Captain's Blog

  TRAVEL DAY 146 - Dog River to Fairhope November 19, 2023 1.74 Hours/ 11.9 Miles     Today starts a new segment of the trip. Our plan is to cross Mobile Bay to Fairhope, Alabama to transit to the east side of the bay before heading south to the coast. Originally we had planned 2 days in Fairhope but this trip is now again weather dependent. Monday afternoon & Tuesday are forecast to be very windy and we do not want to be on open water during that time.    Dog River Sunrise     We were greeted with a beautiful sunrise over the bay and prepared for an 8:30 am departure. The fuel gauge showed low but my calculations indicated we had 30 gallons, more than enough to move the 12 or so miles to Fairhope and where the fuel was significantly cheaper than Grand Mariner.    A calm Mobile Bay     Today was a great day to cross Mobile Bay. It was chilly but calm and little waves. We made the short run across and into the harbor at Fairhope....

  TRAVEL DAY 142 - Demopolis to Okatuppa November 15, 2023 10.67 Hours/ 91.8 Miles     Our boat was on the 6 am lock through list with some 17 other boats in the marina. I fired up the generator, disconnected the shore power, then fired up the engine. In the dark, we eased out of the slip and turned out of the basin into the Tombigbee and south to the Demopolis Lock. The lock was open and ready when we got there and with 2 dead pins (didn't move up or down), all of the vessels had to raft. Just as the doors shut, a call came from another boat that they were a few minutes out. Our crew couldn't believe it, but the lock opened the doors back up and we waited for the straggler.   Demopolis Lock     Once out of the lock we set our sights on a lofty goal of the Okatuppa Anchorage. I pushed Betty up to 2300 rpm and basically kept her there all day. This put our boat at a steady 9 mph. Our fuel burn is 2.5 gph vs our normal 1.9 gph.   Demopolis Falls   ...

  TRAVEL DAY 138 - Iuka to Fulton November 9, 2023 10.28 Hours/ 55.5 Miles     We inch ever closer to home and now we are about a month from crossing our wake and returning to where we started. With less daylight and longer runs, we start at first light. Throw in 3 locks and we anticipate burning a lot of fuel and daylight. Dawn      The Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway or the Tenn-Tom is a 234 mile artificial waterway connecting the Tennessee River to the junction of the BlackWarrior Tombigbee River system near Demopolis, Alabama.  2 boats left Iuka in the dark and we rounded the bend of Pickwick Lake past a working tug boat with all it's lights on and onto a 29 mile narrow rip rap lined ditch known as the "Divide Cut".   Divide Cut     3 hours or so into the journey, 7 other boats caught up to us as we approached Whitten Lock, the 4th highest lift lock in the US. As per normal for these locks, a tow was just entering and we were instructed...