The Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway

Yesterday (Sunday) we left Grand Harbor marina (mile marker 449.7) and began our journey on the Tennessee Tombigee Waterway (the Tenn-Tom).

 

We will have 10 locks to get through on the way to Demopolis, Alabama.

 

We had hoped to get off to an early start but Mother Nature had other ideas.

 

It looked clear at 9:30 am so off we went.

 

 

 But check out what awaits us.

 

 

We ended up in a fair amount of fog. At times, we really couldn't see anything and had to rely on our radar for navigation. At other times, it would clear up. Even the birds decided to wait it out!

 

 

Finally, the fog cleared for good. At mile marker 444, the waterway narrowed and we entered the man-made canal called the "divide cut". The divide cut portion of the

 Tenn-Tom is 29 miles long and connects Pickwick Lake to Bay Springs Lake.

 

 

It is quite narrow and we met a couple of tows. This was a time we wished we had AIS ( (Automatic identification system). It would allow us to see oncoming tows and them to see us. Especially important on bends in the waterways. The tow captains were very courteous and provided great directions on their desired passing side. AIS is definitely on the "wish list".

There were quite a few birds to see but I didn't spot any eagles. At mile marker 411.9, we arrived at the Jamie Whitten lock. This was the lock that shut down our first trip due to an oil spill of 117,000 gallons. We had to wait 1 1/2 hours to enter. It was a drop of 84 feet, our largest drop yet.

We went through two more locks and made it to Midway marina at mm 394 shortly before sunset. The days are getting shorter, sunset is 6:20 central time.

 WikiMiniAtlas

 

 

 It took over 8 hours to go 56 miles. It was a cool and cloudy day so was nice to get tucked in for the night. We have traveled 700 miles since we left our home port in Aurora, Indiana.