Son of Tennessee Valley Authority?

Well, not really. The Tenn-Tom (Tennessee-Tombigbee) Waterway that we cruised from Sunday, October 18 to Wednesday, October 21 was a waterway project unconnected to the TVA project on the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers. The idea was similar, however--create a commercial waterway that could be used in lieu of the Mississippi and decrease trip distances for commercial traffic. Although the idea was first approved in 1946, the first funds weren't allocated until 1968, construction wasn't begun until 1972, and it didn't open until January 1985. It is 234 miles long and runs from the Tennessee River at Pickwick Lake in the north to the junction of the Black Warrior and Tombigbee Rivers near Demopolis, Alabama.

The past four days of cruising can be described in three words: water, trees, locks. Probably because the Tombigbee River wasn't an active commercial waterway prior to the creation of the Tenn-Tom, there aren't any towns to speak of and few marinas. It's a beautiful waterway and non-stress cruising, but after a while it's All. The. Same. So the cruising miles per day for us continues to be longer this fall than it was during our Loop last year. Fog permitting, we try to be underway by sunrise at 7 a.m. We have been disappointed that, although we are moving downstream, we don't seem to be getting much of a current assist.

Life on the Tenn-Tom: Water. Trees.

The most striking sight along the Tenn-Tom: the
White Cliffs at Epes, Alabama

Close-up of the White Cliffs. Part of the "Selma Chalk
Formation" and said to be of the same geological
age as the White Cliffs of Dover (England)

Spanish moss--we must be back in the South

With one exception, we have made our "target destination" each day. The exception was Monday, October 19. With 60 miles and four locks to complete, we needed all of the cruising elements to align. Alas, it was not to be. A foggy morning delayed our departure from Midway Marina (near Fulton, MS) for an hour. We got through the first lock of the day just fine, but for the next two found ourselves behind a slow, barge-laden tow which delayed us for at least an hour at each lock. By the time we got through the last lock at Aberdeen (thanks to a kind lock master who delayed the last pleasure craft lockage for us so that we didn't have to anchor on the upstream side of the lock) we were still 20 miles from the marina at Columbus, MS, it was late afternoon, and we were tired. We found a very peaceful anchorage off-channel 10 miles down river and spent a restful night at the Barton Ferry Cut-off. We were able to make up the other 10 miles during our cruise on Tuesday, October 20--which was another night at anchor.

Waking up to fog on the river
 on October 19 at Midway Marina

Zipper on deck at Barton Ferry
 Cut-off anchorage

Our tow boat nemesis on the 19th, Green Wave. It almost
became a problem for us on October 20 as well,
but we passed it during a crew change. Relief!

CARIB at anchor in Sumpter
 Recreational Area on October 20.

Sunrise at our anchorage in Sumpter Recreational Area.
We had one neighbor during the overnight.

Locking has been an interesting process on this waterway. Pleasure craft going through one lock together tend to have to stay grouped for subsequent lockages (as long as the locks are just a few miles apart). It doesn't help the "go fast" boats to go 30 mph because they end up waiting for the "go slow" boats to reach the locks.

Boat convoy leaving a lock. Besides these three behind us,
there were three boats in front of us.

We reached the end of the Tenn-Tom Waterway yesterday (Wednesday, October 21) and are at a very nice marina in Demopolis, Alabama for a couple of nights. Grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning, and eating out are all on the agenda. We are still awaiting word from our insurance agent about our request for a waiver to continue south of 30 degrees north latitude prior to November 1, but are hopeful it will be approved. As long as Hurricane Patricia (is it weird that I'm somewhat pleased to have a hurricane with my name?) stays in the Pacific and no tropical storms develop in the Gulf of Mexico we should be OK. As there are no marinas in the 217 miles between Demopolis and Mobile Bay, we will be anchoring out for two or three nights. Our Verizon reception has been generally terrible during our cruise this fall, so it remains to be seen how "out of touch" we will be until we reach Mobile Bay on Sunday (waiver and weather permitting).

Telephone booth in the middle of nowhere. Bet the
connectivity is better than we have with Verizon.