COLUMBUS TO SCOTTSBORO, AL

June 27-28 - It's an 80-mile trek from Columbus to Bay Springs Lake with seven locks, so we got off at daylight with our fingers crossed that we could make it through all the locks without delay.  Fortunately, we only had to wait for one tow to be locked up, and we made it to our anchorage at beautiful Bay Springs Lake in 12 hours.  It was a long day, and we couldn't wait to go for a swim in the beautiful clear water.

                         A VIEW OF BAY SPRINGS LAKE FROM OUR ANCHORAGE

Severe weather was forecast for the next day, so we decided to hang out there.  We couldn't ask to be in a better anchorage than this!  Fortunately, the severe thunderstorms missed us. 

Bill took this opportunity to get the hooka rig out and examine the underside of  OMEGA.  A thorough check found a slightly loose prop on the starboard shaft.  To tighten it involved removing the starboard line cutters and the two large nuts securing the prop.  Fortunately, no damage was caused from the looseness other than a slight vibration.  To tighten the prop in the water was no easy matter since the lock nut with standard heavy pressure wouldn't allow the outer nut to line up with the cotter key hole.  To accomplish the task, Charlotte had to lock the shaft in place in the engine room with a large pipe wrench.  Locking the shaft allowed putting a large pipe wrench on the prop nut.  Hitting it with a heavy sledge, Bill was finally able to tighten it enough to align the cotter key hole. He was glad to be in clear water and have good visibility under the boat.  While diving he finished the task by changing the shaft zinc and the large transom zinc.  The rest of the bottom and running gear looked great.  

                                   SUNRISE AT BAY SPRINGS LAKE - JUNE 29

June 29 - We cruised on north up the last leg of the Tenn-Tom (37 miles) to Zippy Branch, another of our favorite anchorages near Grand Harbor Marina.  This is a very popular anchorage, and we were delighted to find space available.  Glad we made it before TGIF!!  Enjoyed an afternoon refreshing swim and a great evening at this lovely place!

                                  ZIPPY BRANCH ANCHORAGE NEAR COUNCE, TN  

June 30 - We were excited when we reached Pickwick Lake and the junction of the Tenn-Tom and the Tennessee River - a welcoming sight after 450 miles of the Tenn-Tom where you go round and round curves day after day!!  Pickwick Lake is the section of the Tennessee River between Pickwick Dam and Wilson Dam; it is 52.7 miles long.   The Tennessee River is wide with gorgeous scenery all along the shoreline.   In case you want to find us on a map, look for the point where the NE corner of  Mississippi meets the NW corner of Alabama and Tennessee.  As we started upstream on the Tennessee River, we crossed back and forth between Tennessee and Alabama.  Then the river goes in a southeasterly direction in Alabama toward Florence.

                                            FLORENCE HARBOR MARINA
                                                  FLORENCE, AL

We docked at Florence Harbor Marina so we could have dinner at Rigatoni's, an Italian restaurant we liked when we were in Florence in 2010.  Florence Harbor Marina has made lots of improvements since we last stayed here when we did the Loop (Great Circle) in 2002.  They have added floating transient docks and the old restaurant that burned has been replaced with a new restaurant which is open for lunch and dinner.  There is nice landscaping, and everything looked well maintained and neat.  

                                        OMEGA AT FLORENCE HARBOR MARINA

July 1 - Our next stop was Wheeler State Park Marina, only 20 miles upstream.  Between Florence and Wheeler State Park is Wilson Lock (96 ft.), the third highest lift lock in the world.  It's a really neat experience to go through this lock!

                                         WILSON LOCK ON THE TENNESSEE RIVER

Just downstream from Wheeler State Park, our next stop, we went through our 14th lock of the trip (Wheeler) and entered Wheeler Lake.  Tommy and Jackie Stockard drove over to Wheeler State Park Marina from Killen, AL for a visit and dinner at the lodge.  We met Tommy and his first wife Ima on their 60th wedding anniversary in 2009 at Goose Pond Marina in Scottsboro.  Unfortunately, Ima passed away shortly thereafter.  Tommy married his longtime friend Jackie this year.  He is a special friend who loves boating as much as we do.  It was so good to see them again.

                               JACKIE AND TOMMY STOCKARD WITH CHARLOTTE

July 2 -  It's the 4th of July weekend, and all the boaters in northern Alabama are out on the water either fishing, tubing, jetskiing, or just cruising.  We headed on upstream to Guntersville with plans to tie up at the free dock downtown so we could offload our scooter to go to church in the morning.  As we approached the railroad bridge at Decatur, AL, the bridge tender informed us he was expecting a train shortly.

                               DECATUR, AL BRIDGE DOWN FOR A PASSING TRAIN

While we have taken many photos of Painted Bluff east of Huntsville on our previous cruises, we couldn't pass by without adding a few more - it's so neat!

                                    PAINTED BLUFF ON THE TENNESSEE RIVER
                                                    EAST OF HUNTSVILLE

                                              AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL

After going through our last lock (Guntersville-#15), we entered Guntersville Lake (elevation 595 ft).  As we approached the downtown free dock, we saw that the community was having a 4th of July celebration carnival there, and no space was available, so we headed on up to the Guntersville State Park area to anchor.

Sections of Guntersville were hit by the severe tornadoes that marched through Alabama in April 2011, and we saw lots of damage along the shoreline.

                                 GUNTERSVILLE STATE PARK CAMPGROUND
                                             WIPED OUT BY SPRING TORNADO

                                   THOUSANDS OF TREES FELLED BY TORNADO
                                           GUNTERSVILLE STATE PARK

Many homes were either destroyed or severely damaged in the area, and many lives lost during the multiple tornadoes that bounced across the small mountains in the vicinity.  We were saddened as we viewed the damages from our anchorage near Guntersville State Park as it was such a beautiful area when we visited here last Fall.

July 3 - This is the last leg of our 1600-mile trek from home - only 17.5 miles upstream to Goose Pond Colony Marina in Scottsboro, AL.   It has taken us exactly one month to reach our destination.  The sign welcoming us to Goose Pond Colony Marina was a welcome sight!!

                                        OUR HOME AWAY FROM HOME

                                 HEADING INTO GOOSE POND COLONY MARINA

We are in a slip on the end of a covered slip dock that overlooks the golf course...a beautiful setting!  Lots of geese on the water between us or enjoying the edges of the golf course!  Know the golfers love them!

                                   OUR VIEW FROM OMEGA - GOOSE POND
                                               COLONY GOLF COURSE

                                       ANOTHER VIEW FROM OUR SALON WINDOW

                                       GOOSE POND COLONY CANADIAN GEESE
                                          CRUISING OVER TO THE GOLF COURSE

MOBILE TO COLUMBUS, MS

June 20 - 25 -  Between these dates, we cruised 347 miles from Dog River Marina in Mobile to Columbus Marina in Columbus, MS.  Our stops included Three Rivers Lake, Bobby's Fish Camp, Demopolis Marina, Cochrane's Cutoff, and Columbus Marina.  We have been through the first five of the 12 locks on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway.  The first three days we cruised behind Richard Walker on Holiday VII.

                            LARGE DREDGE IN THE MOBILE BAY SHIP CHANNEL

                               HUGE PARKING LOT FOR BARGES NORTH OF MOBILE

                                LARGE LOADING FACILITY UNDER CONSTRUCTION
                                              ON THE TENN-TOM WATERWAY

                                SUNRISE AT THREE RIVERS LAKE ANCHORAGE
                                                                JUNE 22

                                HOLIDAY VII ANCHORED IN CANAL LEADING TO
                                           THREE RIVERS LAKE - MILE 64

                                 HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO PUSH THIS UPSTREAM?
                         A LOAD OF PIPES USED AS BASES FOR WIND TURBINES

We wondered how the tow captain could possibly see where he was going.  Then we saw there was another tow in front of the barges.

                                                                     LEAD TOW

                                        HERE THEY COME AROUND THE BEND!!

                           WHITE HERONS PERCHED ON DEMOPOLIS LOCK WALL
                                                                      JUNE 22

It was really hot the first two days and nights when we anchored out.  Severe storms were forecast for the afternoon and evening on June 22, so we decided to stay at the Demopolis Yacht Basin rather than anchor out.  Enjoyed having dinner with Richard Walker.  He was taking off the next morning, and we decided to stay and enjoy having AC and Internet access for another day.

On June 24th we continued north upstream to Cochrane Cutoff where we anchored for the night.  We were held up at Heflin lock for an hour and a half while a tow was locked through.  All commercial vessels have priority over pleasure craft, so even if you happen to get to the lock before them, you have to wait if they are within a certain distance behind you.  Threatening thunderstorms were approaching as we came into the anchorage, but
 fortunately they moved away from us.

                                     RAINBOW AT COCHRANE CUTOFF, MILE 287.4

Before we got underway on June 25, two northbound tows passed by so we knew we were in for more waiting at the next two locks.  No need to get in a rush to get ahead of them as we knew we couldn't make it through the next lock in time.  We passed both of them and fortunately only had to wait an hour for the first one to lock through.  Another trawler was a short distance behind us, and we locked through with him.   We were able to get far enough ahead of the first tow to get through the second lock (Stennis) without waiting.  Columbus Marina is just above Stennis lock, and we were welcomed by a fellow boater we had met last fall.  They put us in a covered slip, which was an unexpected treat.  There were lots of weekend boaters and fishermen on the waterway today, which requires frequently slowing down to reduce our wake.  We decided to stay at Columbus until Monday when all the weekend warriors are back at work. 

                                         OMEGA AT REST IN COVERED SLIP
                                                   AT COLUMBUS MARINA

June 26 - Went to church in Columbus this morning and caught up on chores (boat washing, laundry, etc.)  Enjoyed visiting with several people at the marina (Frank and Joyce and granddaughter Miranda aboard Daphne from Biloxi, and Jim and Marie aboard Sea Casa from Corpus Christi.)

CAPE CORAL TO MOBILE

JUNE 9 - 19 - During these ten days, we have cruised from Cape Coral, FL to Mobile, AL - a total of 626 miles.  Most of the time, we had beautiful weather and calm waters.  Our anchorages included Useppa Island, Sarasota, Anclote Key (Tarpon Springs), Cedar Key, Shipping Cove off Dog Island (near Carrabelle), Pearl Bayou (east of Panama City), Destin, and Wolf Bay (west of Pensacola).  We have anchored at all of these anchorages except Cedar Key on our previous trips to and from the Tennessee River in 2009 and 2010.  A few photos taken along the way follow.


OMEGA HEADING OUT TO THE GULF AT LONGBOAT KEY PASS







  

SUNSET AT ANCHORAGE AT ANCLOTE KEY NEAR TARPON SPRINGS

SUNSET OVER DOG ISLAND NEAR CARRABELLE - JUNE 13

HOUSE ON THE GULF FROM OUR ANCHORAGE AT SHIPPING COVE NEAR CARRABELLE

DOLPHIN PLAYING IN OUR WAKE ON INTRACOASTAL ON JUNE 15

AIR FORCE BOAT RETURNING TO HOME DOCK AT PEARL BAYOU NEAR PANAMA CITY

HELICOPTER CREW PRACTICING RESCUE OPERATIONS NEAR PANAMA CITY

PASSING THROUGH THE GRAND CANYON SECTION OF THE GULF INTRACOASTAL WATERWAY - JUNE 16

LOTS OF FOLKS HAVING FUN AT DESTIN

LOOKS LIKE WE'RE NOT THE ONLY ONES HEADING INTO DESTIN HARBOR

DESTIN SEA BLASTER DOING A BOOMING BUSINESS

WORLD WAR II PLANES PUT ON A SHOW OVER DESTIN HARBOR

WE LOVED WATCHING THEM!!!

GORGEOUS SUNSET OVER DESTIN

ENJOYING THE SUNSET AND; FIREWORKS AT DESTIN HARBOR - JUNE 16

FIREWORKS OVER DESTIN HARBOR AT END OF BEAUTIFUL EVENING

         WAVING TO OUR FRIEND ALAN HAGER AS WE PASS HIS HOUSE WEST OF PENSACOLA

OVERTAKING OUR FIRST TOW NAMED DIANE NEAR PERDIDO KEY

SUNSET AT WOLF BAY ANCHORAGE - JUNE 17

MOON OVER WOLF BAY ANCHORAGE WEST OF PERDIDO KEY

A GREAT LUNCH DATE AT LULU'S AT ORANGE BEACH, AL
BILL WITH GOOD FRIENDS DEBBIE AND ALAN HAGER

DEBBIE AND ALAN HAGER WITH CHARLOTTE - JUNE 18

JUNE 12 - OUR VISIT TO CEDAR KEY, FL

Rather than  make an overnight crossing from Tarpon Springs to Carrabelle, we chose to cruise north up the Big Bend area of Florida to Cedar Key.  Most cruisers with a deep draft don't try to go into Cedar Key because they are uncertain about making it in and out with plenty of water.  We called several people in Cedar Key to ask about the water depth and finally connected with Capt. Doug, who operates a tour boat there.  He assured Bill that we could make it in and out on the Main Ship Channel which comes in from the south with careful attention to the channel markers, but not to try the northwest passage when we left.  By going there, we could make the Gulf crossing in two days without cruising after dark.  Sounded like a good plan!  We had a great cruise there and didn't have any problems getting in. 

  Cedar Key has no marinas with dockage for larger boats.   The wind started picking up after we anchored across from the boat launch area.  We went ashore in our tender to do a walkabout and have dinner.  There are lots of accommodations for boaters near the main street, and we assumed folks come to stay to go fishing.  The main street was colorful with a number of little shops, but they were closed by the time we arrived.  We had dinner at a waterfront pub overlooking the water.  As the wind continued to pick up, we decided we better get back to OMEGA and get the tender lifted back up before sunset.

                                    TENDER TO OMEGA DOCKED AT CEDAR KEY

                                         OMEGA ANCHORED AT CEDAR KEY

                                           MAIN STREET OF CEDAR KEY, FL

                                              FISHING PIER AT CEDAR KEY


JUNE 13 - GULF CROSSING FROM CEDAR KEY TO CARRABELLE

This is a day we will never forget!!  We left Cedar Key at 6:35 AM and headed to Carrabelle.  The NOAA weather prognosticaters forecast 10-15 knot West winds with 2-3 foot seas.  They must have been on another planet!!   The reality was the winds were as high as 30 knots, and the waves were between 3-6 feet.  Bill changed course and headed more northerly toward St. Marks so the waves wouldn't hit us head on, but it wasn't much better.  Around 4 PM we turned toward Carrabelle and the last four hours were worse.  We finally made it into St. George Sound behind Dog Island around 8 PM and anchored at Shipping Cove just before dark about 9 PM.  It was a long, long day!  We were thankful it was behind us to say the least.  Lost our bimini top and broke out two sections of our windshield on the flybridge, but we were both in one piece.  Praise God!

JUNE 14 - APPALACHICOLA

After refueling at Carrabelle, we decided to cruise on over to Appalachicola and anchor for the night before going into a marina the next morning.  The winds were still strong out of the west, and St. George Sound is big and wide, so it was still very choppy.  It was much too rough to anchor, so we went on into the Appalachicola Marina.  It felt so good to have our feet on solid ground again!  Walked down to Boss Oyster and pigged out on fried oysters!  OMEGA was covered with salt from top to bottom, so the next morning we gave her a good washdown before departing.

                                              MOON RISE OVER APPALACHICOLA

JUNE 18-19 - DOG RIVER MARINA IN MOBILE, AL

After enjoying lunch with Alan and Debbie Hager at Lula's, we crossed Mobile Bay to Dog River and docked at Dog River Marina for a day or two of rest.   Went to church on Father's Day at Our Lady of Lourdes, picked up provisions,  and caught up on laundry, etc.  It's hot, so we're enjoying having AC.  Enjoyed seeing Richard and Carol Walker aboard Holiday VII.  They had spent the winter in Marathon, and Chris O'Brien brought them down to our house shortly before we left home.  Richard is headed back to his homeport at Chickamauga Marina in Chattanooga, TN.

                            CAROL AND RICHARD WALKER ABOARD HOLIDAY VII

SUMMERLAND TO CAPE CORAL

                                                        Melody Key off Summerland
                                                     
June 9 - We finally left our home port on June 3rd on a windy day (20+) knots and a very choppy Atlantic.  Bounced up and down to the 7-Mile Bridge. 

                                                        
Once we were in the Gulf, we had a more comfortable ride with a beam sea.  Anchored off Shark River that evening - lots of flies welcomed us and enough mosquitoes!  On the 4th, we made it up to Marco, where we enjoyed having seafood at Snook Inn. 

                                              OMEGA at Chapman's Dock

Continued on to Cape Coral on the 5th where we were welcomed by Barbara Fordyce and her daughter Linda.  Our friends, Jim & Shirley Chapman, generously offered space at their dock which we greatly appreciated.  They are at their summer home in Michigan. 

                                                   Chapman's Yard in Cape Coral

We've enjoyed three great days here with Barbara and her neighbors plus a great dinner at Sara & Ed Dennerli's home.  We met Sara & Ed up at Goose Pond Marina in Scottsboro, AL.  They spend time there on their houseboat in the summer & fall, so we'll look forward to seeing them there when we get there.

We'll be leaving shortly headed north on the Intercoastal to Useppa Island, which is just a short hop.  From there we'll anchor tomorrow evening in Sarasota.  Hopefully, we'll be crossing the Gulf over the weekend, weather permitting.   As usual, we'll be glad when that is behind us.