Saturday, October 4, 2014

Swallow Bluff Island to Grand Harbor Marina

HThis morning began with a foggy but beautiful sunrise. After yesterday's brisk winds, the calm was welcome, even though it was a chilly 40 degrees. 


We covered about 44 miles at around 7 mph.


The wind and the current both increased during the morning. We keep reminding ourselves that we are traveling upstream even though we are headed south. We reached Pickwick Lock and Dam http://www.lrn.usace.army.mil/Locations/NavigationLocks/TennesseeRiver/Pickwick.aspx  around noon and had to wait only about 25 minutes, which is really good. The lift in this lock is about 55 feet, so the gates and walls look a bit intimidating. We were the 4th of 5 boats to enter the chamber, and we noticed that the first 3 chose the starboard side and seemed to be struggling. Mark took us to the port side and I easily looped a line around the floating bollard and had no trouble holding us while the wind swirled crazily. It was our smoothest lockage yet! 

After that it was just a few miles to the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway (TennTom) and Grand Harbor Marina. (I'll write more about the TennTom later.) this is a large marina with condos and plenty to amenities. At least a dozen Looper boats are here, near the borders of Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama. It was our turn to host the cocktails this evening with Island Time and Young at Heart. We then were transported to Freddy T's for supper. It was a treat to eat out after meals on the boat all week, with a scarcity of grocery stores.

Photo by Gina Smith



No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.