Aqua Marine to Mobile Bay - October 27 - November 8

We docked at Aqua Marina for 2 nights. We borrowed the courtesy car to tour the Shiloh Battleground in Shiloh National Military Park From the visitor center, we followed the tour route highlighting the two-day battle, April 6 - 7, 1862 and the troop movements of General Grant’s and General Johnston’s armies before and during the battle.Twenty-one states fought in this battle. When the Confederates surrendered, 23,000 soldiers had died in battle. Today the mostly unidentified Union dead are buried in numbered grave sites while the Confederate dead are buried in five mass graves.

Grant's Last Line - Th artillery is near the ridge that marks the final position of Grant's line on April 6.

Confederate Monument - This memorial commemorates where Confederate soldiers encircled and captured nearly 2,100 Union defenders of the Hornet's Nest.

This pyramid of cannon balls marks the headquarters of  Tuttle's 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, Army of Tennessee.

Shiloh National Cemetery was established in 1866.

In the cemetery are interred 3,695 bodies of Union soldiers, two-thirds of whom are unidentified.

The Confederates and Federals were buried alike in separate trenches on the field. Four years after the battle the Union dead were removed to the newly established national cemetery. The Confederates still rest in the trenches where they were buried by the Federal troops.

Headquarters of General Grant

Night of April 6, 1862

Pittsburg Landing - General Don Carlos Buell's army of the Ohio arrived here on the night of April 6-7 to reinforce Grant.

November 1 we began a eight-day journey south on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway.

                                     

Before arriving in Mobile Bay, we had to go through 12 locks.  The Jamie Whitten Lock and Dam is our first lock on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway.

We dropped 85 feet in this lock, the largest drop in the total 414 feet we we will drop before getting to the Gulf of Mexico.

Fellow loopers, GonGruzn,  joined us in the John Rankin Lock and Dam.

Although our first day was a long 55 mile 8 hour cruise, we enjoyed some beautiful scenery along the way.

We arrived in Midway Marina,  Fulton, MS in the early evening. 

A very long day 3 took us through four locks and dams and over 60 miles on the Tenn-Tom.  The day was cloudy, sometimes rainy, and cool.  When we arrived at Columbus Marina at dusk, we were greeted by several other loopers - Monkey Girl, Blue Yonder, GonCruzn, Freedom, Quest, and Q' s End.  After wiggling Rambler into the dock between two other boats, we secured her to the dock and joined the group for our nightly "docktails and docktales".  Before leaving the next morning, we, Andrew and SallyAnn on Freedom borrowed the marina's courtesy car for a short visit to Columbus.

Tennessee Williams, one of America's most famous playwrights, was born in Columbus in 1911.  Thomas Lanier Williams (the name Tennesse came later) lived in this yellow and gray gingerbread Victorian house for three years.  Later he returned to visit his birthplace when he said "home is where you hang your childhood, and Mississippi to me is the spot of creation, a dark, wide spacious land that you can breathe in."

We also visited the Waverly Mansion, a home that survived the Civil War after being occupied by Confederate soldiers and left for many year unoccupied.  The current owner, Robert Snow, has lovingly took at least 25 years to restore the home to its present grandeur.  The house's guide entertained us with a tour and commentary of the home.  The $10 entrance fee was well worth seeing so many beautiful antiques and hearing the history of the home.

Day 4 took us a relatively short 28 miles and through just one lock to Pirate's Marina Cove.  Again we were greeted by the familiar faces on board Serendipity, Windsong, and Q's End.  More "docktails" !!

Day 5 turned out to be a VERY long day.  Traveling at 9 miles per hour, we went through the Tom Bevil Lock and Dam and the Howell-Heflin Lock and Dam and 90 statute miles.  Quite exhausting but neccessary since marinas and anchorages are far and few between at this point.  We arrived around 5:30 p.m. in Demopolis, Alabama.We had hoped to stay and rest here for two nights but the lack of rain in the area caused shallow depths in the Demopolis Yacht Basin.  In order to accommodate seasonal boaters, transients were only allowed to stay for one night. Since we were the last transient to arrive we had to raft of another boat for the night. We enjoyed dinner with the folks on GonCruzn and Crawdad at the marinas's restaurant.

Along our way to Demopolis, we enjoyed the white cliffs of Epes.

The next morning we lingered at the marina since 15 other boats headed early for the Tom Bevil Lock and Dam.  With that many boats entering the lock, we knew it would be an hour or so to get them all into and out of the lock.  At 10:30 a.m. we left the dock and went to an open lock and completing our lock-through in about 30 minutes.   We again had no choice but to travel another long day since no marinas are available after Demopolis.  Our target was the anchorage of Bashi Creek, a distance of 71 miles. We knew several other boats ahead us were going there as well and they saved room for us to anchor just inside the mouth of the creek.  Fred Meyers recommended this anchorage, saying would allow about 3 or 4 four boats to anchor.  Our group broke the record though!!  By early evening, with our arrival, a total of 8 boats were anchored and  a small sail boat was tied to a very short dock!  We dubbed ourselves the Bashi Creek Yacht Club and sent an email to Fred!

The next morning the early morning fog in Bashi Creek slightly delayed our morning start.

A later start was of no concern today since we only planned to travel 26 miles today.  Once underway, we were headed to Bobby's Fish Camp, "a vanishing part of America" according to Fred Meyers. It's the only place between Demopolis and Mobile that we could tie up.  It's not really a marina but a place for fishermen
to buy fuel and get something to eat.  But the dock held us for the night despite supporting 6 boats and 2 others who rafted off.  The restaurant served platefuls of catfish, coleslaw and fries.  I also spoiled myself with an order of fried dill pickles  What a fun night we had!

A full dock at Bobby's Fish Camp!

The plaques on the hill honors Bobby Dahlberg who passed away in early 2010.  His daughter Lora is managing to keep the camp going.

The early morning fog on the Black Warrior River quickly dissipated in the heat of the morning sun.

Our next destination was the Alabama River Cut-Off, again our only safe option before Mobile Bay.  The 65-mile run included the Coffeeville Lock and Dam and a lot of natural beauty!

Watching to keep out of the way of barges kept us on our toes!  With our AIS radio, tow boat captains were alerted to our position as we were also aware of their location.  Communicating with them was easier than expected but they certainly have a river language unique to them.  One whistle told us to pass them on their starboard and two whistles to pass on their port. It was a tight squeeze to get past this barge loaded with coal.

The Coffeeville Lock and Dam was our 12th and last lock for quite a long time!

The small fishing boat was going in circles with no one at the helm.  The larger boat was keeping an eye on it until the Coast Guard could get there.  In the meantime, the boat's driver appeared on shore dripping wet and quite distraught but safe.

Finally we entered Mobile Bay with great happiness to be safely off the rivers!  What a great journey with so many great memories and new-found friends!!

After crossing the bay, we happily approached our "home" for a few days, The Moorings Marina at the Marriott's Grand Hotel  in Point Clear, Alabama.