Into the SALT we go……

Our trip is now in its second loop year and it’s our fifth unofficial loop year. Prior miles includes the Canal Boat trip on the Erie Canal in 2005, the Gulf to Keys training in 2006, the North Channel shakeout cruise in 2007 and the Chicago downtown and on to the inland rivers in 2008. Now after a nice summer on the Tennessee in 2009, we nose our bow into the salt waters of the Gulf of Mexico. What will 2010 bring?

We have logged about 2500 water miles since leaving Grand Haven last August. Our biggest diversion has been the trip up the TN to the Little Tennessee/Tellico Lake. Wonderful area we hope to get back to someday. The best anchorage was probably the waterfall at the top of the TennTom where we beached the trawler for 3 days and enjoyed our 33^rd anniversary with a bottle of nice wine and a fine meal or 3. We’ve had good times exploring the old plantation houses of Belle Mont and Waverly. The civil war national military parks have been educational and sobering. The trips up to the state parks and waterfalls of northeast Al and northwest GA were also great experiences. The scenery is ever changing as are the people we meet.

We’ve mostly traveled alone and anchored in some very nice spots. We liked up with Goose Pond friends on SEA SEA and Just Us for the trip down the TennTom, rafting together for 5 nights for evenings of good food and conversation. It’s interesting having 50 tons of boats tied together on one anchor! We also linked up with Eagles Nest a couple of times as they get their boat ready to go to Florida. They have a dock at the start of the TennTom and it was fun to watch all the boats make the turn after the Rendezvous. Hope they catch up to do the Bahamas next spring sometime.

At some point we were making such good time going down the TennTom that we decided to push on to the gulf to have our bottom work done at Dog River instead of Demopolis. In two days we did the 230 miles from Demopolis to Bobby’s Fish Camp and then on to the Marina at Dog River. We ended up arriving in the Gulf at Mobile Bay just as Hurricane Ida became a category 2 hurricane, headed right for us. Luckily, it subsequently downgraded to a Cat 1 the next morning and a Tropical Storm before making land right where we were tied up. A few windy days, but no real concerns beyond the storm surge flooding at high tide. We had taken down all our canvas, dropped the mast to get in a covered slip and lashed everything down.

That might have been our scariest part of the trip so far. We came into Dog River on Sunday night…..12 miles out into Mobile Bay we made our turn at dusk and had to carefully make our way up the shallow and poorly marked channel at low tide. (Salt, and tides now too!) We had about two feet of water under our keel and only light wind and waves, luckily. We would peer into the darkness looking for markers, about ½ of which were lighted. After the first turn, it seemed like the first markers were about 2 miles away! And at the next marker, we needed a 90 degree turn in the dark! Then on past the bridge and to the marinas. Thanks to the GPS chart plotter, we made it in fine! Lauren Grace was at dock and helped us tie off to the docks.

It was a very long and stressful day.

So now we do some maintenance, paint our bottom, change our zincs, change some fluids, repair the generator, polish the hull, defrost the fridges, resupply the galley and wine cellar, give her a good cleaning and get ready for a few years in the salty waters of the Intracoastal Waterway. Oh, and a new bow thruster was ordered by Vaughn as I was deer hunting….maybe she will take the wheel more now and do some docking!

So, now come the salt trials for the old boat and crew. Learning about anchoring and docking in tidal waters. Dealing with natural and tidal currents. Crab pots. Manatees. Alligators. ……learning something new every day and enjoying every sandwich!