I had not slept well the night before and when Mark woke me up at 7a by saying that we HAD to go RIGHT NOW, I was too much in a morning stupor and shock to say anything but okay…I was up and Mark had me hauling up the anchor (with my trusty windlass) before I was even able to brush my teeth. Composing myself and with clean teeth, I asked him why in the world are we leaving so early and did he by chance happen to see the fog covering the river? He said that two boats had hailed the lockmaster and that they were leaving, so we should leave also. I countered by mentioning the fog and saying that just because everyone else was leaving that does not mean that we could not go back to sleep and leave in an hour or so when the fog lifted. However, Mark felt that we needed to leave now or we would not be able to make it through all of the six locks and reach Aberdeen by dark. “OKAY – WHATEVER, CAPTAIN MARK” I mumbled as I put on my life jacket and winter gloves to prepare the lines and fenders for the first lock.
Unlike the locks on the Tennessee River that rose, the locks on the Tenn-Tom will bring us gradually back to sea level. The first lock, the Whitten Lock, has the largest drop of 84 feet. There were three boats in the lock and the descent was rather quick. However, I do not think any of us were prepared for what we found when the lock doors opened…a solid blanket of pure white fog so thick that we could not see the river’s edge. I looked at Mark ready with a sharp “I told you so” but the look on his face made me realize that he knew exactly how bad the situation was and that the last thing he needed at that moment was me reminding him of that fact. The only thing that we could do was to go forward and trust our electronics. The chart-plotter, depth finder and GPS are always on but we do not usually use the radar on the rivers, but Mark turned the radar on immediately. We were the middle boat and we made our way at 3 knots onward to the next lock which was approximately five miles away. We have three different types of electronics charts and GPS systems on the boat in addition to the hard copy manual charts. Mark had two of the three electronic systems running simultaneously and still at one point somehow we got turned around 180 degrees and then 90 degrees sideways, heading out of the channel into a swamp. Luckily Mark acted quickly and got us back on course. At this point, I was so scared that I was nearly in tears…I thought the best thing that I could do for Mark to be helpful at this point was to put my earphones on, stand watch on the bow of the boat and relay any information that I could to Mark until we got to a clear area. This proved to be good move for us both. Mark certainly did not need me hovering over him watching the electronic charts and I needed something constructive to do so that I did not start crying. It took us almost two hours but all three boats made it to the second lock, Montgomery Lock. Before entering this lock, I hailed the lockmaster to ask how the visibility was downstream. He radioed back that all was clear as far as he could see and you could hear a collectively sigh of relief from the crew on all three boats. Mark and I had decided that if there was no visibility that we would anchor above Montgomery Lock until the fog lifted but with this good news, we decided to go forward with the other two boats.
It was now about 10:30a and the day was turning sunny and rather warm. After the previous six days of rain and certainly after the previous three hours, the sunshine was the most wonderful sight and feeling to behold.
As the day progressed, so did our spirits lift. Besides the sunshine and warmth, the way the lockmasters handle pleasure craft on the Tenn-Tom is fantastic. If there are no commercial vessels in the area each lockmaster will telephone the next lockmaster in line to let him know when to expect us. So when we arrive, the lock is ready and waiting for us and all we have to do to enter and get ourselves secure. This is exactly what happened for us and the five remaining locks were a breeze. We just slipped in and slipped out and made wonderful time.
Our destination was the Aberdeen, Mississippi marina. At the rendezvous we had been told that if we had any extra time that we should make a point of stopping in Aberdeen. Being a sucker for history and having totally fallen in love with the South, I wanted to see the old southern homes and magnolia lined streets. At this point Mark would agree to any request that I had and he too wanted to unwind and relax for a day or so.
Just when we thought our perils were over, we saw the entrance to the Aberdeen Marina…from the river, it looked like we were heading into the deepest darkest Bayou and that we would start hearing banjo music at any minute. The marina channel entrance is well marked but the water is much shallower than we are use to. I hailed the marina and they said just stay in the middle of the channel and we would be fine. They were right and I must say that the marina was well worth the anxiety of its entrance. The people could not be nicer or friendlier. There were boats in this marina up to 100 feet in length, so what was I worried about...? We found our spot on the wall, tied up and had some major liquid refreshment to toast the successful conclusion of our scariest day yet on the water. I made a toast to Captain Mark for his excellent handling of the boat in difficult conditions.
Hours on the water: 9
Nautical miles traveled: 49
Number of locks: 6
Time spent waiting at locks: 0
Tomorrow's Destination: Aberdeen, Mississippi
What we're listening to: I am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe
What we watched: 0
Lesson for the day: It is not wise to follow the crowd
Obligatory knitting report: Mittens for Wunder Kids
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