Smithville Marina to Columbus Marina

We made it to Columbus, MS in advance of the remnants of Hurricane Patricia. Our day was mostly just overcast and cloudy with periods of very light rain. We could see that we had a couple of days ahead of us that would be windy and rainy, and Columbus was the best choice of destinations for us to be holed up for a few days. And it worked out just right. We are in a covered slip, plenty of dog walking area very close by, a town with everything that we could need in the way of shopping and restaurants, marina courtesy car, and lots of other loopers here to share time and stories with. And not to worry Gigi...we are safe and in no danger from the wind and rain!

We continued our travels with the twin Nordic Tugs today, and had reasonable luck with the locks. Our young friends aboard the sailing vessel Perigee also joined us through the first 2 locks. We had a tow in front of us for the first part of the day, which added about 2 hours to our schedule. We had to wait to leave the dock an extra hour as this tow was just entering the dock below the marina. Then, with the second lock only about 5 miles away, we had to pace ourselves behind them through this second lock. Once through the Glover Wilkens and Amory locks though, we had a straight forward travel day for the most part from there. In total we dropped about another 90 feet through 3 locks, the 3rd being the Aberdeen lock.

A few shots of the commercial activity today...

Typical passing lane for this part of the journey.

 

 

One "interesting" event occurred when we passed one of the above tows who was working to maneuver a barge at a loading/staging area. These tows put out quite a prop wash behind them when they are maneuvering these heavy barges around. We needed to pass between this working tow and the channel marker about 50 or 60 feet to his stern. This meant we had to plow through his prop wash and be prepared for a big sideways push. And it was a fun ride for a few seconds! We knew it was coming, planned for it by boosting our rpm's and adjusting our steerage, and smashed right through it. It won't be the last time we will encounter this, but it'll be just as exciting the next time!

Captain Sandy and the able crew at the helm.

When we arrived at Columbus marina, the staff was terrific in managing all 3 of us into covered slips very quickly. It was nice to have able help guiding us in and handling the lines. The only surprise was that we had some vegetation to wade through. This is a floating invasive species that is actually quite pretty...water hyacinth. It floats around on the surface of the water, traveling wherever the blowing wind takes it. And right now, this batch is right in front of our boat at the slip, and behind us, and beside us. It is a nuisance more than anything, but we will have to leave the slip with some care...we just need to make sure that we don't suck any into our engine water intake or bow thrusters. With any luck, the wind will blow it away when we are ready to leave in a few days.

 



 

 

This afternoon (Monday the 26th) we rented a car for a day...Enterprise picked up Sandy just a few minutes ago right here at the marina. She is off to run a few errands, and then go explore a few of the antebellum mansions that are open to the public in the area. This has been on her wish list since the start, so she is excited to venture off. Rob is back on the boat tending to some work and a few boat things. There might be dinner out or a movie, or both later on!

 

We are camped out here at least until Wednesday...the wind is blowing and we have on and off showers right now. We are in no hurry for the next bit of travel, so we'll just relax and wait for nice travel weather to proceed.