We got an early start, as we had a lot of miles to put under our keel. We left the anchorage with no sign of movement from Mike and Theresa’s boat. We left as quietly as we could, then turned north to get to the cut, back toward Aqua Yacht where we had the propeller fixed, and then turned south. We plan on anchoring out for a bit of a stretch because there is no other options.
Our desired anchorage was Bay Springs, which is right before the first lock on the Tenn-Tom Waterway. As we were making our way, we were passed by a few boats heading in the same direction. We were hooping they weren’t all going to the same anchorage, but knew they would more than likely be anchoring close by as we all have to get through the lock, and no one travels at night, in the dark, if avoidable. We had a backup plan just in case. There are several places to anchor around there, so we weren’t too worried about it.
We eventually came to the lock and saw the channel off to the left where we wanted to go. Sure enough, one of the boats that had passed us was anchored in a little creek off the channel. We moved slowly past them and looked down the next creek. It was empty! We cautiously moved in and dropped anchor. We were in a secluded little area by ourselves and noticed a park across the bay. We took Frank in the dinghy over there and walked the grounds a bit. While we were there, we noticed a sailboat pull in looking to anchor. Since both creeks were occupied, he ended up dropping anchor in the middle of the small bay. Boaters usually like to give people the privacy if they can and not anchor on top of each other, especially the ‘heading south/ Loopers’- it is a different story for the weekend boater who are out to party with a crowd. We all had a sufficient walk, so we headed back to the boat for dinner. On the way I stopped by the sailboat as they were out on the deck and introduced ourselves. They are from Chicago, heading to Florida, and his son had just joined him as an extra hand. It’s nice to meet people since we will be traveling together down the river and locks.
Once back at the boat, we relaxed a bit then had dinner. Our nightly routine is to plot out the course/ destination for the next day, so we did that too. Tomorrow we will go through a few locks, three to be exact if the time allows. We are at the mercy of the lockmaster and commercial barge traffic. There is a ‘rule’ that says pleasure craft have to be locked through every third commercial boat, but there are always exceptions. We have learned the earlier start we can get, the better for locking through…