We have a few more stops before we are officially on our Chattanooga side trip. This blog takes us downbound on the Tennessee River from the Rendezvous at Paris Landing in Buchanan, Tennessee to Counce, Tennessee at Grand Harbor Marina.
Cuba Landing Marina in Waverly, Tennessee
It was very chilly when we woke so we hit snooze and put on the heat. That's one of the luxuries of being connected to shore power. We were underway before 8 AM and it was clear and the sun was on the rise. Now, you may recall that we had someone look at our compass while we were at the Rendezvous. The theory was that the compass likely needed to be replaced, but it was not in a good location in our tank room so there was a chance that the problem was that it was just getting too much magnetic interference there. So Cam tried moving it and it seemed to start working again. We were going to try it for a while, but expected we would likely need to replace it. So we were happily travelling on a clear sunny day, but as soon as we could see up river, we saw fog so Cam turned on the radar. Fortunately, we never really got into the fog, because our radar overlay on our charts was upside down! Eventually, Cam realized that the compass was out by almost exactly 180 degrees. So the plan was that Heather would take the helm manually while Cam moved the compass and we communicated on our headsets. The plan was that when Cam was ready to start, Heather would take the boat off of auto and steer manually. However, while Cam was getting ready, he moved the screwdriver near the compass and, without warning, the boat started turning hard to port on its own! Easily corrected by switching the auto-pilot to manual but it was a surprise and it shows how easily ferrous metal can throw off a compass. Cam flipped the compass in the tank room to the opposite side of the beam and suddenly it was pretty darn accurate! Unfortunately, it was still not working consistently and we would eventually replace it.
Not long after we left Paris Landing, we came across a partial bridge with the span removed so the bridge goes nowhere. This is the old Louisville & Nashville RR Bridge. Just past that is an abandoned dock that looks like a random stacking of shacks in the middle of the water. As you might imagine, there were a lot of boats leaving the Rendezvous at the same time so several boats were arriving at Cuba Landing at the same time. Some got slips and some anchored. We had heard that there were no courtesy cars, but a woman named Sharon came up and told us about borrowing ”the” car. We figured that she and her husband owned the place and we happily accepted the loan of the car. She told us where to get groceries, go out for a meal, and even where to find the Loretta Lynn ranch. Then she said which boat to give the keys to next. When we got back to the marina, we learned that Sharon was the wife of one of the marina staff and that they were staying on their boat so she was just being helpful by loaning out her own personal vehicle. Other friends said she drove them to the airport and picked them up a week later. Very generous! While we were there, Cam ran an air conditioning vent from the forward air conditioner to our aft head so now we can have heat in there! That would make a big difference on those chilly mornings!
Swallow Bluff Island near Clifton, Tennessee
We got up and moving quickly today. We were planning to put in a long day and go to the Wolf anchorage since it was supposed to be raining the next day. We got moving, eating our breakfast while we were underway. Our journey was very picturesque. The colours were really starting to come out and we came across many small towns, that were likely cottage towns. Most of the houses were very high on the bluffs or were elevated on stilts. We figured that the river must get pretty high at times.
We were on our own most of the way, but we knew there was a group of Looper boats ahead of us as we were hearing their radio traffic. As we were approaching Swallow Bluff, we could see that the four Looper boats had gone in there to anchor for the night. We continued around the bend and saw a tow at the far end. Heather hailed them for passing instructions and the tow captain advised us that we were heading into inclement weather. He knew we were not local and warned us that a rain shower can turn nasty very quickly in the area. We took his kind advice, and while the tow held back, we turned around to join the other Looper boats at anchor and two other boats arrived later. One of the boats had trouble with their anchor not releasing and all the boaters were eager to help. We offered to let them raft to us but they managed to get it working. The wife dinghied around to thank everyone and we got to have some much needed puppy time with her dog.
We had some wind overnight and a brief rain shower in the morning, but we thought the anchorage was stunning. Cam captured its fall beauty in this short video on the Swallow Bluff anchorage.
Grand Harbor Marina in Counce, Mississippi
We had conferred on departure time with the other boats the night before as we would likely all be locking through the Pickwick lock together. As the day wore on, our group increased in number and the lock master at Pickwick lock kept track of us and collected us. They give priority to the commercial traffic at their discretion and make the pleasure crafts wait to lock through as a group. Two boats that had anchored at the Wolf anchorage overnight had been waiting at the Pickwick lock for hours. We were glad that we hadn’t pushed through to the Wolf anchorage the day before after all. Fifteen of us were waiting to lock through together, but before we did, the tow that was exiting the lock asked all of us to move out of the marked channel to give him room to get by. We had our eyes on our depth sounder the whole time! When we finally got in, the lock lifted us 60 feet. Exiting the lock, there was a lot of current, mixed with the wakes from lots of boats and it was super mixed up and uncomfortable. Along our route on this day we found interesting things on the charts and seriously started to wonder what kind of country we were in. You'll have to view the pictures to understand what I mean. We finally arrived at Grand Harbor Marina and got pumped out and fuelled up for the journey ahead.
Grand Harbor marina had a courtesy car and we were allowed to have it for two hours. We only had to go a couple of miles for a few supplies so we literally only used it for 40 minutes. We were surprised to learn that we were in Mississippi. Grand Harbor is at the point where Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama intersect. They call it the Tri-state area. We started our day in Tennessee, ended in Mississippi, and the next day we would be in Alabama. Three states in two days!
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