Day 171 2nd year November 10. Divide Cut and Bay Springs Lake Section of the TennTom. Miles 32. Total miles 5186

We left around 10am to wait out the weather and for Bill to get questions answered on the inverter from Zantrex Support. Information received and rain dissipated, we got ready to leave.

We left Zippy Creek and traveled a bit in Pickwick Lake before turning into the Divide Cut section of the TennTom. The Divide Cut is a canal which was dug through the land for 25 miles to connect the Tennessee River with the Tombigbee River. Massive amounts of dirt were excavated to complete the project.

The canal reminds me of the canal in Venice, Florida, crushed rock forms the shoreline which is elevated about 4 feet and joins the forests surrounding the waterway. Along the way, there are numerous parks with picnic tables and boat ramps.

As we traveled down the canal, we enjoyed some Fall colors and the creative ways the Corp of Engineers used to control the flow of the creeks into the canal. We also passed two barges with tows and a Looper sailboat.

The Divide Cut ends at the beginning of Bay Springs Lake a four mile lake was created by the Whitton Lock which we will go through tomorrow morning. The lake has many fingers and lots of places to anchor.

We choose 5 Finger Bay and entered and put down the anchor for the evening,

Day 173. 2nd year November 11. On to Whitton, Montgomery and Rankin Lock.

Miles 19 Total Miles 5205

We weighed anchor at Bay Springs Lake and headed down stream two miles, passing under another section of the Natchez Trace Parkway to reach the first of three locks today, James Whitton. We were joined by 6 other Looper boats- one who had anchored near us and the other five from a nearby marina.

Traveling through the lock, we were lowered 84 feet into the canal section of the TennTom Waterway. The next 52 miles are a series of locks and levees that form the nine foot deep waterway. The shoreline is forested with clay bluffs where the water has eroded the shore.

We had two tows and barges to keep our boat flotilla for the day company.

We traveled through two more locks today- Sonny Montgomery dropping us 33 feet and John Rankin dropping us 31 feet.

Traveling a bit further, we pulled into Midway Marina for the night.

Today was a wonderful example of strangers helping others in need. Bill shared we needed to get to pharmacy. And after telling us the best options, the lock master proceeded to contact the other lock masters to help us avoid long waits. We had intended to anchor, but changed plans to go to Midway Marina and they graciously found a spot for us and recommended a clinic and pharmacy and reserved the courtesy car for us. Well it all worked out well and after medications and a nap I felt better. Sometimes things just work out!

Tonight we had a beautiful sunset we wanted to share.

June 4-5. Day 63-64. On to Cape May New Jersey. 53.4nm. Total 1534 miles.

Left Delaware City at 5:35am to be able to take advantage of the strong currents going with us while traversing Delaware River and Delaware Bay. The Delaware River goes south about 15 miles and flows into the Delaware Bay. As we travel south, New Jersey is to the east and Delaware is to our west. We are traveling just outside the shipping channel and are really moving at 10.9 knots. That is three knots faster than we normally travel, as the outgoing tides are pushing us along. Nice to have Mother Nature helps us save on fuel. The Delaware River is about 8 miles wide so there is plenty of room for the freighters and the pleasure boats. So far, we have not encountered any commercial traffic, but there is a large freighter behind us that will eventually pass us as they travel at 14 knots. The Delaware Bay proper varies from 23-29 miles wide and 26 miles long. There are five lighthouses on the Delaware marking the shipping channel. We went by Ship J...

Reflections on the Bahamas

Reflections on the Bahamas Over the past 10 weeks, we have traveled through Abaco, Eleuthera and Exuma Islands and enjoyed the hospitality of the Bahamian people. We have learned all about the islands, its unique geography - limestone, caves, blue holes and chalk cliffs; and colorful history-pirates and rum running, salt ponds and cotton plantations, boat building and wrecking/salvage. Traveling over 1300 miles through narrow cuts and wide bays to vast depths of ocean, we negotiated the islands and found safe harbors, calm coves for anchoring, bays filled with moorings and marinas large and small. This trip required us to pay close attention to the weather, the tides and currents as we traveled between and through the islands. The Bahamian people are warm and friendly, willing to give us rides, advice and directions, as well as some secret recipes!! We enjoyed hiking trails, walking the beaches, snorkeling the coral rocks and reefs, discovering ruins and ol...

Day 64-65. May 25-26. On to Peck Lake, Jupiter, FL and then on to Indiantown/ Okeechobee Waterway. Miles 63.5/ 29.1 Total Miles 1122.1/1142.0

Day 64 We started early to get ahead of the holiday boat traffic. Weighing anchor at Lake Sylvia in Fort Lauderdale, we traveled on the Intracoastal Waterway past the iconic Pier 66 Tower and Bahia Mar Marina. We then turned north and passed the older sections of the city - Las Olas( older homes), Galt Ocean Mile (one mile of condominiums on the beach), and the famous miles of beaches on the Atlantic. I used to live here in the early 70's and the biggest change I see is the older smaller homes on the water are being replaced with larger versions and a few more condo towers have been built. As we go further north towards Commercial Blvd, North Fort Lauderdale, and Pompano Beach and its Lighthouse at the cut, there is less reconstruction. The next town we traveled through was Boca Raton with its Spanish architecture, Camino Real and its landmark tower. The sand bar at the cut was just beginning to fill up with Memorial Day revelers as we went by. Next were t...

Crustacean Travels

Search This Blog