Downtime

Our first order of business at Green Turtle was to do some shopping. Before leaving Alton, we had ordered some things from Amazon and also some parts from Caterpillar. The Amazon stuff got delivered to the marina, but we had to pick up the Cat parts. As well, we wanted to get some odds and ends for various things around the boat at Home Depot and Walmart, and we also needed some groceries. Many large marinas offer a courtesy car, and we booked one together with Rich and Melanie for our first morning at Green Turtle.

Heron hanging around on the docks. 

The first stop was Caterpillar to pick up engine parts. Then we went to the UPS store to return some things to Amazon. After that we hit Lowes for some lumber, Home Depot to pick up some chain, and Walmart for various odds and ends and groceries. By this time it was close to lunch, and Rich and Melanie suggested we go to Chick-fil-A. We had never been to one of these restaurants, and they told us the food was really good, so in we went. The place was really well run, clean, and the food was really tasty. I can see why this chain is so popular in the U.S.

Part of the transient docks here at Green Turtle, full of looper boats.

Moving a boat to the travel lift for service. They have a couple of service boats here that are rigged up to push boats around.

Chrissie left us a care package at the marina office. Just the kind of stuff you need on a boat.

Back on le boat, Louise hung out at the pool, while I did some chores in the bilge. We had a visit from Peter on Nabi, a Norhavn trawler, who we had met over a month ago in Orillia. They were leaving that day, and he had some beer to give away. He explained that all the other loopers on the dock did not drink alcohol, so he could not give away this case he had on his boat. I told him that I no longer drank "regular" beer, and now was a consumer of non-alcohol beer, but that our friend Chrissie liked the brand he had and I would get Steve to drop in to see him. Later in the day, Steve dropped by our boat. Chrissie had gone back to Utah, but he was here to get their boat ready to hand over to the new owners. He was busy cleaning, and removing the last of their stuff. Turned out he did not want to bring the beer back to Utah with him. Later, back on the boat, I discovered that Peter had dropped the case of beer off to us before they left, and it was now on our transom, so I guess we were now "it".

Because everyone needs a pink tractor.

Huge add that takes you back in time. Haven't seen this since the 70's. Reminded me of hanging out with my friends when we used to ride our bikes all day around the 'hood. Our allowance was just enough that we could buy some gum each day, or perhaps one or two pops or chocolate bars each week. 

We went for dinner with Steve, Rich and Melanie. Initially, Steve wanted to take us to the tiki bar on the resort, but they were having bingo night, so we could not get served for a long time. After hanging around for a bit we decided to go back to Patties. Steve had brought his pickup truck, and there was not enough room for everyone in the cab, so Rich and I rode in the back. Have not ridden in the back of a pickup since I was a teenager. 

Rich and I in the back of Steve's pickup. All kinds of fun until someone loses an eye.

When we got to Patties there was an hour-long wait, so we went across the street to a smaller restaurant. The waitress was really flirty and kept trying to upsell us, but we managed to resist and kept it simple. After dinner, we rode back to the boat in the truck and crashed for the night.

Louise, Renatta (Lady in Red), Melanie (Jewel) and Jamie (Naut Lost) went down to the dock to feed the turtles in the morning.

The next morning, Louise and I set out on a quest to pick up our Amazon stuff. Turns out they have several offices here on the resort, and we had to visit each one to get all our packages as each different office will accept deliveries for boaters. Eventually, however, we tracked everything down. That afternoon I went for a boat ride with Steve in Miss K. He wanted to test some systems on his boat to make sure all was good for the new buyers, so we took Miss K our for her final run before the sale. He made sure everything was working, and then we ran the boat at various speeds to ensure there were no issues before the upcoming survey.

Back on our boat, I walked around the docks trying to find someone to take the case of beer Peter had given me, but there were no takers. Either the people did not drink alcohol, or did but did not like beer. Wow, Who knew it would be this difficult to give away beer. After supper, I rigged up our spare anchor rode by splicing a thimble into one end of the rope so we could attach the piece of chain I bought for it. When I took the seamanship course with the Power Squadron I had to make an eye-splice, but it had been a few years since I did that, so I had to practice on a piece of scrap rope first. It was the first time I was splicing in a thimble, so had to account for this as well, but after doing it on a piece of scrap, and watching a couple of Youtube videos, was ready to give it a shot. Rich had some plastic FIDs which he lent to me, which made the job a lot easier. Will add some of those to one of our next Amazon orders. The final version was not very pretty, but it was functional. I had bought some chain for the spare anchor at Home Depot, as the chain at Westmarine was really expensive. The type of chain I got is not super-good for salt water as it is only zinc-dipped and not galvanized, but it will work for our spare anchor since it will only be used a few times, if at all. If we ever find we are using it a lot, I will get some galvanized chain from a marine source.

There were lots of loopers at the pool, and we visited with many crews who were passing through on the loop. Each day a couple of boats would leave and a couple more boats would arrive, so the composition of the crowd was always changing here. Finally I found a looper who wanted the beer, and turned over the case to them, so now they were "it". Over the week we visited with many crews we had been boating around recently, and some we had not seen in several weeks. Every boat goes its own pace, so the composition of the fleet you are in is constantly changing.

Last winter when we went to the boat show, we deliberately talked to various insurance companies about getting insurance for the entire loop, as we knew we would need special coverage for the sub-tropical portions. Our current insurer assured us that there was no issue, to just call them to get an extension rider for the lower latitudes when we needed to. OK, sounds simple. Well, last Thursday things got complicated. We knew that our policy would only cover us above a certain latitude, but for some reason I thought this was 30 degrees latitude, so we had decided to wait until mid-September before getting the extra coverage. So Louise phones the company, and finds out that their latitude cutoff is not 30 degrees north, but 40 degrees north. We were now around 37 degrees of latitude and so had no insurance coverage! Ooops. Louise started working the phones, and found a couple of places for coverage below 40 degrees north, but by the end of the day we did not have anything set in stone yet. Needless to say, we did not sleep well that night.

The next morning we spent several hours rounding up documents and filling out forms to try to get new insurance coverage. We submitted applications to four companies, but all were closing early for the weekend and could not answer us until Monday - I thought bankers had the good hours? So, we were in a bit of a stressful position until we could re-establish coverage. Why do we discover this kind of thing just before the weekend when these businesses are closing? The good news was that we were here for several more days, we were in a safe location, and there was time to get things worked out.

Louise was upset about the insurance and was not sleeping well. Jamie got her a gift of turtle food and left it as a surprise on the steps to feed the green turtles here. It made her morning. They have a feeding station which is jam-packed full of turtles looking for food.

Turtle food yum.

That afternoon, I replaced a couple of small parts on the engine and did some cleaning in the bilge, while Louise hung out with Melanie at the pool. After finishing my chores I went over to the pool, and we visited with all the local loopers. The dock was pretty full with boats that day, and the pool was full of looper crews. We had restaurant leftovers for supper on the boat, even Eevee. Louise had some catfish left over from one place, but it did not reheat well, so Eevee had semi-fresh catfish for her supper. Both Louise and I crashed that night, as we had had long days in the sun, as well we were still stressed out about the insurance.

The next morning was engine maintenance day. When I replaced the fresh water pump at Heritage harbour, I had checked the idler pulley on the belt and it seemed fine. However, I have learned over the years that when one part on a system fails, other related parts often fail at about the same time. Therefore, I wanted to replace this pulley just in case. Would have been smarter to do it when we replaced the pump, but I did not think of it at that time, it was a couple of days later when I realized I should have done everything at once. Anyways, getting the old pulley off was easier than I thought, and I also got the new one on quickly, but had trouble torquing the bolts as I could not easily get at them. This was starting to take time, and it turned out I could not finish it that morning. So, I put all the tools and parts in the engine room where they would be out of the way, and had to wait and finish the next day.

More engine room work.

We had reserved the courtesy car for the afternoon to go to Paducah for the barbeque festival. Rich and Melanie from Jewel and Russ and Jamie from Naut Lost were going as well. We wandered around for a bit and had some barbeque for lunch, then Louise and I went to the Quilt museum while the others wandered downtown. 

I think we were expecting something different, the quilt museum turned out to be an art gallery with quilts instead of paintings. 

One of the quilts in the museum. Each colour is a tiny piece of fabric. This piece was about 15 feet long. 

There was not much else to do downtown, so we all went to Walmart to pick up some odds and ends, then headed back to the marina. The weather is hot here all the time. We are up at 5:30 each morning, and it is pretty warm out, even at that time. So, we are spending a lot of our time at the pool in the afternoon. Even this does not completely cool you down, we are in the direct sun, so late afternoons become nap time. Once again, we ate on the boat, then turned in early for the night.

The next morning was another maintenance day, at least in the morning. I started out by finishing the pulley install. In the end I had to move the alternator and air cleaner in order to tighten the bolts, but I have now done this a few times and it is not as intimidating as it was at first. Ran the engine for a bit and all was OK. We had not run the dingy for a while, so decided to take it for a run to make sure all was fine with the engine. Stuff on boats makes trouble when you don't use it, so it is important to use everything every once in a while to keep them operational. The dingy and engine were covered in big spiders, and I spent just as much time flicking them off the dingy as setting the dingy up and driving it. These things had safety silk that seemed like 20 pound test line, and it usually took 3 or 4 swats to get the spiders off the boat and into the water. Rich and Melanie also got their  dingy out for a run, so we did a tour of the marina, then had a short run up and down the shore outside the breakwater. Louise had to watch the laundry since there was a big demand for the machines and she didn’t want anyone waiting for her to take stuff out. 

As you can imagine, storage space on the boat is at a premium. We have piles of stuff everywhere that we have not been able to stash away. Well, Louise found an empty drawer. How did we miss that? And how come only she gets to use it?

Back on the mothership, I scrubbed the inside of the dingy as it was filthy from sitting out. Rich then helped me to build a rack to secure our spare anchor. I wanted to store it out of the way, and the best place was in the lazarette. However, the anchor is big and heavy, and so it was important it be secured so it did not damage anything if the seas ever got rough. I also took some time to make some fender boards for when we get to tidal areas. Some places have fixed docks that do not move with the tide, and so you tie your boat to pilings. These can be difficult, as you need to ensure your fenders can protect the boat, so one solution is to use some fender boards. These are pretty simple, just four-foot long 2X6's with rounded edges and holes for ropes. You set them up in such a way that they ride on the pilings between two fenders. I bought a 2X6 at Home Depot, and cut it in half to make two boards. I will post more info about them when we go to use them in tidal areas.

My new wood-working shop.

That night we went for dinner with Steve at Patti's restaurant. We need to cut down on our restaurant spending, but we won't see Steve for a while once he goes home so we wanted to have a good visit with him.

Patties is huge. It is laid out like a big house, with lots of smaller dining rooms of various sizes, each one decorated in a different style. We got to enjoy the festive season with our dinner.

Everything was lit up outside Patties. They had Christmas lights, Halloween lights, all kinds of themes.

Golf cart parking everywhere here. People in the resort and village move around by golf cart.

Water wheel at Patties.

In the early morning we started to make our plan for the next few weeks. We needed to order some parts from Amazon, so needed to have an idea of where we would be in a week or two so we could arrange for delivery. What we try to do is to find a marina we plan to stay at that will accept packages, then get the stuff delivered there about a week before we plan to arrive. This way we don't have to worry about waiting for deliveries. With the itinerary roughed out, we placed our Amazon order. In the meantime, Louise got in touch with the insurance company. They had approved us being insured with them, but we had more hoops to jump through to arrange for the insurance rider to continue travelling south. I took a couple of hours in the afternoon to work on the spare anchor hold-down, but work was interrupted by a thunderstorm that rolled through. For the rest of the day, we had small rain squalls move in-and-out.

During one of our daily weather checks, we discovered that tropical disturbance nine was forming in the Gulf, and that it was forecast to become a hurricane and eventually track north, perhaps into our area. This was Monday, and it was looking like we would have some windy conditions on Thursday and Friday later in the week, at least one of which we were originally planning would be a travel day for us. We will not travel when it is really windy or with lots of lightning, so will need to monitor the storm and plan accordingly. More things to juggle.

This was the forecast track for Hurricane Helen on Monday morning. We are located right at the bottom tip of Illinois, just south of the forecast location at 2 pm Saturday, and would potentially start encountering the storm Friday. We started making plans, having a plan A, B, C and D to adjust for changes in the weather pattern going forward.

Our last planned day at Green Turtle began with more calls to the insurance company. Louise had set alarms at various times of the day to follow up with them and make sure we got our coverage. Each time she called, they had more questions for us. I went into the lazarette to work on the anchor hold-down, and got everything done except for one screw. Turns out it was in a tight space, and I would need a special drill bit to set it. This is not the first time I could have used one of these bits, so I added it to our shopping list for later in the day. Towards noon, we got in the courtesy car with Rich and Melanie to head off to Paducah.

First stop was Caterpillar. When I ordered parts the previous week, one of the parts was an oil pressure switch. Turns out the switch was discontinued, and replaced with a different part. The new part had different threads and a different electrical connector than the original (why?), and so I could not install it as is. After a call to Cat, we discovered that we had to buy an adapter fitting and a new wiring harness for it. So, we had to pick up these parts to do the job. From there we went to a few other places to pick up some small items, then to a couple of grocery stores to get provisions for the upcoming week. Back on the boat, I finished off the anchor hold-down and then re-loaded all the other stuff in the lazarette. 

Anchor rack in the lazarette. The anchor is secured in place with bolts, rope and big zip ties.

We also picked up around the boat to get her more ship-shape for travelling. In the late afternoon, Louise got a call from the insurance company confirming our insurance, and they also sent us the paperwork by email, so we were now covered again and good to travel. We both slept really well that night, for the first time in several days. Perfect timing as we were planning to leave the next morning to work our way down to Chattanooga. We have some time to loiter, as we do not want to get near the Gulf while hurricanes are still possible, so we are planning to go slow for the next little bit and do some sight-seeing, staying well away from any kind of tropical storm activity. We will visit Chattanooga, and hopefully Nashville as well as part of this wait. 

Boat life has emotional ups and downs, and this week we have had a couple. We have really enjoyed hanging out with all of the loopers we encountered here at Green Turtle Bay. It was really nice to see Steve again, and to visit on the phone with Chrissie. At the same time, we had to say goodbye to Steve for the second time in a few weeks, as he was off to Indiana after his boat-sale survey, so this was a bitter-sweet time for us. We really enjoyed the month we spent with Steve and Chrissie on lake Michigan. 

A few days ago, Rich had a family situation arise, and had not been himself for the last couple of days. The night before we were planning to leave, he and Melanie decided that it would be best if they left their boat Jewel at a marina here, and travel back to Florida to be with their family. We were really sad to see them go, as we have really enjoyed their company over the past few weeks, but that is boat life. We will be going slow during October, as we want to stay well north of the Gulf of Mexico and out of the way of named storms, so we hope we will get to meet-up and travel with them after they return to the boat. Another sad parting, but this is the way.

Running the Gauntlet

The next part of our journey involved transiting a section of the Mississippi river that had pretty much no services for pleasure boats. This section of the river was all business, and the traffic was pretty much tugs and tows, with the occasional fishing boat. From Alton, Illinois to Paducah, Kentucky there was no place to get fuel or water for 400 km. 

This stretch was going to involve long travel days, and overnights at anchor, along a stretch of river with heavy current and full of huge barges. When we were at Heritage harbour, we got a briefing from the local harbour host, who told us about all of the usable anchorages along the route - there were not very many. Because the water levels on the Mississippi were low at this time of the year, many of the typical anchorages were unusable, and we could only rely on a few locations to stop.

After studying the various options, we broke down the trip into 4, and possibly 5, legs. Each one of these ending in a viable location to stop, with various lengths of travel days (long and short) in between. Our first leg was a 68 km trip from Alton to Hoppies marina, which included two locks. We estimated that this distance would take 4.5 hours, plus the time it took to go through the two locks we would be passing. Since it is nice to arrive early at a destination, just in case there are issues to deal with, we wanted to leave early when we could. Accordingly, we made arrangements with Rich and Melanie of Jewel to get underway around 6:30 the next morning. During the day, Louise posted our planned departure on Facebook, to see if anyone else wanted to leave with us. It turned out a few other loopers were planning to travel, but that they had faster boats and so would leave later in the morning. So, two boats it was.

We were up at 5:20, had breakfast, and got ready to get underway. At 6 am I contacted Rich on VHF to check in, and they were also good to go. Louise called the nearby lock at 6:15 and was told that we should come ahead and they would lock us down as soon as the tow they had in the lock left. While I got the boat ready, Louise went up to drop off the marina key, and along the way met some canoers, who were also planning to leave. She passed on the intel about the lock, and when she returned to the boat, we got underway.

When we got to the lock it turned out the lockmaster had changed his mind and was now bringing up another tow, so we would have to wait. Luckily, Rich and Melanie had visited the lock a couple of days before on their scooters, and knew that there was a place for us to tie up. So we asked the lockmaster for permission and got tied to the wall.

When the tow left the lock, we got on the radio to get permission to enter the lock, and headed in followed by the three canoes. Turned out the canoes were doing the whole Mississippi from Minnesota to New Orleans by canoe, and had left home the same time we did. They each had left separately, but met each other along the way.

This lock was a wicket-style. The upstream gate rises from below, I guess this is a way to save energy moving the doors. The downstream doors were the regular gate type.

We locked down uneventfully, and headed for the second lock, which was about an hour's travel away. The approach to this lock was a long canal that was created to by-pass a dangerous section of the river called the Chain of Rocks. One thing the briefer at Heritage had emphasized was that we not miss the turn into this canal, because if we did, the current would rip us out of control before we could recover. Therefore, we paid close attention to the markers at the canal entrance and made real sure we got it right. If you want to see what happens when you miss that turn, here are a couple of links about a sailboat that missed the turn into the canal.

rescue

stuck

Gone

On AIS we could see a tow ahead of us in the canal. Not sure if we should follow the tow or not, we contacted the lock to ask what to do. They told us to come ahead, that even though the canal was narrow, that it would widen before we passed the tow, and that he would take us through the second chamber. These two locks had two lock chambers, one big one and a small one side-by-side, and they put us in the small one.

Exiting the lock, we got pushed around a bit when we re-entered the current of the main Mississippi river, and saw our speed increase by 5 kmph. Wheeeeeee.

A few km later, we passed St. Louis. This is a pure working waterfront, tug boats, barges and loading facilities. There is zero pleasure boat traffic or facilities. Not the nicest waterfront we have seen, in fact it was kind of bleak. We passed by the arch and the bridge, and on we went.

The St. Louis arch from the water. Note how barren the waterfront looks. It is completely industrial.

Mississippi scenic route.

By mid-afternoon we arrived at the destination at the end of our first leg, Hoppies marina. This place consists of several rusty barges chained together on the side of the river. They gave us instructions about how to get in, and helped us dock. They were experts! These guys really knew what they were doing, and talked us into place and secured us up. REALLY professional, we were very impressed by how good they were, and they needed to be. The current here was moving about 4 kmph, and there was not a lot of room for error.

To bring the boat in I had to crab in with the current, keeping our bow facing the current and slowly slipping sideways by "flying" the current. As a kid, if you have ever put you hand out the window when riding in a car, you might have experienced this. If you turn your hand parallel to the wind, you hand stays in place. If you twist your hand up, the flow of the wind forces your hand up, and if you twist your hand down, the flow pushes your hand down. Crabbing with the strong current was similar. I kept the boat mostly lined up with the current, and used small movements of the bow to twist us slightly to make the current push us one way or the other. This way I kept control of the boat the whole way to the dock. It was very much like docking at RYC in the strong spring currents.

The river bank just off our port side. There is about 30 feet between us and the mud.

Shows how we had to "crab" into our slip. Very important to keep the bow pointed into the current at all times. Small shifts in orientation of the bow with respect to the current allow you to "fly" sideways. This is done with the rudder. Engine is only used to control forward movement, not for turning.

We got tied up and then headed off to the nearby town, which was about a km away. Melanie had heard about a place called the Blue Owl Cafe , that served fresh baked 14 layer apple pie. They close each day at 3, so we had to hustle. Since the place was so isolated, we were expecting a small shop, but it turned out to be a really nice and large restaurant, and so we had lunch/dinner. Melanie got some pie to go, while Louise and I each selected a piece of cake to take with us. We walked around the town, which was packed with people, many of which were at the local winery enjoying some live music.

When we had arrived at the dock, the owner of the marina told us she would hold a looper briefing at 4:00, so we headed back to the barge to attend the briefing. She has a bit of a commanding presence, so we were afraid we would get in trouble if we missed it. She told us how to clear our engines in the morning, about the possible places to stay overnight downriver, and some tips and tricks for passing tows. In the evening we got together with the other loopers there for barge-tails, and chatted with the crews of Halfling and Dream Weaver.

Early morning engine check.

The next morning we were all up before the sun, and got our boats ready to get underway. Once the sun came up we made sure there was clear visibility on the river (no fog) and then we got started. The first order of business was to clear our engines. When we docked, we all docked bow-in to the current to minimize the risk of junk getting caught on our boats. However, it was still possible that there could be something fouling our rudders or props. So, each of us in turn made sure we were tied securely to the dock, and then we ran our engines in reverse for a few seconds, then forward for a few seconds. We each repeated this procedure a couple of times, to make sure that we cleared out any junk on our running gear BEFORE we left the dock. With that done, we untied and got underway.

As it was the day before, we got a 5 kmph push from the river, and in a couple of places even got as much as a 7 kmph boost. There were some pretty severe whirlpools in a couple of curves, and also anyplace there was a fast depth change. You had to constantly watch, as the current would yank the stern of the boat around without warning. Jewel was leading today, and at one point they were twisted sideways by turbulence. Yikes. One of the whirlpools we went through was so strong it created a sucking sound on the hull when we passed. This definitely increased the pucker factor for both Louise and I for a few moments.

This whirlpool was so intense it made a sucking sound on the bottom of our boat as we went through it. Yikes!

Passing tows on the Mississippi was another experience. On the Illinois river, the tows were big, but the ones on the Mississippi were even bigger, we saw a couple with 20 barges tied together. Luckily, all the tows we had to pass this day were going the other way, so each encounter was over fairly quickly. Both of our boats were equipped with AIS, so we could call the tugs by name to make sure we passed them safely. The lead boat would call the tow when it was about 2 km in front of us to inform the tow we were a pair of recreational boats and asking for instructions about how to pass. The tows would reply with "on the one" or "on the two", and we would pass using their instructions. Each of us had two VHF radios at the helm, one tuned to channel 13, which was the tow's working channel, and the other on 68 so we could talk to each other.

As you pass the tow you have to deal with the wake and especially the wash. The barge makes a small standard-type wake. No issue. But the tug has a massive rooster-tail with 8 to 10 foot standing waves in a wash extending for half a kilometre behind it. Danger zone. This wash continues for another half kilometre beyond that as large rolling waves. About 3 km past the tow the wash and wake dissipates. As you pass the tow you have to stay straight in order to remain well clear of the big wash, at least 500 meters, and most of the time at least a kilometre before returning to the centre of the channel.

Rooster tail at the back of a tug boat. Those standing waves in the wash are 8 to 10 feet high!

The tow operators are very experienced, and all talk with heavy drawls and deep voices, each trying to sound more nonchalant and relaxed than the others. Sometimes it can be difficult to decode what they are saying, so each time I interacted with them on the radio, I repeated their instructions back to make sure I got it right, then checked with Rich on VHF 68 to make we were all understanding the same thing. The worst place to meet a tow is in a curve, but each tow operator directs you to the inside of the curve, so you don't have to pass through their wash. The way they handle those huge barges is amazing.

Along the way we passed some wrecked boats.

Along one long stretch there was a railroad track running right beside the river. They were repairing the track as we passed. For about 3 km there was a "parade" of different machines, each doing something to re-adjust the tracks.

Eventually, we got to our destination for the second day, Kaskaskia lock. Just below the lock there is an area that tug boats tie up to, and the lock staff would allow recreational boats as well to tie up for the night. We called the lock and got their approval to tie up, and three boats, Jewel, Dream Weaver, and iFloat all got set in. We invited the crews of the other two boats onto the flybridge of iFloat to visit, since we had a breeze up there and we also had the space for everyone. It was 31 degrees C that day (and all the others of this segment) and even a small breeze was welcome. After we chatted for a bit, each crew retired to their own boat to have supper, then we met again on the lock wall to chat until dark. Just before sundown a small tow came into the lock from the Mississippi. Cool to watch and wave to the crew as they entered the lock. 

Mini-tow passing us at the Kaskaskia lock. We are tied to the break-wall, away from the channel.

Louise made apple pie in the air fryer for everyone.

The next morning we were again up before the sun, and as soon as it was light we could see no fog, so we decided it was safe to leave at about 6:30. We needed an early start today, as this was the first long-travel leg, so tried to go as soon as possible. As we were leaving the dock, a small tow came up the channel, so we waited beside the lock wall for it to pass safely before we set out.

As we exited the channel into the Mississippi I could see another tow coming on AIS, so got on the radio with them to make sure it was safe for us to come out into the river. You always want to check in with these guys, as any mistakes when close to them could end up with us squashed like bugs. With clearance established, we set off for the day.

The big event today was overtaking a tow. Luckily, they go slower with the current to save fuel, so do not put out a rooster-tail wash like the ones going upriver. Still, this was easily the most scary moment on the trip. We called him on the radio from far away for instructions, but he told us to wait and contact him when we were closer. Looking at the chart, there was a turn to starboard coming up, so we figured that the area we should pass it would be safest to pass would be"on the one" - our port to his starboard, so we approached from the starboard side of the river. Because of their wash, you do not want to follow directly behind a tow, you have to approach from the side. Also, on a turn, you want to pass so that the wash is pointed away from you. As we got close, about 300 metres behind, we contacted him again, and were told to keep coming and pass on his starboard side (our port - on the one).

Took forever to pass this tow, white knuckle all the way. These things are absolutely massive.

Our speed at this point was 20 kmph, while his was 14, so the pass took a while to complete. The tow as almost 1200 feet long, and it felt like we were crawling beside it. Everything went well, but this was very nerve racking trying to get past. Once we passed him, we were still nervous because now the monster was following US, and any mis-steps on our part could get us run-over. I did not relax until we were a few km in front of him.

We arrived at the anchorage around 2:30 and got set in. This anchorage was a drainage ditch off the side of the main river, which was wide, deep and long enough for several boats. There was one other looper boat there, Little Loopy, which was anchored near the entrance. We passed them and anchored deeper in. After setting the anchor, Jewel came in and rafted to us. They told us they had never rafted before, but we assured them we had done it a lot (life at RYC), and also I assured them we had made sure our anchor was well set. Rich then got his dingy out, and he and I set out our stern anchor to keep us from twisting in the anchorage.

Checking the anchor set.

While we were visiting, a pair of deer happened by and ate grass beside the anchorage. Not easy to see in this image, but there is one in the middle between the two stumps.

A few hours later, Dream Weaver arrived at the anchorage and got set in behind us. We offered them to raft with us, but they were planning to sleep in the next day, so declined as they knew we were going to leave early in the morning.

We visited with Rich and Melanie on their boat, and once the sun started to get low we went back to our boat to get set for the night. The next morning would be our longest ravel day 11.5 hours + one lock so we wanted to get some rest as we were leaving as early as possible. 

All day long, there was a slight breeze blowing into the anchorage. About 1000 feet from us we could see a covering of algae floating on the surface of the water. As the sun set, the breeze died down, and so this algae started drifting towards us. Slowly, "fingers" of algae circled our boats. It was a little spooky, like some kind of magic tendrils were wrapping our boats up.

When we are anchored, I get up from time-to-time during the night to check the GPS and landmarks to make sure we have not moved. During one of these inspections, there was a tow passing the entrance to the channel we were anchored in. The barges are completely dark, but the tug was lit all along the lower decks. They were using a searchlight to see the water ahead of them, and this made a beam of light that swung back-and-forth as the tug went by. A bit spooky to see, kind of like the eye of Sauron.

Next morning was clear with no fog, so we cranked engines just as it got light at 6:30. Today would be our longest day of the leg, about 11 hours of travel plus a lock. Louise went to the front of our boat and let out some anchor chain so Rich and I could haul up the stern anchor. With this secured, Rich and Melanie untied from us and went ahead, while we pulled up our anchor. Turned out it was sucked into the mud pretty good so it took us a few minutes to corral it. We then got underway behind Jewel. The first part of the trip was pretty smooth, but once we entered an S-turn section a few miles downstream the water got really turbulent and steering was tricky. After transiting this S-turn section, we turned up into the Ohio river about an hour before noon. 

Big change here, the water was a completely different colour. There was no turbulence, but we were now running against the current, which slowed our speed a bit. We went from travelling south to travelling north, which changed the light completely. Although it was only about 11:30, after travelling into the sun all morning, having the sun behind us made the light seem like it was late-afternoon. There was lots of small tugs here marshalling barges, and so the water was fairly choppy from the tug boat wakes. After travelling for an hour or so through this, we got to the Olmstead lock and locked through right away, with no wait. Start the car! 

Old fort museum on the banks of the Ohio river. Fort Massac

At the top of the lock, the current diminished and the water became super smooth. It was also filled with dead fish, and the water colour alternated between patches of green and patches of blue. Louise googled the fish, and found out that this was a seasonal thing, the asian carp die in the fall due to the warm water not having enough oxygen. Along the way we passed a continual parade of dead fish. She figured that the local fish species had adapted to these conditions, but since the carp were invasive, they did not have a way to handle the seasonal decrease in oxygen levels.

Wrecked casino barge. It ended up on someone's front lawn on the river.

Just before Paducah, we saw what looked like a smashed up casino barge on the shore. Melanie googled it and discovered that it was a smashed up casino barge. link to video below. About 5 km upstream, we saw the area that the casino came from, there was an old hotel, and some rusty pilings for the casino to tie to.

Old casino moorings.

We arrived in Paducah around 5:30 and got tied up after a long day. Rich told us this was their record for their longest day of travel on their loop. We were all toast. As soon as we got tied up we quickly showered and we all went for dinner in town. 

This is the transient dock at Paducah. At the left you can see a 40 foot looper boat tied to the outside of the dock. Note the pilings that the dock rides on. There are big swings in water depth here.

All the restaurants we found were either really expensive or closed, but eventually we found a nice Mexican place to eat at. 

Paducah upscale restaurant area.

The town here is protected by a levee, and they have painted a series of murals on them depicting the history of the area. In one location, they had marked where the water has risen to during various flood year. The water here goes through depth changes of as much as 50 feet on a regular basis! 

Water has come up as much as 55 feet here.

Back on the boats, everyone crashed.

START THE CAR!

During the night, another boat arrived on the dock. They had a really nice Axopar cruiser, and had been stuck at the Olmstead lock for 4 hours. We chatted with them on the dock the next morning before we got underway.

There was lots of dredging being done on the Ohio river as we passed. It does not take them long to fill up a barge with sand.

The next morning we took our time getting ready as the journey was only 5 hours long. Louise was decadent and made us mushrooms and eggs for breakfast. After casting off, we continued on the Ohio for about an hour, then turned into the Cumberland river. This river was really nice, long stretches of it reminded me of the Rideau. These stretches were interspersed with huge aggregate plants loading gravel onto large barges. Lots of barges were being loaded, and we passed lots of small tugs marshalling the tows into and out of the loading areas, and assembling the barges into big rafts for the bigger tows to push. 

We met our first tow of the day on an approach to a curve. The space was tight so the tug operator told us to wait while he turned and came ahead. So we hovered on the side of the river while the barge passed us. 

We had to hold in place while this guy went past us.

Arriving at the last lock of our journey, we hailed the operator on VHF and were told that they had some barges coming through and we would have to wait a couple of hours. So, we anchored at the side of the lock just downstream of the spillway. The holding here was really bad, I think the bottom was course gravel, however there was no breeze, so we just needed a little bit of hold to stay in place, and so were held just by the weight of our anchors.

The lock entrance is to the right of this big wall, we were told to wait on the other side near the spillway so we would be protected from the barges and tugs.

We had quite the show while we were waiting. When they drained the lock, the outflow current stimulates the asian carp and they jump out of the water.

After waiting 3.5 hours (did I mention it was 32 degrees C with no wind?), the operator told us to come into the lock and we locked up. Coming out of the lock, we soon came to Green Turtle Bay, and the end of our trip for the day. It was 18:00 and we were all exhausted. The marina was just about to close, so we got tied in our slip and breathed a sigh of relief. 

Arriving at Green Turtle Bay marina was like getting to an oasis after crossing a desert. We were driving the boat a long time in the past few days, in high heat and humidity. It had become a bit of a grind, and seeing this kind of facility was like returning to the Shire after escaping Mordor.

Louise and Melanie did not want to cook after that grind of a day, so we went to Patties, a local restaurant, for dinner. They picked us up at the marina, and drove us to the restaurant. This place was huge, and decorated with a mix of Christmas and Halloween lights. The food was amazing! We decided we would go back soon.

Back on the boat, we collapsed into meat-comas for the night.

Our arrival here at Green Turtle Bay represents a milestone of sorts. We are now below the freeze line. It is possible we might get some overnight ice, but there is no hard freeze here, any ice that forms will melt the next day. If something comes up and we are unable to move for a period of time, we don't have to worry about hauling the boat out of the water to protect it from ice. And, if we do end up hauling the boat for maintenance or repair, we won't have freezing issues to worry about. 

We are also in an area we can rest for a bit. South of us, there are two locks that are closed for maintenance. Also, we don't want to go too far south yet, as there is still the possibility of hurricanes forming in the Gulf of Mexico and creating weather systems inland. Accordingly, we are staying here for a week, then we will spend some time at anchor in the lake. After the Mississippi, this will be a welcome change of pace.