We returned to Serenity Blue after the Thanksgiving holiday on December 2nd. The next day weather forecast was for calm blue seas and clear blue skies so we departed Dog River and followed the ship channel south on Mobile Bay and turn left into the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway headed toward Florida.
Several large freighters passed us as they were entering the bay and headed to the port of Mobile. Shrimp boats were working the waters to each side of the ship channel, hugh flocks of birds following them with hopes of a easy meal. More and more dolphins came near and entertained us with their frolicking leaps and jumps; a few swam alone side, just a few feet off our starboard and would disappear just as soon as the camera came out.
Inbound freighter
Mid-bay (light) house
We passed by Lulu’s Restaurant, owned by Jimmy Buffet’s sister, decided not to stop as it was too late for lunch and we wanted to get to our marina before dark. Not far we arrived at The Wharf marina, Orange Beach, AL and where we will be leaving Serenity Blue while we head back home for the Christmas holidays.
Serenity Blue at The Wharf while we head home for Christmas
Finally warm enough to walk the furry mates without freezing.
We decided to linger a little longer in Orange Beach before making the long drive home and enjoy the warm weather and the surrounding area. We took long walks, did some shopping, Greg watched a movie at the AMC, ‘Ford vs Ferrari’ and we met Loopers at Villagio Restaurant for social & dinner, all within walking distance of the marina. Susan and Phil of ‘Callin in Gone’ met us for lunch in Magnolia Springs at a place called Jesse’s Restaurant where the food was excellent and the atmosphere was warm and inviting; it used to be an old butcher shop and post office.
We couldn’t leave for home without first taking an evening stroll through the Wharf and enjoy the Christmas lights and music.
With our goal of going 90 miles to Bobby’s Fish Camp for the night, we need an early start. At 5:30am we get word from Demopolis Lock we have a green light, four of us make a mad dash out of the marina and to the lock with just a bit of low fog over the water.
The weather is good, clear sky a bit cold but forecasted to warm above 60. The sun heats up the flybridge like a solarium but until such time, the early hours are just plain cold. So Maggie makes hot oatmeal for breakfast, with a cup of coffee and cranberry bread, all is good.
Pirates camped on the beach just south of Demopolis. Brave souls. Baby its cold outside!
Entrance to Bashi Creek
Mile marker 145, as all Loopers know, is the entrance to Bashi Creek (see photo above). It is 72 miles out from Kingfisher Bay Marina and one of few anchorages available to down bound boaters if you can’t make it to Bobby’s Fish Camp. It has been reported that as many as 6+ boats have rafted together in this tiny spot. No thanks, onward we press to Bobby’s.
Arrive Bobby’s at 4:15pm, about 30 minutes before sunset. We kept in contact with Dave & Denise on ‘Adagio’ who were already at the dock earlier today. They did great work to rearrange a couple sailboats who were at the dock such that we could get our group of four secured, two at the dock, two rafted. It got dark fast and now it’s time to indulge in the finer joys of Bobby’s Fish Camp; catfish, hush puppies and slaw. It doesn’t get any better when you enjoy good food with friends in the middle of nowhere at a idyllically rustic establishment.
The line outside waiting
Dinner at Bobby’s Fish Camp
From the photo above, front to rear: Brian & Dorthy, ‘Seasons’; Dave & Denise, ‘Adagio’; Maggie & Greg, ‘Serenity Blue’; Rev & Sam, ‘Here’s to Us’ and (last two names escape me, if you know, please advise) aboard ‘Grace’
The next morning was another early departure and our last lock, Coffeeville Lock, for this section of the Loop. At 6:15am everyone was ready to go, our boat had to leave first due to the way we were stacked into the dock. However, a group of locals decided to launch their john-boats via the ramp directly behind us, so we waited. We notice they are not carrying fishing rods, but rather they all have shot guns. So Maggie asks, “what are you going to catch with guns?” “Squirrels” they reply. Yea Sure. Hmm.
Early Sunday morning departure from Bobby’s. The gun toting boaters are just behind our boat on right, out of frame.
Coffeeville Lock & Dam. Last lock of this section of the Great Loop.
Since Amory Lock & Dam we have been in what is called the River Section of the Tenn-Tom. Once we are lowered at Cofferville Lock we will be in brackish water that is tidal.
To date we have completed passage of 13 locks, when the loop is closed we will pass through 100+ locks. At this point we want to give a shout out to all the lock masters on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, they have been great, very accommodating and just a pleasure to work with on our voyage.
Railroad lift bridge, open.
For a brief couple miles we pass through civilization with a power plant and pulp and paper plant.
Then we are back to remote wilderness were the only other living things are wildlife, deer, bald eagles and now the occasional alligator sunning on the shore.
Our original planned anchorage was Alabama Cut as a group (4 boats). We just felt the need to go further to Tensas River, so we campaigned for the change and all agreed. We arrive Tensas River at 3:45pm, set anchor in 15′ of water about 3/4 mile off the Blackwarrior-Tombigbee Waterway. A nice 1 knot current holds us steady and parallel to shore all night long. ‘Seasons’ decides to drop their dinghy and explore. We consider doing same and taking the furry mates ashore, then reconsider with the possibility of an alligator encounter. We settle for staying on the boat and watch the most beautiful Sunday evening sunset we have ever seen. (#21 Obedience always brings blessing.) This was a great anchorage and a great way to end a day. A true blessing indeed.
Watching it develop right before our eyes!
How great is our God. Spectacular!
Monday morning. With no rush to a lock, we have a leisure breakfast and host anchor at 9am; next stop Dog River Marina, in salt water!
Cruising toward Mobile we note the scenery change to marsh and palm trees before we enter the shipping channel in downtown Mobile. Commercial boat traffic increases to an intense level until we pass into Mobile Bay where we are greeted by our first pod of dolphins swimming near the boat.
Approaching Mobile shipping channel
Ships being constructed for the Navy, left; oil platform on right
Cruise ship terminal, left; Mobile Convention Center, right
We arrive Dog River Marina at 3:30pm, take on fuel and settle into our assigned slip to realize we are in company with Loopers we have met weeks ago including Susan & Phil of ‘Callin in Gone’. Susan has just purchased fresh caught shrimp from the shrimpers across the way and has extra, so guess what we had for dinner. Yes! This is salt water and the shrimp are delicious.
Dog River Marina is a working marina and over the course of our travels from Green Turtle Bay we have a couple of mechanical write-ups we want them to fix. The autopilot is inoperable, that is a Raymarine issue and Roger Turner of Turner Marina just next door will handle that. The starboard engine starter solenoid is giving us an occasional dead starter button so Dog River’s mechanic will check that out.
Serenity Blue settled in at Dog River Marina, Mobile, AL
We had hoped to get everything done and out of here in a few days, as we learn that ain’t happening. The starter solenoid is a non-issue, we buy a spare just in case. The autopilot requires recalibration which must be done out in the bay on a calm day; the earliest Roger Turner can do it is Friday. Friday got pushed to Monday due to rough conditions.
So as they say, when you get lemons, you make lemonade. We spend our time in Mobile to rent a car and travel back to Columbus, MS to get our truck and take it back to Mobile. We tour Fairhope, a quaint little town that takes one back in time. Check out some local restaurants; Guido’s, The Mariner and Mobile Yacht Club. Greg spends a day touring the USS Alabama battleship and accompanying sub and aircraft exhibits while Maggie does an impromptu tour of Mobile.
Family are clamoring for our presence at Thanksgiving, so after we complete the autopilot sea trial on Monday with Roger Turner, we pack up and head home on Tuesday.
Sunday, November 10th we drove from our home near Atlanta to Columbus Marina. The route took us through Tuscaloosa, AL the day after LSU handed the Univ. of Alabama their first defeat of the season. There were a lot of long sad faces at the Publix where we stopped to replenish our provisions, except for the bagger who was an Auburn fan and all smiles.
To get to the next marina along the Tenn-Tom we will need to anchor somewhere halfway. All the talk in the marina is about the arctic blast due to sweep through this area Monday night and all day Tuesday and we don’t need to be at anchor at that time. The consensus is to delay departure until Wednesday. Tuesday morning we awoke to winds blowing 25-30 mph and temps dropping like a rock.
At 6:00am Wednesday we have word from Stennis Lock that they are ready for us. The winds have calmed down but the temperatures are hovering around 19 degrees! After we thaw the dock lines enough to get them loose, we ease out of our slip and meet up with our buddy boats Sam and Rev on ‘Here’s to Us’ and Brian and Michelle on’Kitumba’.
Sunrise departure from Columbus Marina. Arctic temps 19 degrees, let’s go south!
We clear through Stennis and Bevill Locks without delay and arrive at our anchorage, Sumpter Landing at 3:30pm. With just the three of us anchored in this small cove, we have plenty of swing room to stay out of each others way.
The day has warmed nicely, its clear and shore leave seems to be in order. The dinghy is lowered, we load up and head to shore where we walk our furry mates around a deserted state park.
The next morning we all depart at 6:30am and head for our only lock of the day, Hevlin Lock. They give us the green light as we approach and we thank them for the quick passage as we head for Kingfisher Bay Marina at Demopolis, AL.
‘Here’s to Us’ passing the White Cliffs of Epes
‘Kitumba’, Selene 42 Europa, passing the White Cliffs of Epes
We arrived at Kingfisher Bay Marina at 3:30pm and stop at the fuel dock first. Some marinas fuel the boat for you, others just hand you the nozzle and you fill it yourself. The latter was the case today. When we finished, I handed the nozzle to the attendant and he said “Yes sir, we have the best gasoline on the river, you’ll really like it”. Oh No! This is a diesel boat. Sure enough it was diesel, green handle. Ok, he got me. He assigned us a covered slip, same price as open. Thankful for that as it began to rain.
Ann Marie, the head dockmaster, guides us in to our slip and sternly instructs us on how things are to be in her marina. Maybe we should refer to her as ‘head drill sergeant’. As we get to know Ann Marie and realize her care for the marina and concern for us transients, her love for her dogs, we see a totally different side of her. We like Ann Marie.
The next section of our river travels is probably the most remote of the entire Great American Loop; Demopolis to Mobile. We typically try to keep our travel distances at 45-50 miles per day, however this next stretch we will need to do 90, 80 and 70 miles each day. That being said, we learn that 12 boats left Kingfisher this morning headed to the next stop, Bobby’s Fish Camp where there is a small dock for 3 boats, all others have to raft up to those three. So the few other Loopers remaining at Kingfisher, four including us, decide to stay put a day and let those who have gone ahead to flush out of the river and hopefully it won’t be so jam packed at Bobby’s or one of the few anchorages. As you will see, this logic paid off nicely.
So for our day off, we join Sam & Rev from ‘Here’s to Us’, take the courtesy car into town for a tour of historic antebellum homes in Demopolis, have lunch at a local restaurant and of course, make a pass through Walmart.
It’s Sunday Oct. 13th, the generator is fixed, Serenity Blue is washed, fueled and ready to press on. But where to next? Originally we planned to continue up the Tennessee River to Chattanooga, go home for a few days and then return down the Tennessee River to where we are now, Aqua. We sensed that is not what God wanted us to do, so we set our sights on salt water. (#13 Listening to God is essential to walking with God).
We are at the junction of where one could continue up bound on the Tennessee River or down bound on the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway/Canal toward Mobile, AL. For this voyage, it will be toward Mobile and salt water. With that settled we decided to enjoy Sunday in Iuka, MS. After lunch we took the courtesy car to a grocery store called Brooks, a small version of Whole Foods, where we found many good things to bring back to the boat to eat. Then Greg took the dinghy and motored around the harbor to break in the new Honda outboard. As the sun began to set, he headed back to the boat to watch some football while Maggie cooked dinner.
The plan was to make it all the way to Midway Marina today, Monday,Oct. 14th. We were up early and set to go but guess what, we are fogged in again. So we wait. Around 9:30 we could see enough to ease our way to the fuel dock where we have our holding tanks pumped out and wait for the remainder of the fog to lift.
No buddy boats with us as we shove off at 10:10am. We soon enter the narrow divided cut section where we really need our AIS (Automatic Identification System) to see and be seen by the tows. But it decided to take the day off, rats, this is no time for this essential piece of equipment to malfunction. We came upon a sailboat doing 6 knots, he calls a tow on the VHF and we realize he has AIS. We stayed with him until the tow passes. His speed is too slow for us so we bid him farewell and press on sans AIS. (#9 Trusting God means looking beyond what we can see to what God sees). Once we got to the marina, Greg was able to reboot the system and get it up and running again.
As we approached Whitten Lock we were informed that there would be a delay of several hours. Considering we had two more locks beyond Whitten before we arrive at Midway Marina and the days are getting short, we opted to take a slip at Bay Springs Marina just above Whitten Lock.
Talk about remote, Bay Springs doesn’t offer a courtesy car but if its an emergency they will take you into town which is 30 minutes away. Nice peaceful place, for a day.
We met a couple on a homemade pontoon boat traveling with their dog. They started in Chicago headed for Panama City, FL. Tomorrow morning we will buddy boat with them through three locks to Midway Marina.
I think they have the Huck Finn thing going on here.
The next morning the pontoon boat called us at 7am to say he just spoke with Whitten Lock and they need us to come NOW. So starts the morning fire drill which will become routine each morning until we get to Mobile. Greg first starts the engines and then disconnects the shore power and stows the power cord, while Maggie starts to wipe the dew off the isinglass in the flybridge to see our way. Greg then heads up to the flybridge to fire up all the navigation electronics and Maggie starts to cast off all our dock lines. Once she says we are all clear, we begin our exit from the slip and on our way. Normally, this process takes us 20 minutes but today, with the lock master requesting our presence, we do it in 10 minutes max.
We enter the Whitten Lock with our pontoon boat buddy and a power catamaran ‘Cat-n-Dogs’. Together the three of us buddy boat through Whitten, Montgomery and Rankin locks. The weather was getting iffy and as we approached Midway Marina around 10:30am we decided to take refuge while our two buddy boats continued on. The rain began shortly after we were secured and the forecast for tomorrow was 25 knot winds so we decided to stay put an extra day. We took the courtesy car into the town of Fulton, MS and a tour of the local Walmart for a few essentials.
On October 17th with six other Loopers at Midway Marina we call the Fulton Lock and request passage, they reply ok but you need to come NOW. So begins the fire drill again at 7am.
We buddy boat with ‘The Answer’, ‘Paddy Wagon’, ‘Bahama Voyager’, ‘Unwinding’, ‘Corkscrew’ and ‘9 1/2’ through four locks, Fulton, Wilkins, Amory and Aberdeen. After the fourth lock ‘Serenity Blue’ and ‘Unwinding’ need to burn off some carbon so we take off at 14mph vs our normal 10, arriving Columbus Marina at 3:30pm.
Again we are assigned a nice covered slip, which is good as we will be leaving Serenity Blue here for 3 weeks while we make our way back home so Greg can attend an important annual meeting at our church. Columbus, MS is the best jumping off place as we need a one-way rental car and they have a small commercial airport here. Beyond Columbus it begins to get really remote and harder to get the rental car.
Our dear friend Lisa King, procures a car rental for us via her travel agency and the next day we head back to Grand Rivers, KY to pick up our truck. Our gold Looper friends, Byron & Cynthia, host us for the night. The next day we drive both the truck and rental to the Nashville airport, drop off the rental and continue to Atlanta via our vehicle. Complicated but it worked.
The northern section of the Tennessee Tombigbee is a ‘divided cut’, lined with rock embankments.
Midway Marina in Fulton, MS, rustic charm
After the passing of the cold front, sun sets at Midway. We leave in the morning.
At sunrise the caravan of seven enters Fulton Lock.
We awoke to clear blue skies and calm blue waters. Took the furry mates for a walk ashore and enjoyed the beautiful fall weather and colorful foliage at Paris Landing State Park.
Departed 10am headed to Cuba Landing about 49 miles further up the Tennessee River. We cruise at 8.7 knots or 10 mph so about a 5 hour trip, but we are going against the river current and it takes a little time to get out of the slip, through the ‘no wake’ zone and into the main channel. We also had to wait for a tow to clear a bridge so our arrival to Cuba Landing was 3:45pm, secured to our slip.
A ‘Tow’ typically consists of a large push boat and a series of barges tied together. In the photo above there are 12 barges, 4 long x 3 wide and one push boat. They are not the most maneuverable creatures on water so we always call the tow captain on VHF and ask him how he wants us to set up for a pass.
Abandoned factory flooded after the Kentucky Dam formed Kentucky Lake
There is not much to Cuba Landing. A small marina frequented by local fishermen. There are only a couple transient docks, when we arrived one other boat was there; Sean & Natalie with Peaches their golden doodle aboard ‘Alegria’.
Sunset at Cuba Landing
We discussed leaving Cuba Landing with Alegria tomorrow morning early and ‘buddy boat’ with them to our next destination, Clifton Marina and further to Pickwick Lake. Well, that was the plan but as we are beginning to learn, God has other plans that take precedence over our measly ideas. We awoke the next morning at 6am to find ourselves engulfed in dense fog. So we wait. The sun burned the fog off and we departed 8:30am. (#14 God acts on behalf of those who wait for Him).
Serenity Blue and Alegria wait for the fog to lift
Can you see the channel markers? Almost but not yet……
Once the fog lifted and we got into the river, we had a beautiful fall day run to Clifton,TN. We had a few tows to deal with, on-coming tows in a straight were easy one whistle pass, we encountered one tow headed the same direction as us but a much slower pace so we asked for a pass and the captain came back with ‘on the one’, meaning we put him on our port (left). However, by the time we caught up to him, we were entering a turn in the river and the captain said it would be better to pass him on the two, our starboard or right side. We were following Alegria and I realized we needed to both speed up or we would have the front barge on our back porch. It was close but we finally pulled away from the tow.
A left bend in the river, the front barges are being pushed toward us. It got close, but that only counts in horseshoes.
We arrived Clifton Marina at 1:30pm, secured to the dock, we went for a long walk to see what’s here. Not much but we are kind of in the middle of nowhere.
The marina is under new ownership who are doing an excellent job of upgrading, accommodating and a whole lot of good ole down home country hospitality. We had a wonderful home cooked meal from the marina kitchen, dined outside with other Loopers and as is becoming the custom, headed to bed at ‘Looper midnight’, that is 9pm.
Clifton Marina, Clifton, TN
The next morning we needed an early start, no fog, as we not only had a long distance, we also had to transit our first lock at Pickwick Lake. Other loopers joined us and Alegria as we made our way up-bound on the Tennessee River.
This would be our first passage through a lock. The Pickwick Lock has a vertical lift of 58′ from the Tennessee River up to Pickwick Lake. Maggie was at total peace about this but I was in constant conversation with the Holy Spirit about divine guidance.
Our lead boat had been in contact with the lock master who kept us informed of status. We arrived at the lock around noon and had to wait about 1 hour as a tow was in the lock at the time. Once the tow cleared, we got the green light and we all filed in, in orderly fashion. I got Serenity Blue nice and close to the wall and where Maggie could reach the floating bollard onto which she secured our line. Oh, this is a blessing. Now we waited as several stragglers made their way to the lock. Thirty minutes later, we were all in and secure, the doors began to close and the water began to bubble up from the bottom of the lock as it filled the chamber and lifted us to the top.
We exited the lock and headed to Aqua Yacht Harbor. As we looked back at the lock experience, we knew all we had to do was Trust God.
Originally we planned to spend the night at Grand Harbor Marina but with our unresolved generator issue we changed our reservations to Aqua Yacht Harbor as they have a full maintenance service available on site. We arrived at Aqua at 4:15pm, stopped at the fuel dock and topped off our tanks. They assigned us a covered slip, not normal for a transient like us, but we were pleased to have it.
As we motored down the fairway to our slip it seemed they appeared too short for Serenity Blue to fit under the roof. So, a quick call to the harbor master and he assured us they are 19′-8″ vertical clear; oh joy, we are 19′-6″ tall. Eased into the slip nice and slow, the adjoining slip person said she could see we had a good 2″ of clearance.
Pickwick Lock
Maggie has us secured to the bollard and is holding us off the wall as we are lifted. She hates it when the fenders drag on the wall and get dirty; so do I because I have to wash them.
#4 The awareness of God’s presence energizes us for our work. Locking through is nothing to fear.
The floating bollard onto which Maggie secures our line.
Serenity Blue & Crew completes their first lock as we exit.
Our arrival to Aqua was October 10, met mechanic TJ the next morning who immediately diagnosed the gen problem as a vapor lock in the coolant line. Hmmm, funny thing, we had the coolant changed by the mechanic back at Green Turtle Bay, I guess he forgot to clear the line. Once he realized the problem, he could not fix it just then as the engine was too hot. He promised to return the next day, Oct. 12, and he did as promised. We like TJ.
Our friends and dock neighbors from Green Turtle Bay, Dave and Wendy aboard ‘Hey Coach’ arrived Saturday afternoon. We had dinner together at the Marina restaurant. This is cat fish country so one must indulge in the local cuisine. It was very good indeed.
It was a restless night, I couldn’t sleep thinking about our departure in the morning. Part of me was excited that the time has finally come, part of me was a healthy fear of departing into the unknown, away from our secure way of life; are we really ready to do this, I wondered.
At 5:30am I could hear the rain pounding on the tin roof covering our slip at Green Turtle Bay Marina. The wind was howling and tugging on our dock lines. This was not a good start to our trip. Time to put it to prayer, go or delay a day. (#27 Prayer is life’s greatest time saver.)
The rain started to tapper off around 8am, Maggie and I walked our two Yorkies, River and Cooper up the dock to their favorite potty spot. I kept an eye on the weather app to see if there was any hope of clearing. There is always hope. We had breakfast and continued to wait; go or delay a day.
Friends and gold Loopers, Byron & Cynthia on ‘Bright Angel’ and Al & Ruth on ‘Tortuga’ began to gather on the dock to see us off. The sky was beginning to show signs of blue around 10am. We decided it would be good to go. But first we must stop at the fuel dock to top off the tanks and pump out the holding tanks. At 11am the sun was casting it’s warmth on us as we cast off our final docklines and began our voyage.
The first day we planned to travel to Paris Landing State Park Marina toward the southern end of Kentucky Lake. An easy 40 mile trip. The lake was calm with 1′ waves, a bit windy but otherwise a good weather day, considering what we awoke to earlier.
About an hour out we started the generator which we need to run occasionally to keep the refrigerator and freezer happy. It started and ran for 5 minutes then shut itself down. Maggie took the helm and I went below to determine the cause. Nothing apparent, so I re-started the gen and it fired up, ran 5 minutes and shut down again. No time to fiddle with it now, so I left it off for the day.
We arrived at Paris Landing 3:45pm, docked with a 15kt crosswind. After we were secure in our slip I decided to take another look at the gen. Again it started and ran 5 minutes. It was just serviced so I called the mechanic who talked me through a few tests, all to no avail. Until we can get to another marina with a mechanic, we’ll just have to do without a generator.
Our first day of the voyage ends with dinner cooked aboard, watch a downloaded episode of NCIS and early to bed.
