1-15 October 2005
Aberdeen, MS to Cedar Key, FL.
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| Date | Location | Log and pictures | ||
| 10/1 | Tom Bevill Visitor Center, MS | Out of bed and called the Aberdeen Lock. The lock master said come on thru so we hustled to make a 7:30 am underway and quick push thru the lock. Pleasant steam down the Tenn-Tom as we passed out of the canal section of the waterway and into the river section. We had a defined river bank with some sandy beaches and beautiful scenery. We slowed as we noticed something moving quickly in the water ahead of us. It turned out to be a deer swimming across the Tenn-Tom. They can swim fast! The most interesting view was the phone booth on the edge of the river. Yes, that did mean we don't have cell phone service. After anchoring at Tom Bevill Visitor center we took the dinghy to the center and enjoyed looking over the USS Snagboat Montgomery, a vessel build in 1926 to remove snags from the waterway. It was a steam powered stern paddle wheel with a crane on the front end. | ||
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| 10/2 | Howell Heflin Anchorage | Great day underway with clear skies. We started with a tour of the Tom Bevill visitor center and got on board the 200 foot Montgomery snag boat, built in 1926 for $200,000. The center gave us the history of the Tenn-Tom, a 241 mile waterway that connects the Tennessee and Tombigbee rivers. Completed in 1985 is takes 800 miles off of the trip from places in Tennessee to the Gulf Coast. The snag boat is shown below with Apolonia a small speck in the distance. Today's travel was fairly quiet meeting only a tow pulling a dredge up the waterway. At anchor tonight near the Howell Heflin lock we joined several sailboats that we met earlier, all of us waiting at someplace along the waterway until the hurricane season settles down. Barny and I are hoping that the season is actually over but watching the weather closely. | ||
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| 10/3 | Demoplis AL | Beautiful day of travel today as we viewed the white cliffs of Epes and passed thru the last part of the Tenn-Tom. We entered the Black Warrior Tombigee River at 3 this afternoon and moored at Demopolis AL, just 217 river miles from Mobile AL. Barny, as the trip's navigator, was busy planning the final stage of our great loop trip. It now appears, with reasonable luck with weather, we'll complete the trip 1 November. | ||
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| 10/4 | Bobby's Fish Camp | We broke records today, with a 6:45 underway and a 100 mile transit from Demopolis to Bobby's Fish Camp. There were no satisfactory anchorages in this portion of the Black Warrior Tom Bigbee River. It was a beautiful trip starting with transit thru Demopolis Lock with a tug and tow loaded with pulp. Behind us the sill was 40 feet high when we finished our trip down in the lock. We've been 850 feet above sea level and we are now nearing 4 feet above sea level. Tomorrow morning we'll do the last lock before the Gulf Coast and experience sea water and tidal currents, things we've not seen for over three months. However, the long day allowed Barny to catch me napping. | ||
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| 10/5 | Three Rivers Anchorage | We were up early, but sat quietly at Bobby's Fish Camp because the lock below there was full with tugs and barges. We waited the longest time, 4 hours, that we've ever waited for a lock thru. Finally, we were underway at noon, leaving Bobby's to enjoy the next 60 miles we were trying to complete for the day. We say cliffs and muddy river banks with downed trees, an amazing assortment of views as we moved south. We finally anchored at 6 pm at Three Rivers Island Anchorage, just 60 miles from Mobile Bay. No locks tomorrow so we'll be underway early to get into Mobile and the start of the Gulf Coast ICW. | ||
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| 10/6 | Mobile AL | Underway at a reasonable hour we enjoyed the Black Warrior Tom Bigbee, its brown water and rough weather homes on the waterway. Just 14 miles from Mobile we approached an inoperable swing bridge so we anchored and waited for it to be repaired, watching an approaching cold front. Finally underway at 2 pm thru the bridge we increased speed to get into Mobile before the weather front hit. We didn't make it and had a lumpy, rainy, and windy ride for the last hour into Mobile Bay to Grand Mariner Marina. It wasn't until we reached the Dog River where the Marina was located that we noticed the damage from Hurricane Katrina, including work on an oil rig. It was apparent that a great deal of work has been completed, even with the damage we noticed, as most businesses were up and running normally. | ||
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| 10/7 | Mobile, AL | 20 knots of wind on Mobile bay kept us at Grand Mariner Marina, using the day for necessary maintenance. A great local restaurant kept us full and the onboard liquor stores were sufficient. We were amazed at the amount of work that has been done here since hurricane Katrina. You had to look hard for evidence of the damage or walk deep into the edges of the boat yards to see the 100's of boats that were damaged in the hurricane. | ||
| 10/8 | Ingram Bayou, AL | Winds still at 20 knots when we got up, but by noon they died down and we headed south on Mobile Bay to the Gulf Coast, Inter-coastal Waterway (GCICW). We entered the ICW thru a channel off the Bay and the seas quieted. The area was more like Florida than Alabama, so Barny dubbed it LA (Lower Alabama). We noticed some derelict boats but mostly beautiful homes on the shore. We passed LuLu's, a local restaurant owned by Jimmy Buffet's sister. We finally anchored in Ingram Bayou and enjoyed the sandy beaches surrounding the anchorage. We also noticed a 37" Sea Ray laying on the shore that must have been the result of Katrina. | ||
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| 10/9 | Pensacola, Fl | The best and worst of days. Underway at 8:30 we had a beautiful trip east on the waterway. We called Beach Marina, where we had previously made reservations. Hard to talk to we finally got word to come to the fuel dock and after asking about problems got no special instructions. We made for the fuel dock and first found a sand bar, our second "mudding" of the trip. We pulled ourselves off with the dinghy, with no damage to the boat and made the fuel dock where we where told no reservations were recorded and no slips were available. Why we asked, didn't they tell us that before we came in!!! Either that a slip was not available or that the sand bar was now inside the channel as marked since two markers had been previously destroyed and not replaced? The total experience made me ask to speak to the owner, who was uncooperative and spiteful. I would not recommend Beach Marina in Pensacola Beach to any reasonable person. We got underway and anchored east of the Marina and finished the day in great fashion by having dinner with Barry Hines, a friend of Barny's. We'll take the experience at Beach Marina as one hour of bad in a 6 month trip. The trip ashore once we anchored near Pensacola Beach was great, seeing the Flounders Restaurant and its shore activities | ||
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| 10/10 | Blue Water Bay Marina | The wind was blowing 12 knots when we got up but the waterway was pleasant as we started toward Niceville, a 45 mile run. We were met on the waterway by a friend of Barny's, John Wolshlager, in his own 22 foot boat. He followed us to Blue Water Bay Marina, a great spot were we enjoyed cocktails on the boat and later at a local Tiki bar. We were treated to dinner in John and Myra Marshall's home, also friends of Barnys. The water is clear and blue. You can see the bottom down to 5 to 6 feet and the scenario is a real change from the inland waters we've been traveling for the last month. Interestingly, there appears to be more damage left unfixed here from the hurricanes last year, than was noticeable in Mobile from their recent hurricanes. Not sure of the facts but this is the appearance from the waterway. | ||
| 10/11 | Panama City | The seven hour run to Panama City was interesting, as we traveled thru a large bay and a ditch cut out of the land to help make an inter-coastal waterway. We moored at the City Marina and enjoyed a visit with Dave and Sayre Steer. I relieved Dave as CIC officer on Richard E. Byrd (DDG-23) almost 35 years ago. It was a great time visiting with them. After Sayre served us a 5 star dinner we came back to the boat to enjoy after dinner drinks. | ||
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| 10/12 | Port St Joe, FL | Dave and Sayre stopped by at 8 am and we all went to breakfast and they treated us to a tour of Panama City and the Naval facility there. Underway at noon we made a 50 mile run to Port St Joe and started plotting the trip across the Gulf to the western shore of Florida. The trip to Port St Joe was very pleasant but we saw more evidence of hurricane damage along the shores. We looked hard for alligators, but saw none. The dolphins were plentiful but we could never catch them with the camera. |
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| 10/13 | Dog Island, Fl | Up to do laundry but finally underway at 11 am from Port St Joe, pictured at right. We were headed for Dog Island, just south of Carrabelle, FL along Jackson River. The river was named for Stonewall Jackson and is lined with cypress trees. The 59 mile trip was beautiful under cloudy skies and pleasant weather. Dog island is beautiful. It is about 4 miles long and only several hundred feet wide at most of its length with white sandy beaches. It is a barrier island to the Gulf, which we hope to cross tomorrow. We hope the weatherman is correct about the wind tomorrow. |
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| 10/14 | Carrabelle, FL | Five thirty reveille to make the Gulf crossing but winds were reported at 15-20 knots with 4-5 foot waves on the Gulf. In fact, at anchor at Dog Island we were experiencing 2-3 foot seas. We took a weather day and moved 3 miles into Carrabelle and moored at The Moorings Marina. Two isinglass windows had previously blown out and we were able to find a canvas shop to repair them as well as change oil in the generator . It turned into a great work day with yet another coat of varnish being put on the port bow rail. We'll be up early tomorrow to try again for a crossing to Cedar Keys on the west coast of Florida. The marina is pleasant and has lots of facilities and a small boat show tomorrow to keep us busy if the weather doesn't allow the crossing. | ||
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| 10/15 | Cedar Key, FL | No pictures today. Up at 6 and underway by 7 AM for the run across the Gulf of Mexico. Waves started at 3 feet but by early afternoon were running just under one foot. A fairly pleasant crossing. We took a narrow and shallow passage into Cedar Key on the west coast of Florida, knowing we'd have just enough water to make it into the area. We'd called ahead and the claim was for just over 4 feet in the passage at low tide. However, there has been a lot of shoaling in the channel reported by most locals and the guide books. Nearing the end of the passage the water become too shallow. As the shoal was light sand we decided to use the dinghy to get the boat over what we now knew was just under 4 feet of water. I didn't want to use the propellers to dig through the area so we put the dinghy in the water and pulled a sailboat routine of years ago and pulled the boat slowly through the shallow water. It worked fine and we anchored almost on time at Cedar Key. We traveled over 110 miles today in 12 hours which is a long day for us. We took the dinghy into Cedar Key, had a light dinner and returned for a night cap and bed. | ||
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