October 21, 2019 – Around the Great Loop on the Answer

Week Nineteen: Florence Harbor, AL to Aqua Yacht Harbor, Iuca, MS

We left Florence Harbor on Thursday. It was expected to be a fairly easy day – about 40 miles and no locks. Our plan was to stay at the marina for a few days so that the steering could be addressed and Peter could visit Shiloh. Since the marina had a courtesy car, it also allowed us to do some reprovisioning before heading down the Tenn-Tom Waterway.

When we arrived at the marina, we noticed that there were a number of looper boats, so we all planned for docktails that evening. There were a few who we have met/traveled with before – Avalon and Pegasus – and a few new looper boats for us. In fact, one of the boats, Sea C Rider, only started their journey a few days before from Lake Michigan. I would guess there were 8-10 boats at Aqua Yacht which was an impressive number but doesn’t beat the 15 boats in Florence the night before or the close to 20 at Green Turtle Bay a few weeks ago.

Rain was projected for Friday so that was going to be the maintenance day and we reserved the courtesy car for back-to-back time blocks on Saturday so that we could visit Shiloh plus do some food shopping when we had good weather. As it turned out, our steering issue was not taken care of since the mechanic who told us “no problem” didn’t have the correct information – there was no one on staff who could rebuild the cylinder and one of their mobile mechanics did not have the time to take care of the problem. Once again, we are going to have to try again at the next place that has a mechanic with the skills where we are willing to stay for a few days. Fortunately, our buddy boat did not have the same problem getting their maintenance completed.

Saturday had the sunshine we expected so our visit to the Shiloh National Military Park was enjoyable. I don’t think anyone realized how large the park was and we were glad to have the courtesy car to drive around to tour the 20 sites that were listed on the tour map. Before we took the tour, we watched an impressive 45 minute documentary about the battles that took place. This provided a background for the markers around the park. Peter, of course, added commentary to fill us in on what happened at Shiloh.

We left Aqua Yacht Harbor on Sunday for a short run to Bay Springs Marina. The strategy was to situate ourselves close to the Whitten Lock and begin the 12 lock stretch to Mobile Bay. Our plan was to complete at least 3 locks on Monday. Unfortunately, the morning greeted us with dense fog and this delayed our departure by almost two hours. The good news was that we were not planning on trying to get through the locks on Sunday.

When we got up on Monday, we had some fog but it was not as heavy as when we were in Aqua Yacht in Iuca on Sunday. As it turned out, by the time we were able to leave, the fog had lifted. We started out 3 hours later than planned waiting for the lock to be free of tows going both north and south. Our plan was to travel to Midway Marina in Fulton, MS and spend two days since we heard it was a decent stop and there are only a few marinas on this stretch of our journey.

Since one of our buddy boats was having engine trouble – lost an engine right after coming out of the first lock, we were glad that we planned on the extra day. He is generally able to fix any problem on his boat – he has mechanical skills – but this time, it seems that he probably needs a part so the extra day at the marina will be necessary to have it delivered. The part was delivered mid-day and a mechanic was able to get the engine working and performed routine maintenance at the same time. We are good to travel again. Our steering still could not be addressed as there was no one to rebuild the hydraulic cylinder.

What was expected to be two days, turned into three. We stayed another day due to rain but took advantage of the courtesy car to go out to dinner at the local Japanese restaurant recommended by the dock hand. I looked at the menu on the internet and was surprised to find it was mostly in Japanese. Who would have thought you would find an authentic Japanese restaurant in Fulton, MS. Nice selection of combination plates and I thoroughly enjoyed my chicken and shrimp hibachi dinner. Needed a box to take home half so I had leftovers for another night.

By Wednesday evening, we were ready to leave Midway and attempt the next four locks that were close in sequence on Thursday morning. We did have the expected rain but we didn’t count on the overnight winds that caused consistent water lapping on the sides of the boat. Peter can sleep through anything but that is not a skill that I have mastered. Hopefully the next day will greet us with easy travel through the locks.