Mile Marker 336.3 to MM 306

Hey guys so today we stopped at one of my favorite places, the bevill lock and dam museum. We got there before closing with the current pushing it was great! We found a place to anchor out and wait for the lock to open in the morning( it had gotten too dark to go through). There was another sailboat there and another trawler pulled in to anchor also. Barry and Andrea anchored out close in front of us and we unloaded our dink, picked up the crew and headed to shore to see what was up. To my disappointment the museum was closed. So we decided to walk the grounds of the museum and explore all the cool stuff that was scattered around. There was a huge fountain at the front of the mansion facing the river. The grounds were so nice and there was a walking track near them. Must lead to a hidden subdivision was our conclusion. The huge dredge was still there but we did not get to go through it it was blocked off. I took some great pics of us hanging out at the sunset and we decided to hit the hay and hit that lock in the morning! Headed to one of my favorite marinas Demopolis!

On Day 7 Sunday November 14 2021 we stayed at the Midway Marina and ran errands for supplies and washed our clothes and cleaned the boat. Had a few small things to take care of on the boat and enjoyed running errands with Barry and Andrea.

Now to day 8! Today we went through three locks, the Fulton lock, the Wilkins lock and the Amory lock. The locks at this point are around 30-40 feet and are built the same. Captain Steve and I have perfected the lock pin tie on and can rest easy with the boat safely tied up. I keep and eye on the lines to make sure they stay tight and read all the stickers and written comments on the pin. Some of the pins have vegetation growing on them and others just have stray sticks and water trash sitting on the back part of the pin mechanism. There are two wheels one on either side of the ping mechanism.( I hope i have a picture for you so you can see what i mean). The wheels run in a steel cutout built into the walls on either side of the pin into the wall. At one of the locks one of those wheels got stuck for a minute then dropped, wow i could just see it stuck and my boat hanging on the side of the wall like a lizard hanging onto the side of a tree! After that we ran a few miles toward darkness and (of course) anchored out successfully in an anchorage with a demasted sailboat called the “black swan”. It is a gorgeous sailboat headed for Mobile and Turner Marine to have the mast put back on the boat and the rigging put back in place. We woke up to our boat floating away from the anchor and oh boy “chinese fire drill” to reset the anchor. Ran out on deck to watch anchor pull up and count out the feet until we had it set in the right spot again! We were back in this channel off the main channel and it had a rocky bottom and our anchor scraped along the rocks like fingernails down a chalkboard. Finally we found a muddy place to anchor and we could finally rest, or so we thought. The current was strong at times during the night and we had to be very vigilant to make sure anchor stayed in place! The Black Swan was having anchor issues to so it was both of us out on deck running and dropping anchors until we were good. Stayed in place until morning after last fir drill about 12AM. I was reading about that anchorage and trying to find out why it was so hard to keep and anchor there. BOOM found out it was the spillway from the Amory lock and dam. Mile Marker 366.3 is this anchorage and i do not recommend it unless you anchor out at the mouth of it close to the entrance on the starboard side. Our boat buddies did not have an issue at this spot.

Captains Log: Make sure you put out plenty of chain in this anchorage (366.3mm).Anchor out close to entrance after entering in on the starboard side.

Headed from Safe harbor aqua marine to Midway Marina where our friends Amy and Cody are waiting for us to show us their new Nauti Cat sailboat. We have to go through the first three 3 locks to get to Midway Marina. Well we got through all two locks that day. It is like driving into a roofless deep tunnel with only one way out, NO backing out now! Slowly driving up to the side of a wall with a recessed moving pin you have to lasso and tie down really fast. Especially if the wind is kicking up, so your boat doesnt take off like a wild pitch and hit another boat on the other side then it becomes a pinball game lol! Your slowly lowered down into (some of them) 83 foot of slippery slimy filthy wall with your fenders scraping the wall as they slowly slide down that nasty wall. I can just hear them screeching for help as they are squished into that concrete mass. As soon as those doos open and i hear that horn i jump into action and unhook those loops on the pin and throw them back on board, yell we are clear captian lines off! I push the stern off the wall and BOOM we are out of there. (It is actually peaceful going down in the lock with the water falls flowing down the gates). Afterwards i throw the fenders into the water (still tied to the boat so i dont lose them) and wash off the dirt and scum so i dont have to clean it off my boat. Which is a more involved job.

We had a great reunion when we got to Midway, and ate a great dinner at the restaurant on the marina premises its called “Guys Place on the Water”. They have some wonderful food and we loved the atmosphere! We walked up the stairs and didn’t expect the great look of the place. Nice rustic tables and benches and outside was warm with the big outdoor standing fire heaters> The plastic enclosure around the backporch we were on made it a really comfortable place to eat despite the really cold temperature outside. The new boat they have is so cool and i love it! They gave us a tour and it was so much fun. We viewed the back berth which was going to be the girls room. It has a desk and room enough for both girls.. We walked back up the steps and into the main helm. It has a cool sitting area and your protected in bad weather with the pilot house helm. (There is also an outside helm if you want to captain from the top of the boat!) We went from the helm and stepped down into the galley and v-berth area. The dining area is a cool half circle sitting area with table in middle and so many cubby holes for storage.It was very nice and i am so happy for them. Hung out for a while on the big moose solving all the worlds problems and just enjoying the company.

Captains log: MM 403 Anchored due to delay in lock operation(waiting on barge and getting dark). MM448 to MM403 today 45 NM

I am getting pictures together today since i have good wifi! Will be posting past posts throughout the weekend to catch all my followers up on our adventures. hang tight im on it!!

Left Lucy’s Marina around 6:30 AM trying to beat the rain headed toward Wheeler Lock and Dam. We got through it in a snap and made our way to the 93 foot abyss called the Wilson lock. The sky was that dark blue that makes the clouds look metallic almost. We arrived and the lock was (as always) very busy with the barge traffic. We had to wait so we headed to the slew at the side of the dam where two other boats were tied up. The trawler named “ICW Traveler” captain Warren offered to have us tie off to him and we took him up on his offer and tied up along with the Caretta. Another small trawler came in with two gentlemen on it that had traveled from up North and were headed back home with their boat. A huge trawler in front of us looked like it could have belonged to “cousin Eddie” in Christmas vacation if they had used a boat, hahahaha. It had very big bushes growing in pots on the back and front of the boat, (we tried to figure out if it was marijuana or not). The rust was painting its way down the side of the boat like a rust colored masterpiece, the owner and captain of the boat was not a very friendly fellow. Some would call him a Da– Yankee, but i just call him unhappy at best. The boat had not been taken care of but the lady on board was friendly. After he cut our friends off in the lock he was not popular and that was a dangerous move that could have caused some issues especially with a tug barge pusher in the lock with us. He was supposed to go in first and did but grabbed the first pin in the gate which caused all the other boats to have to go around him in a narrow space! But it worked out great even though we were all like pinballs in a pinball machine, haha. We went down 93 foot into the abyss of the lock and as those massive doors opened we saw the beautiful setting sun peeking through as we prepared to exit the lock and hit Florence Marina and go to the marina restaurant. Outside the marina there was a pretty fountain with a glittering rainbow shining through it. My sister and my nephew and niece in law were waiting at the restaurant outside at a cool patio table to eat and enjoy our time together until we come back through the old Florence Town Alabama in the spring.

Good Morning people! ok we had a great day yesterday, we made it from 473mm to mm 400. I was thinking oh man are we sailing til dark, because as you know thats Steves favorite time to anchor😅😅. Well we stopped 1.5 hours before dark and started checking out the abandoned pilons that used to be Fabius Barge Terminal that was inactive. you could tell by the small bushes growing out if some of the openings like skeletal fingers reaching out for help in the growing duskiness of the day! Sooo…i got a machette cut those fingers off, put 4 big fenders side by side and tied our big moose off in a springline to the loops on either side of those 6 foot wide steel bohemoth pilons. Barry and Andrea swung their sailboat Caretta around like Captain Ron braking a foot from our starboard side with a “whoosh” and we tied her off. Had a wonderful great tasting meal of leftovers from JD’s Gourmet Outdoor Grillin Kuntry Kitchen! With some help from those who brought in that awesome pans of grub. Went to bed at dark like my grandma and slept without any boat movement. Great tie offoff.
Woke up to a blanket of fog and did not get to leave until 9am. It was a beautiful day with lots of beautiful scenery painted just for us!

Good Morning everyone!! We just left the Chickamauga lock in Chattanooga Tn headed toward the beautiful river gorge. Up at 5 getting ready for the day. Andreas awesome friend Kim brought us breakfast burritos, thank you so much for your thoughtfulness! Everyone was ready at 7 to kick off this adventure. It was a little cold this morning but the Sun is shining and im ready to relax! Did well tying off in the lock, thanks to advice from our good friend JD.

Saturday before we left we had a kickbutt party given by our fellow sailors at the Marina! oh man the juicy melt in your mouth watering ribs, the awesome potato salad( got some in my fridge). Thank you Mark JD Amy Cody Addie( hope i spelled this right) Maddie John Jodie( thank you for the kickbutt gifts Jodie and John you will never know how much that meant and how useful it is) Ernie Skip Lynn Jeff And every other wonderful person that threw that kickin chicken shindig! Im glad my mother dad and brother came to see us(thanks fam). We will meet up with my sister in Florence Alabama and hopefully Get to see my wonderful niece and nephew and future great niece!!

Captains log: 7.4 knots SB on Tn river light winds current 1.5 knots.

Captains Quote for thd day: “Always have a beautiful lady on the boat like my wife”