We woke up to another overcast, chilly, rainy day, so we decided we had overstayed our welcome in Orange Beach. We braved some wind to pull out of the slip and past all those huge boats, but we made it out just fine.
We have a “new normal” to get used to, traveling on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. There is a marked channel to stay in, but it is fairly tight at times. Lots of boats in the channel are running on plane, so they throw huge wakes at us that we bounce over at 8-9 mph. Some boats are pontoon boats and you feel like you are going to swamp them when you go past them at 8mph, but I can’t imagine passing them at 20+. Quite often there is a ton of water to be seen, but just outside of the channel markers, it gets extremely shallow–like 1-2 feet in many places. INNTW would not like that, so we stay between the markers. Sometimes the chartplotter plays a trick and wants to send you outside the channel or tells you the channel is actually over about 50 feet to one side or the other, but we’ve heard (and learned) that you should trust what you see and just stay between the markers.
Due to the weather and the fact that it was a Wednesday, we didn’t see many (any??) boats out on this particular travel day. What we did hear over and over again was a warning from the Coast Guard about “pyrotechnics” at a nearby Fort Somethingorother. Of course we had to look it up right away to make sure we weren’t close to that location, and thank goodness we weren’t. But just another adventure to keep our day interesting.
“Dolphin Alert! Dolphin Alert!”
Immediately with the books again!! If only we could bring porpoising dolphins into every elementary school!!!Crossing into FLORIDA!!NO WAKE, IDLE SPEED, and RESUME NORMAL OPERATION signs everywhere. You really have to watch for them!!Beautiful deserted beach area. Beautiful if it was warm out, at least.Tobin (or Chase?!) kept us entertained with his best Coco impression. I love being serenaded by my children! Notice the “windshield wiper” is all set up–another rainy day!
We made it in to Pensacola and tied up at a free wall at the end of a long, narrow channel. It was a little nerve wracking because we weren’t exactly sure we knew where the free dock was (despite reading Active Captain reviews and scouring satellite images) and it was such a tight space, there was very little room for error. After arriving at the dock, we barely fit in the space, so we are lucky no one was there before us. After a quick lunch and layering of every single warm thing we had, we were off to explore Pensacola (a high of about 50* expected–brrr).
We walked on a little trail and learned about some of the early explorers in the area and then headed to an archeological museum.
Hayley got to meet this guy who was supposedly shipwrecked and needed a ride back to Spain.The kids took turns sorting through items found on archeological digs in the area and learning about them based on size, weight, texture, etc. It was pretty cool.
After we were bored of learning about pirates, explorers, treasure, and artifacts, we called for an Uber to take us to the FREE Pensacola Naval Aviation Museum.
Planes, planes everywhere!!This one felt like it was made out of corrugated cardboard!!This big plane with the yellow wings was the first style to cross the Atlantic. It is amazing to see the evolution of flight. Read more about the NC-4 here.Blue Angels!! They are so much quieter inside the museum, but still just as close together!!There were a bunch of areas set up like a ship, a street from the 1940’s, a camp from WWII, and probably more. It was so cool to walk through and I think it really helped the kids to understand what those experiences were like. Here Mike is sitting in the barber chair.We sat in every single plane that you could.And took pictures in every single one, also.
The Naval Aviation Museum was awesome. We saw so many planes, learned about many “firsts” in aviation, and developed a new respect for those who protect our freedom. What an awesome stop!! Plus, we couldn’t believe it was FREE!! That is, aside from the Uber ride to get there. But then when we tried to leave, we learned that Uber drivers aren’t allowed on base to pick up riders, so we had to wait for a cab from a specific company. We waited well over an hour for our ride and about half an hour after closing time. In the end, the FREE museum cost us about $80 in transportation, but at least the museum was amazing!! Just another adventure, right?!
When we finally got back to the boat we were hungry, tired, and freezing. The temperature on the boat was about 55* so we cranked that heat up and ate a quick dinner and headed to bed.
Time on their Kindles waiting for dinner. Obviously Hayley is chilly!!
Oh yeah….by the way. The Pensacola Wall is supposed to just be a day stop with no overnight docking. Our plan was to move to a nearby anchorage before dark, but with the Uber confusion we didn’t get back until well after dark. We figured we’d take our chances at staying overnight and no one ever said a thing. Thank goodness! I did not want a knock on the boat in the middle of the night telling us we had to leave, but I suppose we would have just explained our story and worked the fact that we have 3 kids on board to our advantage. Nothing is easy on this adventure and every single day is different, that’s for sure!! Part of what makes it so amazing, I guess. Thanks for reading and following along!!
Destination: The Wharf Marina, Orange Beach, Alabama
Distance: 44.2 miles
Speed: 9.5 mph
Time on the Move: 4 hours and 37 minutes
We were anxious to get moving again after a few days in Mobile. It was fun, but we were done and ready to move on to the next adventure. Which we heard would most likely include DOLPHINS!! Traveling through Mobile Bay is a magical experience for many loopers after the long, busy, muddy river section. The experience has been described to us by several people and they all seem to remember sparkling water, warm sunshine, and dolphins jumping all around their boat, as if to welcome them to salt water. We were sure hoping for that kind of an experience and the day didn’t disappoint from the first peek out the window.
A cruise ship had returned to port overnight and was docked a ways behind our boat. It was fun to look out and see the ship with the big red and blue fin that is a trademark of Carnival.
Seeing this cruise ship made me feel better about the lack of cleaning on INNTW!!Look at all the colorful containers stacked up and ready to ship around the world.
We were excited to see what the day would bring, so we finished our morning “prepare to leave” chores and then pushed off from the Mobile wall. I was a little nervous to see what the waves would be like out in the bay because we were supposed to have a slight chop about a foot and a half or so. We didn’t have to worry about these kinds of open water things for SO LONG that I wasn’t really looking forward to analyzing the weather constantly again. My friend Laura gave me a little texting pep talk, reminding me that is isn’t that far through the bay and we would be seeing DOLPHINS!!
After we got out into the bay there really wasn’t anything to worry about wave-wise. It was a little bumpy and busy at first, but it smoothed out nicely and turned out to be a beautiful day.
Lots of fishing boats out there!!Look at those nets!!
Of course the kids heard the rumors about dolphins, so they were hanging out on the flybridge just waiting for the big show to start. Sure enough, Hayley was sitting next to me when she jumped up and said she saw almost a whole dolphin’s body right next to the boat. She seemed to think the show was over, but it was actually just beginning. We were all so excited to see the dolphins swimming and jumping right there next to us. You can tell by the screeches and screams in the videos that we were THRILLED to see dolphins. They swam with us for a few minutes and then just as quickly as they showed up, they were gone, with no warning.
I felt slightly offended they didn’t want to hang out longer, but the kids were so thrilled that they ran to get some dolphin books we have on board and started reading all about them. The motivational power of real experiences is amazing! My teacher-mama heart was so happy to see them huddled over the books, so excited to read and learn more about dolphins. And sure enough, before too long, more dolphins decided to swim along with us and the squealing came back with a vengeance!!
Mike and I were thrilled to be heading through Mobile Bay, giving INNTW her first salt water bath. We felt like we really made it to a part of the trip we had been waiting for and dreaming about for months. We saw several looper boats along the way and there was a lot of chatter on the radio about where people were headed and how we were so thankful to be done with the rivers. I love the feeling of comraderie along the loop!!
Turning out of Mobile Bay and onto the ICW we had another dolphin escort and now we have a tight channel to stay in. There are bridges and other boats, some going fast and some going slow, all trying to stay in the same channel. It is the most like driving a car on a road that we have felt yet on the boat. We passed by LuLu’s Restaurant, sister of Jimmy Buffet who built one heck of a colorful, tropical restaurant right off Mobile Bay. Many loopers stop here on their boats, but we wanted to go with Have Another Day who was a few hours behind us, so we decided to head back later by car. We passed by some HUGE boats in marinas and a boat with the biggest props I’ve ever seen. It was a Sportfish pulled out of the water so we could see props that had to be about 36″ in diameter (ours are probably about 18-20″ for comparison). Mike let me drive for about 2 minutes so he could work on some project. Of course in that 2 minutes, we got passed by another boat, had to move around a construction crane, and also saw a manatee in the river. I was too busy driving to really pay attention to the manatee, but Mike saw the tail so we knew that’s what it really was.
Pulling in to The Wharf was a bit overwhelming because the fairways are very narrow, the boats are HUGE, and they all stern in (back in to their slips). We have not typically sterned in, but it seems to be the thing to do here in the south, so it looks like we will get plenty of practice. Mike did great maneuvering and backing in, of course, and I am the one who caused a slight problem when I told him we were going to hit on the back corner when **maybe** we weren’t.
Can you even see INNTW in the middle of all those sport fish and giant boats??Gotta admit, it feels like we’ve finally “made it.”Look at all those shops and restaurants!!
We checked in and called for a ride back to LuLu’s. We were ready to celebrate FINALLY making it to a tropical location that actually felt tropical. We had an amazing time at LuLu’s–live music, sand for the kids to play in, and sunshine. We probably stayed too long and drank too much, but it was a celebration with friends of finishing the rivers and starting a new leg of our journey. It was just what we needed.
Happy to be at LuLu’s!!Ahhhhh….Our viewSlightly different view…Celebrating with The Steins!!
The next morning we woke up and it was rainy. It seems like we just can’t win, but we had great memories of sunny yesterday. It actually rained off and on all day long. I did laundry at the marina, Mike worked on some troubleshooting (always something–heat’s fixed because we knew we’d need it the next day), and the kids played. Hayley went to Have Another Day to play with the Stein girls for quite a while and the boys were so busy playing bro-bro spies (or something) that they didn’t even seem to notice.
At least the rain washed the salt off INNTW (pictured here with her big sisters!!).Silly fun with the Stein girls!!
There were so many loopers in the marina that we decided to get together for docktails at a restaurant right there at the Wharf. The Wharf is a full community of shops and restaurants (and even an ice rink!!) built around an upscale marina. It was very convenient to have all kinds of shops and restaurants close by!! The kids stayed on the boat and ate bagels and watched a movie while Mike and I met other loopers for docktails about 5 boat slips down from our boat. It was the best of both worlds! And again with the looper camaraderie and helpfulness…the night was full of troubleshooting, planning, and remembering boats and faces from cities we’ve already passed through.
The next day was Mike’s 36th birthday!! Yay!! It was freezing cold and raining–again!! Boo!! But Mike handled it like a champ–he refused to celebrate his birthday unless it was warm and sunny out, so we showered him with homemade cards, but then spent the rest of the day doing very un-birthday like things.
One of Colin’s famous 3-D cards.Thank goodness these kids are into showering the birthday person with goodies and cards!! It makes a birthday in the freezing cold and rain way more fun!
You might remember that when we were headed into Mobile, we had some water in the bilge that we weren’t quite sure why it was there. Well turns out the carpet in front of the fridge was also soaking wet. So we ran through all the possibilities–fridge, freezer, water heater. We kept striking out until we opened the access panel in the floor right there and found that it was filled with water. Hmmm… So apparently that water was splashing/spilling out the top of the access when we ran up on plane. That leads to the next round of troubleshooting. Where is the water actually coming from?? Fresh water tank, thru hulls, leak?? Not knowing the answer to that second round of questions, we just decided to pump it out and keep an eye on it. For some reason the bilge pump light would go on, but there didn’t appear to be any water actually pumping out of the boat. So Mike took 10 giant buckets of water out that he pumped by hand. Yay! Just what everyone wants to do on their birthday!
Hello?! Is the problem in here??Ah ha!! Mysterious water is coming from down there!!Wondering if the fresh water tank is the culprit? Not sure so we’ll just wait and see, lol.
Next up, we said goodbye to our friends, The Steins, as they were getting ready to head home to Chicago for a month or so. We were sad to see them go, but we’re hopeful maybe we can talk them into the Bahamas later this winter.
There was a movie theater right at the Wharf, so lucky Mike got to see “The Grinch” and have dinner at a restaurant just a short walk from our boat. I’m sure it wasn’t his ideal birthday on the loop, but we’ve learned to roll with the punches. If every day was sunny and warm, that would seem so boring. With all the rain and cold temps we’ve experienced, we’ll be sure to appreciate the nice days!!
Watching “The Grinch” was kind of funny because we feel soooo removed from Christmas. It was cute, though!! Keeping my stash of smuggled in candy close!!Window shopping on our walk back to the boat.Thanks for following along!! Looking forward to more sunny days ahead!!
Destination: Mobile, Alabama Convention Center Free Wall
Distance: 125.8 miles
Speed: 11.4 mph
Time on the Move: 11 hours and 8 minutes
We were planning on waking up at Okatuppa Creek about 15 minutes before first light so we could be ready to zip out of there as soon as we could see. There was a big group of 10 boats 5 miles down river at Bobby’s Fish Camp that were all organized to arrive to the next lock early so they could lock through before scheduled maintenance. We got a message from a friend who was tied up with the group about their timing about 10 minutes too late for us to even make the lock, and we still couldn’t see a thing because we were tucked in under some trees. Not to mention the fact that we were leary about logs and trees that we saw coming into the river with all the heavy rains yesterday. I messaged our friend back and said there was no way we could make it and we would have to get in after the maintenance was taken care of.
Mike had a different plan, though. He did not want to sit around and wait for maintenance to get started. Before I knew it, he was fired up and pulling up the anchor. I got out the portable spotlight so we had a chance of seeing something as we snuck out of our anchorage. I also quick messaged our friend back that we were going to run on plane and try to make it, so hold the lock for us. That gets to be a sticky situation because people IN the lock don’t really like waiting for people who are RUNNING for the lock. That being said, when you’re RUNNING to make the lock, you totally feel like the people IN the lock could easily wait just a few minutes for you to get there. This particular lock had a malfunction with the drains and it was dropping very slowly, and that’s why they were doing maintenance later that morning. It also meant that if we missed it, we would be waiting quite a while for it to turn back around. Mike never looked back, though. He felt confidant that we could make it. Luckily we did not see 1 log or branch the whole 6 miles or so before we got to the lock. (Sure could have been because it was still quite dark and the spotlight only lights up so much). We ran on plane the entire way and entered the lock just as the boat before us was secure. Whew!! Another case of “glad we didn’t stay and wait.”
There was a celebratory feel (lots of picture taking, cheering, and waving) in the lock that morning because it is the LAST LOCK on the river system. Any boats that finish in Florida or up the whole east coast (until New York, maybe??) are DONE LOCKING COMPLETELY for the entire loop. Locks are known to be a nemesis to a time schedule. They are known for long delays due to commercial traffic and maintenance issues. Sometimes there is no place to tie up or anchor while you wait hours for your turn to go through, so you just have to idle in one position and avoid all the other boats that are also waiting their turn. Now we did not have many big issues locking, and we are so thankful. Other than the 2nd lock where we watched 2 boats get thrown around before they got out of it, and Mel Price where we aborted the mission once due to debris blocking the path and ended up doing a full 360* spin into it the next day, we did not have any trouble. But we will have plenty of locks still to come in the spring. I believe we’ve done about 30 locks so far, so that leaves about 70 for the spring and summer. But for the near future, we’re done.
Another bird looking for his breakfast!
We were the last boat to leave the lock, so we had an amazing view of the looper boat parade ahead of us. When this many boats are close together, there is always some jockying for position as we exit the lock. The faster boats call to pass the slower boats. The sailboats know right away they are going to get passed. Sometimes it’s easier and smoother than others. This time it took a while because there were so many boats, but it all worked out. We passed by our sailboat friends on Twin and talked to them for a few minutes on the radio. It’s funny how your “friend” boats kind of come and go as everyone travels different speeds, different distances each day, and stays different amounts of time at each location. Seeing a familiar boat from a few weeks back feels like you just ran into your best friend thousands of miles from home.
I bet you know our weather for the day, so I won’t cover that. We played games and worked on school work and wore Halloween costumes. We may or may not have brushed our teeth.
This section of the river is anything but straight, so we had lots of switch backs. It kept things interesting, doing all that curving around. You can see where we were around noon. This is probably where Mike started to think that he didn’t really want to stop at the planned anchorage near where it says Saraland, but instead, he wanted to go all the way to Mobile Bay. It was a discussion point for the rest of the day.
Passing this guy in all those curves was fun.
At some point the Captain and his Gunner had a photo shoot.
Eventually Mike trumped my vote to stop and anchor before sunset. He made it clear he was ready to be DONE with the rivers, so we were going all the way to Mobile Bay. We heard about a free wall at the convention center you could tie up to, so we put all our eggs in one basket and hoped they wouldn’t all break just minutes before dark (again). We had to run on plane for a bit to make it there before dark (again), but we were all excited to head into Mobile Bay. (Which actually, I learned later, we were still in the Mobile River. Close enough!!)
Hoping we can make it before dark.
We passed through a cool swampy area before we started to see signs of a busy port.
Several trains passed us on the tracks that go right along the river. Hard to see, but super cool.
Here’s another train crossing a bridge.
Hayley (or Princess of Love and Beauty) taking it all in.
Don’t they just look like fun?!
We passed by several big ships and realized we weren’t in Kansas anymore.
Tying up at the wall was pretty easy for us and we were set before dark. I worked on making dinner right away while Mike decided to check out the bilge pump in the engine room. Our pumps turned on several times throughout the day which wasn’t exactly normal, so we didn’t really know what to think of it, though everything looked okay underway.
The kids kept themselves occupied while we got all tied up. Magic Tracks are a favorite on the boat!! Unfortunately they had to pick up their cool obstacle course so Mike could get in the engine room.
It’s always something on the boat!!
It didn’t take long before everyone wanted to help. Mike’s so lucky to have all these helpers!!
After going in the engine room, it seemed that there was a lot of water in the bilge. We ran hard yesterday and again today, so we thought maybe that was the culprit. For whatever reason, there was still quite a bit of water in the bilge, so Mike had his helpers hand pump out a bunch of water. He didn’t seem too worried about it, but it was just another thing for us to keep an eye on. Funny how 1 thing gets fixed and 2 more pop up. It’s always something on the boat!!
I was amazed by our view from the wall. We were right across from the Austal shipbuilders where they are building LCS vessels for the US Navy. This LCS-22 was parked right along the river and her baby sister was still being put together. We heard it takes 6 months from start to finish to make a ship here.
You could see and hear welders working on this one all night long. So fascinating!!
Of course we did some research on these ships and they’re amazing. Some loopers said they have seen them out in Mobile Bay doing some sea trials. I really don’t like being close to BIG boats, so I’m glad we didn’t see any underway, but they sure are cool to see from afar! You can check out this LINK to read more about the LCS vessels.
Aside from staring at those babies, there were tug boats passing by and so many interesting things to see. I loved our spot for it’s proximity to the action. I took advantage of mild temps and all the entertainment to catch up on blogging.
I know I don’t LOOK super entertained blogging here, but I was. 🙂
The next day we did some adjusting of the lines because we were really dealing with TIDES for the first time!! When we woke up our big fenders were actually below the concrete wall, so we were bumping up against the wall and making some weird squeaking sounds. Just a few adjustments and we were good.
Classin up the place with all our wet towels on the rails.
We went walking and exploring around downtown Mobile. There were lots of little shops and restaurants/bars close by, as well as several museums and parks. The weather was supposed to be in the mid-70’s through early afternoon, and then drop drastically (obviously, because we were in town!!) and get very windy. So we took advantage of the warm morning to run around and chase lizards and ogle at palm trees.
We saw the same HUGE ship that we saw yesterday when we were getting into Mobile as it was heading back out to sea. He even honked for us!!
Tried to figure out if we could strap this guy to our bowsprit, but I just don’t think it would work.
Hayley found a place where everybody knows her name!! 😉
When you find a teepee in a bookstore, you might as well get cozy with a book!!
Look at this teeny-tiny crab we found walking in a parking garage (of all places?!). He was barely bigger than a fingertip and blended right in with the concrete, but Mike spotted him. We all got a kick out of watching him walk sideways.
Toby serenaded us with a sweet song. His favorite lately is “Remember Me” from the movie “Coco.”
After it got chilly we took a vote to see which museum we should go to. Of course the kid museum won because we are outnumbered. Not the adults’ first choice, but we figured the kids deserved something kid-oriented after all those long days on the rivers. We went to the Exploreum and it was your basic science center. Fun, but not amazing. That is….until we found the upstairs animation exhibit!! The Exploreum was suddenly way more fun for everyone once we found that exhibit!! Hayley loved tracing cartoon characters with a light box and the rest of us were into making our own animated movies.
That night the wind really picked up and created quite a chop on the water. It was a bit nerve wracking with the waves and wind, but we were very secure and Harry Potter kept us distracted until bed. (Who am I kidding?? The kids always sleep great, no matter where we are or what the weather is.) I woke up in the middle of the night hearing an engine nearby. It was loud enough to get me out of bed and peaking out the window. There was a HUGE freighter right next to our boat, with three tug boats working to keep it under control against the wind and waves. I watched it for a bit and then realized it was heading to the wall right in front of our boat to park and unload. I watched as the tug boats worked hard to push it over to the wall, but I knew that 1 wrong move and that freighter would blow right back towards our boat. I tried to make an escape plan in case something went wrong, but I’m not sure we would have been able to move fast enough to get out of the way. After worrying about this and watching through the only 2″x2″ square in the window that wasn’t fogged over for about half an hour I finally figured we were safe enough and went back to bed. Here was our morning view…
Looking on the bright side, I hoped he would block our waves, but he didn’t. The water in this picture is quite a bit calmer than it was overnight.
And later another one came right by…
It was sunny but chilly and still very windy–there was no way we could push off that wall if we wanted to, so we bundled up and headed back out on the town. We came across a big festival in the park, hit up the last 5 minutes of the farmer’s market (only cherry tomatoes and sweet potatoes left), and visited the Mobile Police Museum.
The boys chased squirrels while we listened to a live band play. Don’t those trees just look like they’re in the south?!
There were a lot of pictures, uniforms, and stories about policing Mobile for the last 150 years. I promise Colin wasn’t handcuffed.
We took a lunch break at a local brewery. The kids loved eating from the taco truck and playing games outdoors. We loved the relaxed atmosphere. Serda was a fun place!!
After rock, paper, scissors got boring, they moved on to table top pool.
After lunch we checked out the Mobile Carnival Museum. Turns out that Mobile holds the record for the most consecutive annual celebrations of Mardi Gras and NOT New Orleans. Mardi Gras actually started in Mobile in 1868 and has been celebrated every single year since. Our tour guide taught us how Carnival is focused around the most elite and established families in the area and is actually like a hierarchy of royalty in the Mobile area.
Waving to the masses from a REAL Carnival float!!
Royal Courts from long ago.
Some recent royal outfits. Many of these outfits cost tens of thousands of dollars and are covered in real furs and crystals.
The Herbon Royal Court
After we left the Carnival museum we were ready to burn off some energy in the chilly temps before heading back to the boat for the night.
Palm trees!!
Racing back to the boat…
INNTW with big ships everywhere!!
Tomorrow we are looking forward to moving through Mobile Bay and continuing south! Thanks for reading and following along!!
First of all, I’m so glad you’re reading our blog, but I want to be sure you’re following along on Facebook, too. We post just about every single day and sometimes multiple times a day on FB, so check out INNTWadventures on Facebook if you haven’t already. I think you can even hold the “follow” button and chose the option “see first” to see all new posts from INNTWadventures as soon as you open your newsfeed. That way you won’t miss a thing!! And you’d know that I’m actually typing this weeks later from Clearwater Beach, Florida!!
Second of all, I want you to know that we never thought we would LIKE the river portion of the Great Loop. We figured we would get through it as fast as we could (we planned on 6 weeks in our original tentative schedules), see what there was to see along the way, but get south ASAP. And we were exactly right. I keep saying the same things over and over again in these blog posts: long day on the river, rainy, cold… That is what so much of this trip has been since we have been on the rivers and it just isn’t fun. It’s like camping in constant rain and constant cold when your camper is actually your house, you’re on a budget, and there’s nowhere fun to go close by. The funny thing is, we have friends who did this trip 2 years ago and said it was 70*-80* the entire way down the river system. That makes us feel cheated in some ways because we get 1 shot to do this trip and we have just been cold and miserable so much of the time instead of enjoying the sunshine and warmth. Freezing temps and pouring rain isn’t exactly great sight seeing weather!! However, we are making the most of it and hoping to put the rivers behind us once and for all very soon. Okay, enough of my pity party…
We set the alarm for 5:30 thinking we’d need some time to get moving in the morning. However, we were both up a bit before the alarm and we could hear the first group firing up their engines. So, Mike jumped out of bed and started untying lines and wiping the condensation off the windshield so he could see. We figured if we’re up, we might as well get in with the first group at the lock. So away we went. Another day of 10 minutes or so between hopping out of bed and throwing off the lines. A whirlwind!
Ready at the first lock just minutes before sunrise. No coffee yet for the day (or hairbrushing, apparently) when we get moving that quickly!
We were treated to a beautiful morning as our reward for getting started so early.
There was a cool waterfall at the dam next to the lock.
Beautiful sunrise behind us as we dropped down in the lock.
Lock doors are opening so it’s almost time for Mike and I to give INNTW a big push off the wall and get moving.
Heading out of the lock, back to our game of follow the leader.
There was an even better view of the waterfall as we pulled out of the lock.
I knew we had a night or two at anchor ahead of us because this stretch of river is pretty desolate with very few facilities along the way. I also knew that we were expecting more rain and possibly severe weather on and off for pretty much the entire day. I was smart this time and took a screen shot of the Alabama counties so I would know what county we were in at all times and what counties were around us. This is what our weather looked like throughout the day. We didn’t have a hard time driving through some small thunderstorms the other day, so we didn’t really worry about these storms unless perhaps they would bring extreme high winds or tornadoes.
At first we tried to actually time our speed to help us miss the storms, but we quickly realized that was going to be impossible. Too many storms and too many switchbacks in the river!
Here’s a screenshot of our track on Nebo, an app that tracks boaters in real time as they travel. Look at all those curves in the river!!
When Hayley and Tobin got up, they were excited to put on their new costumes, so we had some fun with that for a while. You wouldn’t believe how surprised fellow boaters are to see the Hulk and a kitty on the river!! I think the costumes made the day of several of the boats we saw that morning. And of course, everyone had to get in on the fun!!
I’m not sure how long it will be before they finally take these costumes off?!
We passed by this tow and he said he was going to push his barges through the left span of the bridge and we could have the middle span. It looked like he cleared the railroad bridge by just a few feet. Not quite sure why he didn’t want to go through the tall opening, but it gave us some good entertainment for a few minutes, betting on if he would make it or not.
Sure enough, it rained and poured off and on throughout the day. We heard some rumbles of thunder and saw flashes of lightning, but no high winds and no major weather alerts. Hard to see much with all that rain on the windshield!!
We weren’t quite sure what our anchorage was going to be for the night. We pretty much wanted to travel from first light to sunset, but we also had to make sure we could get into a good spot before it got dark. We have guidebooks with us that tell us, mile by mile, what we’ll encounter and they offer lots of anchoring locations. However, Mike wanted to push past most of them and find his own anchorage right at dark. I trumped him because I didn’t want to enter a new anchorage (not even really a marked anchorage, just an area Mike “thinks” will be great) in the dark on the basis that if it didn’t work out, we would for sure be traveling in darkness to our next anchorage.
After I won that battle, we arrived at our anchorage late afternoon and saw that there was another boat already pulled in this little cut. The man was very helpful, communicating via VHF about depth and his approach to the anchorage. There were lots of logs and debris in the area, as well as a slight current pushing out of the cut due to the rainfall. We turned in circles for close to half an hour, debating if we really wanted to sneak in that tight spot and if it was worth pushing through the debris. In the end, we decided it was still a great spot even though it was a little trickier than we’d hoped. With storms still in the forecast for the night, we decided to throw a stern anchor, as well, so we wouldn’t swing. Anchoring was a bit of a challenge, but we finally got it figured out. It turned out to be a quiet anchorage, but without the alligators I’d imagined we’d see. Instead I had to settle for youtube videos of people catfish noodling. Weird. We played games, made dinner, and went to bed exhausted.
Word over the VHF was a big group from another overnight spot about 5 miles down river was planning on being in the next lock by 6:15am in order to get locked through before the lock went down for some maintenance. That sure sounded super early to us, but waiting for “lock maintenance” didn’t sound great either. We went to sleep with the plan of waking up at 5:15 to check on light and fog, unsure on if we would actually get moving that early.
Thanks for following along on our Great Loop adventure!!
Destination: King Fisher Marina, Demopolis, Alabama
Distance: 8.8 miles
Speed: 7.6 mph
Time on the Move: 1 hour and 9 minutes
We woke up to a quiet, calm river. So peaceful after the wind and weather of the night before.
So we were really excited to get in to Demopolis. We read about the amenities at the marina from some blogs of former loopers who’d stayed there, and they made it sound like a RESORT!! A courtesy car, walking distance to a playground, golf carts, and a POOL!! Plus, the guidebooks made it sound like the same owners built a newer marina right next to an older marina, and we were booked to stay in the newer part. Luckily we were right close by (in tornado ally! 😉 so we wouldn’t have far to go. But really, we should know better by now. The “beautiful marinas” we keep hearing about on the rivers never turn out to be as amazing as we hope they will. This is probably partly due to our high expectations after staying in some pretty amazing places in Lake St Clair and throughout Canada and Michigan and partly due to the cold, rain, and mud that seem to be following us since shortly after we left Chicago. High hopes for Demopolis=big disappointment.
We enjoyed the short ride to the marina from our anchorage. Mike had to find off a pirate, but ya know, what do you expect when you live on a boat?!
This guy was trying to steal all our gold and jewels onboard.
We first pulled up to the fuel dock because we needed diesel and a pump out. Interestingly enough, we had to do all our own pumping at this self-service stop. Not a huge deal because we’ve done it before, but not exactly what we prefer. The fuel dock is at the older marina, Demopolis Yacht Basin. However, looking around, this location isn’t even usable anymore. Rains wash dirt into the river in this area and the current keeps the silting piled up right at the marina entrance. The employees told us the marina is beyond repair at this point. They had to give us very specific directions on where to turn to enter and exit the fuel dock. We had a nice chat with one of the employees about the pros and cons of looping with your SPOUSE and also looping with your CHILDREN. Mike and I feel fortunate that usually we enjoy each other’s company, and it’s just the children that are difficult.
After all the filling and emptying was over (about an hour to do both), we moved next door to King Fisher Marina and got all settled in our slip. We’d planned on staying 2 days, maybe more. Right away we started talking with the loopers from Michigan we’d come across in the evening right before dusk in the river. It was nice to meet them and share loop stories from along the way. Then we were anxious to check out the place and especially the pool. However, we were met with red mud puddles in most of the walkways, chillier temps than we expected (maybe mid 60s), and a freezing cold pool–cover on and a dead bird at the bottom. Not exactly what we were hoping for. It became clear that this wasn’t exactly the marina of our dreams. But we tried to stay positive and decided we should check out the playground. So we headed back to the boat for some lunch and booked the courtesy car for the last available 2 hour time slot of the day so we could get groceries.
We were told the playground was “very walkable, just right around the corner” but it sure seemed a bit further than that. We had to walk down red, muddy dirt roads for part of the way, then walk along a busy highway overpass before making it there. Luckily the kids were excited to play for a bit. Mike and I walked down the river and shared our disappointment that Demopolis wasn’t exactly what we’d hoped for. We decided to do what we needed to do so we could get back on the river the next morning.
The rest of the day brought a mad dash through the grocery store where we also had to buy a new microwave because ours just suddenly stopped working. Halloween costumes were on super sale, so Toby and Hayley picked out something new just for fun, but Colin wasn’t interested in a new costume. We had just enough time to swing by Little Caesars and get some hot and ready pizzas to take home for dinner (anytime we pass a Little Caesars we will stop!!). When we arrived back at the marina, it was POURING RAIN so we got soaking wet loading up 2 marina carts with groceries, pizza, and cosutmes. Then, Mike made a quick trip to the marina clubhouse to meet with the other loopers and hear the plans for the morning getaway. We all try to coordinate our departures to make locking through easier. It sounded like our options were to leave at 5:30 or at 6:30. We decided to plan on joining the 6:30 group.
After a disappointing day, we were just thankful that we got some exercise and groceries. We were ready to move on for our final push down the river toward salt water. Thanks for reading and following along. Despite the stop not being the relaxing respite we hoped for, we’re still just enjoying the adventure every day brings!!
We pulled up the anchor at first light, knowing we had a long, rainy day ahead of us. It was kind of exciting that we would soon be crossing from Mississippi into Alabama, but that really isn’t that exciting when you’re on a boat and there’s not even a sign.
We spent the day working on school work and looking for alligators. It wasn’t sunny, though, and it was chilly, so there were no alligators to be found. They were probably all huddled around their space heaters.
On alligator watch.
Huddling together for warmth. Hayley has really been cruising through her math in the last few weeks!! If only I could get the same enthusiasm about writing!!
About 15 miles away from a lock, we could see on AIS that several other loopers were ahead of us. We didn’t want to miss the lock, so we kicked it into high gear to catch up. It was nice to be able to go fast and now worry that we were causing damage to our boat!! We haven’t gone fast in soooo long! We made it to the lock just as the last boat ahead of us was securing to the bollard, so we didn’t even slow them down. Heading into the lock we passed by the USS Montgomery, which was the last steam powered paddlewheeler on the inland waterways. It is now on the National Register of Historic Places.
After the lock, we followed these boats for quite a while throughout the day. There really was not much excitement for hours and hours on this long day.
Hayley has finally started to like chapter books after I convinced her to read just 1 book at a time. Seems like common sense to me….?!?!
We did see some houses along the river. It is interesting to see the different types of houses along the river. Some areas look interesting and inviting. Others don’t.
We passed through an area called the “White Cliffs of Epes.” Near Epes, Alabama there are chalk formations along the river edge that were quite stunning and helped entertain us as the late afternoon dragged on.
We were set to arrive at our anchorage at the same time listed as “last light” on our weather app. Arriving to an unknown anchorage in the pitch dark was unappealing, so Mike decided to run on plane again for a while to make up some time. We came across 2 other looper boats after about 35 minutes, and not wanting to pass them really, we slowed down and hoped it would be light enough to see when we dropped anchor.
Watching the sun set behind us…
What are the chances we would come across 2 other Michigan boats after running hard for half an hour?! Small world!!
Heading in to our anchorage.
After a quick dinner, I opened the book cubby where I hide all of the “extra” books to rotate in to our reading basket. The kids dug in right away and read until bedtime. Parenting win right there. But let’s be honest, ya win some, ya lose some!!
We were exhausted after a 10+ hour day on the river, and we had no reason to think the night would bring us any trouble. However, I woke up just before 5 am to a big wind shift, and I could feel the boat swing around fast on the anchor. It was enough to get me out of bed to peek out the window. I heard quite a bit of wind in the trees, so I unlocked the salon doors and headed up to the chartplotter to make sure our anchor wasn’t dragging. We were about 40 feet further away from where we dropped the anchor than I thought we should be, so I went back downstairs to wake up Mike. I asked him if he set the anchor alarm before bed (we have an app that will alert us if our boat goes outside of a perimeter we set up–great peace of mind for sleeping!!). Meanwhile, I grabbed my phone and noticed an alert from a few hours before of tornado warnings west of us in Mississippi.
Now, even though the alert was from a few hours before, I had no actual idea where Lowndes County, MS was and I had no actual idea what county we were actually in in Alabama. That got Mike up right away!! We went up to the flybridge and turned on our VHF because of course we had NO SERVICE on our cell phones and no other way of knowing what kind of weather was heading our way. I knew we had 1 more hour of darkness before we would start to see light, so that was reassuring, but it sure was dark and windy out there in the meantime. Mike turned on the emergency weather channel and got a bit of info, but again, we didn’t really know where we “were” so that didn’t help. Nothing on the weather channel made us think there was grave danger in the immediate area, though. Mike called out on channel 16 and gave our position and asked if anyone had any weather info for the area. We didn’t get a response, but who did we think would be around po dunk Rattlesnake Bend, awake, and on the radio at 5 am?! We did hear a boat we know call another boat, so that made us feel a little better, hearing a familiar boat. Also, a light rain started to fall and the wind seemed to settle a bit. Right around 6 we headed back to bed for an hour or so before we couldn’t keep the kids quiet anymore. After that little severe weather scare, I learned that I should at least know what county we’re in in case a similar situation comes up in the future. We also made some plans for what we would do in the event of a tornado warning or extreme high winds. Good to have at least some sort of plan just in case.
We woke up to a calm anchorage, once again, and partly sunny skies.
We left Midway Marina at first light and let me tell you….first light is EARLY right after the time changes!! We were up and moving shortly after 5 am. That is close to the same time I used to get up to go to work!! Craziness!! It’s still easier to get up for a day of boating than it is for a day of school, though!! While I don’t like getting up early, we needed to take advantage of daylight hours because it would be dark shortly after 5pm, again thanks to that wonderful time change.
We were planning on another long day on the rivers and anchoring at the end of it. It’s funny as soon as you have a plan, something comes along to change it, though. The weather was a little iffy with rain and even a few thunderstorms forecasted for later in the day. The wind was also supposed to be moderate enough that we would possibly feel it, and if we really hit a storm, who knows what the wind would be like. But when we woke up, the sky was clear, and the lock master said he was ready for us, so off we went. We figured we could always bailout to a closer anchorage if the weather developed into something we weren’t comfortable with.
The day started to get a little weird as we headed into our first lock. We were waiting just a few minutes for a tow to come out of the chamber, and there was one other boat in front of us that would go in first. The boat did not seem to be easing toward the lock as the tow pushed barges out, it just idled there in the middle of the channel. Good captains talk to the other boats out loud, just like good drivers talk to the other cars on the road, ahem, so Mike was muttering to himself, asking this guy what he’s doing and why isn’t he going. Eventually, the boat started to creep to the lock doors, but it quickly became apparent that he wasn’t traveling fast enough for us to follow behind him and still retain control of the boat with the winds we were experiencing. Our bumpers and lines are tied and ready so we can lock through on either side of the boat, so at the last minute we switched the plan to tie up on port. Because of the switch, the wind was now pushing us away from the lock wall and we had to be really skilled to lasso the bollard quick before we floated away from it. However, we were too far away on the first attempt, and the wind pushed us quickly so we were floating right towards that slow boat that got us into this predicament in the first place. Mike backed up and tried again to get us close to the wall, but not too close (if you know what I mean). That time it looked to me like we were flying straight into the lock wall (I’m sure that’s not what would have really happened..), but Mike ended up backing up and went in for the third attempt. Sure enough, there was a little bang and some quick moving to get the fenders in the right places to avoid a bigger crash, and we lassoed that bollard no problem. It wasn’t the smoothest entrance into the lock for us, but I was just thankful we had it, and it was done. After that we radioed to the other boat and asked if we could lead the way out of the chamber so the slowski would be behind us heading into the next lock.
Trying to get out of the lock we experienced weird event #2. Because of the whole wind/bollard/bang into concrete wall thing we were distracted and ended up tying up on the very first bollard at the front of the lock. This wouldn’t always matter, because there are different types of locks, but this particular one had front doors that swung in when it opened, right towards our boat. And since we went ALL THE WAY to the front, there wasn’t enough room for the door to open without it hitting the front of our boat. Mike made a plan while we were locking and grabbed an extra line. As we could tell that the lock doors were starting to open, I loosened the line on the bollard and he pulled the 2nd line around the bollard from the front mid cleat and moved our boat back about 10 feet so there was enough clearance for the door to open. Thank goodness he has an engineer’s mind!!
Look at how close it is!!
A little unnerving. I don’t think we’ll go for the first bollard again anytime too soon.
The weirdness continued on the way to the next lock. Some areas on the rivers are very narrow (like rivers) and some are wider (like lakes). We had to go through a wide area for a while and it became clear how very windy it actually was. The channel was narrow and very shallow just outside of it, too. That meant we had to keep the boat in the channel or risk running aground. It also meant that there was wide open water for the wind to whip across as it attempted to push us right out of that narrow channel. A little tricky, but not too bad for the Captain. However, we came upon a tow that pushed his barges up along the bank of the river because he was getting blown around too much on the river. Again, a slight test of piloting skills, but Mike did just great. Shortly after that area, however, we came upon another tow coming around a corner pushing barges and he was getting blown all over the place. We needed to stay in the channel to stay in deep enough water, but we also had to give the tow some extra room. There were a few tense moments where I held my breath watching him pass by and also watching the depth sensor on the chartplotter. It was a relief to have him past us, but watching him try to get past our friends was also nerve-wrecking. The tow captain actually directed the boats behind us to turn around and move further away from a bend in the river so he would have more room to straighten his barges out before they all had to pass each other. It sounded pretty rough with the wind blowing every one around, the curves in the river, and the tow that was already banked. The tow captain was very helpful and patient and he got past all of the pleasure craft without incident, but he ended up blowing into the barges that were banked on the river. I don’t think he really meant to pull up next to those barges, but everyone was okay, and he was probably relieved to be banked and waiting for calmer winds before continuing on down the river.
All the boats are hugging the edge of the channel trying to give that guy as much room as he needed. You can see them turned every which way, trying to stay in the channel but move to the side. It was not an easy task!
As we were heading through this wide open windy area, banging into lock walls, and dodging barges, one of the boats in the group raised the issue of the storms in the radar AND we had heard there was going to be a wait for the next lock, as well. We were all a bit frazzled by then, even though we started our day only 15 miles earlier. Some of the boats talked about heading into a marina right there and calling it a day. Before 10:00 am. It was so tempting because of the wind–just thinking of holding station waiting for that lock to open was stressful–and then thinking about impending thunderstorms on top of it was overwhelming. Mike and I looked at the radar. We looked at the maps. We discussed about 10 different options. But in the end we decided to keep going. It was a hard choice because our friend boats bailed out and went in to the marina. Moving on meant that we might not see them for a few days, but we just didn’t want to sit in a marina in the middle of nowhere all day long. We felt comfortable with the rain that was coming our way, as it looked like it would not storm in our path. We also saw that the wind was supposed to be lightening up shortly. So, we pushed on and kept going.
Here we are, half an hour after our friends bailed out for the day, happy that we decided to continue on.
Finally locking through in the wind (with my slippers on…).
Shortly after leaving this lock, it started to rain and rained for most of the rest of the day. It wasn’t a nice boating day, but it also wasn’t a nice day to sit in a marina. On days like this, Mike and I just want to GO and cover some miles so we can get back to the sunshine sooner!! No regrets about pushing on, even though it was a rainy day. And it did actually thunderstorm, though we couldn’t tell except for some lightning flashes and rumbles of thunder. The winds died down and were a non-issue the rest of the day.
Oh but that rain…all…day…long….
The kids were troopers!!
Of course, in typical INNTW style, we NEVER know where we are going. We really didn’t know which anchorage we were headed for, so we just kept plugging along, kept an eye on the options, and also considered what time it would be dark with the time change. Mike wanted to push through the 3rd lock of the day in the POURING rain. I wasn’t thrilled about the rain, but it would be good to get through the lock at the end of the day today, rather than having to start off with it tomorrow. So, we went ahead and locked in a downpour. I couldn’t wait to go put on dry clothes afterwards!
Pushing the boat away from the wall so the fenders didn’t have to do all the work against the rough lock wall.
Who doesn’t love a little solitaire on a rainy day?!
We continued on to anchor in a little channel off of the main river. We had to pass by a barge staging area and a factory before we felt safe (like we wouldn’t get run down by barges in the middle of the night). However, there were some weird lights on at the factory ALL NIGHT that looked like headlights and a barge DID come in to fill up at the factory, but it didn’t come down by us. We picked a great spot to drop the anchor. Just another day on the loop!
Where in the world are we?!
Thanks for reading about this crazy weird day!! Start your own amazing adventure!!
After relaxing for a quiet morning in Zippy Creek, the kids were anxious to get to Aqua Yacht Harbor and get the Halloween party started with their friends on Living the Dream and Have Another Day. We weren’t quite sure what Halloween would bring, but the kids were in good spirits and seemed excited for the events of the day. They talked quite a bit about what they would be doing if they were at school that morning, and I hoped this Halloween would not be a let down.
As soon as we were tied up in our slip, Taylor Swift was ready to rock.
After exploring the marina for a bit, the boys decided it was time to get dressed as well. Colin transformed into Harry Potter and Toby suddenly became a ninja turtle. Mike was all dressed as a Captain, so I rummaged through the dress up box and found some leis and a parrot head. It was a great excuse to break out my coconut coozie.
Now we were also on standby for a haul out that day, and of course, the service department was ready for us just as we were done getting dressed up, and the other families were relaxing on our sundeck. But the service department was very busy and backed up with loopers having prop issues from traveling flooded rivers, so we couldn’t let them skip over us. We got everyone off INNTW in a big hurry and watched as the workers drove her over to the lift. The irony was not lost on me that Mike was all dressed as a captain and some other dudes were driving his boat away. The kids went with the other families to start some mid-afternoon trick or treating while Mike and I went to watch our boat and our home get lifted out of the water.
They did not like some movement they saw in our hull as the straps tightened when she was lifted, so they set her back down again and re-positioned the straps. Nerve-wrecking, let me tell you!!
We scheduled this haul out because we knew we hit (at least) 3 “things” on the rivers. We heard 2 big thumps on the Illinois and 1 on the Mississippi, but we never saw any of the culprits. I’m sure they were submerged logs or trees. Eventually Mike began to notice a new vibration in the engines. He was pretty sure it was the starboard side and he guessed we damaged the prop with a chip or something. Over time, if that prop was wobbling it could cause further damage to the prop shafts or cutlass bearings, and we certainly didn’t want anything to get worse. Mike also noticed that the starboard packing nut was dripping much faster than earlier in the trip AND our tachs weren’t synchronized anymore, so he wondered if all of these things were a result of the mysterious vibration. He didn’t want to push the engines and run at faster speeds until we could get them checked, so there we were, hanging in a sling on Halloween. I know exactly what all that stuff above means NOW, though before this trip, I wouldn’t have been able to follow half of it. If I lost you above, just look at that picture of our house hanging from 2 straps and you get the idea.
We were all anxious to get under there and take a good look. It has been quite sometime since we’ve seen the bottom out of the water. I sure have thought about the bottom and all those metal pieces that stick out to steer us and push us and keep us safe MANY MANY times in the last few months, so seeing them all again was a relief. A relief because they all looked PERFECT!! No one could find a knick or scratch or anything wrong except 1 measly old zinc that had slid down the prop shaft.
We decided not to even take the props off and send them in for further inspection because they looked so good. We felt like the luckiest boaters in the marina because there were boats everywhere waiting weeks for shafts to be sent from Europe or paying thousands of dollars to fix props or even worse. And here we were, just going to inspect our girl, give her a bath, and get her ready for salt water.
During her bath they got rid of all those zebra mussels that we’ve been carrying around since we were in the Great Lakes. Yuck!
We also had to replace the anodes to get the boat ready for salt water. She had magnesium bars attached to her previously in fresh water to reduce corrosion on other metals that sit in the water all the time. However, magnesium doesn’t work as well in salt water (I have no idea why…?!) so we had to replace these bars with zinc anodes. If they help protect the bottom of the boat, zincs it is!!
Here is the old magnesium anode.
And the new and clean zinc anode.
And that was it. After that small task, INNTW went back in the water and we resumed the Halloween festivities. Our best conclusion about the vibration we were feeling is that it could be a result of the tachometers reading different numbers. One of the tachs is right and one is lying and we just don’t know which one to believe. This means Mike might have been running the boat harder than we thought, causing the vibration. Eventually, we will have to figure out exactly why the tachs aren’t reading the same, but it isn’t a main concern at this point. There is still a problem with the packing nut, but that most likely isn’t the cause of the vibration. As long as we know we aren’t causing any damage by running at higher RPMs, we feel good about pushing it when we need to.
That whole boat haul out interruption really messed with my Halloween picture taking, though, so I don’t have many pics of our kiddos in their costumes. Here is our INNTW crew in front of the boat all dressed up (minus my parrot head!).
By the time we were done handling the boat, the kids had already trick or treated through most of the marina. We were surprised at how many loopers had candy and other special treats ready for us. We were ready and had plenty of candy on hand to give to boaters that weren’t prepared for this huge influx of trick or treaters. The kids also had a candy scavenger hunt around the common area on our dock, which they loved.
Here are all the kids from INNTW, Have Another Day, and Livin the Dream all dressed up and ready for candy!!
They couldn’t resist this doggy, all dressed up, too!
If you get nervous about your kids running around dark streets on Halloween, just imagine them running up and down DOCKS in long robes, masks, and sunglasses?! Luckily no one went for a swim!!
The kids took a break from trick or treating and traded candy and ate a ton of it, I’m sure. Then later in the night, we rented a movie for all the kids to watch while the adults decompressed on the sundeck of INNTW. Just when we thought the Halloween excitement was dying down, we had a visit from a real mermaid, complete with bubble and fog machines and she easily doubled their haul. It turned out to be a pretty great Halloween!!
While the kids were looking through their full candy bags, the adults joined up with the other loopers in the marina for the famous “Docktails.” It was nice to chat with some new boaters, and hear about their river tales. Hearing about all their repairs made me feel so lucky to have INNTW with a clean bill of health!! Just look at this group of loopers!!
The next morning started off bright and early with Tobin asking for his monthly gift from his bestie, Eva, back home!! You might remember that she sent a surprise for him to open every month while we were gone on our WHOLE ENTIRE trip. What a good friend (with awesome parents)!! Tobin loves these gifts and looks forward to them every month.
Mike challenged the older kids to sort their candy and make a graph showing what they got. That kept them busy for a few hours!!
It was another cold and rainy day and we are SICK of cold and rainy days. So we packed up in the courtesy truck from the marina and headed to the Corinth Museum. We were actually very close to the Shiloh Battlefield, but that requires a lot of outdoor walking and with the rain, we were looking for history that was a little more dry. Corinth turned out to be a great museum to help us understand the importance of the area for both the Union and Confederate soldiers. There is a railroad intersection in Corinth, not to mention proximity to the river, that both sides of the war wanted to control.
Since we had the truck and a little time left before we had to return it, we went to Waffle House which was a first for the kiddos!
Then back to the boat for more chores for some of us, more reading and playing for some of us, and more candy eating for all of us.
I would like to report that this plug issue is now all replaced and we have sufficient a/c and heat as needed!! Woo hoo Mike!!
Our last day at Aqua Yacht was another work day. Mike had a mechanic coming to help him change out a thermostat for the port engine. Since late summer, the thermostat has been running cold off and on, but lately it has been cold all the time. Mike was worried about the damage that could result from ignoring the problem longer, he had the part, and he found a guy with ALL these tools to come and help. It was nice to cross another chore off the “boat to-do list,” but I’m telling you, you cross 1 thing off and put 3 on. It is ALWAYS something with the boat!!
Look at all those tools!!
Unfortunately, they weren’t able to fix the leaking packing nut, so it continues to drip faster than it should. We are moving this fix towards the top of the list since it is becoming more of an issue (2 drops a minute is what the rate is supposed to be, but we have about 30 drops a minute currently).
Have Another Day was kind enough to let us run rampant on their boat for the morning while all this work was taking place. Because of course the whole entire salon floor has to be opened for any real work to get done. After a few hours of playing inside, we all met up with Livin the Dream for another playground climbing session. We spent lots of cold, drizzly time at this playground. Thank goodness for friends!!
Destination: Zippy Cove (I know, I know, it sounds like a made up place!!)
Distance: 51.1 miles
Speed: 7.2 mph
Time on the Move: 7 hours and 7 minutes
We woke up at Eagle Nest to fog, which was no surprise. We weren’t sure how thick it was, so we turned on our chartplotter to see if there were boats moving around us on AIS. Soon after, we saw a looper pass by the channel behind us, so Mike called them on the radio. They said the fog wasn’t too bad anywhere except down the channel where we were anchored. Other radio communications let us know that there was a whole string of loopers coming by, so we fired up the engines, pushed away from Living the Dream, and we both joined the morning looper boat parade.
Fog ahead of us in the channel.
It was a beautiful morning!
Fog cleared out quickly once we got moving.
Throughout the course of the day we did school work and looked out the windows as we traveled in quite the caravan. We had to wait about an hour for the lock to open, but the lockmaster let us tie up on the wall to wait for some repairs to be made to the lock. The slow down allowed the long line of loopers to gather so that we could all go into the lock together. You’ll see another looper boat tied up behind us on the wall, and a whole slew of them coming around the corner heading toward the lock.
Waiting for all the boats to get settled in the lock. The BIG white boat across the way is from our home marina back in Harrison Township, MI!!
Once we got tied up in the lock, this is the view looking up the track that the floating bollard moves in. It was obvious we had a big lift ahead of us.
The kids are playing games and making messes in the salon, and there’s Mike, holding the line at the floating bollard while we raised up.
This is our “before locking” picture. You can see how high they will raise us–up to the dark line that shows where the high water mark is.
Here’s our “after looping” picture. We had to wait a while for the doors to actually open because there was a tow waiting to come in that lost control of his barges. He had to do a lot of maneuvering to hold station in the wind and current so that we could all safely pass by as we exited the lock.
Our friends were heading straight in to the marina, but we were heading to one more anchorage before joining up with 2 other kids boats the next morning for Halloween festivities.
Pokemon cards!!
After we anchored in Zippy Creek, the kids were anxious to take off on their kayaks and explore some rocky ledges along the shoreline of the lake. It is the first time they have kayaked in quite some time!! I quick searched to see if there were alligators in Pickwick Lake. My search came up with mixed results, but I came to a “probably not” conclusion. The next day I heard from locals that we actually have 3 more locks before we have to worry about alligators. Whew!!
3 tiny kayaks on the left and 3 tiny Herbons on the right.
After a long day of traveling, playing, exploring, and learning, we read some bedtime stories and headed to bed, excited for Halloween the next night.
A little light bedtime reading. Thanks for the book Grandma and Grandpa Herbon!!
One of the best parts about Pebble Isle Marina (aside from the great people and proximity to history lessons) is the fact that they bake fresh, giant cinnamon rolls for you each morning—for FREE!! That is great service!! We moved our boat over to the fuel dock to fill up with diesel and get pumped out as soon as the fuel dock opened at 8am (seeing was dicey with the fog, but we made it to the fuel dock). While Mike was helping with the fill up/pump out, I took the kids in to the restaurant for our cinnamon rolls. The man behind the counter had all 5 cinnamon rolls fresh out of the oven, waiting at a table for us, and he was just bringing up our 5th chair. Again, that is great service!! Mike finished helping with the chores on the dock and then came in for his cinnamon roll and to chat with Living the Dream while we waited for the fog to lift.
Another morning of singing “Smoke on the Water.” Light, wispy fog in the harbor, but thicker fog out on the lake.
After another 15 minutes or so, we watched 2 other boats head out, so we figured game on and we prepped for departure. The day was pretty uneventful, just a long trail of about 6?? looper boats following each other down the river.
Who are all these boats following us?! Just kidding…they’re loopers, of course.
This tow pushed his barges against an island in the middle of the lake to wait out the fog.
Hayley has been on a roll with her math lately!! She is a whiz at story problems and two digit addition with regrouping. We feel so lucky to have a classroom with a view!!
Mike spent some of the trip on the phone talking with the service department of a marina a few days down the line. It’s always something with the boat!!
Still the looper line up. It is pretty fun to see familiar boats on the water. We use the app Nebo to keep track of other boaters and their speeds. There is a great sense of community along the route!
We passed by this new development of raised houses. Cute!!
We ended up deciding on an anchorage for later in the evening and were joined by Living the Dream at Eagle Nest Anchorage. We whipped up a fancy dinner of hamburgers and hot dogs and had kid/adult fun night for a while before bed. Boating is awesome, but boating with friends is even better!!
Beautiful sunset view from our anchorage.
This was the location of our anchorage, for everyone who would like some perspective of where in the world we’re at!
