favorite – Ricatoni’s – a local Italian restaurant downtown. YUM! After some boat cleaning on Saturday, 11/7/20, I ventured out in the courtesy van by myself for a Hobby Lobby fix in Florence. I’ve mentioned before that the Florence Harbor courtesy van is high-mileage and well-used. Its engine has a habit of just up and dying while driving down the road! Of course, when the engine dies, power steering is lost, so it’s not always easy to get the vehicle safely off the road so it can be stopped, placed into park, and restarted. Sure enough, I’d barely made it out of the marina parking lot and was driving about 30 mph when the engine just quit. Fortunately, I was in the right-hand lane next to a decent shoulder, so I man-handled the van off the road and out of traffic without incident, although the people trying to drive behind my suddenly coasting van didn’t seem all that thrilled. It started right back up and took me the rest of the way to my destination and back with no more issues. When we left our house in Franklin, I left 90% of my crafting supplies behind to be included in our estate sale, knowing I probably wouldn’t be doing a lot of crafting while onboard, not to mention the lack of storage space available. But, I’ve since realized how very much I miss crafting, so I bought some more supplies that day at Hobby Lobby. The finished crafts will be gifts, so Steve won’t have to worry about me trying to stow them aboard once they’re completed.
Legacy, feeling right at home at her usual tie-up at Florence Harbor Marina.I never found Sam, the cat, but I did find some gorgeous fall color at Florence Harbor this time!This guy (gal?) sat right outside our salon door in Florence every morning watching for breakfast.
This time, while in Florence, we visited the Rosenbaum House, designed and constructed by the famous architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. We’d wanted to see it on a previous visit, but COVID kept us from it. While we still had to wear masks as we toured this time, we lucked-out with an excellent tour guide who was both informative and entertaining. I have always admired Frank Lloyd Wright’s designs, and have read several books about him, so being able to see one of his works in person was a treat. Story has it that Mrs. Rosenbaum’s parents lived in Florence in the 1930s and had offered to buy their daughter and future son-in-law (Mr. Rosenbaum) a new house as a wedding present, as a way to keep their daughter and her future family close by. The young couple searched and searched, but could never find their dream house. There was a vacant lot across the street from Mrs. Rosenbaum’s folks, so they bought that lot and commissioned the prestigious Mr. Wright to build their dream house. The house took two years from paper design to finished dwelling, from 1939 through 1940. The Rosenbaum House is a typical Wright “Usonian” home, which is a term he used to describe his vision for the landscape of the USA, including the planning of cities and architecture of buildings, as a New World character as distinct and free of previous architectural conventions. Wright’s designs were famous for their Earthy nature and their ability to blend right into the landscape, giving them the illusion of having been created naturally, rather than constructed by man. The Rosenbaum House was designed for a nuclear family, with a future addition designed in advance to be added if and when the family needed additional space.
Dining room in the Rosenbaum House. Frank Lloyd Wright even designed and built the furnishings for this home.Foyer of the Rosenbaum HouseMaster bedroom. I love all the natural lighting built right into the design.Multi-purpose room added onto the house when the Rosenbaums’ family grew to include four young boys.An outside view from the backyard of the Rosenbaum House.Side view of the Rosenbaum House.View from the kitchen, though the dining room and into the living room of the Rosebaum House.
Got up early and left Ditto Landing Marina about 8 am, after a peaceful, non-spinning night. The weather was again beautiful and calm. Very little current and wind made for a much smoother ride. After a nice travel day, we arrived at Joe Wheeler State Park Marina transient docks and chose ourselves a slip. This time we enjoyed a nice evening, sans the country wedding festivities or drunken captain from our last visit. Steve commented that he was glad we weren’t at a marina in a city that night, since it was Election Day, and it was unlikely any post-election rioting or unrest would rear its ugly head at a state park marina outside of tiny Rogersville, AL.
We left Alred Marina, in Guntersville, AL, on Monday morning, 11/02/20, at 10:45 am under perfectly clear blue skies. The wind was chilly and blustery, but we were well-protected and comfortable up in the enclosed flybridge. Today’s ride was short, but included a lock. As I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, when we go through locks, we put on our headsets and I put on my life-jacket. Then I go down to the deck while Steve sits up at the helm undercover of the flybridge at the helm. (Hmmm, what’s wrong with that picture…?) I hang all three fenders, bow, midship, and stern, then ready a line on the port side through the hawse-pipe (aka hole in the side of the boat for lines to pass through) that’s located aft of the doorway into the salon. Steve pulls the boat up next to the lock wall, trying to align that hawse-pipe with the moving ballast pin upon which I loop the line over to hold our boat in place next to the wall. Steve then hails the lockmaster with a short, “Legacy is secured” message. We then wait for the lockmaster to close the gates and start filling (or emptying) the lock chamber so we can go up (or down) river. I stand there keeping the line taught and watching the fenders to see if they’re getting squished between the boat’s hull and the lock wall, so Steve can run either the bow-thruster or the stern-thruster accordingly to release the fender. Sometimes, the moving ballast in the wall is positioned either really high up or really low down, so that I have to either reach up or squat down to get the line loop secured on the pin. This particular time, the pin was low down, so when the lock chamber was empty and the lockmaster began to open the gates for us to leave, I was attempting to grab the loop and be ready to pull it off the pin when the heart-stopping horn blew for me to do so. Though I adored them, my boat shoes (Sperry Lounge Aways, to be exact) were over a year old and I wore them every waking minute, so that the soles had worn down to perfectly smooth surfaces, which meant they were no longer optimal boat shoes, but I digress. On the port side of the boat, there is less width between the outside of the salon and the gunwale (aka outside wall of the walkway that keeps me from falling overboard into the water). That width is only about 10 inches, in fact, which means it’s really snug walking down this side of the boat. The water in the lock was causing Legacy to rock a little bit, which did not help with my pin line removal efforts. Just as I heard the loud blast, I reached down to pull the line off the loop, but my shoes were so slick that both of my feet slipped out from under me and I started to slowly fall over sideways, as I was pinned between the gunwale and the side of the salon. I tried to regain my footing but was unsuccessful. I couldn’t grab the rail to catch myself because I had to keep hold of the line. One good thing about the tightness of the port side is that it makes it nearly impossible to fall down onto the deck (or overboard) because the rail catches me right in the armpit as I’m going down, but this time I was standing sideways. Though I was out of his line of vision, Steve could hear me over the headsets making strange grunting noises and gasps as I went down in slow motion. Normally I get the line off of the pin with a quick and almost professional flourish, but this time was not the case. Steve kept asking me, “Are we free? Are we free?”, so he could put the engines in forward to exit the lock chamber. I imagined how funny I must’ve looked to others, in my slow, stiff, sideways topple and was giggling. I was so cramped in that small space, I couldn’t get up quickly, which meant we were still tied to the pin as other boats were leaving us behind in the lock chamber. Since Steve couldn’t see me from his helm seat above, he kept asking, “What are you doing?” and I was giggling too much to answer him. FINALLY, I was able to pull the line free and advise Steve we were released. My “fall” was so slow that I injured no part of my body, which was a good thing. I have no idea if anyone actually did see me do that, but I know if they did, they had a good laugh! This was the Guntersville lock, and it was spilling, which meant when we finally did get out of the lock chamber, we were met with more strong, downriver current. Because of this strong current, we reached Ditto Landing Marina earlier than planned. The harbor master put us farther back into the marina this time, so rocking was non-existent. 😊
As I stated above, there were no winds in our Shell Mound anchorage when we went to bed on Halloween night, and Steve had been previously insured by multiple, agreeing forecasts that winds all that night and through the next day would be light and variable at the most. Armed with that knowledge, we felt comfortable dropping anchor in a wide, open area with no wind protection. That’s why we were both jolted from our sleep and scared out of our wits when Steve’s GPS-based anchor alarm started blaring loudly about 11:30 pm! Steve bolted out of bed to check the wind anemometer reading to find 12 knots sustained winds blowing! As we watched, the winds increased to 16 knots and we could hear it howling outside. Because we were in such an open area, that wind was literally spinning Legacy around and around on her anchor. When we looked outside at surrounding lights on the shore, we saw them flying by at an alarming rate. Steve felt certain the anchor was set and holding well, so he eventually came back to bed and we went back to sleep. The anchor alarm stayed silent, so I slept up until 4:30 am when I awoke with what felt like severe bed-spins. We have a clock that reflects the time up onto the ceiling over our heads in big, red numerals. When I opened my eyes to “stop” the bed-spins, they did not stop! I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them again only to see those large, red digits continue to spin by in front of me over and over, which really scared me. For some goofy reason, I thought if I put on my glasses it would help. But the vertigo was so bad I couldn’t sit up enough to reach for them on the nightstand. I started to panic then, fearing if this vertigo didn’t stop, I would be worthless, considering I could neither see nor establish any sense of balance! In addition, we were in the middle of BFE Tennessee out in a lake. How would Steve get me to a hospital? He would somehow have to get the dinghy down all by himself, and how could I possible board or stay upright in that dinghy, even if he did manage to get it into the water? If by some miracle we did get to shore in the dinghy, we had no vehicle to get me to the ER! We’d have to call 911 and wait for an ambulance to somehow find us all the way out in the boondocks. I kept thinking maybe I was dreaming, so I slapped myself in the face a couple of times to wake-up, but the relentless spinning continued. I considered waking Steve, but realized there was really nothing he could do, so I tried to go back to sleep. Finally, when the clock on the ceiling read 5:00 am, the vertigo mercifully ceased. By that time, Steve was awake again, too, and when I told him about the vertigo episode, he said he wasn’t a bit surprised, considering the high-speed spinning my poor brain and inner ear had endured all night long.
We had a windy but beautiful travel day from Shell Mound anchorage to Alred Marina, arriving at 2:30 pm, which gave me just enough time to run up to the marina and grab the courtesy car keys before they closed at 3:00 pm. After getting settled in and showered we took the car into Guntersville for dinner at Top O’ The River, which turned out to be underwhelming, even though it had decent reviews online.
Halloween morning, Saturday, 10/31/20, dawned clear and crisp, but COLD! We both wore more layers of clothing today than we’d been used to, and also agreed that boating is a whole lot more fun in warmer temperatures! We again traversed the Chickamauga lock, this time with two other pleasure crafts, Dixie Belle and Nutty Buddy. Throughout our trip downriver, Steve kept track of which locks were currently spilling and which were not. We knew Chickamauga was spilling, but that was confirmed when we emerged from the lock to swiftly rushing current. Our normal traveling speed is 10 knots per hour, but that increased to 13 knots per hour with this current! That stronger current creates swirling waters and little whirlpools with all the turbulence. Steve has realized that Legacy handles better in that kind of water with more power applied to her engines. Things were rough enough that I decided to wait until we were in smoother waters before removing and stowing the fenders we’d had up to go through the lock. Steve says that cruisers who travel with their fenders out all the time look “dorky”, which is why he prefers me to pull them in asap. But not this time – I could just see myself falling overboard or doing a face-plant on the deck just so Legacy wouldn’t appear dorky…. Um, no. (This is Steve; it is also a fact that most boating accidents happen with boats that have their fenders out, so it is also a safety thing for me :)).
We cruised west, back through Chattanooga, and the waters calmed down for a smoother ride. The Halloween weather was spectacular! So far, during our cruising, we’ve been fortunate to have most of the waterways to ourselves, if you don’t include the bass boats. But on this day, we began noticing more and more larger boats joining us as we cruised toward “the grand canyon”. Before we realized it, Legacy became part of a long boat flotilla, all heading the same direction! We fell in line, as it was obvious going single-file was encouraged. It eventually dawned on us that we’d inadvertently become part of a local boating club event that involved cruising the canyon and back. As we approached the gorge, more and more boats joined the line, and mercy sakes alive, looked like we had us a convoy! 🙂 It was kind of fun being a part of the gang for awhile until we noticed the lead boat kept slowing down, which meant every boat after it was slowing down behind it. By the time that speed change transferred all the way back to our place in line, we were practically down to idle speed. The river at this point, because of all the turns, shoals, etc, is very turbulent. Legacy, being a bigger boat with a deep and full keel, needs some speed and power to navigate turbulent water. We needed to increase, but the only way to do that was to start passing boats, which was not kosher with this group. But eventually we had to be “those people” who bucked protocol and broke free from the herd. We went back up to our standard 10 knots, grinned and waved really big as we passed each boat. We were considerate not to strongly wake the boats we passed, but we started moving on. As we made these moves, I was texting with my friend Brenda Wehrle, giving her a play-by-play. I was concerned the other boaters were judging our utter audacity, when Brenda reminded me that our transom reflects a hailing port of Navarre, FL, which hopefully told the other boaters that we were not from around there and were only happenstance participants in their event. That made me feel better. Finally, after about an hour and a half – certainly not through the entire canyon – the lead boat turned back and all the other boats followed suit. Like the true rebels we were, Legacy and her crew continued right on downriver at 10 knots! The scenery was gorgeous yet again, but we commented on how the leaves weren’t quite as striking and that the humidity in the air today was higher than it had been the first time we’d so fondly enjoyed the canyon.
Here’s the only picture I took of our impromptu convoy through the canyon.
We reached Shell Mound Recreation Area anchorage, west of Chattanooga and just east of the Nickajack lock, much earlier than anticipated, due to the strong current. We had the anchorage to ourselves and enjoyed another clear and beautiful sunset in basically no winds. Over on the bank, there was a Halloween type public event underway. We watched many eerily-decorated golf-carts parading by groups of children in costumes, handing out candy. The crowds remained there as sunset arrived, and a group of paddle-boarders (approximately 12 or 15 people) slowly streamed from the shore out into the water, facing the gorgeous sunset. We employed our binoculars to realize that each and every paddle-boarder, some standing as they paddled, some kneeling, was wearing a witch’s hat and cape! What was really strange is that those boarders remained in the water long after sunset, until it was almost pitch dark. It looked like a coven of paddle-boarding witches had gathered to worship the rare Halloween full moon. After a couple of adult beverages, Steve began trying to scare me by insisting he could see the evil boarders had all turned toward us and were paddling to surround Legacy for the night. Regardless of what was actually happening, it was certainly not your average, everyday lake-sighting! At least not for us anyway.
