Pickwick Lake, Ms/Al/Tn

Pickwick Lake Marinas
Will be heading up that way in a month or so from Pascagoula, Ms.
Seems like most marinas won’t offer monthly rates.
Are there any reasonably priced decent marinas on Pickwick itself. Monthly rates, that is.
We are on our way up to Ky Lake for no particular reason other than I wanted to visit a lake named after a sex lubricant. Anyway, was looking on Google Maps and other websites and didn’t realize how big and how nice Pickwick Lake really is. If we like it when we get there we may spend the rest of the year there and hit Ky. Lake next spring.
ActiveCaptain.com is only about 50% reliable from my experience.
Any recommendations from personal experiences?
Thanks in Advance.

Tony B said:

Pickwick Lake Marinas
Will be heading up that way in a month or so from Pascagoula, Ms.
Seems like most marinas won’t offer monthly rates.
Are there any reasonably priced decent marinas on Pickwick itself. Monthly rates, that is.
We are on our way up to Ky Lake for no particular reason other than I wanted to visit a lake named after a sex lubricant. Anyway, was looking on Google Maps and other websites and didn’t realize how big and how nice Pickwick Lake really is. If we like it when we get there we may spend the rest of the year there and hit Ky. Lake next spring.
ActiveCaptain.com is only about 50% reliable from my experience.
Any recommendations from personal experiences?
Thanks in Advance.

Click to expand...

Aqua Yacht Harbor can't accommodate you?

You might try Bay Springs marina, not technically on Pickwick but no locks between so straight shot.

In Florence, AL and a bit away from the more expensive area of Pickwick is Florence Harbor Marina. They don't get the attention of others as they only accommodate to 60'.

Eastport and Grand Harbor are the others on Pickwick.

Pickwick is great but so is the entire Tennessee. Kentucky Lake is still worth a trip.

Thanks for the input.
I was just looking east of Florence per someone's recommendation on another forum.
We are now considering Joe Wheeler State Park in Rogersville.
Still open to other ideas though.

Before you turn left and head up Mobile Bay, do yourself a favor, and first cross the Bay, visit Lucilles, then afterwards go a bit further east to at least the beach part of Orange Beach Alabama. Plenty of Marinas, plenty of anchorages. Then, if you must, then turn back and head up into the mud. 180 degrees the difference between west side of Mobile Bay and the east side.

Thanks for the info PKing.
I am fairly familiar with that area from many years back. And, yes, it is worlds different.
We actually are contemplating a side trip to Lulu's, Pirates Cove and Pensacola before heading north if time permits.

Tony B said:

Thanks for the input.
I was just looking east of Florence per someone's recommendation on another forum.
We are now considering Joe Wheeler State Park in Rogersville.
Still open to other ideas though.

Click to expand...

While it's not on Pickwick, Wheeler State Park is very nice. The Loopers meet there often. Kentucky has the best state parks but Tennessee has some that are very nice too and Wheeler may be the nicest. Dock there and have all the amenities of the hotel. They have 184 slips. Their store closes for the winter, but even then if you want fuel, you just call the hotel.

And, of course, if you want to go a bit further, there are more state parks and facilities available on Kentucky Lake than anywhere. Still Pickwick is a great jumping off point to head in either direction. Biggest cities on the Tennessee would be Chattanooga and Knoxville. On the Cumberland, it would be Nashville.

Joe Wheeler Park is a great facility, but not really close to anything. At least the last time I was there it was remote. Just a heads up that if you don't have a car you're pretty well stuck there.

Thanks Moon for the heads-up

I have been playing leap frog with my van. since Tx.
I will probably leave it in gautier. ms. and then figure out where if possible I can get a plane, train or bus back to it.

BandB

Thanks for the info.

If we go to Wheeler this year, we will definitely go to Ky. Lake next year. And if we do that, we might travel down late fall/early winter to the Bahamas.
We just really want to get off the 3rd coast for hurricane season. Been dodging and worrying about them for over 20 years and lost everything in Hurricane Katrina.
We are finally done with hurricanes.

Tony B said:

BandB

Thanks for the info.

If we go to Wheeler this year, we will definitely go to Ky. Lake next year. And if we do that, we might travel down late fall/early winter to the Bahamas.
We just really want to get off the 3rd coast for hurricane season. Been dodging and worrying about them for over 20 years and lost everything in Hurricane Katrina.
We are finally done with hurricanes.

Click to expand...

If you go to Wheeler, you should then make sure you explore on east to at least Chattanooga. There you can dock right in the middle of things. Real night city as is Knoxville.

BandB said:

If you go to Wheeler, you should then make sure you explore on east to at least Chattanooga. There you can dock right in the middle of things. Real night city as is Knoxville.

Click to expand...

Tony, if coming to Chattanooga let me know. I live one block from the downtown docks. A car will not be a problem here.

I'm not sure where the 50% comment comes from. I just completed the Tenn-Tom myself in this last season and found everything quite reliable especially when compared to anything else out there. Needless to say, we're continually checking everything out when we're underway.

Grand Harbor is an ActiveCaptain sponsor and surely has a monthly rate. It's a pretty nice facility with easy access to the Tennessee River and Tenn-Tom.

ActiveCaptain said:

I'm not sure where the 50% comment comes from. I just completed the Tenn-Tom myself in this last season and found everything quite reliable especially when compared to anything else out there. Needless to say, we're continually checking everything out when we're underway.

Grand Harbor is an ActiveCaptain sponsor and surely has a monthly rate. It's a pretty nice facility with easy access to the Tennessee River and Tenn-Tom.

Click to expand...

I meant to speak up earlier as I found the 50/50 comment strange. But I didn't have the information in front of me. I just compared to an extensive effort we did sometime back to develop our own list of marinas for personal use. I was unable to find a single marina missing and checked Lake Chickamauga to Pickwick. I found some we didn't list such as VFW posts and a few others I would barely consider marinas but you were complete.

Now if you're referring to detail, they only have the detail made available to them. Some marinas don't provide slip information or depths or other information. But we've cruised nearly 20,000 miles total in the past year and stay almost exclusively at Marinas and have found Active Captain amazingly helpful. Anchorages I could not speak about.

I cant speak for the Tenn-Tom because I haven't been on there yet.
So lets look at Port Arthur Tx. City Dock.
I didn't see any mention that this is not a safe area. There were about 5 or 6 drunks hanging out there and when we asked if this was the city dock, we were told that "the honky dock was down that way". We decided not to stay and found an anchorage about a 1/2 mile away or so.

East of Shell Morgan in La. I think it was Bayou Petit Anse, probably spelling it wrong. If you anchor where indicated, you will be directly in the way of barge traffic on their way in and out of a salt mine operation.

On the positive, Rabbit Island near the foot of the Rigoletts in la. although not as deep as indicated, there is no longer a rock operation as far as I know.

I'll have to check my notes when I get a chance for some other places.

I also should feel responsible for not adding to the reviews and I will if I can get my notes and thoughts straight. My old notes were in a small note book and it got wet and ink smeared.

Active Capt: I'm sorry if your feelings were hurt, but I have no intentions of giving up this forum and others that I a member of and just use your site.
I do feel that ActiveCaptain.com is great site overall and a time saver for me but it is not my bible. Forums like this are. I would like to thank you though for all of your efforts and keep up the great work.

Regards

Tony B

Tony B said:

So lets look at Port Arthur Tx. City Dock.
1. I didn't see any mention that this is not a safe area....

2. East of Shell Morgan in La. I think it was Bayou Petit Anse, probably spelling it wrong. If you anchor where indicated, you will be directly in the way of barge traffic on their way in and out of a salt mine operation.

3. Active Capt: I'm sorry if your feelings were hurt, but I have no intentions of giving up this forum and others that I a member of and just use your site.

Click to expand...

1. Port Arthur city dock - you're talking about the 2 star marker? Doesn't the 2 star rating say anything?

If it's not safe because of vagrants walking around the area, that's something that needs to be in a review, not the marker itself. That would border on "opinion" and not fact. The 2 star average says it all to most boaters in my opinion. I mean, would you stop at a 2 star restaurant? It's sort of good to know one would be there in case you really needed it, but it's not something you'd plan on going to. Sort of exactly the message given about the town dock.

2. Bayou Petit Anse - I can't find what you mean. There is likely more info within the data itself. And of course, everything about anything can change over time. That's sort of the point about the database.

3. My feelings aren't hurt at all. But why do you think it's an either/or - TrawlerForum or ActiveCaptain? I'm the friggin creator and owner of ActiveCaptain and yet, here I am on the forum. Is there a rule that we're not allowed to use both that I wasn't aware of?

Tony B said:

I cant speak for the Tenn-Tom because I haven't been on there yet.
So lets look at Port Arthur Tx. City Dock.
I didn't see any mention that this is not a safe area. There were about 5 or 6 drunks hanging out there and when we asked if this was the city dock, we were told that "the honky dock was down that way". We decided not to stay and found an anchorage about a 1/2 mile away or so.

East of Shell Morgan in La. I think it was Bayou Petit Anse, probably spelling it wrong. If you anchor where indicated, you will be directly in the way of barge traffic on their way in and out of a salt mine operation.

On the positive, Rabbit Island near the foot of the Rigoletts in la. although not as deep as indicated, there is no longer a rock operation as far as I know.

I'll have to check my notes when I get a chance for some other places.

I also should feel responsible for not adding to the reviews and I will if I can get my notes and thoughts straight. My old notes were in a small note book and it got wet and ink smeared.

Active Capt: I'm sorry if your feelings were hurt, but I have no intentions of giving up this forum and others that I a member of and just use your site.
I do feel that ActiveCaptain.com is great site overall and a time saver for me but it is not my bible. Forums like this are. I would like to thank you though for all of your efforts and keep up the great work.

Regards

Tony B

Click to expand...

I didn't get an impression anyone wanted you to give up anything, just clarify your remark. Things like what you said about Port Arthur require reporting. Active Captain, Cruisers Net and Waterway Guide all depend on reviews for that type information.

I don't anchor much so not knowlegeable, but I do know just like the channels and inlets, the anchorages are shifting all the time. Again when you have information that you see that needs correcting, I'd encourage getting it to all three of them.

The best information we have on obstructions and shoaling comes from boaters reporting. Each site has it's people working but they are limited in how much they cruise. If you see a crazy boat roaming around trying all the different parts of the channel at an inlet they are probably checking depths.

I have no relationship with Active Captain, but I do hope you can now feel confident using it for the location of the marinas on the Tennessee River. I do always then check the marina site. Marinas do change prices of docking and fuel. The other thing I find sometimes too is maximum LOA. Active Captain may have a number, let's say 80 ft. that they were given. And that is true sort of. But you call when you have an 85' or even a 100' and if they don't have any transients they'll turn the whole dock over to you. Perhaps they gave the original numbers on the basis they could handle four 8 ft.

I also did find a situation where a Private Marina let us dock but with the explicit agreement we would not tell Active Captain or the others. They are 98% private and don't want to let it out they sometimes make exceptions.

Active Captain: You stated "I'm not sure where the 50% comment comes from."
You asked and I responded.
Active Captain: Now you are saying "I didn't get an impression anyone wanted you to give up anything, just clarify your remark." My statement was based on your previous statement. "I just completed the Tenn-Tom myself in this last season and found everything quite reliable especially when compared to anything else out there. Needless to say, we're continually checking everything out when we're underway."
That just sounded pretty definitive to me, like in no need for me to check further.

So, I stated my opinion and you stated yours. Lets just leave it at that. I am not going to respond to anything like this any further because I see no need to defend myself or my opinions.
Peace.

Tony B said:

So, I stated my opinion and you stated yours. Lets just leave it at that.

Click to expand...

It wasn't me who said, "I didn't get an impression anyone wanted you to give up anything, just clarify your remark."

I have no problem with opinions. I was interested in understanding what I was missing, that's all. As far as I'm concerned, the need to discuss it further is gone.

Sorry for the error

It wasn't me who said, "I didn't get an impression anyone wanted you to give up anything, just clarify your remark."

I made a mistake and attributed someone else's remark to you. My bad.

Anyway, moving on, overall I still think you have a great site and I will continue to use it. I will also gather my notes and memories and add to the remarks as appropriate.

Regards

Tony B

Tony B said:

It wasn't me who said, "I didn't get an impression anyone wanted you to give up anything, just clarify your remark."

I made a mistake and attributed someone else's remark to you. My bad.

Anyway, moving on, overall I still think you have a great site and I will continue to use it. I will also gather my notes and memories and add to the remarks as appropriate.

Regards

Tony B

Click to expand...

It was me and it was in response to this remark you made and meant as conciliatory: "but I have no intentions of giving up this forum and others that I a member of and just use your site."

That remark confused me. But that said, I'm like you, I use all the information I can find. Finding marinas can be a lot of work. I can only imagine finding anchorages. I mean there are entire books on the anchorages of limited stretches of water.

No one is bashing you, just trying to assist. I hope the information you've received on TN River marinas has been helpful.

BandB said:

...... I hope the information you've received on TN River marinas has been helpful.

Click to expand...

Yes it has, thank you.
I'm used to sailing and when coastal sailing, anchorages are relatively unlimited. Inland and ICW, especially in La. not so much. They can be found, but you have to work at it. Don't know anything about inland waterways but I assume they would be relatively easy to find because many channels run through lakes. I might be wrong but just guessing.

Regards

Tony B said:

Yes it has, thank you.
I'm used to sailing and when coastal sailing, anchorages are relatively unlimited. Inland and ICW, especially in La. not so much. They can be found, but you have to work at it. Don't know anything about inland waterways but I assume they would be relatively easy to find because many channels run through lakes. I might be wrong but just guessing.

Regards

Click to expand...

On the Tennessee River they are relatively easy to find. Creeks, coves, bends. I'd say on the whole finding good bottoms to get anchors set is easier too. Not dealing with sand and silt and some of the issues of coastal.

Speaking of anchoring, I have a claw as my main anchor and a Danforth as my back-up. And a small plow for an emergency stern anchor.
The reason for the claw being the primary is because I can only fit one anchor on the bow roller and the Danforth can easily be hung from the bow rail with an external rode for fast easy deployment.
Should the claw or the Danforth be the primary anchor?
Hopefully it will be the claw because there is no easy place to keep the claw for quick deployment in case of emergency other than on the bow roller where it presently lives.

The only subject more dangerous than "which anchor" is "which gun"...

We use a 121 lb Rocna. We used to change anchors when moving between mud (north of Charleston) and more sandy surfaces (south of Charleston). The Rocna works everywhere. It's all we used on the rivers. And I never saw a need for a stern anchor in the 11 years we've been cruising on our trawler (nor a second anchor a la Bahama style).

Damn, you type fast.
And yes, anchors are a dangerous topic and yes, I started a 'which gun' thread a while ago. man I can start some $hit.

I just took another look at a Rocna on Defender and I remembered why I don't have one. I have an 'enclosed' bow roller and I don't think it would work on my system.
As a spectator in the gladiatorial games between the Rocna and the other guy I tend to think they are probably pretty much the same. OOPS!!!!! I did it again.

Dang it Tony, you at it again! I have always found the best anchor to use is the one on my boat . Although, I do have a quote from Rex and am seriously thinking of giving the Excel a try.....I haven't had any nasty weather in the dozen times I have anchored out with the CQR and while I hope it never lets me down, it sure would help in justifying the change.

Tenn-Tom Waterway

It’s finally spring time and that means back to cruising time for us.
We will be heading from Pascagoula, Ms. to Mobile Bay and then northward to the Tennessee River.
What is the:
1) Average time per Lock?
This includes waiting/standing by, getting in and getting out - total time?
2) Anchoring. It appears that one can anchor just about anywhere outside the channel where it is wide enough. Is this true? I only draw about 3’.

3) I have digitized charts from the Corps of Engrs. That I downloaded. That’s over 300 pages. I was told that they don’t print them anymore.
a). Any other printed charts available?
b). I haven’t checked yet to see if anything is available Standard Horizon GPS. Any good sources?
c). Is there anything I can use over my laptop screen so that I can use it outdoors? Too much glare.
d). I use Cricket for my data service and not sure how well it work up there so ActiveCaptain may not be available while on the run.

Thanks in advance

Tony B , Any chance you might stop in at Paris Landing? I hope so.

On a good, lucky day 30 minutes is possible for each lock, or less. That's the day when the lockmaster know's you're coming and each one in succession is open and ready for you.

Traffic going each way can slow that some but not terribly. The only thing that changes it significantly is "red flag" tows. Sometimes regular tows will let you lock through tied to their side if you ask nicely. But when a "red flag" is present, meaning hazardous materials of some sort, no one else can lock with them. Worst case would be two "red flag's" in front of you. That could lead to a wait of an hour and a half or so, possibly more.