Lumpy, Bumpy and a 15-Hour Nap

Preparation for Thanksgiving including
picking wild cranberries for the sauce.

Three weeks back in Maine included a wonderful week-long visit by our daughter Elizabeth, Matt and granddaughter Charlotte, Thanksgiving, a beautiful wedding of our daughter Caroline and Noah, and a snow storm.  Our trip back to Salty Paws included travel by car to Canton, MA to visit Caroline and Noah, by train and bus to Logan, by air to Atlanta, subway to visit Elizabeth and family and rental car back to Orange Beach, AL. Phew!

The wedding couple.

In our absence Salty Paws seemed to misplace various items, and it took us a couple of days to reacclimatize to the boat.  Before us was 250 miles in mostly protected waters in the Florida Panhandle to reach Carrabelle, the launch point for the often challenging 170 mile open water passage across the Gulf of Mexico to Tarpon Springs, FL.  This passage requires an acceptable weather window, and we subscribe to Marv’s Weather Service that includes a long-range forecast and passage recommendations.  It did not look good, but there was a possible weather window for 12/15 or maybe not until 12/24 or maybe not at all in the foreseeable future.

The Fort Walton Beach dock
included the first evidence
of last year's Hurricane
Matthew as we shared our
slip with a sunken boat.

We strolled around Fort Walton
Beach in 45 degree weather.
We metlocal John McGee
who treated us
 to dinner.

Evidence of Matthew was even
more apparent as we
approached Panama City.

Our departure from Orange Beach on 12/10 began in 70 degree, sunny weather that was soon followed by rain, increasing winds and plummeting temperatures that within 24 hours were in the 40s.

The miserable weather didn’t help Molly’s spirits as she began having anxiety over the coming open water crossing.  After a night and cold walk around Fort Walton Beach we took off to test the waters of 25-mile long Choctawhatchee Bay only to find quite uncomfortable conditions in the 15-20 knot winds. 


After just a few miles we took a rough detour to go into the safe harbor of Destin and spent the rest of the rainy day and night at anchor.  This provided more time to fret about the passage across the Gulf.   I began communicating with other Loopers on their plans, and a meeting in Carrabelle was scheduled for Friday the 13^th (!) to discuss the possible passage.  We traveled 90 miles each of the next two days, including a lunch stopover in the interesting town of Apalachicola and finally arrived in Carrabelle in time for gathering with cruisers from 10 or so boats.

The restaurant had the only old sink
filled with ice urinal I have ever seen!

We much enjoyed our southern lunch
at the Hole in Wall in Apalachicola.  

In preparation for the passage
we moved things from the
cockpit and cabin to the v-berth.

We compared weather forecasts (NOAA, Marv, Chris Parker) and passage recommendations.  The forecast suggested a possible weather window from late Saturday afternoon into Sunday.  Waves would be decreasing from over 5 feet to 2 feet or so and the winds would go from 15 knots to 5 knots and shift from the west to the east.  The conditions were far from ideal, and there was also the concern that “group think” might result in an unwise decision as some of the boats had already been waiting for a week to make the passage.  We did work out a tentative plan and included radio check-ins each hour and other safety precautions such as wearing life jackets and having an EPIRB that automoatically alerts the U.S. Coast Guard.

Not know if we would be going
fast or slow, we brought extra
gas so that we would have a
30% reserve with most anything
that would happen.  As it turned
out, we didn't need any of it.

Most of the boats are trawlers, typically traveling at a maximum speed of 8-10 mph.  The passage usually takes 20-24 hours with a recommended late afternoon departure in order to arrive at Tarpon Springs in the afternoon.  A morning arrival is not recommended because the sun will make it much more difficult to dodge the many crab pots that dot the waters 20 miles out from the Florida west coast.  A few boats, including Salty Paws, can go fast, but we get significantly lower gas mileage and the sea conditions would likely have us go typical trawler speed anyway.

The TowBoat US boat in Carrabelle
was being decorated with their
Christmas Boat parade as we left
the dock.  Later, it would seem that
evenings celebration may have
slowed the response time to the
disabled boat, Dancing Bears.

With some trepidation, and knowing that we could always turn back, a flotilla of 9 boats (Salty Paws, Bella Donna, Archimedes, Alcyone, Here’s to Us, Wewinealot, God’s Grace, Reel Grace and Samantha) left Carrabelle late afternoon on Saturday, 12/14.  Once outside the protection of the islands we found 3-4 feet rolling seas with 10 knot winds from the west.  The conditions were very uncomfortable but we did not find them unsafe.

Soon it was dark, and we decided to head north of the desired rhumb line to Tarpon Springs so that the seas were coming more aft rather than broadside.  This separated us from our desired buddy boat, Short Vacation, but other boats were behind us doing the same thing.

The sun went down quickly as
we began to get off shore.

About 25 miles out, the boat Dancing Bears radioed that they had smoke in their cabin and that their engine had overheated.  They requested that boats stand by to offer possible assistance.  Dancing Bears was about 2 miles behind us, and soon they were bouncing around, dead in the water.  We and other boats turned around, only to face very rough sea conditions with the wind on our bow.  Fortunately, first Bella Donna and then Samantha, ended up close to Dancing Bears, and coordinated calls to the U.S. Coast Guard and TowBoat US.  

Dancing Bears, as it turned out had an inexperienced owner of his newly purchased boat, and one crew member, now seasick.  In addition, they should never have left the dock as a low voltage alarm had been sounding.  Their radio seemed to be malfunctioning (although it was likely that the squelch was set to max, eliminating their ability to hear much communication), and they needed guidance as to what to do.  They were told to anchor in the 60 feet of water and await a tow, which was still 4 hours away.

Our actual route across.

The Coast Guard asked if a boat could stay with them, but the sea conditions could have put another boat at significant risk.  This was a tough situation, and raised the question of where the line is between group responsibility and individual boat responsibility at sea.  After ensuring that their anchor was holding and the boat occupants safe, all the other Looper boats left to continue the Gulf crossing.

At one point a large orange
spec appeared on the horizon.
It proved to be the moon,
which lit the seas all night.

We now found ourselves alone and soon out of radio contact but we did do hourly GPS text messages with Samantha as we both had the Garmin inReach service.  The crossing was uncomfortable, but Molly’s anxiety had dissipated.  She did her share of being at the helm, and we were both appreciative of the autopilot.  Hand steering in the dark requires constant attention to the compass, and the boat can easily go way of course in just a few seconds.

Dawn!

We took turns resting, enjoyed seeing the moon rise over the horizon, and shared snacks, popcorn and granola bars, our only intake for 24 hours.  The rough seas did not allow for preparing anything more complicated. In hindsight, we should have prepared sandwiches ahead of time. We did have the foresight to stow everything that could be a flying projectile in the boat. Good plan! As we got within 30 miles of the Florida west coast we turned more south and followed the coast line toward Tarpon Springs.  Soon, we say a beautiful sunrise (mostly beautiful because we could now see clearly) and then the wind began to come around from the east and hit us on our port forward beam.  Our “lumpy” ride soon became very “bumpy,” using terms used by Marv’s Weather Service. 

Suddenly, two large rogue waves in succession hit our boat, knocking out all power.  We were able to continue, but now hand steering by compass.  Molly took the helm while I checked the fuse panel, boat battery connections. 

Buoy R4 marks a
successful crossing.

Fortunately, within 10 minutes everything was back functioning.

Finally, at 12:30 pm we reached red buoy R4, the common navigation target north of Tarpon Springs.  In an hour we were anchored off the southern end of Anclote Keys.  We celebrated with a mid-day cocktail, lunch and then a nap.  Mine lasted 3 hours. 

Molly slept for 15 hours!

Molly slept until 5:30 am the next day, 15 hours!  We awoke to a beautiful, warm day.

All anxiety is behind us. We know that our little boat can take a lot. We had dinner last night with some of the other intrepid boaters who made the same crossing for a debriefing. We shared stories and had many laughs with new friends. We are now ready to enjoy the Florida Coast. 

The next day we went into Tarpon Springs and joined many
of our larger Looper buddies at the dock. 

  

Here with Diana and Duane from Bella Donna next to a Tarpon Springs
sponge boat.  It was a wonderful 90 degrees.
More to come on the next blog post.

Man Overboard! Tree down!

Charlotte wanted to stay with us in Chattanooga
 and cried when told it was not going to happen.

Salty Paws departed Chattanooga on 10/22 with 700 miles of rivers, canals and locks to cruise before the Gulf of Mexico.  We planned some of our stops along the way but events rarely turn out as planned.  I witnessed a major tree falling and landing less than a 100 feet from our rental, Bill falling overboard, flooding and swift currents strong enough to keep most boaters at the dock and freezing early morning temperatures as far south as the Gulf.  What is a First Mate to do, other than look forward to our three weeks home for Thanksgiving and the wedding of our daughter Caroline and Noah.

This beautiful morning on the Tennessee River included
a little morning fog.

 Let me start with one of our few marina stops, in Florence, AL.  Here we rented a car to visit the nearby recording mecca of Muscle Shoals and the Shiloh National Military Park, the site of the first major battle in the South between the Union and Confederate armies on April 6 & 7, 1862.

The rainy day going through the lock just before Florence
was just the beginning of our weather challenges.

 First we visited Shiloh Visitor Center and the nearby historic Catfish Hotel.  The power then went out just as we were paying for our satisfying lunch.  Fortunately, we had cash, but now we had to brave the unexpectedly strong tropical storm Olga with horizontal rain fueled by 60 mph winds and up to 100 mph gusts.  We were at the center of the storm damage, and trees were literally falling all around us.  We hoped to visit more of the Park, and pulled over in an open field just as a large tree fell down across the road in front of us.  So much for seeing more of Shiloh.  [The Confederate forces first surprised the Union forces, and made great progress on the first day seeking to stop the Union drive into the South.  With reinforcements, however, the Union regained all their losses and more the next day, sending the South into retreat.  For the soldiers on both sides, this was their first exposure to the horror of war.  Thousands died.  Union forces buried their dead in individual graves.  They buried the Confederate dead in mass trenches.]

The winds subsided after 45 minutes or so, and we turned the car around to see if we could get to Corinth.  Soon we discovered that every road from Shiloh was blocked with multiple trees down. 

The beautiful fence at the Shiloh
entrance did not survive.

One of the many downed trees around us
at Shiloh.

 Bill then got out of the car along with a handful of men from other cars, one with a truck and chain, and they proceeded to work together removing one tree, then another and another and another.  We passed at least 30 other downed trees that had been removed by “civilian” road crews and finally made it back to Florence, but unfortunately no Corinth or Muscle Shoals.

The next morning we awoke at 4:30 am to bass fishing boats being launched.  Soon we were serenaded by a loud speaker blaring country music and individual introductions of each boat participating in a fishing tournament sponsored by Toyota with a $5,000 top prize .  The 234 fishing boats slowly paraded out of the harbor over 2 ½ hours.  Price of admission?  The fishermen all had to be owners of a Toyota truck.

The 60 foot waterfall
serenaded us all night.

The majority of our nights are spent at anchorages or free docks.  Our last night on the beautiful Tennessee River was at anchor, right in front of a 60-foot waterfall.  The next day we entered the Tenn-Tom Waterway, the largest ever project of the Army Corps of Engineers, which was completed in the 1980s and connects the Tennessee River with the Gulf of Mexico, allowing commercial ship traffic to bypass the lower Mississippi.

We began traveling again with other Looper boats to help expedite passage through the various locks.  After one long day, we anchored at dusk just above a lock that we would go through before dawn the next morning.  Bill left the bow where he had just set the anchor and was about to re-enter the cabin when he dropped before my eyes and disappeared into the murky water.  I don’t know who was more shocked, but I was certainly more frantic.  What do we do now?  He just calmly swam to the stern of the boat and put down the stern ladder to board the boat. He said that the 65 degree water felt warm compared to the 50 degree air.

Here our friends on Mon Amour are being gently pulled off
the sandbar at the entrance to Columbus Marina.

Later on the Tenn-Tom we stopped at a free dock in Aberdeen and walked the 2 miles into town to visit this old, now run-down community.  Upon our return, we were greeted by Chris and Dwight on the mast-less sailboat Mon Amour.  Over the next two weeks we became good friends and shared some wonderful experiences together, including a bad weather day touring Columbus, MS.  We visited the childhood home of Tennessee Williams, a confederate cemetery, a dramatic antebellum mansion, and a most enjoyable café with good ole’ southern cookin’.  I loved the turnip greens, Brunswick stew and cornbread.

Unidentified Confederate Civil War graves in Columbus, MS.

Waverly Mansion, the antebellum
house we toured.

Below Columbus the Tombigee River was at flood stage with a strong current and waters with numerous logs and tree branches.  We spent day after day playing dodge-a-log, and what was frightening to me were the many navigational buoys completely submerged, some of them out of position and in the middle of the channel! 

Here Looper boats are rafted up together at the famous
Bobby's Fish Camp, the only stop in 100 miles on the
Tenn-Tom Waterway.

Finally, we made it through the last lock, and our companion boats went ahead of us as we switched to our small motor, a slow, but great gas saver.  We traveled the last 100 miles over two days, meeting barge traffic, but little else, as we finally made it to the Convention Center wall in Mobile, AL.  While I loved my first smell of salt air in months, and thrilled about finally being off the rivers after nearly 2 months, I was somewhat concerned about this tie-up location as we were right next to the main shipping channel.  As it turned out, we were fine putting up with the occasional boat wake and no services, as we loved Mobile, one of our trip highlights.

The USS Alabama.  

 We showered at the YMCA, two blocks away, and ate one meal each day in the fantastic restaurants on Dauphin Street.  Tops on our Mobile sightseeing list are the USS Alabama (the ship is as it was during WW II) and the Mobile Carnival Museum to better understand Mardi Gras, which actually started in Mobile, not New Orleans.  Neither Bill nor I had any understanding of the number of social societies and their members that spend hundreds of thousands on parade floats, balls, costumes and the annual coronation of a king and queen and their court.

Bill got to play a little
basketball at the YMCA.

Across from us at the Convention Center were two Navy
multihulls being built by Austal.  We were told that these
ships can travel at over 50 knots.

Just above us on the river was
the Mobile Port Authority dock.

The elaborate robes and dress of one king and queen.

Before we left the Convention Center, Dwight and Chris tied up
to the wall to wait out the tornado warning.  We all celebrated
finishing the rivers (Over 1,200 miles from Chicago!)
 as well as the tornado staying north of Mobile.

The morning we left Mobile seemed calm, but as we got out in the Bay, the waves increased to 3 feet or so on our beam. I was terrified, but Bill assured me that we were not in danger. It definitely takes some rethinking to go from calm rivers to sea waves. We need to remember to factor weather and wave conditions into our planning and wait for a “weather window”. This is much less important on the rivers. Anyway, the trip was fairly short and we made it safely to Fairhope on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay.   Fairhope was founded by disciples of economist Henry George, who advocated that land be held in common and made available to residents who paid a single tax.  Now, Fairhope is a fancy little town with 33 restaurants and many expensive gift and clothing stores.  Nice, but not a highlight for us.

Salty Paws at the Fairhope Municipal Pier.

Sunset at our last November anchorage.

We left Maine for this?

We then left Mobile Bay and entered the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, on our way to Florida. After a beautiful and quiet night at anchor, where we were greeted by the first of many dolphins, we went east on the GICW to Orange Beach.  Here we will have our engines serviced and boat kept while we travel back to Maine. This has been a great place to hole up as the temps dropped to the 20s Wednesday (11/13) morning and the wind whipped ferociously. Thank you, shore power and heat!

Now, let's go home for a bit!

How to Get to Nashville on the Tennessee River

Our white Looper flag. 

Loopers are members of the America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Association (AGLCA) and quickly identified by the burgee on their boat bow, white for first timers, gold for 2^nd timers and platinum for 3^rd timers.  We are all sharing the same 6,000+ mile journey even if on different starting points, schedules and side trips.  Some boats we will see only once, if at all, others every now and then and a few for a more extended period of time.

Last picture, for now, with Jay and Barb.

In this environment friendships between boaters start quickly, often end just as abruptly and a few may last a life-time, which is what we expect for Jay and Barb Morrow, who hail from Winnipeg.  We briefly met them and their boat, The Blessing, in the Illinois River.  We then cruised together down the Mississippi, up the Ohio, and then over 200 miles up the Tennessee River where we shared multiple stops, experiences, conversations and meals and we guess, more than a few beers.  Together

Molly's birthday celebration in
Paducah.  Jay took the photo.

we celebrated Molly’s birthday and finally the bittersweet celebration of their   completion of the Loop.  Jay and Barb are now on their way home, their boat for sale at Aqua Marina in Iuka, MS, and they are contemplating the next chapter of their lives. 

Jay and Barb are holding their just
earned Gold Burgee for completing
the Great Loop.

We hope it includes a trip to Maine next summer.

Our boat, Salty Paws, in one of the
Tennessee River locks.

We left Paducah and the Ohio River on 10/3 in a 5-boat group flotilla led by The Blessing to head up the Tennessee River to the Kentucky Lake Lock.  The mid-America confluence of rivers (Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Cumberland, Tennessee, Illinois and others) is a unique waterway system that has fostered movement of people and goods for centuries.  The water levels have also regularly fluctuated over 40 feet due to spring runoff, storms and drought.  The Great Depression led to efforts to better tame these waters and improve the economy.  One effort was the creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in 1933 to provide electrical power and flood control on the Cumberland and Tennessee watersheds.  The TVA’s first major project was building Kentucky Dam and Lock (completed 1944) at mile 25 of the Tennessee River.  The dam raised water levels 50 feet and flooded over 100 miles, creating Kentucky Lake, the largest manmade lake in the east.  The flooding displaced whole towns and hundreds of rural families and flooded historical sites such as the Civil War’s Fort Henry. 

In this LBL cove we were able to walk
 right off our boat on to the shore.  We
were able to quickly find the nearby trail.

This old sign reads "WBTS Cemetery."

This family plot in the LBL had only
three markers, all with a date of death
in the 1930s.  Did they die, perhaps,
because they were being forced to move?

The land between Kentucky Lake and Barkley Lake, a similar manmade lake on the Cumberland River is called the Land Between the Lakes (LBL).  It was made a national recreational area in the 1960s.  We much enjoyed anchoring in secluded coves of LBL and hiking some of the trail system to find a few old family cemeteries, house foundations and other remnants of a different era.  One of the highlights was finding the Civil War Cemetery of the five confederate Fort Henry soldiers who died when their cannon exploded while being attacked by Union forces.  We also found the old State highway sign that reads “WBTS Cemetery.  WBTS stands for “War Between the States,” and we learned in our 2016-17 boat trip that this was the common name for the war among Southerners as they didn’t want to promote the view that we were one country.

Periodically in towns along the Tennessee River we have seen signs reading the “Trail of Tears,” identifying one of the saddest chapters in American history.  16,000 Cherokees were forced from their homes in the east and marched or boated to Oklahoma.  Roughly 4,000 died on the journey that took up to a year to complete.  We learned more about this event in our visit to the Tennessee River Museum in Savannah, TN.  This town is also home to the Cherry Mansion, which served as Grant’s Civil War headquarters in the nearby bloody battle at Shiloh.  We got to talk with the present occupant of the Mansion, who owns a local gift shop. 

Morning 

From the beginning of our trip we have wanted to go to Nashville, which is on the Cumberland River, not the Tennessee.  We were also interested in going to Chattanooga, but we don’t have enough time to go up both rivers.  Other Loopers suggested that we travel up the Tennessee to Chattanooga and then rent a car to go to Nashville.  That way, we are able to visit both cities and cruise on the much more interesting Tennessee.  This river did not disappoint.  After the LBL, we continued another 300 or so miles through 5 more locks, each one followed by yet another beautiful man-made lake.  We anchored out every night except for one free municipal dock.  We saw few boats and were alone in our travels as most Loopers were attending the Fall Rendezvous at Joe Wheeler Park on the Tennessee.  We attended the opening night docktails, but then continued on our travels as the Rendezvous was fully booked at the time we finalized our Chattanooga plans.

Nickajack Lake.

One of many great views in the Canyon.

We enjoyed our happy hour on the roof of Salty Paws.

Once through the last lock we entered Nickajack Lake, with low mountains on both sides.  Using a trail app we identified a hike on a nearby peak and found a place to anchor to go ashore for a very pleasant 3-mile hike on Little Cedar Mountain.    

After the hike, we motored a few more miles and anchored for the night surrounded by canyon walls.  This was a special spot augmented by the fall colors (although much more muted than in Maine).  The next day we awoke to a beautiful foggy sunrise as the water temperatures are still over 70 but the air temperature was in the 40s.  Chattanooga was just another 20 miles upriver through the spectacular river gorge.  

  

Approaching Little Cedar Mountain for our hike.

Chattanooga is a nice, small city filled with restaurants and artwork, a great aquarium and nearby Ruby Falls and Rock City on famous Lookout Mountain.   We docked right in the heart of the city and enjoyed an afternoon and evening exploring and eating.  The next day (10/19) daughter Liz, her husband Matt and our one precious granddaughter Charlotte picked us up for the 2-hour drive to Nashville where we had been able to book two of the last rooms available in the city.

The line at Martin's BBG Joint.

The Grand Ole Opry was a lot of fun.

The Opryland Hotel has a
river that goes around the
humongous inner courtyard.

Nashville is a fast-growing, dynamic city that is booming with construction, tourists and sports fans.  We walked down Broadway finding great live music in virtually every one of the many restaurants and bars.  And this was at 11:30 am.   We picked one and were not disappointed by the food or the talented singer guitarist playing many of our favorite tunes. 

On Broadway in Nashville.

That night brought us all to the Grand Ole Opry for their classic country show where stars are known to show up unannounced.  The week before Dolly Parton had surprised the crowd.  We were not as fortunate, but the musicians and singers were all very talented and put on a good show.   The next day our weekend was topped off with a visit to the Zoo and Martin’s Rib Joint, a Nashville classic stop, and the lines to get in proved it!

We are now back in Chattanooga and were quickly joined at the dock by 9 Looper boats that just arrived up the Tennessee.  Within minutes of the first boat docking, we were invited to drinks and dinner with out fellow Loopers at a nearby restaurant. . Also, Jerry and Jenny on Sweetgrass, the boat next to us, told us that they had cruised with the original owners of Salty Paws 8 years ago and having first met in Michigan had met again on this same dock in Chattanooga.  Crazy coincidence but highlights the tight community of this journey.  We will certainly reach out to the original owner.

to Mimi.  We will see everyone again next
month as we fly back to Maine from Atlanta
for Thanksgiving and the wedding!

Time for goodbyes to Grandpa and...

Tomorrow begins our trip back down the Tennessee to the Tenn-Tom Waterway at mile 208.  The Tenn-Tom is a system of canals and locks, primarily in Mississippi, that will bring us down to the Gulf at Mobile,