Demopolis, Alabama to Green Turtle Bay, Kentucky (part 2)

 In my last entry, I wrote about the first half of the trip from Demopolis, Alabama to Green Turtle Bay, Kentucky. The first half of the trip went well. The boat ran very well, and the weather was calm with no storms. That was about to change.

We were up early again on Tuesday, June 25th. We left Midway marina and headed north. This area of the Tenn-Tomm has many bridges. Many of them are 52 feet. Our mast is 50 feet. That makes for a few tense moments as we pass under each one.

As we approach each bridge we always think they look too low.

Another bridge that we just cleared by about 2 feet.

The good news is that the COE has charts that have the real height of each bridge. The big variable is the pool level. I have to do the math and hope I got it right. 

We had three locks to get through on this day. The first two were the normal lift of about 30 feet. The third one was about 80 feet. It was strange when we pulled into the Whitten lock. The walls towered above us. The lift was really no different other than as we went up, the water was less turbulent. I think that is just due to the distance down to the openings that let the water in. 

After the Whitten lock, we found ourselves in the beautiful Bay Springs Lake. It was a calm day with almost no wind, or we could have sailed across the 7-mile-long lake. We saw many beautiful coves that looked perfect to anchor in. We will have to come back to enjoy this lake more one day.

A shot of some bluffs on the bank of Bay Springs Lake.

The next section of the Tenn-Tomm was very different. This was a man-made canal that went on for almost 40 miles. It was all uniform depth and lined with large rocks. There are a few turns, but most of it is dead straight. The amount of dirt and rocks that were moved to create this waterway is amazing. That is why this is the largest civil engineering project ever completed by humans anywhere in the world. This is the cut through the mountains that connects the Tombigbee River to the Tennessee River.

The man-made trench that makes up this portion of the waterway.

This same rock goes on for almost 40 miles. 

I had been watching the weather closely during this trip. A day of possible severe thunderstorms was predicted for the following day. We had been going for about 10 hours per day for 4 days straight. We decided to take a day off and pull into another marina. I made a reservation at the Grand Harbor Marina on Pickwick Lake. 

The next section after the ditch was an arm of Pickwick Lake. This is a beautiful lake that is part of the Tennessee River. Right at the junction of the Tenn-Tomm and the Tennessee River is the Grand Harbor Marina. It is a pretty nice marina and had reasonable rates at $1.50 per foot per night. Our two-night stay cost us a bit over $100. It turned out to be worth every penny.

It was hot that first day and we again enjoyed having air conditioning. We enjoyed the very nice pool and clean bathrooms and showers. 

A shot of SHIFT tied up to the transient dock

Grand Harbor Resort and Marina

A shot from the swimming pool on land

Lots of dock space here. We met some very friendly boaters here.

Around mid-day the sky darkened, and the wind picked up. The good news is that 2 Hatteras Yachts pulled in right next to us about an hour before the storm hit. They gave us a nice wind break as the wind came from that direction. The maximum wind we saw was about 40 knots or about 48 mph. It rained hard for a couple of hours. It sure was nice to be tied up to the dock during all of that. 

I talked to the captains of the other boats in the marina to get their plans for the following morning. The Pickwick lock was 7 miles away. The lock operators prefer if pleasure boats lock through together. The two Hatteras Yachts were traveling together and were planning to depart at 5:30 AM. 

We are slower than them, so I decided that we better get moving before daylight. Kim was not impressed with my decision. As it turned out it was the right call. Even though the two big boats passed us on the way to the lock we all had to wait because a tow was locking down. 

As we entered the lock there is a bridge that should be 53 feet, but they are doing some work on the bridge and have a safety net hanging down to around 47 feet. I talked to the lock operator and he told us to keep tight on the starboard wall and we would be fine. After a tense few minutes we were in the lock and tied up. This is another 80 foot lock and this time we were going down. We had gained a total of 441 feet of elevation in the 12 locks since we left the Gulf of Mexico in Mobile, Alabama. Now we would go down to 359, which is the elevation of the next pool that includes Kentucky Lake.

Here we are just entering the lock. That bridge was the concerning bridge. You can see the netting was not hanging down as much as I had read.

You can see the two Hatteras Yachts that locked through with us.

The Control room

Down we go.

Down about 25 feet

Now we are down about 50 feet

It was not as turbulent as the locks going up. The water just drained nice and easy.

Kim was able to hold us off the wall with just her hands.

Getting near the bottom.

That is a lot of lift. About 80 feet.

 It was a cool and cloudy day, which was nice. The next section was a wide river with some development on both banks. We both agreed that it was the right decision to go early and get down the river. We were now moving downstream with minimal current with us. We were moving between 6.1 and 6.5 knots. 

Our first anchorage was at mile 149. We pulled in behind an island on the river and dropped the hook in very calm water. It was our best night yet, with the cool temperatures. We made it a total of 56nm that first day going downstream.

A nice sunset at Double Islands (mile 149 on the Tennessee River)

 

The river went from being wide to narrow with rocky cliffs. They built houses all along the river that ranged from beautiful mansions to RV's under a roof. Most were built up on stilts to minimize the effects of the regular flooding on this river

The following day was our longest day of the trip up the river. We decided to push it to shorten the final day, so we went 65.1 NM in 10.5 hours and averaged 6.2 knots. We were able to do this because we had no locks, but we did need to open one notorious bridge. It seems this railroad bridge is maned by a very difficult man. We heard him on the radio giving boats in front of us a hard time. As we approached, I called him and he questioned why I needed it opened. I told him I had a 50-foot mast. He opened and we didn't even slow down. After we were through, he called me and said it did not see why I needed him to open. I told him again I had a 50-foot mast. He called me back a few minutes later and apologized, he could now see my mast. Strange!

We were now into Kentucky lake and it was wide open. The only problem is that there are many shallow areas that you have to watch out for. We just cruised along in the channel to be safe. I chose a nice cove to anchor in. It turned out to be perfect.

A beautiful sunset at Leatherwood Creek

We only had 44 miles to go to get to Green Turtle Bay on our last day. Much to our surprise when we pulled out into the main body of the lake the wind started to blow. At first it was just about 8 knots, but it kept building and before long we had our genoa out and we were motor sailing at close to 7 knots. We idled the engine back when the wind built to around 20 knots. It was not long and just after noon we furled the sail and turned into the canal that leads from Kentucky Lake to Barkley Lake. A mile later and we were pulling into the Marina. We got fuel and pumped out and moved over to our new home on Jetty 2, slip 16.

Here is SHIFT all tied up in her new home at Green Turtle Bay. 

We left Marathon, Florida on April 1 and arrived at GTB on June 29th. We did take a month off to wait for the lock and then 3 weeks in Demopolis to work in the yard, but it felt very good to finally complete this trip. We had cruised 644 NM or 740 SM since we left Gulfport. We put 115 hours on the engine during that part of the trip. 

So, now what is next? Well, it will be a different kind of lifestyle. Come back and I will tell you about our plans and tell you what life is like in GTB in my next entry.