Demopolis

We arrived at Demopolis yesterday. After Columbus we anchored one night at Sumter Landing. A highly recommended anchorage. It was well protected and very pretty.

On our way to Demop. the alternator belt broke. I tried to keep the boat moving down the river with the current while Peter found the spare belt and got it onto the motor.

The temperature yesterday and today was well above 30C. Just a week ago I was complaining about how cold it was, and now ..... you got it. It's too hot. I gladly spent the afternoon in the air conditioned laundry room where it was comfortable. We have re-provisioned the boat, and my nails are done. We are ready to proceed down the river. We will be anchoring out for the next 4 to 5 days, so we may be out of internet service and unable to communicate.

The flood waters are down significantly and they continue to fall. Now we hope there will be enough water to allow us to get into the anchorages, and yet not too much that we can't safely anchor. Boy, we seem to be hard to please these days. It's too cold, it's too hot. Too much water. Not enough water

We are travelling with another boat now "Amalia" with Greg and Leslie, and expect another boat to join us "Emerald Lady" haven't met the people myself yet. It sure is nice to be travelling with another boat.

With the flooding, we are having to dodge the debris. Some of it is significant..... logs. Some of them are hard to see.

There is a lot of debris in the marina. We will need to be careful when we go to the pump out dock in the morning.

Our plan is to go to Bashe Creek, 70 miles downriver. At 7 miles per hour that will be a 10 hour day. We will need to get an early start.

We will be in touch soon

Cheryl and Peter, Surona

Columbus (Mississippi) Marina

I'm trying to remember back to BAY SPRINGS when we moved the car down from Grand Harbour. The day was cold and the lady at Bay Springs told me to take the courtesy car for as long as I wanted so long as it was full of gas when I returned it. I took her literally so I told Cheryl we were going for a drive at 11: AM. We went up to Pickwick, used the good Wi Fi at Jack's restaurant (Iuka) and did some communicating. We went over to Grand Harbor and picked up the car and with this Gypsy GPS the Murrays sold me we proceeded to follow a course similar to that taken by either migrating geese or that used in evasive training in the military. Our course was south then east then north then east then south then west then south...you get the idea. After what I believe were brief glimpses of each ocean and a moment at the Arctic Circle we arrived at Columbus Marina where we left the car. We arrived back at Bay Springs Marina at 8:pm after circling passed to the west and north, through Boonville and Tishomingo. I think I do better on the river, it is harder to get lost.

That night it went down to 0 degrees Canadian. This little Walmart $30.00 heater is the best money we have spent. This kind of weather has a tendency to really thicken your Peanut butter and honey.

The next morning we were up and away and off into the fog with a Jim Murray Jack rabbit start that left us peering into the fog as we approached our first lock of this leg. Linda Murray spoke of a pleasant surprise on the Tenn-Tom but she didn't elaborate. We discovered that the lock masters help control traffic on the waterway by calling ahead to the next lock so that that lock master will, if possible have the lock open and ready for you to just drive on in, no waiting and milling about for hours. By 12:30 we had passed through four locks and were looking for a Marina to tie up in for the night. We went to the Smithville Marina and met 85 year old Jesse who still runs the Marina, owns two farms and rents out several trailers and homes on the property. Jesse had a little spasm which he blamed on the computer and charged me $333.00 to tie up over night. Almost as much as lunch in Italy, eh Sandra. Jesse's son fixed things up with Mastercard. We had a quiet night and an early start at 7:15. We were thru the first lock by 8am. The first lock master has parents living in Walters Falls. The weather is up around 22 Canadian and the trip is peaceful with hardly any traffic. That lasted until we intersected with the Butahatchee River from the east. It was flowing fast with lots of debris. We spent the rest of that peaceful warm day dodging logs, branches and one cooler. We tied up that afternoon in Columbus where we met friends of Linda and Jerry Hawke on a boat called C Horse. They had met on the eastern ICW when the Hawkes were doing their loop.

We met another colourful gentleman who explained that his father was from Canada. When he became fed up with snow he attached the snow shovel to the top of his car and drove south until someone asked him "What is that for?". He knew then that he was far enough south.

People here are staying put for a while due to extreme high water on the Black Warrior River where it flows out into the Tenn-Tom about 100 miles south of us. We drove down to have a look and the river is really high there with fast current and big debris. The park across from the marina has benches mostly submerged. We want to wait at least until the Black Warrior crests before we head down further. We may go down another 24 miles to Pirates Marina Cove and check then as to water levels. We just got the "Spot" device working so watch for those communications. I am going to go for a long walk now to stay in shape, maybe as far as the "Waffle House". Where is that sun screen? Sorry I couldn't resist. Have a good one

Pete & Cheryl on Surona

Away we go Again

Yesterday we left Grand Harbor and started down the TennTom.

We had a daytime high of 17F. It felt balmy. If only all the days could be like this. We went down the portion they call The Cut, or The Divide. It is 24 miles of ditch that they dug out of the land to connect the Tennessee River and the Tom Bigbee River. Apparently they dug out more for this than the Panama Canal. The colour of the water was a dirty brown colour, reminding us of the Mississippi. Down the ditch there a lot of run off areas from what they call disposal areas. The running running into the ditch was the same brown colour. There also was a tremendous amount of debris in the river around the Aqua Yacht area, and frequently as made our way down. After clearing "the ditch" the water became some of the clearest we have seen so far on the trip.

We travelled a relaxing 38 miles, with no barges, and arrived at Bay Springs Marina. Just as we were arriving with about one mile to go the sun disappeared and the storm clouds opened up and soaked us. Then stopped. It was sort of a Bay Springs welcome. Some of the people at Bay Springs are not very hospitable. The guys we originally met yesterday were not very helpful, however the woman Peter talked to today was most helpful.

Today is just too cold to travel on the river. Currently 6F. Friday and Saturday are looking like better travel days.

We are using the courtesy van to go back to Grand Harbor and move the car to Bay Springs.

Arrived at the Boat

We got onto the boat Sunday. We arrived in the general area on Saturday late afternoon, but it was cold and too late to try to get settled on the boat. Rented a room for the night in Iuke.

Sunday we proceeded directly to the boat. Got the heater working. What a treat. The temp was just a little above freezing. Everything on the boat looked great. However you wouldn't believe the mould that has made its way on the boat. The head (bathroom) was the worst. All of the wood was covered in mould. A bleach based cleaner made short work of the cleanup.

Sunday we did the grocery shopping for the boat and began to settle things onto the boat.

Peter looked after the important task of getting the TV hanging on the bulkhead. We were able to make our first meal on the boat and watch movies our first night.

Monday was laundry day and more settling. Late in the day we had the laundry finished and the remainder of things from the car onto the boat.

There is some business stuff that needs to be finalized and then we hope to set out tomorrow, moving down the river. Sounds like we have 2 good days of weather coming up.

Typically now the temp drops to about 36F at night and gets up to mid 50's or low 60'sF during the day. Still cool on the water. We need to get going down the river towards the warmer weather.

Iuke, Mississippi

We spent the night at a small hotel in Iuke. We are about 20 miles from the boat.

It is cool here. Down to 36 F at night with a daytime high expected of about 65F. We will get things settled onto the boat today.

Laundry, groceries, TV monitor installation. Not sure what the boat will be like and how much cleaning will have to be done.

It could take a couple of days to get the boat ready to travel. That may coincide with the warmer weather that is coming mid week.

Blog, Blog, Blog

We are on the road, back to the boat.

We wanted to start the blog once we got to the boat; but no ..... the natives are restless.

We left Canada a week ago Thursday and have been making our way down to boat. Took a shortcut to South Carolina. First stop to visit with Kathy and Martin at Surfside Beach which is very close to Myrtle Beach. They gave us the tour and then we had dinner out. We tried to stay up to watch the Oscars but had to retire before the end because Martin and Kathy were falling asleep. They had a 7:30 am golf game scheduled.

Then we were off to see if we could find Jim and Linda Murray, Edisto Island South Carolina. They couldn't hide; we found them. Even though we arrived unannounced, they invited us to stay 2 nights with them. They took us to tour Charleston and then the following day a tour of Edisto Island. Their southern hospitality is amazing and they made it very hard to leave. They have a beautiful southern plantation home. The driveway looks like something out of Gone with the Wind. Driveway lined with live oaks draped with french moss. We are surprised they can pry themselves away for their boat trip.

Cypress Trees Plantation is right on the intercoastal waterway, too bad for them because we will want to return and visit on our way back home.

For a $10. finders fee we will tell anyone how to reach them.

Currently writing from Valdosta on our way to Alabama.

Happy New Year

You probably have assumed that we have returned home for the holiday season.

We needed to get back to our offices for a little while and get caught up and there was the entire Christmas Season to enjoy with clients, friends and family.

We left the boat at Grand Haven Yacht Club/Marina at the top of Alabama. We are hoping that the weather warms up by mid February so that we can return and continue on our trip.

We will not be keeping this updated until we return to the boat. It perhaps would have been nice of us if we had shared this information with everyone when we left the boat. Oh well, we will live and learn.