Mobile, Al . cont.



 

 The rainbow from the last blog

Busy Mobile harbour

Our last anchorage before Mobile was at Little Bayou Canot which was a lovely quiet river just hours from Mobile Bay and Port. Mobile port is one of the busiest ports in America. Lots of Tow/barges, ocean liners guided by tugs, ship yards for building them and repairing them.Our first taste of one of the [world] ports and of salt water and tides. Around 1p.m.Friday we made our way into the Turners marina. where  7 masts[shipped together] would be connected with  their ships.After connecting with fellow sailors who also arrived recently, we settled in and were greeting Ken and Mary[ my sister].They were on a road trip to New Orleans and made their way to Mobile first to see us . We were delighted.. After taking us out for provisions [boat ]we went out for seafood dinner to celebrate our milestone together. The next a.m. after sharing pancake breakfast on board and helping us get to know our computer better they were off.

 Saturday we were able to source out a O.P.C. church.Our friends on 'Kadadi 'had rented a car to take them back to Canada offered to drive us to Church Sunday. Thank you John and Marsha.We had a great Sunday.The Bentleys came to see our boat in the afternoon and we enjoyed a supper and hymn sing at their home.

 Monday, Nov 21 we were thankful the work could start and that Bill was given another year.Thanks for the well wishes, all.
   The mast and the rigging was prepared , Since the weather was favourable Tuesday, the boat was moved alongside the mast so it could be stepped onto it, at the same time the mechanic did any engine work that needed doing . We finally have the alarm sensor repaired.,too. We were very impressed with all the workmanship. thank you Turners!
  Wednesday, Nov. 23  the Turners marina  hosted a wonderful Thanksgiving[American] lunch/dinner. They provided the turkey and ribs and we[the boater guests] all brought a dish or dessert.Right after lunch Tyler came to help Bill put up the sails. They went up like clock work..
Now the boat needed cleaning and preparing for the trip to Pensacola, Florida  where we would meet Chris[our son-in-law] on Monday. He is going to help us do the big crossing to Clearwater.
 Yes,Friday we arrived in Pensacola. Strong winds and huge waves made it a 12 hour trip [instead of 8 as planned] and arrival in the dark. We thanked the Lord for flashing red and green markers , for our chart plotter ,arriving safely at Sabina marina and that the harbourmaster was there to help us dock..
  The warm weather, the palm trees , the white sand beaches made it hard to realize its near the end of November. 

Little Bambo sail boat

The Little Bayou Canot river sharing with '-"Muddy Waters"

Our mast being erected at Turner Marine

Columbus,Ms. to Mobile, Al.

We have arrived at another milestone, only 6 miles from the gulf..Mobile is where we are being reconnected with our mast so that we can actually sail again and not have to motor only.This could save us a fair amount of fuel.Today the technicians are preparing the rigging on land so they can step the mast onto the boat-  likely tomorrow.
 Now I need to backtrack a little and tell you about our trip from Columbus to here.Early Friday a.m. we left Columbus Marina with 5 other boats[ 4trawlers and 1 boat like ours]  to lock thru the next lock. The lockmasters have all been so helpful. 4 of us went in convoy to our anchorage at Sumter Recreation area. A very nice basin or bay with enough room. The Montgomerys in the other sailboat joined us too.3 of the boats in this anchorage were fellow Canadians. Sid and Evelyn on 'Something Special'came all the way from Woodstock, and John and Marsha [on Kadadi] came from Brampton  and their guests hailed from Listowel, On.In each case we had connections with people in their areas.The next day we all locked thru the next lock together[only 2 more locks after this one].The last no. of them have dropped us around 30 feet each.
 Not everyone travels in a motor yacht or mastless sail boat. We saw a canoe loaded with supplies, another little boat made of bamboo sticks, 2 small sails plus a small outboard motor, and 3rd a raft with a square tent section on it.

Sunrise at Demopolis Ms

White cliffs along the Tombigbee river

Town hall in Demopolis

 We made it to Demopolis Yacht  Basin on the Saturday.The section all of us docked in was brand new . Opened 3 months ago. We did manage to find a silted in area that stopped our boat short. We  backed off this easily but it did surprise us . The owner marked it with a stake right away.We had a great weekend here.. Tues.we couldn't depart with the early group since we needed fuel and after that the lock needed some repair work, so we had to wait. The lockmaster called us at 11:30 to head down.Just before dark  that day we anchored [bow and stern]behind the bridge posts away from barge traffic.To our surprise I was awakened at 2 a.m. by a big search light coming from a tow/barge. I got up and heard voices too. They actually were pulling in behind us to anchor there and catch some sleep too. All was well.The next morning there were tornado warnings for our area so we stayed put in our protected anchorage for a few hours . The sky opened to the south of us so we headed down and were given safe travels and amazing skies . The evening before a tow captain passing us and heading north radioed us to tell us to look behind  at the amazing rainbow.We were touched and marvelled again at God's creation  We hope to send a photo of this and the white cliffs we saw on theway.
 Good-bye for now .

Fulton,Ms. to Columbus, Ms.

Hello all
 We have to wait for the lock for a few hours and since some boats left this marina we have wifi access [temporary]. So here goes. We are presently in Demopolis, Alabama with only 217 miles to go to get to the Gulf at Mobile.We hope to get there this Friday or Sat.But first I must tell you about our wonderful stay in Columbus.A city of many ante Bellum homes. Homes built before the civil war. Since the war was over just before the north reached this area these homes are there for visitors to tour. Our friends from the beautiful boathouse in Fulton at Midway marina live in the Columbus area. They went home before we left Midway and insisted on showing us around. when we got there. Thank you Les and Bobby for letting us soak in this city and its stately and  beautifully preserved homes.The highlight was the Waverly Mansion. The George and Lucy Young family built this mansion around 1850 and in time had purchased 50,000 acres to grow mainly cotton .They were an amazing family and really cared for their tenant tenant farmers and slaves. Lucy was also the nurse/druggist.To add to the story they had 10 children.I'm sure they had a huge garden. An ice house , a cotton ginny and many other features added to the story. Upon our arrival we were met by  Meloney who gave us the tour.This property stood empty for 50 years until Meloney's family purchased it when she was 7 years old.That goes back to the early 1960s.I think we could have listened to her stories for 3 days. but in the 2 hours we spent there we sure enjoyed our tour and the history.

Les and Bobby Perkins at Columbus Marina

Waverly Hall

Staircases at Waverly

Birthplace of Tennessee Williams at Columbus

Another Ante Bellum mansion in Columbus

Another highlight was the beautiful churches in Columbus.. I could write a lot about that too but just want to say I'm thankful to see the Lord's church gathering work going on there. While in Columbus we met some Canadian Loopers too . We tavelled with them to Demopolis . Along with tow's and barges, bald eagles. beautiful white cliffs along the rivers we had a great trip to here.

Pebble Isle Marina at New Johnsonville to Midway marina, Fulton,Ms.

This blog takes us from one Sunday to the next with all that happened in between.We had a great Sunday still in New Johnsonville Thanks to courtesy cars and internet. We could go to town to worship in the a.m. and take in a sermon on line in the p.m.thanks to the web site-Jubilee Church in Ottawa.We enjoyed another long walk in the beautiful Park too.

 Monday off on to the Tennessee River , we motored for 62 miles and made it to Clifton marina. Beautiful weather and clear 'sailing'. Here we met up with our Swedish friends on Sea Qwest. It was great to connect with them again. From here we motored on to Pickwick Landing Lock and Dam. Again no waiting time , we called ahead and they were ready to lock us through when we got there. The lockmaster asked about our trip and plans. We had wanted to go to a cove on the left but he advised us to go right since the coves on the left now had new homes and there private docks and little marinas there. We were thankful  for the advice and found a beautiful anchorage in a quiet cove.The next morning we finished our part of the Tennessee River doing some miles of this now lake part of the river and came to the top end of the Tenn--Tom Waterways.In the 70's and early 80's the gov't had a system built that would connect the Tennessee R. with the Tombigbee that flows into the Gulf of Mexico. With canals and locks and dams and using  creeks, rivers and lakes we are given a wonderful waterway to use. In all we will be doing 10 locks on this system. In all our motoring that day we saw no other boats on the move and just before the first lock we anchored  in a beautiful cove.There was room for many boats in the many coves off the main channel  here[at Natchez Trace Recreation area].  but we had it to ourselves. It reminded us of northern Ontario .

We woke up to pouring rain and decided to wait it out a bit, when it changed to a drizzle we lifted anchor and headed to our 1st lock[84'] of this series.This went well but the lockmaster advised us to be cautious since a barge and tow was heading upstream and we were dealing with a fairy strong wind.The Tow captain had empty barges so they sat up higher and were catching the wind. He asked if we could turn around to a wider area on the river where there was a saw mill with an area to tie up and we would be safer.We were thankful for his advice . From here we had 2 more locks before we made it to Midway Marina. We were having mail couriered here so we planned to stay from Thurs. to Mon.We are near Fulton, Mississippi and loving it here. Very friendly people and good service. A lot of people live on their house boats or use them as their cottage.One of the first couples Bill met on their lovely houseboat are involved with a Trucking Ministry. their good friends that were visiting them are the Chaplains.We learned a lot about their calling and work and  they invited us over for a Bible study Sat. p.m. It was wonderful sharing with them .Our friends on the houseboat had loaned us their cadillac so we could go to church. We were able to worship in a Church in Futton. Monday a.m still waiting for mail and doing this blog. "til next time.

Dredger 'Melissa R' on the Tennessee river

Adriana 1 anchored at Pickwick State Park

entering the Tenn-Tom waterway a 25 mile cannal

Current marina at Fulton Ms

These are the photos we wanted to add to our last blog-- GTB  to New Johnsonville, Tn.

Adriana 1 at GTB

Our piper playing Amazing Grace for us at GTB

When flooding the Tennessee River this Grain storage only has the roof showingMile markers with light on the river

Evening view of Tennessee River from Pebble Isle Marina

Shawnie blogging at Pebble Isle Marina