Month: November 2019

Monday came and went, and we spent time doing some deep cleaning. Tuesday came and we had heard that the prop might be ready later today, but no promises. We did some more boat stuff and were hopeful. The end of the work day came and I saw the guys at the marina wrapping up for the day- it looks like we’re here another night. I took Frank for a walk and was told that tomorrow they should have it. They can’t be sure when, but we should get it tomorrow. We planned where we will go if we get back in the water early, and a back up plan if later in the day. We just want to get out of here since we now feel like residents of the marina, watching people come and go, some getting hauled out and worked on, some getting fixed quickly and others moving south to try to get where it’s warm. It has been amazing the amount of boats coming in for work. At least half or more come in and go straight to the office to start a work order for something- props, bottom paint, steering, engines, etc. Some are major, most minor; we fall in the mid-minor category and are thankful for that. The use of the car is nice and we’re not suffering by any means, and we have reflected how blessed we are to even be able to be doing this trip and should never lose sight of that.

Wednesday morning I was up and out of bed by 7am. Work at the yard starts around 8am, and I wanted to be present and available should they be ready for us. I took Frank for a walk and was watching the employees arrive one by one. I wasn’t stalking them, but I was making my presence known. They all have gotten to know Frank as well, so they knew who I was. Eventually I took Frank back to the boat and enjoyed the morning coffee before heading back up to the facilities. As I was walking up to the ramp, I could see the foreman, Tony, at the top speaking to another customer. As I approached, he looked down and said “Hey! I want to talk to you about your prop; can you come over here so we could talk?”. Oh boy. When people start a conversation like that, I wasn’t too sure what would be following. “You don’t have anything to do now, do you?”. My mind was thinking WTF? “Mm…waiting for you?” was my response. “I was hoping to…” He cut me off with “Could you go pick up your prop? I’ll give you a truck and directions.” “Hell yes!” I responded- I was excited because I knew they would take care of this today. Tony and crew have been awesome. The docks are by the work yard so I have seen everyone working every day, and like I said every day boats pull in and we all have the ‘most important project to be attended to now’. The yard crew had juggled everyone as best they can and lift many boats a day and either diagnosing problems or fixing them and sometimes both on the spot. Then they move on to the next. It is truly impressive and they all have great attitudes whenever we cross paths. Tony gives me the directions and tells me to get the keys from the office. It is around 9am at this point. The ride there and back took about thirty minutes.

I went and picked up the prop and deliver it back to Tony. They have another boat lifted in the sling when I return, so I know we have a little bit of time. I killed some of that time by washing the boat down again, as the dirt and grime just seems to collect about the decks from the daily use and tracking on of dirt. This took about an hour, and once finished I could see the neighbor boat that was just in the sling heading back to the dock. My mind was hopeful we would be next. Tony came by in the boat he used to push us back to the slip, and said he would be back shortly, he had to take care of something first, and then would be back for us. We watched him pull off, and we prepared for our turn. All we really had to do was makes sure everything was back on board the boat, as I take a bunch of stuff off so I could clean under and around. Tony came back by and we attached his work boat to Klondike by several lines. He then pulled us out of the slip and around to the lift. Once Klondike was positioned for the sling, we detached and he took the boat to a dock close by. They lifted Klondike and pulled forward just enough for them to get to the shaft and re-install the prop. This took about thirty minutes, then they lowered it back in the water and told me to hop on. I was ready, and Lauren and Frank walked to the dock to meet me. I pulled out of the slip and turned around- it felt great! I wanted to throttle up to really feel how it is, but with so many boats around I couldn’t, I don’t want to wake them and have them start banging around. I pulled around to our slip and tied off. Lauren was getting us ready for departure and I walked up to the office to settle up. Turns out they didn’t have a total yet, so they just took my information and will be in contact with me sometime soon. I walked back to the boat, checked in with Lauren and prepared to depart for another marina or anchorage. Since we have been here this long, we really wanted to be on the move again. We had discussed our next stop, and in talking to some Loopers that came through, Florence, Alabama has a nice marina and cool sightseeing. We decided on this as our next destination as a little side trip. It is a bit out of the way, as it is on the route toward Chattanooga and Knoxville, Tennessee which is east and we want to go south. Looking at the weather we have some cold weather predicted for the weekend and into next week.

By the time we left Aqua Yacht, it was around 12:45pm. We had hoped to get an earlier start, but decided to go toward Florence anyway…

When we pulled anchor, we figured we could make the last twenty miles in about five hours. We were wrong. The current I’ve spoken about just keeps increasing. We raised the anchor and came out around the island and turned directly into the current. Since we cannot go over 1500 RPM’s we were only making about 3.5 knots. This would take us almost seven hours to get where we needed, and we have a lock to go through.

We made our way south and were coming close to the lock, When I say close, we were within five miles, but at our speed, this was still almost two hours away. We got closer- within two miles, and our speed had dropped to just over three knots, so still and hour away. No need to contact the lock until you can see the lock. I was getting nervous that if the current increased any more, we wouldn’t be able to make headway! We eventually were getting within a mile or so, and I noticed a catamaran coming up from the rear. I contacted them via the radio and told them we were having issues, so we could not move any faster. I also asked if they had contacted the lock yet, and he said they had not. I told them I would continue on and they could initiate contact with the lock, which will let me get closer before we request the lock through. I listened as they contacted the lock master and he informed us a barge was coming down and we should wait off to the side for about 30-45 minutes so he can get out once the lock doors open. Now this meant we had to basically stay pointed into the current and try to hold steady in position. The catamaran was behind us, so I couldn’t slide backwards too much as I didn’t want to get too close to them. We did this for about thirty minutes, then I turned and let the current carry us back past the catamaran. Now we were in the rear, but it was more comfortable than trying to stay up front. Eventually the lock master came on the radio and told us the barge was exiting, and if we stayed close but off to the side, we could enter once the barge had cleared the lock. We inched forward and were off to the side, but the wake of the barge was a force to be reckoned with. Both boats were getting tossed around by the waves, but we made it past him and into the lock. In the mean time a third pleasure boat had come up and was locking through with us as well. We pulled into the lock and Lauren got us secure to the bollard and we waited for the lock to take us up about fifty feet. Once we were to the top, the doors opened and we all departed at the direction of the lock master. We pulled out and moved over to the side so the faster boat behind us could go on. Once they passed, we throttled up to get to our destination.

Now that we were past the lock, the current was not pushing against us anymore and we were making five knots again! Yay! We made our way to the marina and called in on the VHF once we were close. There is an island in front of the bay and I wanted to know if it was deep enough to come straight in, or needed to go around and enter from the other side? “Come on straight in to the fuel dock” was the directions given to us. We motored forward, watching the depths, but not having any issues or scares. We got to the fuel dock and here is where we had to check in, and I requested a pump out. Once all of this was done, we made our way to our assigned slip and tied off. There were about a half dozen other Loopers there waiting to assist with lines when we arrived. We got ourselves settled in and I walked up to the maintenance yard office to inquire about the haul out. They had me fill out some paperwork and said they would be in contact the next day.

Now that we were here and the yard knew our situation, there was nothing else to do but wait. I mentioned the other Loopers, and they were almost all hanging out on the docks around the boats. The marina seems to put the Loopers in the same areas, and we all were socializing, exchanging boat cards, and chatting with each other sharing stories and insights as well. We hung out for awhile and got to know our neighbors. Eventually it was time for dinner, so we retired to the boat to eat and call it a night. It had been a long couple of days and we were happy we finally made it here.

Day 2: The morning was uneventful until I got the phone call to bring the boat around to the lift. They had already had one boat up and down and were ready for us. We got the boat untied and came over to the lifting area. They had the straps in the water already, so all I had to do was pull in and hold it steady while they tightened everything and started lifting us. The rain had started today and was expected to be on and off all day. Once the boat was off of the water, they had me step off. In the haste, I forgot to close the door all the way and the flybridge window was open too. Oh well, nothing I could do about it now. Lauren had Frank and were sitting on the closed on site restaurant patio out of the rain while this was going on. Once the boat was out of the water completely we had our first good look at the damage to the boat.

I was expecting the worst. Between the sound of the grounding, the vibration at higher RPM’s, and the overactive mind, I was not expecting what I saw. There were a couple of scratches along the bottom, but only on the solid steel keel underneath. The propeller blades were bent, all three, which I had expected. The bottom paint was in good shape and not in need of any repair or repainting. The last piece was the shaft: this could be major, both in cost and repair, but it seemed okay. I couldn’t be 100% sure, but to my untrained eye it looked good. The mechanic took the propeller nut off and tried to remove the prop. It wouldn’t budge. He was trying everything, but nothing was working. He worked on it about twenty minutes, then they all took a lunch break. During this time the rain started to fall harder, and Lauren, Frank and I took cover back on the covered patio. It was getting cold and we were a bit wet now too, so that didn’t help. Eventually the crew returned and they had a blowtorch! I walked over and they now had the propeller off of the boat. I watched as they used a precision tool to measure the shaft as it spins; they would turn it by hand and the tool would measure if a bend would make it go up and down. There was a little, very slight wiggle, but it was diagnosed as good to go. No need to replace/repair this. That was a huge relief. Someone took the propeller to a local prop shop so they could see if they could repair it. We would have to wait to find out about this. They eventually put the boat back in the water and used a work boat to push us back to our slip, so we could have power and water for the next few days as it is supposed to get very cold. As they were pulling us into the slip, they got the call from the prop shop- it is repairable. This was great news! At this point all we can do is wait for the prop to get fixed, then we will get hauled once more, prop installed, and off we go.

Now that we were back to our slip, I washed the boat down. I figure it could rain on a clean boat, but she definitely needed a scrub down. While I was doing this, Lauren did some laundry. We also were chatting with our neighbors and was told of ‘dock-tails’ being held on another Loopers boat tonight at 5:30pm. This sounded like fun, as we’ve not really had the opportunity to experience this per se. We’ve certainly hung out with others on the dock, but not an organized get together. We cleaned up and walked over to the dock and boat hosting the party. There were at least twenty two other people there, and it was a duel celebration of someone’s birthday. Everyone brings their own beverages and food if you want to contribute. We passed out our boat cards and received so many. There were snacks and cake, and many laughs and stories. Everyone left around 7:30pm, and we made our way back to our boat for dinner. After dinner I found myself hanging out with the neighbors in a small lounge that is set up in the middle of our dock. We hung out for a while, watched the World Series, and eventually called it a night. All in all I was pleased with the diagnosis.

Day 3-6: We took the courtesy car and explored Shiloh National Military Park, the sites of the most epic struggle in the Western Theater of the Civil War. Nearly 110,000 American troops clashed in a bloody contest that resulted in 23,746 casualties; more casualties than in all of America’s previous wars combined. From the website: “Shiloh is one of the best preserved Civil War battlefields anywhere. Within the nearly 4,000-acre Shiloh National Military Park you can visit historic sites like the Bloody Pond, Hornet’s Nest, Pittsburg (spelled correctly- no ‘h’) Landing and the General Albert Sidney Johnston death site. Shiloh National Cemetery holds 3,584 Civil War dead from battles in the area, 2,359 of them are unknown. “The two-day battle, April 6 and April 7, 1862, involved about 65,000 Union troops under Ulysses S. Grant and Don Carlos Buell and 44,000 Confederates under Albert Sidney Johnston (killed in the battle) and P.G.T. Beauregard. The battle resulted in nearly 24,000 killed, wounded, and missing. The two days of fighting did not end in a decisive tactical victory for either side—the Union held the battlefield but failed to pursue the withdrawing Confederate forces. However, it was a decisive strategic defeat for the Confederate forces that had massed to oppose Grant’s and Buell’s invasion through Tennessee. After the Battle of Shiloh, the Union forces proceeded to capture Corinth and the critical railroad junction there.” We toured the visitor center which is filled with interesting artifacts, visited the cemetery and drove around the battlefields and memorials. During the drive there were an unbelievable amount of up rooted and destroyed trees from the storm we had a few days ago when we were in Birdsong Marina. The damage was unbelievable to see, with massive tree after tree toppled with giant clumps of dirt still around the roots, not to mention the debris scattered about as well- it truly looked like a war zone. We completed the tour and headed back to the marina.

The next few days have been spent doing some cleaning, maintenance, shopping and waiting. We were told we should expect to be here until mid week next week. This morning I was told maybe we will have the prop back tomorrow (Monday), so I am being optimistic, but not sure if that could happen. I spent a Saturday hanging out with the locals who have their boats around us, and we took the car again to Walmart to stock up. We want to be ready to go once we complete the repairs. The Browns suck and I wasted an evening watching that. Ughh. I should also mention it has been unseasonably cold here, as it has been in the 30’s at night and mid 50’s during the day. Good thing we have many blankets and comforters, and we have used a few bottles of propane in our heater to take the chill off.

I’ll update again once the prop is on and we are at the next stop, but until then we will be hanging out here at Aqua Yachts in good ol’ Iuka, Mississippi.

We woke up and did leave fairly early. A couple of other boats left before us, but we were close behind. We also wanted to get out because they were planning on doing pump outs of a boat or two, and the smell from this is gross, so we want to be far away. Our destination today is the last spot to drop the hook before reaching Pickwick Lock and Dam. We would anchor just inside the islands northern tip as directed by Waterway Guide. We have been using the Waterway Guide to find anchorages and marinas along the way in addition to the books we have showing the Great Loop route and suggested stops.

When we left we were making less than five knots. The currents have really picked up the closer to the dam we get. The promising part is we are making good timing overall, so hopefully we will get to Aqua Yachts on Tuesday instead of Wednesday which we had originally thought. I called Aqua Yachts and made sure we were good for Tuesday arrival- they said yes. The trip was uneventful again, just moving along slower than we thought, but still making headway.

We came upon the island around 5pm. Since we are worried about depths, we slowly entered from the north like the guide book says. We dropped anchor and paid out the rode. Once this was done, we realized we are too far out in the channel, so we pulled the anchor up and slowly moved forward, deeper in behind the island. Our eyes were on the depth finder as we moved forward, watching it go from twenty eight feet and falling. Once we were in far enough, we dropped anchor again in about eighteen feet of water. Anchoring rule of thumb is five to one scope. So in eighteen feet of water, we have to let out about ninety feet of line. We carry three hundred feet of line on both anchors, so we do have plenty of line. Once we had backed down the anchor, the current was pulling us tight and you could see and hear the current rushing past the boat, but the anchor was holding tight. This was a bit unnerving as if the anchor loses grip, we would be swept away back upstream. We spent about an hour making sure we weren’t going anywhere, and I let out some more line just to make sure. The more line out, usually the better holding as the angle of the line decreases and allows the anchor to really dig in. Once we felt secure we weren’t dragging, I took Frank in the dinghy for a shore visit. We walked around the island a bit along the shore and he was happy. We made our way back to the boat and hung out for a while before starting the generator to make dinner. Dinner complete and batteries topped off, we shut down the generator and listened to the wildlife come alive in the area. Coyotes and other animals could be heard around, but we were in the middle of the river with a swift current, so our animals were safe.

Tomorrow we go through the Pickwick Lock and Dam which is only ten miles away, then on to the marina which is another ten miles after that. Today we were doing a little over four knots, so it will take us a while to traverse the last twenty miles.

We left Birdsong Marina around 7am. We had to get to about fifty miles today, and there isn’t anywhere in between to stop that made sense. We figured if we get an early start, we could make it. We knew what we were getting into, our struggle against the current will make fifty miles will take a long time.

When we left it was a crisp morning, clear skies, and no rain. We had to follow the route we brought in, out. Thankfully our GPS shows our track from the previous days, so we could follow that same route out. I forgot to mention that on the way in we ‘nudged’ the bottom following the guide boat, which gave us both a minor heart attack. I had marked that on our GPS as “AVOID”, so on our way out I avoided that area and followed the charts we have, then continued to follow our route regardless of where the buoys were. Once out into the main channel we turned south and headed toward Clifton, Tennessee.

We were working our way to the next marina and our speed now was under five knots, so we knew we were in for a long day, but the Browns were playing later so I knew that would be fun to watch. How wrong I was about the Browns. We took turns captaining the boat down the river and enjoyed the ride. Music was playing through the speaker and we just went with the flow. At this point there was nothing else we could do but roll with it. We dodged barges and other boats passing us on their way south. Almost all were polite and contacted us via VHF and arranged a ‘slow pass’ on whichever side they were coming up on. We would slow down a bit, to allow them to slow down and not give so much wake off of their boat so we weren’t rocked violently. As we were approaching the marina we saw a couple of other boats coming up behind us. We were the first to enter the harbor and I made contact on the radio. They told us to pull up to the fuel dock, as that is where they were having us dock for the night. The other boats behind us also made contact and they were also directed to the fuel dock. There was a couple of people on the dock waiting for us to assist with lines. We docked without incident and watched them help the others behind us. The marina is not large, and since we were only staying the night, they figured we would all be good here instead of spreading out around the marina. They have a restaurant on site as well, and once everyone was secured, we all made our way there to eat. The woman running the docks was also the server, the manager and cook! Her husband and mother were helping as well, but she was doing it all. Of course Frank started barking as soon as we left him on the boat, and she told us he was welcome to join us on the patio. Lauren and I shared a fried seafood platter and a salad as Frank chilled out under the table. After dinner, we took him for a walk and soon retired for the night.

Tomorrow we are heading to an anchorage not far from a lock we will have to go through. The anchorage is Diamond Island, and the trip will be another forty miles, so again we will get an early start to make it there in daylight.

We were going from mile 66 to mile 103.5. Almost 38 miles at five knots. Eight hours was planned for the trip, so we left our dock by 7am. The weather forecast was for rain starting around noon, and carrying on the next two days. By leaving this early, there was no one at the office to settle up with. We departed and turned south into the current and carried on. By 10am, I had called the marina and payed up over the phone. We also called Birdsong Marina to ensure there was space for us. Earlier in the week I had called them looking for information about if they could help with the prop. The owner who was on the phone was quite talkative, a second generation owner who has had it for sixty years. He had offered to contact a diver to go down and pull it, but we declined due to the fact we wanted to see the bottom completely to assess any other damages, if there were any. We were making our way and the speed was barely five knots, and dropping to four and a half at times. After taking turns piloting, we finally were close to the marina. I was instructed to call when we were close and they would send someone out to show us the way in. “The water level is the lowest I’ve ever seen!” exclaimed the owner on the phone during our conversation. “Yep, I know.” was my reply. We had to pass through a lock on the way and that was thankfully uneventful. Lauren now does the whole operation as I sit on the flybridge at the helm. All I have to do is get her close to the floating bollard and she does the rest. Once clear of the lock I made the phone call. We were close, and they were sending a boat out to show us the way. At this point the rain had started falling steadily, and we were driving with the enclosure sealed up, except for a small area we could see through. We followed the guide boat on a winding path through the bay, looking at buoys that no longer help guide anyone, but set them up for grounding. We came to the dock and were directed to a covered slip. Sweet! The dock has a roof over it, so the rain would stay off of the boat except for some spray. People also like these for the shade they provide in the summer. Once settled in, we hooked up our power and it din’t work. Oh jeez, really? We did everything we could to get power, including moving to a new slip, but apparently our boat and their power pedestals are not compatible. This isn’t too bad, as we can run the generator for our power when we need it, but it does use diesel and is loud and not very pleasant to listen to, but it is necessary when we do not have shore power. At least we were tied up for the upcoming storm. I was taken by golf cart to the office to check in, and I inquired about a courtesy car. The manager gave me the keys and the maintenance man took me to the car. I returned to the boat with the car, and Lauren and I went for a ride to get some items we needed at Walmart Superstore. The closest store was thirty minutes away, so we had the car until after dark. I had not been told what to do with the car once done, so we parked it and unloaded by the dock and kept the keys. I figured to take it back in the morning.

Day 2: We woke up to a surprisingly not raining day. We had been forecast for a storm, but it was a bit behind. There was another boat that came in with us yesterday; a houseboat that is decked out like a pirate ship, and they were departing. I was skeptical of this as they don’t have much room to take waves and the forecast wasn’t good. They left and I hope they had a plan to stop somewhere if it got bad. I took the keys back and was told to keep them in case we wanted to go anywhere today. Turns out we didn’t need it after all.

About mid day, the clouds got dark and the winds picked up. We were securely tied to the dock with many lines on each side, and we were on the end with an unobstructed view of a parking lot with a giant tent over some stuff. The tent had walls, so you couldn’t see inside it. Yet. The wind gusts continued to pick up and we heard reports of tornadoes in the area north of us. Trees were falling and the tent got completely picked up and thrown around. Items were rolling across the parking lot and waves were crashing into the boats at the dock. Mayhem was erupting as we sat securely inside with the animals, watching this unfold, rocking with the boat. The wind and storm lasted about twenty to thirty minutes, and then it was quiet. People were coming out of their homes and trailers surveying the damage and just gawking about. We took Frank for a walk to look too, after I checked all of the boats at our dock and made sure everything was secure. I had to pick up a few things that got blown off of boats, but there was no major damage. We even fished out a briefcase that was floating down the docks with paperwork and an empty money bag in it from 1990’s. Turns out it was junk in the pile that was blown into the bay. The rest of the afternoon was spent lounging around, having dinner and planning our next stop. We want to get to Clifton Marina, which is a Great Loop sponsor marina, and known as a good, cheap stop, but we will have to leave early to get there during daylight.

So today we would find out how bad the boat would run. Out options again were head back north toward Green Turtle Bay or continue south to Safe Harbor Aqua Yachts in Luka, Mississippi. We started the engine and listened…nothing unusual, no vibrations. We pulled the anchor and turned to head out. At this point I am on the phone calling Green Turtle. They can’t lift us out until next week. Every marina is busy this time of year with taking care of their members and transients moving south. This wasn’t a good option for us in our minds. We could make a reservation for the next stop and get farther south and have a sure lift. We chose to continue on, so south we turned.

I took the helm and throttled forward. There was a small vibration when I got to 1600 RPM, but I figured if we kept it under that we could make progress. Our next stop was planned for about 40 miles. We were headed to another anchorage for the night: Bennets Cove. The river is marked on the charts pretty well, but it is constantly shoaling in and has wildly varying depths. We could be in sixty feet of water one moment, then drop to eighteen feet the next. We have found out the water levels are at least six feet below normal. This means the charts show ten foot, and we see four foot below our keel which hangs down about four and a half feet- this will be very clear to us soon. We passed a few barges coming up river and made our way toward the anchorage. I noticed our speed is dropping at times, and you can see the current flowing against us on the buoys in the river and some debris floating toward us. I had mentioned it is one of the few rivers flowing north, and with all the rain we’ve had recently, the current is really flowing. Against us heading south.

Now were are cruising along around five knots. We actually don’t mind the speed drop so much, but it will make our planned three day trip much longer, and the weather forecast is more rain, possibly severe, and cold coming our way. We got close to the anchorage and the charts are showing crazy depths again, going from forty feet to ten feet in a matter of a few yards. We located our buoy which was where we were going to take a path in to the anchorage, but this takes us out of the river and through some of the lower areas on the charts. I thought we had a good plan, and was following same thought process from maneuvering the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. We were slowly making our way up toward the opening, Lauren and I sitting side by side on the flybridge, eyes scanning the waters and charts at the same time, dreading to hear or feel any sudden movements to the boat or propeller. Then it happened- SCRAPE SCRAPE!! AAAGGHHH! FU%K NO!!! Like the sound of a train scraping across the track is what we heard, as well as a slowing down. I quickly realized this wasn’t the same as rocks, it was sand scraping against the bottom, but still my mind is in overdrive, thinking no way we can get stuck two days in a row! We were watching the charts! And the prop! No way!! There was nothing else to do but give it more throttle and try to push through the hopefully just sand bar. We kept our forward momentum going, but the sound wasn’t completely stopping. Lauren looked at me and said “what was that!” I basically shouted “we’re hitting bottom!”. The next back and forth doesn’t need repeated, but there was a lot of swearing, not at each other but in the moment of “we’re not getting stuck again today!” We turned every which way trying to find a way back to the deep channel. We would go ten yards, hear a scrape and go another direction, all while following charts and sometimes going in a counter intuitive direction. It seems to be deep around shore, and fill in and out as it goes out to the dredged channels. Needless to say it was a pretty intense moment for us until we finally got out to the deep water. Oh- whats this? As we are getting to the channel, a barge is coming down towards us, not giving us much room. There was also a fisherman nearby who probably heard the scraping and was wondering what the hell we were doing? Or maybe that was in my mind. The barge did come down and we held tight to the very edge of the channel, but not daring to go outside a marker. Now we are headed back north to a State Marina we had passed five miles back- Paris Landing. It is also getting to be dusk time and probably won’t make the marina before dark with our slow speed.

We had called the marina as soon as we got back to the channel and free of the barge. They were closing, but told us we could dock there tonight, told us where, and said to pay at the office in the morning. Cool, we are now headed to what we are now feeling like a ‘safe harbor’. Funny how we’ve traversed and heard the horror stories of ‘Shipwreck Alley’, The Great Lakes, The Mississippi and many other rivers, yet here we are on the calm Tennessee River in Kentucky Lake experiencing the most adversities. We made our way back north, now with the current pushing us. Maybe we will make by dark after all. We approached the marina and found our way in, again following the charts and buoys, taking us close to shore along a stretch, then turning up to the harbor. We are a little gun shy now, so not feeling too good about any of the charts, but can only go with what we have. We just have to remember the water levels are five to six feet below charts. Now I understand why so many locals up and down the rivers are not pleased with the Army Corp of Engineers; they can’t keep a normal level with the dams and it fluctuates from flood levels to this. We find the spot and dock just as its getting to be dark. Lauren takes Frank and goes in to the restaurant to check in and get gate codes, and I make sure we are secure and crack open a beer. Whew! This has been an ordeal over the last couple of days, but we’re here. Tomorrow we will head south about forty miles, but it will again be against the current, so we have to plan on leaving very early since we only go five knots. Dinner is made and we retire early for a good night sleep before an expected long day.

The day started out well, we weren’t in a hurry, so we took our time departing. We filled the water tanks and made sure we were ready for possibly a few nights anchoring before we see a marina again. Our plan was to cross the Barkley Canal, which connects the Land Between the Lakes State Park from Kentucky Lake and the Cumberland River. This will allow us to turn south and head down the Tennessee River. Here is a bit of information: Kentucky Dam creates the largest man-made lake in the eastern United States. It backs up the Tennessee River for 184 miles and creates a lake that stretches south across the western tip of Kentucky and nearly the entire width of Tennessee. It is also one of the few rivers that flows north due to the dams. This means we will be fighting the current as we head south. It is also confusing to say the Tennessee River in Kentucky on the Kentucky Lake, then move and still be on the Tennessee River in Kentucky Lake in Tennessee. Something else to note is that everywhere we’ve been so far has had high water levels. Apparently the Army Corp of Engineers control the lakes and rivers as we move south with their dams and locks, and the water levels are very low right now- this will be very important to know soon.

We left the marina and made it through the canal with no issues. We turned south and was looking at anchorages on the GPS. We decided the best would be Pisgah Bay, it has good reviews for holding and land access; it also had a bonus of good cell phone reception. We have been okay with our cell service so far, and while it’s not very important to us, it does make it nice to be able to update a blog, check Facebook or news, or stream a movie if we feel like it. This trip was about six hours, and since we didn’t leave until almost 10:30am, we would arrive around 4:30pm.

We were coming up to the anchorage, and I was looking at the maps to see where we should be going. One of the reviews was “old quarry walls covered with graffiti”. As we were approaching, there was a green buoy in front of me, to the right of the quarry, which I was distracted by looking at all of the graffiti’d rocks around it. There was a rock wall between the quarry and the buoy so I was staying away from the wall and to the right of the buoy. I had throttled back as we made our entrance as I was unfamiliar with the area and don’t want to go charging into somewhere not knowing what is ahead. The maps showed a large bay with good anchoring in a few places and I was looking at the GPS trying to decide which way to go. SCREECH, scraping sounds and sudden loss of forward momentum snapped my head up and my immediate reaction was to simultaneously throttle down and throw it into neutral. OH SHIT!!!!! We just ran aground! On rocks, it sounds like! The sounds made were horrible- I can only describe the most horrific sound before coming to a dead halt as this: a knife scraping against a bottle, a fork on a glass, fingernails on a blackboard…you get the idea. Now we were stuck. I tried throwing it into reverse to try to back off of whatever we hit to no avail. We were stuck. At this point the winds of course had started to pick up and was blowing right on our stern, pushing us more and more up onto the underwater obstruction. I tried timing it with the waves that were rolling beneath the boat. I figured if we get a lift from a wave, I can maybe reverse off of it. Nope. I was full throttle in reverse and not moving at all. Lauren was starting to get the look of ‘WTF!?’ and I was feeling helpless. Nothing I did was helping, so I asked her to call for a tow. We have the BoatUS app on her phone which allows you to request a towboat online. It also will pinpoint your location so they can find you. We went through this and requested the tow, and I went back to trying to get us off. I tried rocking the boat side to side, waiting for the waves, anything I could do, but nothing was working. Lauren was getting afraid I would do harm to the engine revving it so much, so I backed off of that too. There was nothing left to do but wait. To our relief after about a half an hour, the bright red towboat was approaching us. When requesting a tow, I had to put in a tow destination. I had input Green Turtle Bay as a location, but told the driver I just wanted off, then would decide from there. At this point I wasn’t sure what damage had been done, but was sure there was no penetration of the hull and we weren’t sinking or taking on any water. The towboat came along side and tossed me a line which I tied to a cleat on the rear starboard side. He then had to give full throttle to try to come around and pull us off, working his way into the waves and wind. It was not an easy task, and he finally made some headway, trying to pull forty thousand pounds off of the rocks. Inch by inch, we started to heel over, then some more horrible scraping as we were pulled free and backwards. Yay! We were at least free and floating on our own. I explained to the captain we wanted to be let go, so we could anchor here overnight. He was agreeable to this, and set us free. I motored over to the anchorage, being very gentle with the throttle and steering to see if we had any damage. At first, it seemed good. Once I got over 1500 RPM, there was a definite vibration and thumping sound. Hmmm…. We normally travel around 1600 RPM, so a little slower won’t hurt us, but we clearly will have to get this looked at. The possibilities of damage are endless: it could be a propeller, a shaft, rudder damage, broken seals, who knows what else could be wrong….

We had motored over and anchored for the night still reeling from this experience we just had. In boating there is a saying: Those who have run aground, and those that lie about it. We definitely went aground, no lying about that. Once the anchor was dropped, we started looking for a marina that has a travel lift that can haul us out. The travel lift is a large machine used to lift boats. They come in different sizes and we are not that large of a boat, but we are a heavy boat. We need something that can lift at least nineteen ton, which is on the larger side. According to our research we have two options: either head back north toward a marina there, or head south about a hundred miles or more where there is a marina that can handle our tonnage. We had dinner and decided we would call in the morning and see who can fit us in for an emergency lift. This brought our day to an end, after walking Frank and cleaning up. This was the most disturbing day we’ve had so far, but we’re being optimistic about tomorrow.

We left early and were going to stop at Bumpus Marina, because maybe we would meet the Bumpus’s dogs… They are from A Christmas Story and I couldn’t resist… There is a marina called Bumpus and I had contacted them about staying there, but when we were close, we realized we had made great timing and could go farther than we thought today, so we kept going. We looked at the next few marinas and decided on Prizer Point Marina and Resort. There was nothing resort-ish about it, although the grounds were nice. We have found this “and Resort” to mean trailer parks with a mix of campers and trailers, and some campgrounds involved as well.

The trip was uneventful, just cruising along, with Lauren relieving me for a few hours to stretch my legs and get a snack or beverage. We traveled for over 8 hours, and our arrival was around 4:30pm. We called on the way, and were told there was space for us. They took my payment information over the phone and told us our slip number. This meant we didn’t have to check in or waste any time doing office paperwork. We docked next to a giant houseboat, at least eighty feet long, and started talking with a guy who came off of it; turns out he was the owner of the resort and also wants to do The Loop some day, but this keeps him busy during the summer, and he like to ski in the winter, so maybe someday they will do it…

The rest of the night was quiet, we had dinner and planned our next stop. We are now (almost) back to where we started before we deviated to Nashville. The Nashville side trip took us about ten days out of our way, but was well worth it. Tomorrow we plan to anchor out and have scoped out a few options. From here there will be a lot more anchoring as we are again getting to stretch where there are few marinas available and anchoring will be the only option. The weather is also getting colder, so at this point I am ready to be further south in warm weather…

We left in the morning, and headed back toward the lock. The lock was about 22 miles away, then the marina was another 22 miles after that. We approached the lock and was told he would open right up. We only had to wait about 20 minutes before he had us enter and tie up. The lock didn’t take too long, and once out, we went full stream ahead toward Clarksville. On the way down, we had stopped at the cheap municipal dock. This time we were going to stay at the marina in town. The prices weren’t bad a little more than the municipal dock, but we could not get a hold of anyone. This was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, and there were a bunch of people out on the water in their boats so I was surprised to learn they are closed on Sundays. We got to the marina and saw the sign on the door. There was an after hours emergency number, but we didn’t feel it was an emergency. The weather forecast was for rain and storms the next day too, so we planned on staying two days. Since no one was there, we found a space to tie up to and connected our power. This marina had no one at it which again surprised me for being such a nice day. I eventually saw one person and approached him about staying here. He said it shouldn’t be a problem, just check in with them tomorrow. I agreed to do that, but I needed one more thing: the gate code to get in and out with Frank. He told me the code, and we were set for the night. Since it was still daylight, we took Frank over to a Dairy Queen across the street and had some treats. We found our way back to the boat and relaxed for awhile before making dinner. The rest of the night was peaceful.

We woke up the next morning and I wandered up to the office to check in. The manager was very nice and said it was fine we stayed there. He told me that the marina gets very quiet after Labor Day, and there usually aren’t many people around. He told us we were fine at our spot and din’t have to move. He gave us the wifi code and the restroom codes as well. It rained on and off the rest of the day. We eventually went back across the street to a auto store for motor oil and shopped at a Dollar store and small grocery for some items we had decided we wanted. That done, we went back to the boat to make sure we were settled in before the big storm came back. It continued with rain and wind throughout the night, but we were safe and secure.

Tomorrow we will be heading for a marina near Green Turtle Bay, which is where we take a cut through to get to Kentucky Lake. We are going with the current so we hope to make about 70 miles in a day, but plan on leaving fairly early to allow more time.

This morning we only planned on going about twenty miles outside of Nashville. Technically we were in East Nashville, which was located right downtown. We were still going to be in Nashville, but pretty far out. We had heard of and passed a few marinas on the way in to Nashville. We decided to go to Commodore Yacht Club because we heard they have free laundry there. The dock prices were good too, as well as the fuel prices.

Before we departed, we took the bikes for one last ride around downtown. We were surprised to see a bunch of people starting to tailgate with huge grills, music and TV’s and just people everywhere around the stadium. We stopped and asked if they were getting ready for tomorrow’s Titans game? They laughed and said no- today was a homecoming, so they set up and celebrate here. It was impressive to see. Anyway, we took the ride around and stopped at a store for more provisions before heading out. Once done and back, we packed up the bikes and away we went.

The trip was fairly uneventful, just cruising at a slower speed to save on fuel, and we got to the dock around 3pm. It was on and off raining, and once there we stopped at the fuel dock and put about 150 gallons of diesel in to top off our tanks. We took care of the paperwork and were directed toward our slip. Lauren took the laundry and started doing that, while I cleaned the boat a bit. Laundry took quite awhile and it continued to rain throughout the night. Frank got some walks in, and we made dinner on the boat. Tomorrow we will have to go back through the Cheatham Lock and Dam, and if that goes smooth, then we will shoot for Clarksville Marina, which is about 46 miles. The lock is the wild card, as if this makes us wait, we will have to have a back up plan so we are not traveling in the dark.