Sojourner heads off to new adventures!

It is with very mixed emotions that we announce a change in crew for Sojourner.   She now belongs to Barry and Barbara and will be cruising out of Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. We wish them many great times on this very special vessel!

For five years, almost to the day, Sojourner was the central focus of our lives, and we had the adventure of a lifetime aboard her!!  As two academics who had never owned a boat before, we had not a clue about what awaited us on that summer day in 2008 when we boarded her for our first cruise.  We certainly had no idea of the challenges we would face, how much we would learn, or how much fun we would have on what quickly became a life-altering, grand adventure!  Our lives have been immeasurably enriched by our time on Sojourner, and we will remember always the incredible sights and sounds we encountered, and we will treasure always the many, special people whose lives touched ours along the way.

In this last posting, we now check off “living on a boat, long range cruising, and the Great Loop” and turn our attention to the many other items still on our Bucket List!

We hope you have enjoyed “Sojourner’s Sea Stories!!  Thanks cruising along with Sojourner and us on our great adventure!!

Sailing ship of yore cruising on Hawk Channel

After spending the winter holidays in Port St. Lucie with Cousin Evie and then stopping in Ft. Lauderdale for Trawlerfest, we didn’t actually get to the Keys until early February.  When we finally headed there, we had great weather and followed the same route as last year (see: Nov. 2011 and 12/16/11) through Miami, across Biscayne Bay and then down the Hawk Channel the length of the Keys with just short stops at Key Largo and Duck Key.

One of MANY Miami bridges

The Biscayne Channel on the chart plotter

Stilt house on Key Biscayne

The real, original African Queen cruising out of Key Largo

Incredible water in the Keys

Tho’ much shorter, Sojourner’s second winter in the Keys was as interesting and enjoyable as the first (see: Key West Moment 12/20/11 and Key West or Key Weird? 1/22/12).  This year, we spent virtually the entire time in Key West, one of our very most favorite places among all we have experienced on this grand adventure.  We called Conch Harbor “home”, so we were still in the historic seaport and right next door to the city marina where we  docked last year.  This time, however, “the little white boat” snuggled in on the Yacht Dock, amongst the BIG Girls:  Lady Grey at about 100 ft., a massive Nordhavn, and a rather large Trumpy served as very protective neighbors.

The “little white boat” on the Yacht Dock

Tortuga IV, a bright chartreuse, commercial catamaran chartered for ½-day fishing trips also docked nearby.  The cleaning of her tourists’ twice-daily hauls of fish ensured we had plenty of pelicans and a rather amazing number of 5-7 ft. tarpon in the neighborhood!!  Most impressive, however, was the resident manatee who seemed to be particularly fond of Sojourner’s hull and Lady Grey’s fresh water hose!!  And then, there was the rather large Portuguese Man-of-War jelly fish that appeared dockside one day and without invitation, stayed for several!!

Sojourner’s favorite tarpon

The neighborhood manatee comes visiting

Pelicans and tarpon fight for fish scraps

Not good for the manatee!! but cute!

Our visiting Portuguese Man of War…

 While Sojourner relaxed at the Yacht Dock, we explored Old Town in much more depth than last year.  In addition to revisiting places we had discovered before, we ventured regularly into the charming neighborhoods filled with KW cottages interspersed with rather large Victorian homes, both with amazingly intricate woodworking and brightly painted porch ceilings. We enjoyed the many, many gardens in full-bloom and discovered several fine restaurants and intriguing eateries tucked in the residential area away from the more tourist-oriented seaport.  Sharing such discoveries with friends, both land-based and cruising ones, made our time in KW all the more special!

Ubiquitous KW rooster and friend

Bright KW pink walls…

Introducing our good friends: Slade and Susan on “Sojourner NY” and …

Orchids in the front yard

A musician’s home…???

Orchids everywhere!

A lily theme throughout…

Kim and John from Louisville

and sky blue ceilings…

Cathryn and Bob on “Next to Me”

Delightful art deco AND wonderful fresh seafood!

Pineapples and parrots, anyone?

David of “Shirley Ruth” and new KW friend

Carolyn with Anita, Linda and Shirley visiting from the “Shirley Ruth”

Yum-m-m-m!!

More orchids

Hardworking Crabber provided incredible stone crab claw delicacies

As sad as it was, we eventually had to leave KW.   We headed back up the Hawk Channel, again stopping at Duck Key.  Facing a dramatic change in the weather, we bypassed Key Largo and ran directly to Dinner Key in Coconut Grove on the far side of Biscayne Bay.  The next couple of days brought strong winds, but by then we were again on the Intracoastal Waterway traveling slowly through the dozens of bridges and even more “no wake/manatee” zones of the vast, densely populated metropolis extending from Biscayne Bay north from the Port of Miami and Miami Beach through  Dania Beach, Port Everglades, Ft. Lauderdale, Delray Beach, Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Palm Beach, etc., etc. to Lake Worth.  From Old Port Cove in North Palm Beach, another of our special marinas, we had but a short day’s journey through Hobe and Jupiter Sounds to Stuart and then on to River Forest Yacht Center on the St. Lucie River where Sojourner had a reservation for indoor, climate-controlled, storage through the upcoming hurricane season.

Hard to believe bad weather coming!!

Metropolitan ICW

Port of Miami “Flight” Tower

Ft. Lauderdale beach

Up out of the water!

Into the hurricane-proof shelter

Snuggling down for long summer night’s rest.

After passing through 4 locks on the Caloosahatchee River east of Ft. Myers, crossing Lake Okeechobee proper and locking through twice on the St. Lucie River, we arrived in Stuart for the holidays.  After a very quick trip to Lexington to pick up the car and get it south for the winter, we stayed with Cousin Evie in Port St. Lucie until New Year’s eve.  Sojourner made herself “to home” at Whiticar’s Boat Works where she received some well-deserved basic maintenance after her Great Loop adventure!!   Such things as all new fresh and salt water hoses and clamps, servicing her aftercooler, flushing her heat exchanger, and two new coats of bottom paint may not sound exciting, but they and other such work were critically important after the long journey.  She also got a really fine detailing:  sanding and new varnish on her brightwork, cleaning/polishing of all her stainless, and waxing/buffing of her hull and superstructure until she shone in the sunlight!!

While Sojourner enjoyed her R&R at Whiticar’s, we spent a couple weeks in early January in Cozumel, Mexico, the first, with son Doug, daughter-in-law Sarah and grandsons, Isaac and Owen.  The latter two wanted to know why Sojourner hadn’t come along, but both seemed quite happy to swim and snorkel off the deck of the rental condo instead of Sojourner’s swim platform!  It was great fun to relax with them all!! Friends Sue and Susan from Syracuse joined us for the second week and that was quite different but delightful as well! (Cozumel pix)

 Upon our return to Stuart, we reclaimed Sojourner and headed south to Ft. Lauderdale and Trawler Fest.  From there, we retraced our steps from last year (11/2011) down the Hawk Channel along the Keys:  Lauderdale to Coconut Grove, to Key Largo, to Duck Key, and finally to Key West!  It was an incredible trip with each day more glorious than the last!!

It surprises us both that we like Key West so much but for whatever reason, we do!!  We’ve retrieved the car from Ft. Lauderdale and are settling into a month of relaxation in the warmth of the winter sun!  Most cruisers and Loopers pass through the Keys sometime during the winter months, and we are looking forward to seeing several folks we’ve met along this Grand Adventure, including Susan and Slade on Sojourner NY, Cathryn and Bob on Next to Me, and David and Shirley of the Shirley Ruth.

Key West Pirates celebrate the Holidays

We wish you and yours the very best of this most special season and much happiness in the New Year!

2012 has certainly been full and exciting for us!!  Early in the year, we fulfilled Susan’s long time  fantasy to “winter in the Keys” when we split the months of December, January and February  between Key Largo and Key West. Then, after almost 4 years on the water,  we capped our Grand Adventure by completing the Great Loop! Actually, by starting in Key West in February and returning to Stuart in mid-December, we cruised the entire Loop in 2012, but the trip north was our 5th time along the eastern seaboard (from Florida to central New York), so we didn’t really feel that we were “looping” until we reached Canada and waters we had not traveled before.

What an adventure it was!!  We enjoyed recent and old friends as we moved northward, and we met fantastic people, almost always with the good fortune of seeing them more than once along the way!  We experienced amazing sights and sounds: brilliant sun rises and sunsets everywhere we ventured, incredible 100+ year-old locks and canals on the Trent Severn Waterway, strikingly beautiful, if sometimes barren and desolate, shorelines along Georgian Bay and the North Channel, fierce storms (almost always from the safety of a marina), and incredible wildlife, especially plaintive call of the Canadian loon, and sometimes when we least expected it!  All-in-all, a journey of a lifetime and we are grateful we have been able to share it through Sojourner’s Sea Stories!!

We hope you have enjoyed this year’s chapters in Sojourner Sea Stories and perhaps some of your favorite pix will appear in the 2012 slideshow below.

Ho Ho Ho and Happy New Year!!!

With the help of some friends, we found a couple workarounds if  the slideshow in the latest posting delivered to your e-mail doesn’t show and slide automatically:

On some I-phones (older than 5) and MAC’s, there’s a question:  ”Trouble clicking?” at the very bottom of the post.  Try the option of clicking on the hot link to Sojourner’s Sea Stories there…

On some PC’s, try clicking on the Sojourner picture in the upper left hand corner…

If all else fails, trying going to the actual blog site on the web:  http://www.SojournerKY.WordPress.com

Ain’t technology marvelous???

And in any case, HAPPY HOLIDAYS from Sojourner’s crew!!!

While “messing” with the latest posting, we also made some editorial changes and corrections.  So, please enjoy the updated posting @ SojournerKY.WordPress.com   !!

Last sight of land…

On the day after Captain Donald joined us in Carrabelle, all the predictions and predictors indicated an “increasingly smooth” ride for those “jumping” across the Gulf of Mexico from the Panhandle to Tarpon Springs, Clearwater, or St. Petersburg on Florida’s west coast. We tried as best we could to take our time in preparing for departure from Carrabelle to give the Gulf a chance to “lay down”. Turns out, however, a leisurely departure isn’t something we do well at all, and by 8:30 am Sojourner was heading out the Carrabelle channel toward the wide open waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Sun setting on the Gulf

Had we had enough patience in timing our departure better, we might have been rewarded with a smooth trip, but leaving when we did brought a bumpy ride almost the entire way!  We smoothed out the “beamy” swells as best we could by adjusting both course and speed.  Thus, Sojourner played “sailing vessel” as we tacked back and forth, first a couple miles southeast of our course bearing and then a similar distance southwest of it…  Luckily, more speed worked better than less so we cruised at a nice clip consistently.  Otherwise, we might still be tacking to and fro!!

Moon rising on the Gulf

Sojourner’s initial course headed us toward Clearwater. We thought that preliminary destination would keep us closer to shore and in better water.  As it turned out, however, when we altered course and headed toward St.Petersburg, the ride smoothed out and the need for constant tacking disappeared for several hours!

Driving by instruments in the dark

Though longer, this trip was smoother than our first “jump” 4 years ago, and it was comfortable enough to be enjoyable!!  Especially for Susan, who this time did not turn green within the first 20 minutes, and who actually remained upright and functional throughout the 25-hour run!

“The Legend” approaching

The tensest moment of the entire trip came as we cruised leisurely up Tampa Bay toward St. Petersburg.  On the VHF radio we heard “The Legend” calling  “the little white boat in Alpha Channel”… several times and with increasing intensity.   Still driving from the “night-time” helm inside instead of the flybridge, it wasn’t easy to look around, and it took us a awhile to get curious enough to investigate who “The Legend” might be and where “the little white boat” could be. Weren’t we surprised to discover Sojourner was “the little white boat” and “The Legend” was a tug pushing an oil freighter, coming up behind us at about 25 knots!!! Needless to say, “the little white boat” exited the channel as quickly as possible, and the freighter and tow steamed right by!

St. Petersburg from the marina

The plan was to enjoy St. Petersburg after “The Jump”, but we learned good friends Slade and Susan on Sojourner NY were in Sarasota, only a short day’s trip south.  So after just a day in St. Pete’s, we headed back out through Tampa Bay to rendezvous with them at Marina Jack’s!

Evening visitor to our Sarasota dock

So, we are now enjoying our couple of days of R&R in Sarasota before heading farther south to Fort Myers.  From there we will travel along the Okeechobee Waterway to the east coast of Florida where we will spend time with Cousin Evie in Port St. Lucie.

Enjoy more pix of Sojourner’s Gulf jump and trip from Carrabelle to Sarasota by double-clicking to access a Flickr set:  Gulf to Sarasota.

“Grand old oak” mentioned in the 1706 Spanish landgrant still standing

After an enjoyable stay in Mobile which included some sight-seeing to places Susan remembered from living there a lifetime ago, Sojourner headed east and hopefully to warmer weather.  Our next destination was Carrabelle, near the eastern edge of the Florida Panhandle. Most cruisers “jump” the Gulf of Mexico to get to the west coast of Florida from Carrabelle.  Some move gradually around the “elbow”, stopping at various places along the way, but most head into the Gulf in the direction of Tarpon Springs, Clearwater, or St. Petersburg!

Big boats on the Bay

Our first day out from Mobile was a short one: we headed across the Bay and into the GIWW (Gulf Inter-coastal Way) to Orange Beach AL.  From there, we said good bye to “big water” for awhile as we meandered slightly inland through rivers and dug canals, an area not too affectionately called “The Ditch” or Florida’s Grand Canyon.  Next stop, Fort Walton Yacht Basin, not the most upscale of marinas but a meaningful place to us:  our first grounding occurred just before Fort Walton 4 years ago, and it was at the Yacht Basin that we were adopted by 3 Looping  trawlers who graciously invited us to join their merry band-  Whether the invitation came out of concern for us (absolute boating novices at that point) or from the thought they’d be safer if they kept an eye on us, we will never know!  Whatever their reasoning, we thoroughly enjoyed tagging along to Carrabelle.  [For more on our first trip along this way, see: Mobile to St. Petersburg ]

Almost like the Hudson River…

This time along the Panhandle, we thought we’d be traveling alone, but the second day out, we found Jack, Denise, and Beatrice from Brazil on Jade who were traveling with Phil and Carolyn from New Zealand on the Loopy Kiwi, two boats we first met at Frankfort, during our long trek down Lake Michigan!  Other Loopers joined along and soon there was a parade going through The Ditch.

Panama City Entrepreneur

At Panama City, Jade suggested a marina down St. Andrews shipping canal toward the Gulf, and we opted for the adventure!  Bay Point Marina and Resort was a delightful stop about 30 minutes off the GIWW.  From there, we headed to Appalachicola, the Oyster Capitol of the US.  Seriously, some 90% of all oysters served in the US come from the oyster beds in Appalachicola and St. George’s Sounds!  Having rented beach houses on St. George’s Island several times and having stopped in Appalachicola 4 years ago, we knew we were in for a treat!!

Capt. Carolyn at the helm!

We decided to try a different marina… and that’s always an adventure!   We thought we reserved a slip at the Appalachicola Marina, but the dock master directed us “3 blocks up the river” to a spartan dock with no facilities other than an electric post.  We tied up behind a commercial Shrimper and in front of a vacant lot and abandoned warehouse!  The dock master arrived in a golf cart to assist us and gave us the cart for the duration of our visit!  Susan quickly dubbed our spot the “Appalachicola Marina Annex,” and it turned out to be just fine.  A bigger and much more enjoyable surprise was to see Tom of Q’s End ride up on his bicycle!!  Canadians Tom and Linda had befriended us in Leland MI, and we had enjoyed their company at several stops along Lake Michigan!  After a brief visit, we hopped on the golf cart for the short ride to Papa Joe’s, for a dinner of the freshest, most delicious oysters one can imagine.

Gorgeous rural scenes

Two of many playing with Sojourner!

During last day out from Carrabelle we returned to slightly larger, if not much deeper, water as we cruised through first Apalachicola and then St. George’s Sounds.  In contrast to our last trip, we saw not one oyster boat, but the dolphins returned to play with Sojourner and we spotted a bald eagle surveying the Sound from a navigational maker not 20 feet from the boat!!  All-in-all, an enjoyable cruise!

Surveying its territory not 20 ft. from the boat!

Thanksgiving came to The Moorings in Carrabelle.  The extended family of the marina owner took over the Boaters’ Lounge and put on an amazing spread of home-cooked delights in addition to a smoked turkey and a baked ham.  The family graciously invited all boaters in the marina to join in the celebration, and it was one of the best Thanksgivings either of us could remember!!

Backed in (!!) at Carrabelle

All weather predictors and predictions are zeroing in Sunday of the holiday weekend for a safe and comfortable Gulf crossing and that’s our plan at the moment.  The posting from December 2008 describes Our first Gulf “jump” in some detail.  This one will not be quite as momentous, but in the intervening years, we have not traveled at night nor have we traveled for 24 hours without stopping.  Thus, even though we are now more experienced cruisers, we still allow discretion to be the better part of valor-  So, Donald, a boating colleague we met first at Palm Coast in the Spring of 2009 (and a USCG 100 ton master captain) will join Sojourner’s crew for the 24-hour run to St. Petersburg!!  We’ll post again from the west coast of Florida!!  Click to view slideshow.

Crew ready to roll!

On our way from Lexington to Green Turtle Bay Marina (GTB) near Paducah in western Kentucky, we picked up Sue, a good friend from Syracuse, who volunteered to join us on this last leg back to the land of palm trees and fresh seafood. As it turned out, our timing was almost exactly the same as Sojourner’s first trip along this route some 4 years ago.  Not much has changed on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway in the interim, and our original blog posting provides general information and describes much of the topography experienced on this trip: see “Heading South Before Winter” (double click to see that posting and accompanying pix).

Our GTB provisioning day dawned sunny and in the 70’s, but an unexpected storm front delayed our leave-taking and took the last vestiges of Indian Summer with it. Our departure two days later occurred with fog and temperatures in the 50’s! And so the river trip went! Often sunny but frigidly cold!

Beginning Fall colors

As we pulled out of GTB on Saturday, 10/27, our bow thruster conked out (the technical term), and after some discussion, we decided to go on without it rather than wait out the weekend in place. A long and cool but pleasant day of cruising down the beautiful blues waters of Kentucky Lake (Tennessee River) took us out of Kentucky and into Tennessee, where we stopped at Pebble Isle Marina, home of the famous Cinnamon Buns as well as great people and a good mechanic. High winds kept us there for the remainder of the weekend, and on Monday, the bow thruster problem was diagnosed as a bad solenoid. The part had to be shipped from a company in Massachusetts, but no one was there on Monday because hurricane Sandy’s ravishing of the east coast. So, just as we might begin to grumble about trip delays, we were instead incredibly grateful to be where we were! The last several years we were on the east coast at this time, and had we not decided to finish the Loop this year, we would probably have been somewhere along the Jersey coast when Sandy hit!

Moon over Pebble Isle

Surprisingly, the parts company returned to work Tuesday; the part was ordered and shipped ahead of us, and we headed on, first to Clifton, TN and then to the Aqua Yacht Harbor marina and full-service boat yard in Iuka, Mississippi. In getting to Aqua, we did several marina dockings/undockings and one lock without the bow thruster. Luckily, all went well, and after another down day for part installation, a fully healed Sojourner resumed her southward trek.

Sunset on Yellow Creek

After traveling through the Divide Cut (the long, straight, human-dug, canal section of the Tenn-Tom waterway), two more marina stops (at Midway in Fulton MS and Columbus, in Columbus MS), and 9 more locks, we experienced our first anchoring out of the trip. While we had several, seemingly good options, we decided to drop the hook in the Warsaw Cut, the same anchorage Sojourner used on her first trip. It’s a deep, protected oxbow off the river, and we spent a quiet, uneventful night…with 200 feet of chain rode out we felt quite secure and even slept some!!

“Smoke” on the water at Clifton

Election night found us in Demopolis, AL, in a covered slip within the brand new, upscale marina there! We even had TV (only time on the rivers) so we could enjoy the evening’s developments in the comfort of our own salon!! The election part was quite similar to that of the trip 4 years ago, thank heavens!!

Crew Sue staffing the lock wall

Leaving Demopolis, Sojourner joined several other vessels heading to the lock and ended up traveling with them for the day. Their planned destination was Bobby’s Fish Camp, and after some discussion and time tracking, we decided we could make that too. Getting to Bobby’s would save us anchoring out one night and get us all the closer to Mobile. Because of weather and repair delays, Sue’s generous 2-week time budget for the trip was rapidly running out. So we pushed Sojourner to run “fast” all day and she seemed to love it!! We made Bobby’s in time to be in the second row of the rafting-off scheme and to try the famed fresh-caught catfish- Sue had a whole one fried; Susan had grilled filets; and Carolyn had shrimp!!

Pass on which side??

And then the adventure really began! Our nightly engine check revealed a fuel leak… and suddenly the game plan changed. Not knowing the extent of the problem, we were unwilling to move ahead for the two-day trip and one night anchoring out required to get to Mobile. We secured passage for Sue on Sandpiper, 47 ft. Endeavor Cat run by Ann and Robert. By 6:15 and shrouded in fog, the other 4 boats left Sojourner tied to Bobby’s Fish Camp dock and felt their way toward Coffeeville, the last lock before Mobile.

Yep, that’s it!!

Rafting at Bobby’s

As best we could tell, Sue experienced something akin to “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride”, running down to Mobile at 15-18 mph, but she got in safely that night and caught a plane home early the next morning. Sadly, another vessel in the Bobby’s Fish Camp flotilla was not so lucky. They ran aground passing a tow, did severe damage to their props and shafts and had to be towed to Mobile….

Sojourner in the fog at Bobby’s

Meanwhile, back at the Fish Camp, we waited until full daylight and then began testing out our various options. By walking to the top of the hill above Bobby’s restaurant, Susan could get some minimal phone service. Luckily her first call was to Dog River Marina, and within the hour, a mechanic was on his way to Sojourner, some 120 miles north of Mobile Bay. With intermittent Internet service, Carolyn picked up note from cruising friends Cathryn and Bob on Next to Me. They were across Mobile Bay in Fairhope AL and just “hangin’ out”… When they heard of our situation, they graciously volunteered to drive up to Bobby’s, and Bob said he’d ride to Mobile with us if the mechanic declared Sojourner seaworthy for the trip! After another catfish dinner, they spent the night with us on Sojourner who, by virtue of her troubles had secured the dockside/first row position for the nightly rafting off. Long story short: Sojourner was cleared to proceed at normal speed to Mobile; Bob joined us for the two-day trip, including a night of anchoring out in the beautiful Alabama River Cut in between! We met more tows the last day out than in the entire trip combined, but other than that, it was a much appreciated, uneventful journey!  Midafternoon Cathryn caught our lines at Dog River Marina, after her very first experience single-handing their 42-ft. Jefferson across Mobile Bay!!!! That is no small feat, and we are impressed!!! At the end of the day, we all enjoyed dinner at the Mobile Yacht Club in celebration of all our good fortune!!

Sun and “smoke” in the morning

River wildlife

The trip was not all “mechanical” adventures-  we had some great cruising days, especially on the Tennessee River. The fall colors brightened as we headed south, and the bitter cold but sunny days created some fascinating “smoke” on the water in the mornings. Tho’ the cold probably kept the alligators from view, we did see more wildlife than on the rivers thus far. That 12 locks (all uniformly 110 ft. wide, 600 ft. long and ranging in height from 30 to 84 ft. high-second highest in the country) garnered nothing but an aside or two in this story is proof-positive of the difference that 4 years, almost 18,000 miles and literally 100’s of locks can make! We certainly do not take any lock for granted, but under normal conditions, they are no longer the focal point of the day-

Bald eagle soaring

All in all, it was a great trip, but arriving in Mobile without Crew Sue just didn’t seem right-  She adapted to the cruising life right away, picked up the routines seamlessly, and learned basic docking/undocking, locking, and navigating like a natural!  We had a great time with her aboard!!! We only hope the adventures beyond  “routine” cruising will not dissuade her from joining us again!

Downtown Mobile Convention Center

Sojourner’s minor fuel pump leak will be repaired quickly, and after 4-5 days of rest, relaxation and re-provisioning, she’ll head out across Mobile Bay to begin the trip east along the Florida Panhandle.  Here’s a slideshow with more pix of the trip:Click to view slideshow.

From St. Louis MO to Paducah KY

After a one-day layover for some routine maintenance and repairs, Sojourner headed down the Mississippi River, and with the departure from Port Charles Harbor, we began to retrace our inaugural adventure four years and some 17,000 miles ago. Back then, with Patti and Carol of Sea Sense aboard as our training captains, we were “baptized” as boaters by the 4-day trip to western Kentucky on rivers raging just below flood stage. In fact, only two days prior to the start of that trip, the Mississippi had reopened to pleasure craft (PC’s) after being closed for several weeks due to high water. This trip down the “Big Muddy” was very different! Instead of too much water, there was barely enough, and both the drought conditions and the heavy commercial traffic continued to play havoc with our ability to truly enjoy each day’s journey.

Palisades along the Upper Mississippi

Like many major rivers, the Mississippi gets bigger, wider if not deeper, as it moves from its headwaters down toward the Gulf of Mexico.  At the point where the Illinois and Mississippi rivers meet, there’s not much difference in their size, but the farther south we cruised, the wider and more majestic the Mississippi became. Near the rivers’ junction, palisades line the Mississippi shoreline, but gradually the land flattens out and rock walls are replaced by populated commercial areas interspersed with undeveloped and seemingly isolated rural and farmlands.

Exposed weir dam and dry anchorage

The Mississippi water levels are significantly below normal, so much so that the lower river around Memphis was closed to all traffic while we still could travel on the upper river farther north.  In many places, we saw what looked like wide beaches along the shore, often with rock “jetties” running perpendicular to the water.  These, of course, are not jetties; rather, they are exposed weir dams, originally installed underwater to direct the flow of the river and slow the silting-in process along the shore.  When there’s sufficient water, good places to anchor can be found in the protected areas below/behind these weir dams, and when there’s too much water, they can create whirlpools well into the river like those that gave us trouble 4 years ago.

What a sight from the river!!

With only one “marina” between St. Louis and western Kentucky, some 300+ miles away, and with the loss of traditional anchorages because of low water, making good time was essential.  Even with reduced water levels, the “Big Muddy” still has a significant current, ranging between 3-5 knots most of the time.  Luckily, it ran with, not against us, thus providing quite a boost to our speed and reduction in our fuel consumption!  We blew by St. Louis and its wondrous arch traveling between 11-12 knots; we usually cruise between 7-8!  And that was with a 15-20 mph wind in our face!  Even better, our fuel consumption was significantly lower than usual.  We committed to burning whatever fuel necessary to travel as fast as safely possible.  So with fuel hovering near $4.00/gallon, having the current assist our efforts was a special gift!

Trawlers lined up as we approach Hoppie’s

We knew our first-day destination was Hoppie’s, that one marina on the Mississippi, a Great Loop institution, and one of the most unusual places one could imagine!  The “marina” consists simply of 2-3 barges, tied off to one another, anchored by cables to the land, and covered with indoor-outdoor carpeting.  With no slips, no traditional docks, and only the most minimal of services, Hoppie’s is nonetheless a most welcome sight after a day on the Big Muddy!  Hoppie’s does sell fuel, and we filled up there to ensure having plenty for the next 2-3 day run.  We had purchased only a minimum of fuel at Port Charles as we were worried the extra weight of two, full 250-gallon tanks might make the difference between getting out of the very shallow basin of Port Charles Harbor and not!

Last time this was all covered by the river!

Among the cruisers already at Hoppie’s were Larry and Lola from Indiana (Purdue University) on the Lola Marie, folks we first encountered 4 years ago in Demopolis, AL then again at Ess-Kay Yards in Brewerton NY 3 years ago and most recently, Sojourner and Lola Marie played leap frog all along the Illinois Waterway.  Also there was David on Shirley Ruth who we had seen at various points along the Trent Severn Waterway; we actually met David and thoroughly enjoyed his company at Frankfort on Lake Michigan.  Traveling with Shirley Ruth was Makalani with Mary Jo and Vince from Florida on board.

Ever-present tow and barges

All four boats departed Hoppie’s at the same time, and we became “the ducklings”, cruisin’ down the river all in a row.  We’re not certain our numbers had any impact at all on the various tows we encountered, but it made us feel better to be part of a “convoy”!!  The next stop, Kaskasia Lock and Dam, was a short trip, only about 45 miles.  The traditional stop after Hoppie’s is an anchorage farther down the River, in the Diversion Canal, but it didn’t have enough water for any of us much less all of us! Two dredges were hard at work when we arrived at Kaskasia, and we had to wait about ½ hour before moving into the lock approach and tying off on the lock wall.  The wall wasn’t long enough for 4 boats so Lola Marie rafted off Shirley Ruth for the night.

Dredge working 24/7 at Kaskasia

At first light we all headed out for the last day on the Mississippi, first day on the Ohio and longest leg of the journey from Port Charles to western Kentucky.  We had no certain plan or even information about where we might spend that night, but we knew there were federal mooring cells and a lock some 117 miles away.

And the Mississippi widens even more …

The boost Sojourner got from the Mississippi current turned into what felt like hitting a brick wall when we turned left at Cairo to enter the Ohio River.  Instead of “flying” south with a great current, we suddenly began chugging north against a rather strong one.  Instead of speeding along at 12 knots while “sipping” less than 5 gallons of fuel/hour, Sojourner abruptly slowed to barely 7 knots but began guzzling at 8-9 gals/hour!!  She eventually settled down and kicked her speed up to a steady 8 knots, but the slower speed meant an additional hour or so to our hoped for destination.

“Ducklings” and tows share the waterway

The ducklings “raced” up the Ohio River only to learn the targeted federal mooring cells were already taken for the night by a tow and her several barges. After some discussion, we decided to anchor outside the high water channel just south of Lock 53.  That turned out to be a safe and quiet spot and by morning, several other PC’s had joined us.

The Ohio has barges too!

The lock master promised an early lock through for the PC’s if someone would call at first light.  Patti called at 5:30, and we were lined up all in a row outside the lock at 7:30. Unfortunately, this lock had nothing with which to secure our boats to the wall.  When we finally got in the lock an hour later, we were told to simply  “float”… i.e., hold your position in the middle of the lock without lines and in spite of wind and water turbulence!!  And then, he let a tow with a dredge attached join us in the lock chamber!  It took another 20 minutes for the tow to position the dredge and itself before the look doors closed, and we began the actual locking through process. We’ve had many opportunities to “dance” in place waiting for bridges, locks and the like, but nothing quite like this with so many boats in so close proximity and in such a confined space.  Another new adventure to be sure!!  Hoping that the next lock would be less problematic, we all trudged on.

PC’s floating in the lock!

One more lock on the Ohio River and then we had to decide how to get to Green Turtle Bay: take the Tennessee River which has one lock and is the much shorter, but also heavily commercial route or the Cumberland River, also with one gigantic lock, virtually without tows and barges, but some 20+ miles longer. The Tennessee option was tempting:  it had been a long trip from Hammond IN; we were tired, and it was hot!!  But discretion finally proved to be the better part of valor and we opted for the longer route. Given our experience having to wait at locks, no one wanted to face that probability so close to our final destination!  And we were right; at least, we had no wait at the 57 ft. lock leading to Lake Barkley.  Just before 7 pm, a tired Sojourner and crew pulled into Green Turtle Bay Marina in Grand Rivers KY (Land Between the Lakes).  The Upper Inland Waterway trip was complete, and we were ready for an extended period of R&R. before beginning the journey down the Lower Inland Waterways from Kentucky to Mobile Bay and the Gulf of Mexico!

Cruising the Mississippi, Ohio and Cumberland rivers slideshow:Click to view slideshow.