Tenn-Tom Waterway

Tennessee River to Mobile Alabama

The trip down the Ten-Tom is a trip into the past. After leaving the Tennessee River at Yellow Creek (near Iuka, MS and Counce, TN) the waterway enters the Divide Cut. This is the 29 Mile cut channel connecting the Tennessee river with the Tom Bigbee River. More Earth was moved to create this cut than was moved for the entire Panama Canal! The route then follows the Tom Bigbee River with cuts across many of the curves in the river to make it easier for tugs to push barges through. It then joins the Black Warrior River which pretty much winds its way with very few cuts until it joins the Mobile River about 45 River miles from Mobile, AL.

Saturday, October 30^th

Coloring book charts at the bottom

Woke up to heavy fog and 32º temperature another good reason to stay at the dock last night with the heater on. The fog finally started to burn off and we started down the Tenn-Tom Waterway at 10:00. The Corps of Engineers Chart Book for the waterway looks like a child's coloring book. It is hard to take it seriously. The electronic charts look a hundred times better.

Divide Cut

The first 39 miles of the waterway go through Divide Cut. It is a 280 ft. wide ditch. It has a few curves and most parts look like they were drawn with a ruler. Those of you that have seen the C&D Canal it looks very similar. Not the most exciting part of the trip, but if the cut were not here we would have to go all the way to New Orleans on the Mississippi – UGH!

Three deer just swan across the cut in front of the boat. Cool

We anchored in Five Fingers Cove, part of the Nachez Trace Recreation Area in Mississippi. A very pretty, quiet Cove. Each of the five coves had at least one looper boat in it. The shoreline appeared to be sand. When I took Annie to shore we stepped off into 4” of wet red clay. What a mess, it stuck to everything.

We BBQ'd dinner and hit the sack.

Sunday, October 31^st

We woke up to a cold, damp morning. I walked Annie in the clay and while cleaning up I got a call from Q's End that there was fog at the lock. Two boats had asked last night about our plans for today. They wanted to get an early start and go a long way. They were hoping that we would not delay them by approaching the lock after them, as the lockmasters will hold the lock up half an hour waiting to group boats together for a locking. It turned out that the fog was at the bottom of the lock and they had to tie up and wait. There were two boats at the lock when we got there with our 3 boat group and then 2 more after us. When we arrived at the next lock there were the two boats that left early. They were waiting for two tows to clear. So much for their plans to make tracks today. Nine of us locked through the lock. At the third lock we waited again while two fast boats caught up with us and 11 boats locked through. The two fast boats then barged by all of us and locked through the next lock and we had to wait (only ten minutes though) for the lock to open up.We are hoping for a nice anchorage tonight.

We anchored off Smithville, MS above the Wilkins lock. Nice and calm and there is a launch ramp here with a dock. Makes getting Annie to shore without getting my feet wet easy. It also was grass and asphalt so she could run and I did not have to wash her or the dinghy afterward.

Serendipity at Sunset

We sat and watched the sunset on Windsong with Q's End and Mar Jo III.

Monday, November 1

Starting our 6^th month underway today. It is a little warmer and very calm. As I was taking Annie to shore I saw Mar Jo III locking down. Our timing stinks again. By the time we were ready to go there was a tow entering the lock and another right behind it. An hour and a half later we entered Wilkins Lock. With only 5 miles to the next lock we will have to wait again. Then we have one more lock in 13 miles and will probably not be able to pass the tugs with enough space to allow us through. Commercial Vessels have priority so we may have to wait.

It turned out that there was only a short wait for the second tow to finish. The first tow was way ahead and moving fast. The second tow was only moving at 4 mph and by running hard (8.5 mph) we passed him easily and we should be O.K. at the lock.We are burning extra fuel with Columbus, MS as our goal before dark.

We are now running on the river cut section of the waterway. The river wanders back and forth here, but the channel has been cut to straighten out the bends to allow large tows to operate. The banks are fairly natural looking although we have not seen much wildlife. I did see an eagle snatch a fish out of the river 20 yards in front of the boat.

The weather is warm, in the 70's. It sure beats the 40's they are having back in South Jersey.

We made the lock easily and arrived at Columbia Marina by five o'clock. The Marina was very crowded. About 4 boats were rafted to other boats. They wanted to raft us with Windsong, but their 3 Labs and Annie do not get along which made it a bad idea. We wound up at the very back of the marina with all of the pontoon boats. It was real quiet back there.

Once again folks proved really nice. We were tired, the courtesy car was not available so Q's End Joined us in a cab and we went to Huck's Restaurant. Another great meal. The restaurant specializes in Cajun - Huck's Chicken on the Bayou, Shrimp Etufee (sic), Blackened Catfish, Fried Crayfish Tails, all excellent.

Tuesday, November 2^nd

We rented a car which we split 3 ways. Shopping in the morning and Carole and two friends went to visit some antebellum houses in the afternoon. It has been raining on and off all day. I used the time to post to the blog and do some minor maintainance ( I was actually probably goofing off – Maintainance just sounds so much better).

We went to Hank's BBQ for dinner. We thought that this was going to be a loser. The building looked like a roadside stand. When we asked for glasses for our beer and wine, we were given Styrofoam cups. Dinner came on paper plates. Appearances are deceiving. This was the best BBQ to date! Ribs, pulled pork and brisket were on the menu and not much else. What a great choice.

There were 8 of us so we had to make two trips with the car to get everyone back to the Marina. We had closed the place down (about 8:00 pm) and while the second group was waiting for the car to return for them, Hank came out and talked with them. He took them to the back and showed off his BBQ's. Tom said they looked like they cost more than the rest of the restaurant. He also told them how he had to change his recipes for competitions (which he has won many times) depending on the judges. His winning recipes were not what he served his customers since that was not what they wanted. As far we were concerned he made the right choice.

Looks like more rain tomorrow and we are debating whether to stay another day or go.

Wednesday, November 3^rd

It rained on and off all night. It had stopped when we headed for the fuel dock. Turns out we needed to hurry. If we did not make it to the lock in 20 minutes we would have to wait 2 ½ hours. I am not sure why all of the stops seem to be before the lock and after it. If we stopped below the lock then we would not have this problem in the morning – of course we might then have it at the end of the day, guess it does not matter. We have to deal with it one way or another. We hustled and made the lock. While in the lock it started to pour down rain. For the next 2 hours I could not hear anything but the rain drumming on the canvas overhead.

We finished early today. With the rain and cold ~ 60º we pulled in to Pirate's Cove Marina in Pickensville, AL. Nice people good facility and if I had not been in "Deliverance Country" before I am there now. The owner has an old wooden boat for home. The office/store/marina is a double wide that has been sided over, and there are lots of trailers and dogs around.

The owner lives here

Double wide Marina and store

Tom Beville Visitors Center

We used the courtesy car and headed out to the Tom Beville Visitors center. The visitors center was a museum covering the Ten-Tom waterway, wildlife area, local commerce, steamboats and a Paddlewheel Snagboat. The exhibits were nicely done. It is located in a replica antebellum mansion that was really authentic looking. We could not board the Snagboat as it is closed on rainy days.

After a nice social hour on the veranda of the marina we all went back to our boats for dinner.

Anne decided to jump on to the boat without using the ladder and she missed. Finding her while she was swimming in the dark water was difficult. Carole had grabbed a flashlight, and I grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and got her back on the dock.

Tomorrow looks to be clear and cold.

Thursday, November 4^th

The day started out overcast and cold. The sky cleared quickly. We called the lock before leaving the marina and once again, were told: “get here in the next 15 minutes or wait 1 ½ to 2 hours. Two boats hustled out, our group of three decided to wait. An hour later I checked again. The lock was ready and would be clear for at least another hour. We left a 9:00 this morning.

North wind all day about 15mph. Since we are headed south it did not bother us. After a 35 mile run we pulled in to a small basin. Very pretty and there was a dock to take Annie to shore without any sand to roll in. However when Carole, Annie and I went to shore Annie managed to find a dead fish to roll in. We sent her in swimming to wash off so all we had to do was dry her when we got back to the boat.

While we were sitting there Dreammaker pulled in to an already crowded basin and dropped anchor right in front of us. I told him where our anchor was and he was unconcerned. If he drags anchor into us tonight I will own his boat!

Friday, November 5^th

We woke up to a very cold morning. Temperature was close to freezing. At 6:30 my “friend” was leaving in the dark. Fortunately for him the night was calm. As they were leaving they passed so close to Q' End that Tom thought they were going to snag his anchor line.

We got a very early (for us) start at 7:30. We want to make 50 miles today with one lock in the middle. The wind is still NNW at 15-20 mph and the clouds covering the sun slowed my bodily warming this morning. The river is very twisty here and when we are headed North to Northwest the wind blows straight in to the cockpit. I could run the boat from the inside, but would rather complain about the cold.

 The river scenery has changed again. We are seeing white chalk(we think) cliffs that are very striking. 


We saw the second pleasure boat headed north that we have seen on the Tom-Bigbee. Both were sailboats motoring into the wind. Why anyone would want to take a boat north in to tis weather I can not imagine.

We arrived at Demopolis Marina and had to tie up to the fuel dock with 10' of boat hanging off the dock. They are working on the marina and had no available dock space. They did go out of their way to make sure that everyone that arrived was able to tie up. Our anchor was hanging over Q's End's dinghy.

Dinner aboard Windsong was chicken Nacho/Taco's. They are leaving the boat shortly to go home until after New Years and have food to get rid of. It was great food and great company.

Saturday, November 6^th

There was frost on the decks this morning. We had to juggle a few boats around so that we could get to the pumpout. We will not be able to empty our holding tank again until we get to Mobile. The boats that had barged in to the anchorage at Sumpter had left a 6:00 AM for the lock. We left at 8:00 and they were still waiting. Justice is served sometimes! We had a long day ahead (68 miles) and the lock held us up for an hour. We averaged 8.2 mph downstream, passed more tows (6) than we have seem in a while. All of them were considerate and helpful.

Bashi Creek anchorage

We arrived at Bashi Creek after Q's End and Windsong had been anchored for a while. It is really quite small. If we are cross ways in the creek there is only about 10' of open water in front and back. The two of them were rafted with two stern anchors out. We opted for one anchor and tied our bow and stern to trees on opposite sides of the creek to stay in the middle. No wind so it shuld not be a problem. We were late for Social Hour however.

There is no cell service or any kind of service and the only lights are our anchor lights.

A Digression

I have been telling you how nice and friendly & helpful almost everyone has been. We have now met the “exception that proves the rule” these two boats, hereafter known as IA's (stands for Inconsiderate A-H**s) started by anchoring directly in front of us and not testing their anchor to see if it was holding. I mentioned this two days ago. One of them SAID he checked it, but both Jay on Windsong and I were watching and he never did. Testing is normally done by lowereing the anchor, putting out an appropriate amount of chain or line, and then putting the boat in reverse to make sure that it does not slip. He also did not put out enough chain to make a good anchor set.

The next day he was arriving at Demoopolis Yacht Harbor. He wanted fuel. There was only one person available due to a problem elsewhere. When he called on the radio he was asked to wait and she would call him back as soon as she could. He then proceeded to call every minute and complain that he was not getting an answer. When he arrived at the fuel dock he tied up and walked off completely blocking the dock for anyone else. When told that since he had no reservation he would have to raft off another boat he left in a huff.

All day long he and his buddy talked on channel 16 on the radio. Channel 16 is used for calling other boats and is also the emergency channel.Normally you contact someone on 16 then switch to another working channel. Not the IA's they copntinued to chat on 16 preventing anyone else from contacting the Tows. The tows could not even contact each other which they need to do to set up where they will pass each other.

Tonight at Bashi Creek one of the two anchored across the river. IA #2 pulled in to the creek after Q's End. Tom told him that two more boats were coming in. IA proceeded to anchor across the mouth of the creek totally blocking it, leaving no room for anyone else . He never set or tested his anchor and proceeded to drift in to the bank. He finally picked up his anchor and went across the river to his buddy.

End of Digression

Sunday, November 7^th

Morning at Bashi Creek

Daylight Savings Time Ends. This will really screw up Social Hour On the long travel days we will have to leave at 6:30 and be in bed at 9:00 the night before. We woke up to heavy fog and 1/4” of ice on the deck. The dew had frozen last night and I almost skated off the back of the boat when I was taking Annie to shore. This anchorage is really narrow. When I was pulling the line from the trees the stern and bow were almost touching the banks. The fog lifted at 8:30 Daylight time and we were underway. Only a 28 mile run today so we will be their by 11:30 standard time.

Sea Smoke on the river, tree lined banks and very pretty morning.

Sea Smoke

Arrived at Bobby's fish Camp at 11:30 as expected. We three were the only boats there which was good since we used almost the entire dock. There was about twenty five feet behind me at the fuel dock.

Bobby's really is a fish camp and no a marina. The dock is kind of an afterthought. It is a nice dock, just not very long. And there is no water or electric available. There are no good anchorages available for the next 65 miles so Bobby's is it.

This is the entire Dock at Bobby's Fish Camp
We had to move to let the 74' boat dock.

 

Those of you who might know Greg's Neck Boatyard will have some idea of the look and feel of it. However there are no boat services, no bathrooms or showers and the Restaurant is only open Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Guess we missed out on the Catfish here.

Watched the Eagles game on Q's End and had a spaghetti dinner on board Serendipity with Jay and Joan from Windsong. Q's end passed on it since Tom does not like spicy food and all we had was hot sausage.

Earlier a 74' boat pulled in and we had to move. We rafted with Q's End. Since this is really the only stop for most boats they announce ahead of time that they will move boats as needed to make room. I have been told that sometimes they are rafted 4 deep. Big boats are always on the inside for safety reasons.

Monday, November 8^th

Another cold night although no frost this morning. There was however lots of fog. We need to go 63 miles today and a late start is really not welcome. No choice – if you can't see you don't go!

Note

There are those who say: “You have radar why not go?” the last thing you want to do is be in the middle of the river and have a boat that does not show on the radar screen appear out of the fog. Also if there is a tow coming at you and you want to be between it and the riverbank and the trees do not show real well on the radar – you are then literally between a rock and a hard place!

End of Note

We did get underway about 8:00 and were able to get right through the Coffeeville Lock.

Last Lock! Yay!

Carole is driving and cheered loudly as this was the last lock until spring! We have also just entered
tidal Water.

We are seeing more common Egrets. There were 6 or 7 on the lock walls looking down at the boats. This is the third time I have seen a Great Blue heron land in the water. I never knew they could swim and am not sure they actually can as they took off immediately after landing. We are also seeing the first Seagulls since we left the Ohio River.

Every day brings new terrain. Uh Oh – not Seagulls. I took a look and they are Terns. It is fun to watch them fish. They will fly along and all of a sudden turn and dive usually coming up with a small fish. We haven't seen any alligators yet although we have been told that they are around – not really looking forward to having them around either. Annie's swimming days are going to be very limited.

It has been a very pleasant day and I have warmed up nicely. We anchored in a small creek called Alabama River cutoff. Five boats in here. It is narrow and requires two anchors. The tide was out and when I took Annie to shore she jumped on to a very muddy shoreline. Fortunately she only got her feet muddy. It was harder getting the mud off my Clogs than it was cleaning Annie.

If I haven't mentioned it, the new Dinghy Davits are great. They make launching and retrieving the dinghy really easy, and the outboard is always attached so I do not have to carry it down and install it every time I launch the dinghy. Anchoring out is a pleasure even when I have to take Annie to shore on a very cold morning.

We had the group over for Social Hour this evening. Our new grill has broken its mounting plate. We can still use it on a table top. Magma says that West marine will replace it. Then while we were watching Television the generator shut down. No popcorn tonight! I had noticed no water flow earlier but it kept on going. The overheat emergency switch worked as it was supposed to. I will check it out tomorrow during, what seems to be, our daily fog wait.

Tuesday, November 9^th

Morning Fog again

Yes, we had fog again this morning. I used the time to replace the water pump impeller on the generator. It fixed the overheat problem and we had coffee. The tide was in when I walked Annie and we got no mud on either of us.

It is much warmer today and quite pleasant. We only plan to go about 35 miles so we are back to running at “Mitch Speed” - 2100 rpm – 7 mph in still water. With the current we are going 7 ½ to 8 ½ mph.

We are still seeing lots of Egrets and Terns and now we are seeing Seagulls – Herring gulls actually. I have also learned that Common Egrets are now called Great Egrets. I guess our favorite 1966 bird book is a little out of date.

Egret on a snag

There is house in there

The river is getting wider. Although we are only about 20 miles from Mobile, AL it is still quite wild looking on the shoreline. Carole spotted a raccoon on the shore and several otters in the water. Q's End saw a fox. We pulled in to Big Canot Bayou. Big only refers to its length it is fairly narrow. Q's End reported an alligator when they were anchoring. Annie is definitely on a leash. The alligator left the bank when we arrived. We anchored with a stern anchor to keep from swinging in to the bank. If I thought we were in “Deliverance Country” before I was way off base. A few fishing cottage houses only accessible by boat and a very narrow deep waterway. The banks are thick slimy clay/mud. I took Annie for a boat ride, drifting on a slow current part of the way. I could not find any place that looked solid enough to stand on. I drove the dinghy as far up the bank as I could and used the propeller shaft to keep it from sliding back into the bayou. When I got off I sank halfway up to my knees in the stuff. Of course it took my Clogs off when I tried to take a step. It took two hands to extract the clogs out of the mud. Surprisingly Annie went in to the water and then in to the Dinghy and was surprisingly clean. I think her webbed paws (and lighter weight) kept her from sinking in as far as my feet did. As for me it took half an hour to get myself and the dinghy clean.

You can almost see the house

Except for the occasional bass boat the only sounds are the Kingfishers and small fish jumping. I read some and wrote my notes this afternoon. Then before Social Hour I took Annie for another walk. She jumped ashore (I would not get out) took one look at the mud and jumped back in to the dinghy. I finally found a spot with Cypress Knees that she could get off and walk around on relatively dry land. I will go ashore there tomorrow.

The only sounds tonight are Owls hooting.

Cypress Knees and Palmetto

Carole's getting into the swing of things.

Drifting along the Bayou

Annie is in there somewhere

Wednesday, November 10^th

Not as cold this morning. In the 40's I think, and only a bit of Sea Smoke. I took Annie for a walk in the Cypress and Palmettos. Rather Annie took herself for a walk. I could not get through the palmettos the foliage was so tough – I can not remember where I left my machete. The Cypress Knees made for a mud free tie up so cleanup was easy today.

We got underway by eight and the railroad bridge opened almost as soon as we arrived. The river has widened even more. It is still running pretty fast. We are going about 9 mph now. It seems that this river does not reverse with the tides like the Delaware and Hudson Rivers that I am familiar with.

The river changes

I guess these two don't want to talk to each other.

I can tell we are getting closer to the city and bay. Radio traffic on channel 16 is getting heavier and I am hearing the Coast Guard a lot. We just passed what the locals call the "Dolly Parton Bridge" You can guess why.

We are entering the Mobile river working waterfront. Another change of scenery. A lot of working docks, many dry docks, and many working tugs and ships. 

Coal dust spray Rainbow

  We watched a water sprayer used to keep the dust down on large piles of coal. It made for a very different rainbow.

 Six miles further down Mobile Bay we turn off the bay and in to the Dog River channel. We pulled in to Turner Marine and, as usual we took the courtesy car and headed for the market.

The marina is an older one. The finger pier is barely long enough for Carole to get off. She is ready to leave and move to a different marina. I added a rope railing and that has helped. The other marina would cost us almost $200 more for the month so I was reluctant to leave. Besides the finger piers there were only about 3 feet longer.

The Birthday Dinner - L-R Jay, Joan, Linda,
Tom, Carole and Mitch

We had a birthday dinner for Carole and Joan tonight. Good food and good company with Q's End and Windsong.

Tomorrow is Oil change day.

Thursday, November 11^th

We worked around the boat – changed the oil, did laundry and started to organize for the trip back to New Jersey.

We went to Wintzel's for dinner. The Oysters were only fair. Wing Report: Taste -4, Meaty -4, Heat -3, Crispy -0, total – 11

Friday, November 12^th

R & R Seafood

We picked up the car this morning. In the afternoon we headed to the Battleship Alabama Museum. We stopped at a small restaurant/bar on stilts for lunch. I had a really good oyster PoBoy and Carole had some excellent steamed shrimp. A real find.

The battleship Alabama is smaller than the new jersey. It was also decommissioned in 1947 and therefore the museum and battleship are set in the WWII era. The self guided tours covered every area of the ship including all of the living quarters, gun turrets, ammo loading areas, engine room and also the 16” gun ammunition elevators. The difference in the operating era's of the two ships shows up in the armament on them. The New Jersey had few guns other than the really big 16” guns and a few 5”guns, but it does have missiles and the high speed Vulcan (Gatling type) machine gun. The Alabama had, in addition to the 16” and 5” guns, 50 cal. gun turrets and 20 cal. Single and double machine guns spaced about every 15' around the entire deck.

The SR 71

The museum also has a number of planes including an SR-71 Blackbird. The CIA spy plane that is the fastest Air Breathing plane to fly. It could fly at mach 3.2 about 3600 mph.

We had dinner at the Yacht Club. Not much to tell about it.

Saturday, November 13^th

Today was pack the car day. Find all of the things that we took with us I June that we have not used and won't use on the boat. Stuff like duplicate tools - actually triplicate tools, coolers, electronic gadgets, etc. also a few items I can repair better in Leigh's shop than on the boat, puzzles, and other miscellaneous junk.

It is amazing – there is actually a bunk under all that stuff I had in the v-berth!

The three boat entourage – Windsong, Q's End and Serendipity is separated now. Windsong is getting work done and jay and Joan will not return until January. Q's End left for Fairhope, the Panhandle and the West Coast of Florida this morning. And we are heading to New Jersey for a couple of weeks tomorrow.

The journey will continue in December!