Grand Harbor to Midway Marina, Fulton MS

We spent an enjoyable weekend tied up and secure at Grand Harbor Marina. Saturday night we shared dinner at Freddy T's with other boaters, mainly loopers. If anyone is ever in Counce, TN, we highly recommend the catfish (of course). It was interesting to hear the tales of  travels from the great lake states. We are thankful we did not have to navigate the Mississippi.

Two cats in boat across the way....high alert status!

We ventured out into Pickwick Lake on Sunday, after the Bengals win, in our dinghy, but it was COLD!

Tom steering the dinghy out of the harbor

Today, we say goodbye to Grand Harbor and hello to the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway. The Tenn Tom is a man made waterway which connects the Tennessee River to the Intercoastal Waterway and the Gulf of Mexico in Mobile Bay, reducing water travel distances up to 800 miles. It was the largest earth moving project in world history requiring over 100 million dump truck loads, more than the Panama Canal. The waterway was officially opened in 1985, not that long ago. It took 12 years and 2 billion dollars to build. We head into the Tenn Tom and immediately go through the great cut. The Great Cut is a 29 mile channel.  The entire town of Holcot, MS, had to be moved to give way to the Tenn Tom.

Spillway on the Tenn Tom divide cut

After 40 miles we approach Whitten Lock, named for the US House of Representative from Mississippi Jamie Whitten.  It is the fourth highest single lift lock in the US.  It will lower us 85 feet into Bay Springs Lake.

Looking up from where we have dropped.

It actually rains inside the walls, which is kind of creepy.

Bay Springs Lake

We leave Whitten Lock and enter Bay Springs Lake, but have to go through two more locks, Montgomery and Rankin.  These are not as intimidating.  There are areas in which the river is very narrow and we pass barges within close quarters.

One of several barges we pass.

After 60 miles and three locks, we stop for the night at Midway Marina in Fulton, MS, along with our new boating buddy, Dulcinea, a 420 Sundancer from Minneapolis.  We will travel with Dan and Nancy for the next few days, if not further. Their final destination is Sanibel Island.