Romance on the high seas! We left Biscayne Bay 07:00 and were on the Atlantic by 08:00 for a long, fairly tedious, uneventful crossing to North Bimini Island. In other words a perfect boaters Valentine’s Day with great conditions and arrival into the turquoise waters of the Bahamas.

We did get to experience the Gulf Stream flowing north with probably close to 2.5 knots extra push. So we followed the S-curve theory and left Florida heading south into the current (it is weak close to the coasts) and then adjusted heading back north to take advantage of the Gulf Stream. Apparently saves about an hour of time plus fuel as compared to drawing a straight line (rhumb line for you nautical types) from point of departure in Florida to arrival point at Bimini.

As we approached Bimini the water really did turn brilliant turquoise and the entrance to the harbour and our marina was our first lesson on reading the water. Deep turquoise is good…. very light turquoise is bad…. We were in a procession of boats heading in to port so got to listen in to VHF radio calls to marinas and between boaters; overheard the call “the red marker was wrong and just read the water!” to get in safely.

Customs and Immigration clearance was the first priority after arriving at Browns Marina. Only 1 person could go to the offices, so Wayne went and I had to stay on board until we were cleared. Apparently a bit of a backlog with multiple boats arriving at the same time so the 5 minute exercise took about an hour. I heroically held off having my first celebratory beer until Wayne got back.

More Looper catch up – 2 others arrived same day, we had met one couple several times along the way, and the other we had met in Fort Myers. Marina was good, with about a 4 knot current that switched as the tide changed. It was like being on top of an aquarium- crystal clear water with sting rays and fish active right below us!

Had dinner out at the marina restaurant and Wayne was shocked to find they were out of french fries – incomprehensible?!? Couple days later they were out of most of their entrees as well! Speaking of food – first experience with coconut bread – wonderful; conch … just ok. There are conch shells everywhere – piled up, built into fences, walls of homes – so must be a very popular staple.

The marina was on the inside / east side of Bimini – a 5 minute walk took us to a terrific beach. Lots of shells.

Did not know all the history of Bimini – from pirates (including Edward ‘Blackbeard’ Teach) and Ponce de Leon’s Fountain of Youth supposedly on South Bimini (did not find it, would not tell you if we did, we would just return home looking like we were 20 years old…) to Ernest Hemingway fishing and writing on the island, to a more ‘recent’ Hollywood connection as the last scene of Silence of the Lambs movies was filmed here.

Toured the small museum, checked out the local library, and basically wandered the 2 streets of the island (hey, found a dentist office, Wayne could have had his work done here!).

As Bimini is the closest island to Florida it’s often the first stop and treated as the jumping off point to the other islands in the Bahamas. So after a weekend we got another weather window to move further east to the Berry Islands. Long day, 85 nautical miles over the shallow Bank of Bahamas. Trick is to either take 2 days and simply anchor out midway, or do it in one long day. So up and gone before 07:00 and arrived just about 18:00 before dusk. Travelled at 8 knots so burned more fuel but arriving in daylight trumped fuel burn!

The Great Harbour Cay marina in the Berry Islands is a terrific, Class A harbour – protected from pretty much all directions. Great people, organizing on a weekly basis pizza night (very good pizza), potluck (don’t get caught at end of line, only pasta salad left), and barbecue night. There was a fishing tournament on as well – wahoo, long silver and black fish – winner weighed in just under 50 lbs. One of the sponsors hosted a shrimp boil for any charitable contribution we wanted to make to the local school on the last evening of the tournament – potatoes, peas, sausage, corn on the cob and shrimp all boiled together in one big pot, each ingredient added at exactly the right time to cook perfectly – delicious!

Time to explore the beaches, creeks, and ruins of golf and beach resorts from 1950’s, ‘60’s and ‘70’s when Brigit Bardot and the Rat Pack hung out here. The marina has bikes that we can borrow to ride to the beaches or explore the ruins… no gears, just old fashioned bikes with big seats and high handlebars.

We also took the dinghy for an adventure up Shark Creek the cuts across the Cay (only at high tide). First time unsuccessful – we got stuck and had to try out the paddles in the dinghy for the first time, now we know why we carry them!

Next time successful – early morning with high tide – and the creek winds through mangroves.

Lots of current, saw turtles, fish, sting rays… but no sharks. The creek spills out into the Atlantic on the east side of the Cay where we had about 1/2 hour to use our glass bottom bucket, or walk on the beach before we headed back across the creek before tide changed and we got stranded.

One of the local marina staff members had a side-line in basketweaving. He offered to teach people but too busy to sit for an afternoon! however, did want a seagrass basket as a memento, so he made this one to order.

Anyhoo… looks like good weather for 1 day on Friday the 28th before the next front blows through… time to head for Nassau for a brief visit so we’ll catch up later (later in island time is ???).

Belated Happy Valentine’s Day everyone XOXO, B&W

Ok, best laid plans…. just as we were about to leave Fort Myers on Jan 19th, we had a 10 day dental delay. Apparently you can go to “crown-in-a-day” dentist offices in Florida but Wayne’s adventurous spirit only takes him so far – preferred the traditional approach and fortunately he had a good experience in Fort Myers. It also worked out because we had wanted to sign up for MyIslandWifi for the Bahamas and without realizing that the rental devices / routers are in high demand and there was a delay in getting one. So all good….

We did manage to fill our last few days in Fort Myers with some entertainment – the Firestone Roof Top Bar with a great view of sunsets with other Looper friends:

Attended our first Wake Crossing party on Saturday, January 18th for Pam and John Short, who completed the loop / crossed their wake in Fort Myers. We had met them in Lake Michigan – socked into Milwaukee, Wisc at the same time – travelled to Racine, Wisc together, and saw them at the Fall Rendezvous. Wonderful to be able to celebrate with them – it only took them 4 years to complete!!

And of course Wayne and our great neighbour, boat next to us in the marina, Don, putting in several more afternoons of pork rinds and beer (according to Wayne the pork rinds are FREE with just one super-sized draft beer, how could you go wrong? and no problem with the temporary crown!). Ahhhh, Happy Hour!

Leaving Fort Myers heading east across the Okeechobee Waterway, we were back into lock systems – slightly different, they provide the lines you grab with a pole, and the water levels are managed simply by opening the doors gradually. We stayed overnight at a town dock in Moore Haven, very nice and quiet with 2 other boats heading the other way (one a Canadian vessel). We could smell something kind of nice / sweet burning – turns out it was sugar cane; not so nice, ashes drifting into our boat.

Next day was a good, long run – along a canal where we had our first, & several, alligator sitings! and across Lake Okeechobee which is the second largest freshwater lake in the U.S. second to Lake Michigan. It’s really shallow, manmade by flooding, so a good crossing is defined as no wind from the north to push us out of a very narrow channel. We learned that from our buddy boater Steve who had crossed before us and sent back word that he missed the channel in one spot and got stuck in sand / mud.

At the east side of the lake the next lock is right there…. however, water level management was in our favour, the lake and river levels were the same so it was a drive-thru’ experience – easiest lock yet!

We stayed 2 nights at the next lock – Port Lucie park & marina run by the US Army Corp of Engineers (they maintain the locks in the US). Very nice spot, 8 slips for boats our size or smaller; could only bow in and had to climb off the boat from the bow. Wayne rescued a boater next to us, an older gentleman fell into the water when he went to get into his dinghy – he missed, ended up in the water and unable to climb back out unassisted. We were all apparently thinking same thing…. alligators. So no aqua-fit classes anytime soon.

We had a very short run into Stuart the next morning – a logical stop as it’s just inland from where boaters coming off the Okeechobee Waterway will enter the ICW (the boater’s highway that runs north/south along the east coast of the U.S.). Turns out it was Super Bowl Sunday and the marina was hosting a docktail party. Free wings, beer & wine for $1, big screen TV – great timing.

Wayne also caught up with another Looper boat that had just crossed their wake in Stuart – we had met them on Hallowe’en night at the local marina restaurant in Iuka, Mississippi. I was checking out the great downtown area that had a Sunday market, live music, and a very nice boardwalk.

Next destination was heading south to an anchorage in Lake Worth, Palm Beach on Feb 3rd, 2020 – and we started to see evidence of why they call this section of Florida the Gold Coast. Large boats (yes, now we can call them yachts!), infinity pools, amazing homes, roombas for manicured lawns, all lining the ICW.

The other notable thing about this stretch south to Miami is the number of bridges we went under. Fortunately most were high enough for us to pass under but there were several we had to wait for them to open on demand as we approached or scheduled lifts. All told in the ‘span’ (ha!) of approximately 100 miles there were 42 bridges.

While we relaxed at anchor we looked a little bit south to where we could see the resort The Breakers and just off our bow, a golf course. By amazing coincidence, we were there the very same time that my old employer CP held it’s annual marketing & sales meeting. So I sent a trial email balloon to a couple of my favourite CP people (Joan & Tati) to see if they were hard at work preserving & growing the economic sustainability of CP to support a very important stakeholder group – THE PENSIONERS! & yes they were…. so funny!

On to next anchorage a bit further south – Lake Boca Raton. Across the very small lake was the Waldorf Astoria Hotel with it’s marina. They charge $6/ft of boat (we are 34′) with a minimum of 50′, so for one night to stay in our boat it would be $300 (no housekeeping, mints on pillows or anything!). We stayed at anchor…. Scoping out more mega yachts:

Next day passing through downtown Miami. We were told to expect a crazy busy port with all kinds of boats flying around, confusing markers for various channels, and more bridges. It was a weekday so that helped a lot – not very busy.

Maybe it also helps to expect the worst but we found it ok and passed on thru’ to our destination in Biscayne Bay – the Matheson Hammock Park & Marina. This was very much a case of hurry up and then wait… and wait… for a weather window to head across to the Bahamas.

Not a bad place to wait though! State park just south of Miami, below Coconut Grove (old part of South Miami), on the fringe of the Everglades. Everything just slowed right down … the marina is really a base for locals, so we found ourselves pretty much on our own out on the last pier before a small beach on the west side of Biscayne Bay. Many Loopers prefer to anchor off of Biscayne Key on the east side in a couple of spots protected from the Atlantic, ready for a crossing. Very busy, lots of boats so we made the right choice for us.

We were there long enough to rent a car for a couple of days so saw a bit of the area, caught up on shopping for food, beer, beer, and more beer in preparation for the Bahamas. And now more waiting….

Plenty of entertainment while we waited – incredibly graceful birds (in flight, not on land!), great sunrises, crazy kite sailers with a view of Miami skyline to the north:

And basically home base for a group of manatees that are routinely monitored by park staff! One behind our boat had to weigh in over 1000 lbs….

So enough blah, blah, blogging for now; next episode: Bahamas! XO B&W

PS. Belated Happy Birthdays to the Milton curlers: Roger, Miles & Dave

Happy New Year everyone, it’s been awhile since our last blog, almost forgotten how to!

We arrived the week before Christmas and got talked into more than the 2 – 3 days we initially thought we’d stay. We are at the Fort Myers Yacht Basin marina run by the city and they worked out a spot to put us and the monthly rate to stay as a “live-aboard” was really irresistible.

We also did not want to be on the move on Christmas and New Year’s thinking we’d enjoy festivities at a town instead of potentially being anchored out.

The month has flown by – Fort Myers downtown area is literally a block away and though quite small, has lots of restaurants (sampled a lot of them!) and shops. The town also seems to shutdown the riverwalk area for all kinds of festivals – Seafood Festival, Bacon Festival, Art etc. Add weekly farmers market, live music Friday’s, marina potlucks and of course Happy Hours! it’s easy to see how snowbirds and boaters get lulled into staying longer than intended.

Over the holidays we took advantage of historic home tours – all lit up for the holidays.

Fort Myers is where Thomas Edison and Henry Ford built winter estates beside each other in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Part of the larger museum now, these beautiful Florida style homes were all lit up as you would expect for Edison!

Along with Harvey Firestone, Ford and Edison hung out together. Can you imagine the conversations over cocktail hour or poker games? During WWI, one such chat probably went like this “hey Harv, one olive or two? you got any US sourced rubber?” Apparently the answer was no, so the 3 of them kicked in $25K each for research to find a US based renewable source of rubber for tires… great museum, including Edison’s local office:

New Year’s was really well done by the town. Downtown was open to pedestrians only with live music in several areas, food trucks everywhere, a ball drop at midnight followed by terrific fireworks just opposite the marina. A bit of a departure – we were both awake for the start of 2020!

We were also lucky to catch up with more boaters from Ontario staying the winter in Florida: Dave and Dominique (LaVagabond), and Randy and Terry (Hogsbreath). They knew another Looper – Gary on Mary Lisa – who we had met in Tennessee so caught up over dinner at a great pizza joint – Capone’s.

And just so no one thinks it’s all great F words: Fun, Food and Friends – there was in fact some boat maintenance done – add a shackle to our anchor swivel so we don’t lose it, new batteries, barnacles scraped off of the bottom of the boat (stationary in salt water not boat friendly!), and replacing parts of our head…. that’s toilet for all you non-boaters.

We’ve been incredibly fortunate to have had Karen and Scott DeVoll – Loopers a couple years ago, now stationed in Fort Myers marina – as neighbours. They have started a business called Capable Cruising doing on-board cruiser training for new boaters. They also have a business account with every boaters favourite store West Marine with a really decent discount they were able to extend to us (and their clients). So several shopping trips later…. we are well equipped to head to the Bahamas.

And so after one last downtown event tonight (Country Music Friday), and a Looper Wake Crossing party tomorrow (boaters who have completed the loop after 11,000 miles over 4 years!) we will be wrenching ourselves away from Fort Myers on Sunday, the 19th, heading east across the Okeechobee Waterway to the east coast of Florida. From there we will be heading south towards Miami, where we’ll wait for a good weather window to cross to the Bahamas!

Our stay in Fort Myers has been terrific but it has cut down on our time available to go to the Florida Keys…. so we are missing that but it must mean there will be a next time, right?

Lots of love, belated Birthday wishes to Rob S., Dwayne, and Collette!

Tarpon Springs for a couple of days was a nice break after the Gulf crossing. Arrived Tuesday, November 26th and stayed until Friday morning – we were there for U.S. Thanksgiving on the Thursday and the marina was completely shut down. No staff around, little bar/restaurant was closed, no fishing boats, just a few families out for the day. So we had an incredibly quiet day that featured watching manatees (very cool) and a steak dinner (one of Randy’s steaks from Cambridge barbecued Randy-style!). Think the beef compensated for no turkey….

We moved a short distance south to Dunedin, Florida and stayed for a week at Marker 1 Marina (great rates for Loopers). Lovely marina but not really catering to transient boaters.

Apparently all the $ for the Marina is in the day tripper / fishing boats and there was a lot of horsepower there – boats with 3 or 4 outboards hanging off the back. Easy walks to groceries, restaurants, and a free trolley to the original downtown Dunedin with lots of shops, restaurants and live music everywhere. Also took the trolley back to Tarpon Springs for a bit of shopping – sponges, sponges and more sponges …. and great olive oil soap (Tarpon Springs being known for the Greek sponge divers).

At the marina we met up again with one of the speakers from the Looper Fall Rendezvous we attended back in October – Eddy the Weather Guy! He was the expert on finding a weather window to cross the Gulf stress-free so he was interested in our experience. He also gave us good tips on local restaurants and anchorages further south and highly recommended a walk across a causeway to watch the evening sunset. He was a bit off on time to walk (said 20 minutes or so… half an hour in, not even half way there, we call it quits but still get a fantastic view).

Wayne had a chance to put his Florida salt water fishing license that he bought it Carrabelle, to use with 2 bait shops within walking distance.

Surprisingly the bait was fresh shrimp….. so maybe if fishing unsuccessful could console ourselves with a shrimp cocktail? Wayne-style, he became a ‘regular’ at the bait shop. First cast he caught a trout but not big enough for the slot size to keep. Released it only to watch a pelican scarf it up before it recovered enough to swim to safety. So much for slot size protection!

A week was too long at Marker 1, Dunedin, for Steve Welch, anxious to get his boat put up for month or so further south and head home for Christmas holidays. So we said goodbye for now after travelling with him since the Illinois River in September! Great travelling companion… miss him!

Heading further south we anchored out for a few nights before reaching Sarasota. The anchorages were good – the first one was great holding and weather protected but it was essentially in a tiny, residential bay surrounded by homes but happily for us – home to some playful (or hunting?) dolphins. The second we stayed at a couple of nights and it was in a larger bay close to Bradenton, at Emerson Point Preserve. We dinghy’d to the state park with really nice trails to walk.

We were anchored with others, but also with abandoned boats – sadly, a common sight where people simply leave their old wreaks. Which explains why some states are implementing no-anchor laws unfortunately.

Sarasota was our next ‘city’ to visit. Stayed at Marina Jack’s right downtown. Lovely marina, Wayne got our generator serviced here (first service we’ve done since we bought Red Dog, so due!), and surrounded by large boats.

5 minute walk to downtown – more shops, restaurants, bars. Very upscale – only grocery store was a Whole Foods, only car dealership was an Aston Martin…. you get the idea. 5 minute Uber drive to trendy St. Armand Circle for shopping, dinner, and coffee & dessert at The Colombia Restaurant (old Spanish restaurant). Also really enjoyed the happy hour at the local bar onsite at the marina and had a great visit with Lloy-Ann and Al Shields – the crew of Choppy Waves from Lagoon City who had just arrived in Florida for the winter. Great to see people from home and catch up – thanks again for driving up to see us!

Probably a highlight of the area and would recommend it to anyone visiting Sarasota area – the Ringling Museum: amazing art collection that was donated at John Ringling’s death and is onsite in the Museum of Art, fantastic circus museum with the best miniature display EVER!, and a tour of John and Mable’s home decorated for the holidays (apparently big fans of Italian marble!).

After the city sights and sounds we moved to a great anchorage – Pelican Bay, Cayo Costa. Highly recommended, with a bit of a funky entrance. No matter how much water you see, to get into the anchorage needed to stay about 1 boat length off the beach shore – that’s very close to shore! We watched one boat wait for high tide to get off a sandbar as they ran aground coming in – need lots of patience for that!

Next up was a couple of days at the Tween Waters Resort and Marina on Captiva Island. A unique situation, with the marina on in inside channel between Captiva Island and mainland Florida, a resort on the island, and across the road was ‘their’ beach on the Gulf of Mexico. A change of pace for sure – watching manatees 50 feet from our boat, betting on crab races, hanging out at the pools in the heat of the day, and walks on the beach that goes on for miles, looking for shells / finding shells / quickly discarding shells that had living things in them!

We also had the great pleasure of meeting up with John and Dianne Wilson (ex-boaters from The Narrows, Orillia) and Dianne’s daughter Andrea. Great to catch up! And thanks again for those strawberries!

Departing Tween Waters we were fortunate to have a decent weather window for the first part of the day. Plan was to make our way south to Naples where we had reservations at the city marina. Our route from this point takes us back out to open Gulf of Mexico waters…. however the forecast was for thunderstorms and seas growing from 2’ – 4’ to 6’ – 8’. Not much of a stretch of the imagination to say Red Dog made a 90 degree turn all by itself (with Wayne and my approval of course) into the Caloosahatchee River heading inland to Fort Myers. We were not the only boaters to cancel reservations at Naples.

But this turned into a good thing – we had amazing dolphin companions for a good part of the day, and we booked in at the Fort Myers city run marina – the Yacht Basin. Initially thought to stay just a couple of days, but with availability & really reasonable rates, plan to stay over the holidays and can leave whenever we see a good weather window.

Already reconnected with other Loopers we had met previously, including another speaker at the Fall Rendezvous – Karen DeVoll, the woman who spoke about anchoring and had a picture of Georgian Bay and North Channel experts, Audrey and Randy. In the meantime looks like downtown Fort Myers is a block away with lots going on over the holidays.

Well we are now caught up so Merry Christmas everyone! Want to wish you a very safe and happy holiday season. We are missing you (if not the weather!) and the many get togethers at this time of year – so special hello to the Guelph / Royal City ‘hookers’, the Milton Club curlers, fellow boaters and Loopers getting together along the way, and of course friends and family.

XO, B&W

Ps Randy – Red Dog just got a new set of batteries for Christmas … what a lucky dog it is!

Mobile, Alabama claims to have been the first community to celebrate Mardi Gras…. and generously lets New Orleans celebrate as well. Learned that Mardi Gras is french for ‘Fat Tuesday’ – with all that compulsory grade school french under our belts you would have thought we’d figure it out. In any event, Mobile takes Mardi Gras seriously (as anyone dressed in elaborate and crazy outfits, throwing beads and Moonpies at people can take something seriously?!). Year long prep and you get 43 parades (in 2019 – we counted – not including the Mystic Mutts of Revelry for dogs), 70 formal balls (need an invitation), and endless events and coronations of kings, queens etc… of course there is a museum. Moonpies continue to feature in our blog – apparently the old practice of throwing boxes of crackerjacks resulted in too many bruises and scrapes and messy popcorn to clean up. Switched to moonpies – fewer injuries! (& economic boon for home of moonpies in Chattanooga!).

Mobile is a great city to visit – downtown easy to get around, several really good museums, including a Maritime Museum with an interactive ‘dock a large container ship’ display.

While in Mobile we left Red Dog and headed to Louisiana to experience New Orleans. Stayed in the French Quarter (Place D’Armes Hotel, a bit grubby, but perfect location) within walking distance of great music, bars, food, people watching…. very easy to overindulge in the Big Easy, starting with their chicory coffee and donuts (beignets coated in icing sugar). What a recipe for success – a 4 item menu (coffee, oj, hot chocolate and donuts) and only accept cash! Also enjoyed a drink at the Carousel Bar, hung out while a crew was filming a Mardi Gras movie scene in the French Quarter (we were lucky enough to get a ‘coles notes’ version of the real thing!), checked out the Gumbo and Jazz festival in Louis Armstrong Park, and hung out at Fritzel’s bar in our spare time.

Only regret – we missed the Watts boys by apparently a week, they arrived for a football game the following week! Would have been terrific to see Milton folks in NOLA.

Back to boating…. we leave Mobile and head across the bay, it’s about 25 miles, and encounter fishing vessels, commercial vessels, and military:

Bay was really calm, we had our dolphin escorts, headed south and east to pick up the GICW (Gulf Intercoastal Waterway) and our first night in Florida. On our way we pass a bar called LuLu’s and she is apparently Jimmy Buffett’s crazy sister.

We carried on to a marina in Holiday Harbour and find ourselves with the dock to ourselves – watched the (another) beautiful sunset. It is a great way to wrap up the day:

More of the same the next day – we carry on to Fort Walton to stay at their free town dock – very nice, great library where I pick up books for sale. And on to Panama City the next night. Panama City has yet to recover from Hurricane Michael in the fall of 2018. Housing crisis, someone quoted 20% population decrease as homes were destroyed and they have walked away from rebuilding. We definitely see signs of it as the town marina is still out of commission:

Heading further east we stay overnight at Apalachicola, known for its oysters. We find a little hole in the wall restaurant called Hole-in-the-Wall and have great oysters and shrimp (with fellow Canadian Loopers, Jacques & Karen Campbell). Cool little downtown with lots of shops and bars….

We are on a bit of a mission at this point – wanting to get to a point where we can cross the Gulf of Mexico with a good weather window. So on to our last stop in the Panhandle area, Carrabelle, Florida. Not as picturesque as Apalachicola but a nice little town. We have been listening to weather forecasts, we have paid for a custom forecast for our boat travelling at our speed on a particular course, and have listened to local knowledge, getting prepared for our first overnight epic voyage! There are 3 of us from the Fall Rendezvous staying at the marina; there is 1 boat waiting out at anchor to depart; and 3 other boats at the other marina (including Karen & Jacques Campbell) – all of us departing the afternoon of November 25th but at different speeds, departure times.

It went beautifully for most of it. As predicted we set out around 2pm On November 25th in very calm, almost glass like conditions with a flotilla of 7 boats.

And wind picked up towards morning but we were prepared with everything loose stowed away. Watched out for crab pots and navigated through them and arrived on November 26th, 21 hours and 146 nautical miles later in Tarpon Springs, along the west coast of Florida! Ta-DAH, we made it!

And then zzzzzzzzz…….

XO, B&W

The Tenn-Tom Waterway is short for Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway. Man made, it joins the Tennessee River to the Tombigbee and Black Warrior rivers providing a commercial water route down to Mobile, Alabama and the Gulf of Mexico. Several locks along the way!

Had to get going – it was just too frosty in Iuka for us…

We had several foggy starts to the cold days; nice to have the option to let it burn off. One morning we had to leave early to catch a lock that had restricted hours of operation. Interesting boating in fog – very disorienting so have faith in technology and fog horns.

The lock hours also influenced where we stayed. So after a reasonable run we decided to stay at a local marina in Smithville, Mississippi. The manager talked us in from the main channel – on the radio about a km away telling us “turn now!”. And he was right – the boat first in ahead of us that said oh, 5’ of water – manager said if they had listened for him, they would have been in 10’ – so we listened.

Manager, like so many others we have met, was extremely entertaining – telling us that the review in Active Captain (an app for boaters rating marinas, etc.) said it looked like this was the place that boats go to die!

Anyway some explanation – Smithville and marina very hard hit by a tornado in 2011 packing 330 km/hr winds. Marina owner killed among others. His son inherited and pays no attention, so the manager does what he can. The ‘courtesy’ car on offer for us to use was not safe (manager’s words) so he offered us his truck if we wanted (courtesy truck, but not a courtesy gas tank, please & thank you!).

Nice cruising on the river in early morning, we have this perfect mirror image, as we leave Smithville and head to Columbus, Mississippi:

But don’t think man made always means straight…. here’s a view of our garmin chart plotter we use to navigate:

Columbus, Mississippi is a nice town to tour – the Visitor Center and museum is the home where Tennessee Williams spent his early childhood. While at the marina we met a couple from Canada also looping (Rex & Irene Bilger, M/V Tina Marie from Bobcageon), and their kids are named ….. wait, just guess ….. Wayne and Barb! So they won’t forget us.

From Columbus we head on and anchor out for a night at the popular Sumter anchorage, well known to locals and Loopers for it’s quiet beauty.

Next up, Demopolis, Alabama. Another nice stop with a dock master we will not forget. Her name is Anna Marie and she knows her stuff and is very…. bossy? particular? and micromanages people into the marina one at a time, and insists on handling lines by herself, NO assistance from anyone else. A boater went to help her bring us in and she told him to drop the line and get back to his boat! Courtesy van and despite a 2 minute drive to town and the ever present Walmart, everyone must return the van with a receipt showing fuel purchase. Believe our bill was $2.42 … but hey, she runs a tight ship and the place is organized!

Demopolis boasts a funky museum. Hey has anyone ever heard of an X-ray shoe sizing machine? No… because it’s rather unhealthy apparently, but take look at this invention:

The child with shoe, the parent, and shoe salesperson can all peer down at the kid’s foot at the same time to see if new shoes were needed or still room for kid to grow. The old gentleman showing me around (I was the only one in the museum) said he’s lucky to still be alive given his parents use of this machine on him!

And now for a brief intermission from boating: we have been doing what we’re told – as polite visitors to a foreign country, avoid certain topics: gun control, religion, health care and politics of course! One quick story though …. at Demopolis there are a number of boats with flags trumpeting their political stripes. As the Demopolis lock is just south of the marina and we have a long day ahead we want an early start. We get together the night before with about 12 other boats at the marina lounge and arrange to go through the lock together. Starting out at dawn, a bit dark, and as we secure ourselves to the floating bollards in the lock we discover that there are only 11 operational bollards and the last boat in would have to tie / raft off of another boat. Usually not a problem, it’s a large boat and should tie off to another large boat that puts out fenders for the boat needing to raft. All very civilized you know – boaters on vacation or on the loop are generally happy people! However the last boat in clearly demonstrating their political support and none of the other large boats was willing to accommodate them – studiously ignoring radio calls requesting permission to raft. And that’s why we don’t talk politics folks!

Happier topic, we head south and anchor out in a highly rated anchorage – Bashi Creek. Should go up the creek quite a ways…. except it has trees down. No problem, we anchor closer to the river and enjoy a quiet night. And wake up surrounded by debris.

And on to the next anchorage called Three Rivers Lake. This one was after the last lock on the Waterway, Coffeeville, and so our first experience with tidal waters. So EXTREME caution taken, EXAMINING other boaters reviews, TRIPLE checking Navionics for BEST place in the lake to anchor….. for a 4” tide. Yes, that is 4 inches, a non event.

Departing the Three Rivers Lake anchorage was fun, some current flowing – 4 knots in our favour, so we scooted pretty fast back out to the Tenn-Tom river.

Final anchorage before we head to Mobile was Big Bayou Cabot. Cool spot with a seemingly endless, winding river thru bayou country, lots of fishing shacks & fixer-uppers along the way…

November 11th, proudly wearing our poppies we arrive at Mile 0 – end of the river systems that we have been in since Labour Day Weekend! The last part of the Tenn-Tom, the Lower Black Warrior River brings us right downtown Mobile, past shipyards, cruise ship docks, etc.

A shock to see so much activity after our mostly lazy Tom Sawyer / Huck Finn-ish days on the rivers. Already feeling nostalgic…. but don’t feel bad for us, the Mobile Bay welcoming committee arrived, dolphin escorts! and on to our home for a week, Dog River Marina, southend of Mobile, Alabama.

Take care everyone, XO B&W

Happy Hallowe’en from Iuka, Mississippi! Well, all that hot weather disappeared in a hurry. We have the heat on, the rain gear out and not a whiff of 80 degree weather in site…. Will be getting all winter clothes out for tomorrow, November 1st – supposed to be 28 degrees Fahrenheit (for all of you too young to recall, that is below freezing Celsius).

But back to where we left off on our last blog at touring around Florence, Alabama – for anyone wanting to tour this area so rich in music history just think within a short (motorcycle?!) ride you could cover Memphis, Nashville, and Muscle Shoals. Apparently something in the water or moonshine (and if anyone hands you a clear fluid to drink and calls it Corn Whiskey as if that puts it up there with Wiser’s Canadian Whiskey don’t be fooled). A couple of pictures to sum up our experience at Muscle Shoals:

From Florence we had a short 20 mile and 2 lock cruise to arrive at the Joe Wheeler State Park Marina where we settled in for a full week and attended the AGLCA rendevous.

There were about 50 boats attending and many more staying in the resort who are planning their Loop in future years. The rendezvous provided a ton of material on the route from the Tenn-Tom Waterway as we leave the Tennessee River, down around or across Florida, Bahamas, and up the eastern seaboard up to North Carolina. Lots of other tips on technology, maintenance, anchoring (where believe it or not, the presentation includes a picture of a ‘Canadian expert, Randy Guzar’ – Randy, you’ve got international coverage!), and of course our favourite Canadian (& boater) preoccupation with weather and weather apps.

Lots of fun each evening, great food, and there were boat crawls where people could come aboard boats for a tour. Sigh, some cleaning required…. but well worth it, one woman was pretty much indifferent to our boat but asked if she could take a picture of our $9 Canadian Tire shoe rack! Just one of the critical issues to consider when looping.

We joined 11 other boats for a side trip to Chattanooga, Tennessee. 3 nights up, 3 days in Chattanooga and then the return trip to get us back on the route south down the Tenn-Tom Waterway. We left early in the morning for a great day up to our first overnight at Ditto Landing Marina outside of Huntsville, Alabama (home of the Marshall Space Flight Center).

One of the boaters – boat called Patriot, hostess Genie (as in I Dream of Genie), and husband Bill – hosted all of us aboard their 50+ footer for docktails. No problem handling 24 people easily (it got even better, on the return trip they hosted dinner aboard!).

Next day we passed by a couple of caves at water level, one protected by a wire fence – the maternity ward / sanctuary for the endangered grey bat. Unfortunately they leave in September so not around to see between 20,000 – 45,000 bats fly from the cave to feed on insects. But then again, missing the bats means we were not surrounded by billions of bugs so some upside…

On to our next marina, Goose Pond. In case anyone is thinking it’s all fun & games, it’snot. There is hard work involved, much elbow grease required to keep Red Dog reasonably presentable. Departing Goose Pond the flotilla had an interesting VHF radio exchange on the mysterious snot like substance all over our boats. Turns out there is an algae called didymosphia geminata that is more commonly known as ‘rock snot’. It’s been around forever and just needs the right combination of conditions (one of which is low nutrient levels in the water – what does that say about the Tennessee River?) to bloom. Lucky us… so ‘pick’ your poison – catch it early and it’s slimey and snot like, or catch it later and it’s hard and leaves a green stain! Note to Randy and Audrey, this might be a dealbreaker for you if Wayne sweet talks you into a trip in this direction!

Next stop was at a beautiful anchorage at Little Cedar Mountain on Nickajack Lake (topside of the Nickajack Lock) where we rafted with Joe & Robin on Sea Lord, and Steve Welch on Bunganuc II for the night. Delicious shooters were delivered by dinghy (perks of travelling in a flotilla).

Last day up to Chattanooga and we cruise through an area known as the Grand Canyon of the Tennessee River. The river is exceptionally beautiful in sections, especially with fall colours, then heavily industrialized in others. A real dichotomy – snapping pictures of gorgeous bluffs and then around the bend pass by a nuclear or coal or hydroelectric plant…

We stayed at a marina right on the river directly below the heart of downtown Chattanooga.

Great city – lots to see and do from art gallery to aquarium to civil war and railway history. We Uber’d to the Lookout Mountain Incline Railway that takes you up to the bluffs above Chattanooga where you can apparently see 7 different states all within mountain ranges; this is also the site of Civil War battles.

Beautiful parks, including the Coolidge Park, with its lovely carousel on the opposite side of the river from the marina. Easily walkable across a pedestrian bridge.

The local boaters hosted us for dinner the first night at a restaurant right on the river. They also went to a lot of effort to put together a tourist package, including a couple of Moonpies (yup, just one of Chattanooga’s claim to fame – home of the moonpie, now available in all kinds of flavours and forms – for the big fan, there is a local Moonpie IPA). Whether it was extreme discipline on our part or whether the Moonpies were not up to our usual fake-cake-Joe-Louis standards, we did not indulge in any more Moonpies.

At the dinner we actually got to meet the 2012 Loopers that we bought our set of paper charts from…. they were a bit dated but I like paper for perspective and backup to Garmin chart plotter & Navionics on iPad.

Return trip was equally lovely; we chose to hang back a day and take in one more quiet night at a park with a free dock – Shellmound Recreation, just on the top side of the Nickajack Lock. Pretty much all to ourselves, and one other boat on the only other dock.

We caught back up with the remains of the flotilla at Goose Pond Marina on October 25th, it was a wet and rainy day forecasted for the 26th so stayed an extra night. And lucked out with a potluck dinner aboard Genie & Bill’s boat Patriot. Learned how to make a lovely Italian soup from Marilyn (M/V Spinning Dreams). The trick to creamy flavour? add a Boursin cream cheese block!

Next night we stayed at a free dock Ingall’s at Decatur, Alabama. It is really a fishing boat launch ramp; remarkably nice dock, and very little boat activity on a Monday in October.

And on our last day back into Florence, it was like homecoming week! We crossed paths with boaters aboard Sequel, a Canadian couple we first encountered up in Northern Michigan and then when we pull into our slip at the Florence marina we are right beside Amazing Grace, our (big) sister 40’ red and cream coloured Mainship, who we also met for the first time in SSM, Canada.

All 3 of us (M/V Amazing Grace, Sandi & Dick Averitt; M/V Sequel, Dorthea & Brian and Red Dog) boated together for 3 days or so back in August so pretty awesome to see them both on the same day 2 months later.

From Florence we continued to retrace our steps to Iuka, Mississippi where the Tennessee River joins the Tenn-Tom Waterway, and we will start to head south (it was from here that we visited Shiloh on the way down). This time our tourism $ were well spent at Borruum’s old fashioned malt shop for a great burger and malted milk at the original store.

We also lucked out on attending a Looper’s birthday party aboard their M/V At Ease (retired General from US Army, Ben & Chantal Hagar). We first met Ben & Chantal at the Green Turtle Bay Marina & Resort, they were in the slip next to us. They also attended the fall rendezvous and were a part of the flotilla to Chattanooga, TN. Amazing how many people they had (comfortably) onboard:

Wrapping up – this is for Shirley Sheppard! at this marina we are in now we meet up with 2 other Canadian boats out of Port Franks, Ontario (yes Shirley! finally met Janet and Don and their buddy boaters aboard Knot Diggin’). They have covered a lot of water in a short time – in 6 weeks – what we have taken 4 and a half months! We also met at docktails people who know Randy and Audrey – met in Canada – Mike and Mary on Forever Friday, a 2008 American Tug. Very small world!

Love to all, with extra X’s and O’s to Bern and Scarlett, XO W&B

It’s been awhile… hello to everyone at home and a special hello to our curling buddies – big night tonight for the mixed competitive draws!

After leaving Paducah, KY on September 17th we had a few more uneventful miles on the Ohio River to where it meets up with the Cumberland River.

Down the Cumberland to Barkley Lock and then we are into a beautiful area called the Land Between the Lakes. It’s a park between 2 larger lakes – Barkley and Kentucky Lakes. Kentucky Lake is actually a manmade lake, created by the Tennessee Valley Authority when they widened the Tennessee River.

A lot of Loopers take a week or so break at a marina and resort at the top of Kentucky Lake called Green Turtle Bay. We spent 4 days there – welcome relief from the heat, hanging around the pool, zipping into the closest town, Grand Rivers, in a golf cart for ice cream, and enjoying the onsite pub The Thirsty Turtle for dinner most nights. Nice break from the busier rivers….

Also very happy to be on a lake that has a lot of places to anchor so starting on Sept 21st, the next 5 nights were great. Weather still hot, so 86 degree F water actually did feel refreshing for a moment or two. First siting of a feral pig – it stopped by the shore of a little bay where we were anchored. And this is where we start to see, despite long hot days, sun recharging our solar panels for shorter periods (0730 – 1400ish).

Needed a reprieve from the record high temps so headed to Pebble Isle Marina on Kentucky Lake for chance to plug in and enjoy some air conditioning (AC unit showing 100 degrees, our outdoor thermometer in the shade showed 98). The marina is located outside the town of New Johnsonville, TN. ‘Old’ Johnsonville was underwater – result of the deliberate flooding of the Tennessee River in the 1930’s that created Kentucky Lake. Had a nice little bar / restaurant onsite, with live music in the evenings.

For some reason Wayne and I were convinced this was the home of Johnsonville sausages – nope, but it is the home of the marina manager Billy – a diabetic who specializes in baking cinnamon buns each morning for the transient boaters. Self described as “fat as a pig” he no longer indulges in the buns himself. Also has another worry now – as I was checking out sunglasses he leaned over the counter and asked me if I thought the lump on his ear was cancerous!! You never really knew where the conversation was going to go with Billy….

Anyway, Pebble Isle Marina was a bit of of Paradise on these hot days… still managed to wrap up a rug hooking owl project in-between hanging out at the local watering hole with a cold one, or two!

To avoid becoming fat as pigs ourselves we decided to move on – asked for good anchor sites further south and Billy gave us a great one – behind Denison Island. Water levels typically low at this time of year, so good to get local advice.

Couple more lazy days and then on to the town of Clifton, TN to stay at the local marina.

We used the courtesy car supplied by the marina to check out the local sights including the Tennessee River Museum in Savannah, TN that featured local civil war history as well the Trail of Tears when the US government in the 1830’s forced Cherokee nations to relocate to Oklahoma (something like a ~1600 mile march). The little town of Clifton also boasted its own museum – the home of Pulitzer Prize winner TS Stribling. Don’t worry if you’ve never heard of him – won way back in 1932 for a book called The Store. Forward thinker for his time, he was critical of the south and slavery – so not the most popular guy on the local block back then.

From Clifton we had a beautiful cruise south, starting out early on a misty morning.

From Clifton, TN we were heading for Counce, TN or Iuka, MS depending on who you talked to… personally I think we were in Mississippi! There is a point in the middle of the Tennessee River that touches 3 states: Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama so asking where we are on land is actually a rational question. The route takes us through the Pickwick Landing Lock into Pickwick Lake. If we were not detouring and heading east to the AGLCA Fall Rendezvous, this is the point where we would head south on the north end start of the TennTom River.

At Counce (or Iuka) we borrowed another courtesy van from the Grand Harbour Marina and went to Shiloh National Military Park where the Shiloh battle was fought for 2 days, with casualties (dead, missing or injured) of about 25,000. We started with a movie about the battle – perfect for us as it provided great context for the Canadian (war) philistines in the ‘car’ (advertising on wheels for the marina).

And then we drove around to different sites where major battles were fought and a couple of us got out to check out the details while our driver was far more selective about what he left the van for …. overall a great experience and really well done, especially for the war history buff.

After absorbing all that history, time to absorb some local northern Mississippi cuisine. So we had a recommendation to go to The Dinner Bell for a meal. Maybe that was a clue – dinner bells are more often for schools, jails, other institutions where you call in the herd. Parking lot was full (good sign), people were on the large size (good sign?), prices were right (we misread that sign). One country fried steak later (Wayne, stoically sacrificing himself), one chicken and dressing (me) and one chicken and rice dinner (Steve) later, we waddled out to the parking lot. Steve pointed out that our ‘chicken’ meals required neither knives or teeth to consume (some kind of casserole). I argued that I needed teeth for the 2 tums I found at the bottom of my purse….. Dining tips we’ve picked up so far: no more grits, catfish, deep fried steak, and ask lots of questions about chicken dinners.

And so we head out for a night at anchor on Pickwick Lake, the Rock Pile Anchorage, all about the rocky entrance to a tiny bay, waking up to a cool (48 F to start the day!) foggy start to the day:

Arrived at the Florence Harbour Marina, in Florence, Alabama where we plan to stay 2 nights before heading to the AGLCA Fall Rendezvous. Great onsite restaurant and a wonderful Harbour Host who looks for daily volunteers for setting off the Sunset Salute. Free drink for the volunteer… Wayne’s in….

We also have the most amazing day touring a Frank Lloyd Wright home (I want one) and the #3614 Jackson Highway recording studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Check out the lyrics to Sweet Home Alabama…..

And so as we wrap up this blog I have to say I’m extreme disappointed to not make it to the Coon Dog Cemetery – one of the local attractions. How perfect would that have been – to have wrapped up this great day wandering through a graveyard for hound dogs in essentially Elvis country (he recorded at Muscle Shoal studio, along with The Beatles, Bob Seger, Linda Ronstadt and on and on and on….). Still have to sort through today’s pics so more on Florence in next blog.

We are LOVIN’ this trip! XO, W&B

14 miles south of the junction of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers is the town of Alton, Illinois – covered that pretty quickly for us – a zippy 12 to 13 knot trip (as compared to the average 7.5 knots we’d being travelling – yippee, think of the fuel savings!). Alton marina run by the town was terrific – pool and covered slips – perfect for the steamy 35+ Celsius weather. The whole marina is floating – docks, office, pool – to protect from flooding. Seems extreme but obviously necessary.

We had a poolside happy hour with about 10 other Loopers – this marina is a last stop for fuel for some boaters that can’t manage the next couple hundred miles without a fuel stop. Also a nice stop to take a deep breath before carrying on down the imposing Mississippi River and all of it’s busy commercial traffic.

Just south of the marina is our first lock on the Mississippi- we were fortunate to lock with just 2 other boaters and no major junk in the water – like trees, logs, etc. Others have experienced log jams that they have to slowly and carefully manoeuvre thru’…. and on the bottom side of the lock is a long spit of partially submerged rocks leading up to a bridge. A boat we’d been hopscotching with from June in Ontario, Allie and Jim on a 43’ Mainship Meraki, ran aground here and put a large hole in the hull and bent props. Apparently saved from sinking by pumps deployed from a commercial tug nearby until BoatUS (a towing service) showed up to tow them back to a marina – pumping water out all the way. Of course we hear this the night before we are to cover this area so super nervous until we get past it.

We are heading past St. Louis, Missouri on this leg of our trip – oddly the city has no transient dockage available so no stopping. There is however a live webcam at the St. Louis Arch so we had a live audience watching us go by! We had wanted to slow down and do a circle by the arch so our fellow boaters could get a picture of us under the arch, but between the current (I’ll get to that….), debris, barges, giant wake from barges, the second giant wake as it bounces off shore and comes right back at us again, and bridges – we did not stop for a graceful pirouette in front of the arch. Oh well….

On to the traditional stop at Kimmswick, MO for an overnight at Hoppies ‘Marine Service’. This has been a mainstay for Loopers for as long as recreational boaters have been travelling on this section of the Mississippi – about 50 miles downstream from Alton, Illinois (that’s about all you can take for Day 1 on the Mississippi at our new, improved 12 – 13 knot trawler speed). The owner, Fern, was known for giving bracing little chats about how to safely depart from her 3 barges (shot of reverse to get rid of the logs floating by or under your boat) and what to expect and watch for while on the Mississippi. Apparently Kimmswick is known for Hoppies AND a great local diner but unfortunately by the time we arrived & tied up, the restaurant was closed.

However Fern, and Hoppies, have fallen in hard times – ill health and river floods sinking 2 barges and the fuel dock. So no fuel, down to 1 barge from 3, no rafting because the 1 remaining barge cannot safely handle more than 3 boats… we did not have the pleasure of meeting Fern, but we still would not have missed it for the experience – kind of like being on the set for the movie Waterworld (anyone old enough for this Kevin Costner jem of a movie will appreciate these pictures).

A quick departure (unavoidably quick – will take a moment to describe the current: just imagine a pot of simmering water up to full roiling boil – add in some eye of newt, chicken bones the size of logs, and you now have a pretty good idea of the Mississippi River. But hey, fuel savings right? and then we are off to a quiet, peaceful night tied up at a lock that is just off the Mississippi River – Kaskaskia River, a tributary of the Mississippi. Perfect evening – lock was really quiet.

Only ourselves, Steve in Bunganuc II, and a third boat ‘BIG’ tied up. There were piano keys painted on the stern so we were hoping for Tom Hanks or someone. But it turns out no relation but instead a great guy, Sandy.

We have had great experience talking to the tow captains – one had some fun with us – called us Red Cat, then came back in to say sorry, Mad Dog… and we’ve also been thankful for their help. We now have a new favourite saying that covers urgent action required! thanks to our Mississippi River adventure and tow captains. If only we could type in southern, tug captain accents …. we were traversing a meandering part of the river with the usual barge traffic, simmering water and lots of red markers guiding us. Two tugs northbound slowed down and pulled over for a faster tug only 2 barges deep also going north. We’re heading south and the captain says come on through, pass on the 2 whistle. Just as we’re about to pass, one of the other tugs captain comes on the radio with “DIVIN’ RED, DIVIN’ RED captain”. Fortunately Wayne is more fluent in tug captain speech – I’m still trying to figure out what he said when Wayne clues in, turns hard starboard, at the same time the tug captain comes back again with an urgent “move over harder captain!” and we skinny by a submerged red marker – all we saw was a weird swirl in the water as it rushed by and around a hint of red. Not called Mississippi mud for no reason, can’t see below the water surface. Close call, would have been a hard hit for Red Dog. So grateful radio exchange back to the tug captain and on we go for our last overnight on the Mississippi at an anchorage called Little Diversion Channel. Notes indicated great stop unless heavy rains – then it’s at risk of flash flooding!

60.9 nautical miles at 9.9 knots later… and we anchor out at the next (& only) logical stop for us to break up the trip from Kaskaskia Lock to Paducah, KY. The notes on this anchorage are kind of funny – departing the Kaskaskia River you really have to ‘gun’ it to make the sharp starboard turn up into the channel out of the fast current. And also to be avoided in heavy downpours, as this calm channel apparently turns into a raging floodwater back into the Kaskaskia River! No worries for us and our sunny hot days.

And this is why recreational boaters get off the Mississippi (& Kaskaskia) River as soon as possible. 218 miles of fun and excitement is enough for us – on to the relatively calm Ohio River where we are against the current for 60 miles. Pretty busy barge traffic just as the Ohio meets the Mississippi but the water starts to clear up and becomes a murky green instead of brown mud – great improvement!

This was our longest boating day – 80+ miles, 10 hours and HOT! Remember M/V BIG from Kaskaskia Lock? Well we pull into Paducah, Kentucky city marina and Sandy, owner of BIG comes through with his promise of something for the first Canadian boater he comes across. After 10 hours in the heat, he hands Wayne an ice cold Labatt’s Blue with a Canadian $10 bill wrapped around it – truly a great guy! (a very sad footnote: he was travelling with a cute pooch, and a buddy of his – hurrying to get back to Florida where his wife was in the hospital. She unfortunately passed away just a few weeks after this… a reminder to be very grateful for good health).

Paducah, Kentucky is our one and only stop on the Ohio River and has a new, amazing dock but no other facilities at the moment.

The town is great – it’s actually on a national roadmap of the US for having the National Quilt Museum. Despite air conditioning, I could not get Wayne to tour it with me. His loss – terrific place, quilts were more like art than anything you would put on your bed. For any quilters out there – Cyndy, Colleen – gotta go someday!

Paducah also had a trendy downtown structured around an historic square. Dinner out at Doe’s – awesome, giant steak that Wayne and Steve shared but could have fed 4 people (if one were correctly measuring their meat portions). Also have a huge flood barrier wall between the downtown and the Ohio River painted on the inside with murals – history of the town since Lewis and Clarke came through exploring. Really well done, a great stop.

Next up, Ohio river down to the junction of the Cumberland River and into Kentucky Lake! The Land Between The Lakes, known for great recreational boating!

Take care, XO W&B

Well this part of our trip was dominated by 2 things – luck at locks! and funky places we’ve stayed – from yacht clubs to barges…

There are 2 locks south of Chicago on the Illinois River that will be closed next year – they have not had a major overhaul for decades – this year they have restricted hours as they do some prep work for the 2020 shutdown. This is a BIG deal for us Loopers as the restrictions meant we would have an 05:30 – 06:00 window for recreational traffic or when there was a lull in commercial barge traffic. But because of the restrictions, the commercial traffic is also impacted and is backed up, or at the least, very busy. Not able to count on a break in commercial traffic during normal daylight hours, we were expecting to get up (in the dark) to stage ourselves (in the dark) for a lock opening (in the dark) at 05:30 … not our ideal boating conditions!

So this is where our lock luck comes in. We left Chicago on the Sunday of the long weekend as they announced there would be normal lock operations for the long weekend! We sailed on through the locks without a hiccup!! Ok, not ‘sailed’ just cruised – Lock Master at the last lock for us for the day (Brandon Road Lock) with restricted hours told us we should buy a lottery ticket.

Leaving Chicago behind, we get into a far more industrial landscape, and around Illinois River mile 303.5 we see where the Calumet & Chicago Sanitary Canal joins up with the Illinois. These 2 options, the (Chicago Sanitary Canal) Illinois River and the Calumet River, are the only navigation for ships between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River system (and yes, the Chicago Sanitary Canal was originally a sewage treatment scheme, to eliminate risk of sewage that was flowing directly from the city of Chicago into the Chicago River and flowing to Lake Michigan which was the source of Chicago’s drinking water). For us recreational boaters, the Calumet option is an alternative route for those boats that can’t get their draft down under the 17′ bridges in downtown Chicago.

We took a break Sunday night between locks to try to even out miles to cover each day and stayed at the Harbourside Marina in Wilmington, Illinois with a lot of houseboats, a gas dock and one rickety dock for us AND an excellent restaurant! (Jennifer – check out the Big Fish Grille). (Except for the cheesy grits that a local recommended – may be our last grits experience). (Make sure you order the carrot cake – will feed a family of 6, or 2 people for 3 days).

On holiday Monday we got through the Dresden Island Lock early and reluctantly passed on a marina located in Ottawa, Illinois that has a pub called Red Dog. We’re not making that up…. our only regret of the trip so far. Figured a boat called Red Dog that still has Ottawa, Ontario on the stern as the home port would have been good for a free beer, or T-shirt, or something…. but we carried on because it meant we got through the second lock impacted by the ‘reno’ before the restrictions kicked in again on Tuesday morning. By noon we had locked through the Marseilles Lock with very little delay (a 45 minute wait at Marseilles for a barge to get through the lock). The Lock Master (US Army Corp of Engineers) had a reputation for being cranky with recreational boaters through all of the reno work but we really had a smooth ride in all respects: wait time, lock procedures, and Lock Master!

On to Peru, Illinois where we stayed at the South Shore Boat Club located on …. the north shore. The docks felt like they were 12’ long, with half our boat hanging out into the river. We had lines all over the place, crisscrossing the finger docks – good thing it was quiet by the time we tied up on the Monday. So not ideal at this point. But then we find out the club is really a pub and Monday’s are $1.50 a domestic beer, laundry (same facility as the pub uses) is free and suddenly this becomes an excellent choice.

And this is also where we realize what high water on the Illinois meant this spring / summer. Our boat at river level was down over 30’ below the pub. At high water level this spring the water was above the parking lot. Docks were not put in until July. We actually stayed 2 days – ’cause we woke up on Tuesday to thunderstorms so stayed put.

Next on to the IVY Club at East Peoria and this one was a club – The Illinois Valley Yacht Club established in the late 1800’s. Great place with a nice restaurant and a pool. Again hugely impacted by spring floods with water up many, many feet including 1/2 foot in the clubhouse.

Stayed 2 days – met and had dinner with 3 other couples doing the loop – very nice and very handy as they are a day or two ahead of us all the way – it’s like having our own personal scouts as they send back tips and feedback on where they’ve stayed.

After a couple of days poolside we finally anchor (first time since August 11th, so feels great) …. and with a sailboat, Polaris, that we first met in Covered Portage just west of Killarney, Ontario. Small world – they have a 14 year old boy with them and home ‘schooling’ had just kicked in this week. Apparently some difficulty adjusting and Dad escaped in his dinghy for a break so we got caught up. A really lovely spot … we’ve missed great anchorages (as long as you’re not there the one day a week they still load coal – black dust… white and red boat – would give our friends aboard Heart Tug heart palpitations!)

On to our next adventurous stop – Beardstown, staying tied up to a barge operated by Logsdon Tug Service.

Nice town, great museum with an original courthouse where a young Lincoln defended a guy accused of murder – got him off even though consensus was he was guilty. Museum was not busy so I got a one-on-one history lesson from the local volunteer historian. We got talked into a local restaurant serving catfish. Nice, light flavour but weirdly mushy texture – so no more grits and no more catfish. Fun stop altogether – met Steve Welch M/V Bunganuc II travelling at our speed in a 32’ Grand Banks and we’ve been travelling together ever since. Also met The Pirate and the Princess ( yup, that’s how they introduced themselves) travelling on a very colourful houseboat. The prior night they got stranded – beached their home on the shores of the Illinois and had to wait for assistance to get off the bank of the river. And that assistance was quite creative – wait for a tow, ask them to push a bunch of water towards shore and suddenly the Pirate & the Princess were floating again – way too adventurous for us!

Mel’s Riverdock and restaurant at Hardin, Illinois was also a fun stop – the dock was an old, rusty barge welded together and tied to shore. Pizza was excellent! We arrived just in time… waitress came over & advised ‘order quickly’ as a bus of teenagers in a school band had started to unload!

By this time we are really enjoying the river – got the hang of barge traffic with our own reminder of whether we were passing on the 1 or the 2 whistle! Also very happy to have AIS both sending and receiving our location and showing us barge traffic around river bends. We are now experts at one and two whistle passes!

The river is less industrial away from Chicago and we start to feel a bit Tom Sawyer-ish. Eagles everywhere, fish jumping, huge, wheeling squadrons of pelicans (had to look that up, flock just did not do it justice) … peaceful and beautiful!

And so we’ve travelled about 327 miles from Chicago to the junction of the Illinois and the Mississippi Rivers. Awesome trip down the Illinois and already on the Mississippi we’ve gained speed running at the same RPM’s – no longer trawler speed!

Take care y’all, B&W