Pulled up achor at 8:10 this morning. We slept in until 7 having done 80 miles yesterday! Went through Whitten, Montgomery, Rankin, and Fulton Locks. Anchored near Smithville Marina. BTW...Since Bay Springs we've been followed by a larger boat with an engine problem (vibration) that causes them to travel much slower than we do. AND....we've waited on them for each lock. They are staying tonight at Smithville Marina so we're all really close to Wilkins Lock. Our plan is to get up early and get a lock between us.
Sunday, March 25, 2018 -
We pulled up anchor at 6:35 AM and were tied up in Wilkins Lock by 7:10. We went all the way to Columbus Marina today and arrived at 1 PM.
We'd tried calling Columbus several times before we got there and gotten no answer...even though the website said they opened at 10 on Sunday. We had some contingency plans in case they were closed for some reason. We finally reached them at noon and talked with the new manager, Steve. "T" Caldwell died right before Christmas of last year when he suffered a blood clot after an otherwise successful back surgery. R.I.P "T". He was a good guy.
Monday, March 26, 2018 -
We woke up a little early this morning...5:30. Looking out on AIS we saw a two a couple of miles north of us and Stennis Lock. Wayne called the lock operator and he confirmed that the tow would be going through before us....and it would probably be around 8AM before we'd lock through. We settled back with our coffee and email.
Shortly after, Wayne checked on the tow again...and now it was sitting still 2 miles back. When we called the lock the operator said that the tow had not called the lock yet, so he could let us through since he had the doors open already. We quickly unplugged and eased into the lock. We ended up getting out of the lock at 7:30. We were heading for Sumter Landing for our anchorage, 70 miles south and one more lock, so we were glad to have the extra time.
It was cooler today...low 60's they say, but windy and no sunshine. We ran the heater on the bridge for a while until it warmed up some. We made the trip through Bevill Lock with no wait and now we're anchored for the night at Sumter Landing.
We did orchestrate passes today with two northbound tows. We were in a twisty section of the river both times, so had too hang back a little with one as he made a turn and did a 2 whistle on the other...again to avoid being mowed down as the tow made a turn. Tood to have a little excitement in an otherwise pretty quiet day!
Oh, yes, and we got a call from Steve, the new manager at Columbus, asking if we'd heard anything unusual this morning around 4:30. We hadn't...nor did Maggie, since she's quick to bark at "intruders." Apparently someone tried to break in the marina office and stole a work truck parked in the parking lot. Boaters beware!
Tuesday, March 27, 2018 -
Spent a nice, quiet night at Sumter. Called Heflin Lock and were able to get down there for a lock through before 2 northbound tows arrived. Kinda cool this morning, but warmed up in the afternoon when the sun came out.
We stopped at Demopolis Yacht Basin for fuel, water, and trash disposal...Then on over to Foscue Creek for the rest of the afternoon. We took this time to plan out the rest of the trip down the rivers...and catch up on the blog! Good connection with Verizon, but TV has the usual kids, create, and world channels. Looks like more of Law and Order Season 1 tonight! ;-)
Tomorrow we're aiming for Bashi Creek.
And now for some pictures....
Layers of rock, greenery, trees on the cut-through down from Yellow Creek to Bay Springs
Then color with spring blooms as we got nearer to Bay Springs Lake
A grainy picture...but best I could get of white pelicans migrating to the north.
...And the Magster chasing a bug under the stored deck chairs....
Glad you are having smoother sailing 😊 Maggie is precious!
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