Tombigbee Waterway to Gulf ICW

Tuesday, November 14 - Thursday, November 16. Battery replacement, laundry, reprovisioning all done before we start the 450 miles to Mobile Bay, Alabama down what is known as the Tennesee - Tombigbee River. The river system carries heavy traffic between Mobile and Birmingham, Alabama. Also known as the Tenn-Tom—which opened in 1985 linking the two rivers. (from google)

Friday, November 17. It was cloudy, rainy and calm and we dropped the lines early to begin our journey down the river. We were one of six boats that would be traveling together all day with hopes of locking through 3 locks before arriving at Midway Marina, about 50NM away. Each lock takes about 30-45 minutes without waiting for commercial traffic-Tugs. Cruising at 7kts to get the best fuel mileage, we were please that we arrived at Midway Marina just before dark.

The fog began to roll in just before arriving at Midway Marina on Friday.

We stayed two nights at Midway Marina as Darth repositioned the 4 batteries that were replaced. He wasn’t convinced the batteries were the issue and until we anchor we would not know for sure. The day brought additional boats to the marina, and a few of us met at Guy’s Place on the Water—right up from the marina. Very good shrimp and grits!

Sunday, November 19. We left with four other boats and were able to lock through 4 locks and traveled 52NM to Columbus Marina.

Very sunny morning—this was Fulton Lock, first of 4 locks on this day.

Quick story—when we were on our Chattanooga side trip, we stayed at Shellmound State Park. Two couples were out for a walk and came out on the dock to admire Little Red Fox. Within five minutes they gave us their number and said they lived in Columbus, MS—when we pass through please call them and we will meet for dinner. So we texted them saying we were arriving late in the day and just wanted to say hi. Well they invited us to a piano concert that was going on this day. We declined as we would not be at the marina in time. Then they offered to pick us up and go to dinner. We accepted and they drove us around Columbus showing us the historic mansions that were built in the mid 1800’s there are approximately 13 within a few blocks and they open them up for tours. We also drove through the Mississippi University for Women before taking us to dinner. They also contacted the other couple we met at Shellmound to meet us at the Harvey’s Restaurant. This was a delightful and surprising evening and we were thankful we contacted them.

Monday, November 20. Several boats decided to stay another as a rainstorm/wind expected in the middle of the night. Darth and I rode bikes in the morning to a coffee shop—it was a 10 mile ride on mostly flat roads.

When we returned to the marina, Donna and Mike (Baccalieu II) invited Bobby and Elaine (In Cahoots) and us to join for docktails on their boat. Since we had time this afternoon, we signed up for the courtesy vehicle and invited Bobby & Elaine to see the historic mansions and university that we toured the night before.

This is Homewood Gardens built in 1836. All the mansions we saw are occupied and alot of care is put into restoring each home. The have markers in front with the year the mansion was originally built.

The University opened enrollment to men in 1982 after a court case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States, the policy for only enrolling women violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th ammendment to the US Constitution. (yes—I googled this)

Stopping at the Columbus Marina was one of my favorite stops along the river. After we had our docktails, we all hunkered down for the impending storm due later in the night.

This was a gully washer for sure! Our spot was under cover which provided a nice safe spot for us during the night.

Tuesday, November 21. Early in the morning we left Columbus with In Cahoots as they wished to anchor with us on this leg of the trip.

Upper Cochrane Cutoff would be our anchorage after locking down two more locks 42NM away. We invited Bobby and Elaine for Thai Chicken Soup and had a delightful evening.

Wednesday, November 22. B&E pulled their anchor early as they said their sweet golden retriever, Snickers did not do well all night. They were going to go as fast as they could to Kingfisher Bay Marina to see if there was a vet nearby. We sped up and locked though the only lock this day and opted to anchor at Rattlesnake Oxbow which was 5 miles away from Kingfisher. We traveled 57 miles this day.

White Cliffs of Epes. Formed around the same time as the famous Cliffs of Dover. These cliffs are made up of microscopic algae shells that drifted to the seafloor around 80 million years ago to become a massive chalk formation that spans three states. (yes—google to my rescue)

Thanksgiving, November 23. We woke early and arrived at Kingfisher Bay Marina, Demopolis, AL. Checked with Bobby and Elaine—they were trying to rent a car to drive Snickers home to Nashville about four hours away. There were no vehicles available and Snickers was still not feeling well but well enough to want to be petted.

We opted to potluck together for Thanksgiving dinner and enjoyed another evening with them.

Friday, November 24. B&E were able to get a car and drove home with Snickers. Update is Snickers had an infection and is being treated with antibiotics—he will stay with family while Bobby and Elaine come back for the loop.

The courtesy vehicle was available so we asked Kathe & Bonnie (Loose Moose) to join for quick provisioning as we would be anchoring three days in a row. We also met with Rick from No Rush, he and wife Laureen plan to travel together the next few days to Mobile, AL.

Taking off from the docks at Kingfisher Bay marina.

After shopping we rode the bikes to an adjoining park and came across a gentleman working on several small barges that were decorated with lights. He told us he was making sure they all would light up for the annual Christmas on the River parade that would be held the next day. The lights would be on around 6:00 pm if we wanted to come back to see.

Saturday, November 25. This would be first of three days anchoring as we complete our journey down the inside rivers.

We were at the Demopolis lock by 6:20AM to lock down the 2nd to last lock. It was so cold but another beautiful sunny day.

Anchored at Bashi Creek with Loose Moose and No Rush. Traveled 62NM.

Kathe and Bonnie invited us all to share potluck dinner on their boat.

Sunday, November 26. Very cold morning as we pulled anchor out of Bashi Creek. Today the Coffeeville Lock approximately 38NM away would be our final lock as we head into the Gulf Inter Coastal Waterway. Total 54NM to Salt Creek anchorage.

Loose Moose and No Rush at Salt Creek anchorage.

Monday, November 27. We said our goodbyes to LM and NR as we wanted to go further down the river and anchor one more night before Mobile, AL. The other two boats wanted to have shorter days of travel. Our destination was Big Bayou Canot 60NM away.

Big Bayou Canot. I read we might see an alligator… but we did not. It did feel like we were on the Jungle ride at Disneyland though… no banjos were heard.

Tuesday, November28. Left Bayou early, greeted with a huge barge/tug as we rejoined the river. Our navionics had us mapped going through very shallow waters. Quick recalculating, we turned around and headed for Mobile.

Our scenery changed dramatically as we made our way through Mobile to cross Mobile Bay and arrive at Fairhope Docks Marina.