Down we go - Days 39 & 40 New Site to Columbus, MS

Note to followers:  We have had great difficulty uploading photos since leaving Grand Harbor Marina, which, of course, is due to the incredibly poor air card reception.  We will eventually catch up.

Synopsis: In two days we traversed 7 locks and dropped 257 feet to our present elevation of 163 feet above sea level and covered 77 miles.  Running time was just short of 11 hours to our present destination.

Here's the details:

We departed Bay Springs Marina in New Site with our friends, Darryl and Sue of Present Moment and Dave and Bill of the River Cities condo barge at 7:45 AM and proceeded to the Whitten Lock, the first one on the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway.

Thanks to Sue's call to the lockmaster, the lock was ready.  The Whitten Lock has a lift (drop) of 84 feet, which makes it the 9th highest lift in the US.  We filed in and secured to floating bollards.

Photo 3901
Photo 3895

Photo 4594

23 minutes later the doors opened and we departed the lock.  While just a bit hard to see, the photo below shows the grooves in the lock wall that are 5 feet apart.  These help you gauge your progress going down.  Note: While the drop is substantial, this lock was far easier than the Pickwick Lock where we were going up.  When descending you do not experience the pressure of the water filling the lock which pushes the boats to the wall.

Photo PB10123

17 minutes later we arrived at the Montgomery Lock (30 foot lift) and entered the lock after a brief 18 minute delay.  This lock would also have been characterized as uneventful if I had not lost my portable VHF ($200 to replace) which fell off my belt while I was securing the line to the bollard.   The loss of the portable was slightly more than an inconvenience.  The portable allowed me to monitor two channels and was helpful at times when boats we were calling had reported difficulty with the quality of transmissions from our primary VHF (a Raymarine 240 that has never worked very well).

Photo 4605 (Caption: We could see the river 30 feet below as we tied to the wall)

At 10:52 AM, our transponder) a tow, the Kay Templeton, ahead preparing to enter John Rankin Lock and our group of three boats slowed to idle speed.  13 minutes later we arrived at the lock and then waited almost an hour for the Kay Templeton to lock through.  Once the lock was ready, we entered and after a 13 minutes and a drop of 30 feet were on our way.

Unfortunately, we were headed to another delay at the Fulton Lock, which is only 7.3 miles from the Rankin Lock.  Here's why.  Commercial vessels have priority over pleasure craft.  So even if we were able to overtake the Kay Templeton, we would have been delayed if he was within 30 minutes of the lock.

I called the Kay Templeton on the VHF and asked if he would allow us to pass.  He was a VERY good sport and agreed to let us lock through if the lockmaster would allow him to tie up to the lock (approach) wall if he got there while we were descending.  The lockmaster went out of his way to remind the Kay Templeton that he had priority.  Fortunately, the Captain stuck with his agreement to let us take his slot.   He moved over to the right descending bank and allowed us to pass (as the channel is rather narrow).

Unfortunately, the River Cities barge could not take advantage of the "deal" as they can only make 5 MPH.  So, they agreed to hang back and let us and Present Moment avoid the delay.

So, at 3:00 PM we were tied up at the Smithville Marina.  Had the Captain of the Kay Templeton not been such a good sport we would have arrived closer to dusk, which is when the River Cities barge arrived.

Photo 4610 (Caption: Guided Discovery at the Smithville Marina)

The Smithville Marina was very unique.  Run by Jesse Cox and his wife, two lovely folks in the 80s, it was charming although a bit primitive.  What stands out is that Jesse sits in a rocking chair on the porch of his office and directs you into the marina over the VHF radio.  The primitive part you ask?  Besides no services (bathrooms, showers, washers or dryers) we had difficulty hooking up our 50 AMP service next to our boat. 

Undaunted, we then attempted to hook up using our Smart Y, which enables to 30 AMP connection to connect with our 50 AMP plug (although limits the amperage to 30).  The 30 AMP connections were also problematic with one shorting out and making a disconcerting buzzing sound.  Darryl and Sue let us borrow their two 30 AMP cables and we were able to get power from the junction box next to their boat.

We all sat on the porch chatting with Mrs. Cox.  Then we borrowed their courtesy car, a 1980s Oldsmobile 4dr sedan.  As we drove to the Pete's Steak House, Darryl, who's former profession was a trial lawyer, explained that we were driving in a GM A-body and then went on to explain the poor engineering of the engine mounts that allowed the engines to intrude into the vehicle in a crash.  Fortunately, Darryl drove very carefully.

Dinner was unusually good and here too there is a story to tell.  Turns out that Smithville is in a dry county (groan), which we learned after the waitress rattled off all the uninteresting beverages we could have while studying the menu.  However, they were innovative.   She explained they had beer in the cooler and proceeded to bring us three in Styrofoam cups, which was how they got around the law.  Good for them.

Thursday morning, we departed Smithville at 7:46 AM and traversed the Wilkins, Amory and Aberdeen locks with no delays.  After dropping an additional 82 feet we arrived at our destination, Columbus Mississippi (population 23,818) at 1:25 PM.

The Columbus Marina was built in 1999 and is a modern full service operation.  It seems that we have finally caught up with the other Loopers as there were at least 10 of us there.  We soon learned that there was to be a Looper gathering under the marina office at 5:00 PM.  Sure enough they all gathered but not at five.  Seems that Looper are not on "Lombardi Time."   We chatted with several Loopers but then had to leave as we had a dinner reservation.  I had heard these imprompu gathering occur regularly when a bunch of Loopers are together.

Photo 4620 (Caption: Columbus Marina as viewed from the Tombigbee Waterway)

Note: The prominent building in the photo is a restaurant called Woody's.  Woody's  sits right on the water and was built with a first class dock to allow boater to cruise to dinner.  Unfortunately, Woody's did not make it as evidenced by the For Sale sign on the building.

The marina owner, T Caldwell, suggested Hucks in the historic downtown section where we went in style in their courtesy car, a relatively new Toyota Sedona minivan with 19,000 miles on the odometer.  Dinner we really good.  Darryl and Sue from Present Moment went to dinner with us.  We all had great time.

Photos 4623 and 4624.

Written by Les