Pickwick Lake, Ms/Al/Tn

You need multiple plans every day if you're shooting for longer days. You can easily have long lock delays because of commercial traffic or lock issues.

We had full internet access every day (underway) and certainly every night. But you really shouldn't rely on using the ActiveCaptain website - only 20% of users do. Instead, use one of the 25 products that keep all the ActiveCaptain data offline so no internet connection is needed to use any of it. Then it's always available. When you have good internet access every couple of days, do a sync in the app/application to update the database with the info/reviews/comments that changed since the last sync.

Pack Mule

Pack Mule said:

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

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We wont be going up that far north this year, but early next spring we will definitely be up there.
I will even buy the first round of beers.

ActiveCaptain said:

.....you really shouldn't rely on using the ActiveCaptain website.... Instead, use one of the 25 products that keep all the ActiveCaptain data offline so no internet connection is needed to use any of it. Then it's always available. When you have good internet access every couple of days, do a sync in the app/application to update the database with the info/reviews/comments that changed since the last sync.

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I have got to join the 21st Century and find out what the heck you are talking about. Seriously, I am totally clueless.
Eventually I will find a patient person and show me. I know I am missing a lot.

A useful site for several of your questions is: Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Inland Shipping Transportation. Good luck.

Mileage Markers

On the Tenn-Tom, are the mile markers in statute or nautical miles?

Mile markers are in statute miles on all US waterways.

Thanks, that will save me 15% on fuel and get there 15% faster.
I knew there was a reason I wanted to go inland.

Watch for flooding impact on the Tenn-Tom. Massive amount of rainfall recently!

Tony I also use a Standard Horizon plotters a cp300i on the bridge and a cp1000 at the lower helm if you don't have the Jeppenson C-Map NT + chart card for it get one they have a lot more information than what's on the embedded charts. What I find useful is the location of day marks, mile markers and the sail line. Have a great trip and post a lot of pics & information it might help me when I head down that way.

River Cruiser said:

.....you don't have the Jeppenson C-Map NT + chart card for it get one they have a lot more information than what's on the embedded charts.....

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The Standard Horizon Chart Plotter was on the boat from the previous owner and I was not familiar with Standard Horizon, I was always a Garmin guy.
I called Standard Horizon and they gave me the c-maps tel number and asked what I needed. Then I asked the local Advanced Marine Electronics guy what I needed and neither one mentioned the + or the Max so I just ordered what they told me to get.
I ordered the charts the day before yesterday and it came in yesterday.
When I plugged it in, all I could say is that I am underwhelmed.

BTW, where are you located?
Anyway, thank for the info. Too bad it was 2 days late. maybe this will help the next guy. And I do appreciate the input.

Tony B said:

BTW, where are you located? Anyway, thank for the info. Too bad it was 2 days late. maybe this will help the next guy. And I do appreciate the input.

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Damn the bad luck, I usually check the forum at least once a day but I've been out on the river or working on the boat since Saturday, I think spring is finally here. What SH unit do you have? I'am pleased with mine, I had a Garmin 235 that was a fine unit but they quit supporting it and I couldn't buy new or used charts and that turned me off of Garmin products. I'am at Two Rivers Marina on the Illinois side across from Louisiana, Mo. UMR mm 283, we're about 62 miles above the confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. I really enjoy the upper Mis plenty of sandbars, islands and places to anchor out, if you like staying in marinas your always within about 30 miles of one. I want to head south to Kentucky lake and the Tennessee river and spend a few months down in that area. I may head that way this fall if things work out with boat projects, I have a new one on the list since my water tank started leaking this spring.

If you really want to know what is wrong with your boat, take a long trip. You will find out.

I have the CP500. I like the large screen but it takes some getting used to to figure it out. I always have to pull the manual.

I originally planned on going to the northern part of Ky Lake this year and then had several people recommend the Tennessee River. I looked on the internet and found Joe Wheeler State Park and liked it so that is where we will be going this year. I figure it would not be as cold in the winter as Paducah, Ky area. Next year we will leave Joe Wheeler in the early spring and head up to the northern part of Ky lake. Wouldn't be a very long trip, and then decide if we want to winter-over there. If not we might head south to the Bahamas. Not sure of anything at this time.
Obviously, I am old and retired and have the time.

BTW, is there any time of year when the Ms. River is running real slow so that it wont cost me an arm and a leg to head up it? I was thinking like from Paducah to St. Louis.

From the confluence of the Mis and the Ohio rivers it's about 220 miles. That is the general area where all the St. Louis marinas are. Between the 1st to mid July the river is usually back to normal depending on the rain in May & June, the current slows down to 1.5 - 2 mph, thru this area. The river isn't real wide here so in the wider areas it would be even slower. I've thought of trying to buy a cp500 and get rid of the cp1000, the 500 supports radar and the 1000 doesn't. I have radar on a separate display now at both helms and when it's real crappy out the larger display with radar overlayed may be more useful at the lower helm. Good luck

OK, we didn't leave Mississippi as planned.
Bobby's Fish Camp is where I planned to make my first stop near Coffeeville lock and Dam. I called them up to make sure they had gasoline. Yes they did and still do and will probably still have it for a while. Their docks are under water and so you can figure the rest out. If I can't get fuel, I cant leave here. Then I called the Coffeeville Lock and dam and they said they were 34 feet above flood stage and so we decided to wait.
This afternoon, I met a man at the marina, purely by accident, here in Gautier, Ms. He is from Demopolis and keeps his boat here at this marina. He said that this morning he drove over a bridge and the T-T looked like it was about 4 or 5 miles wide. There were eddys that looked like whirlpools almost as if you flushed the toilet. He said he had never seen it that bad before. He said it would take at least 2 weeks or more for it to clear up most of the logs and debris. It would be disastrous to leave now.
So here is my new dilemma. we are very itchy to leave even if only to Mobile, Al. That would get us a day closer to our destination and we would feel like we are at least now underway. this is also very close to where I stored my van when I thought we would be gone by now. So if we waited in Mobile for a month, we would at least have my van close by. We brought the van there last weekend to be near a Greyhound Bus Depot so I could get back to it from Joe Wheeler St. Park in Al.
Soooooooooooooo................Does anyone here live near Mobile River or is there anyway to find out how much, if any, debris is coming down the river into Mobile Bay. I would assume it is, But maybe not.

Tony B said:

OK, we didn't leave Mississippi as planned.
Bobby's Fish Camp is where I planned to make my first stop near Coffeeville lock and Dam. I called them up to make sure they had gasoline. Yes they did and still do and will probably still have it for a while. Their docks are under water and so you can figure the rest out. If I can't get fuel, I cant leave here. Then I called the Coffeeville Lock and dam and they said they were 34 feet above flood stage and so we decided to wait.
This afternoon, I met a man at the marina, purely by accident, here in Gautier, Ms. He is from Demopolis and keeps his boat here at this marina. He said that this morning he drove over a bridge and the T-T looked like it was about 4 or 5 miles wide. There were eddys that looked like whirlpools almost as if you flushed the toilet. He said he had never seen it that bad before. He said it would take at least 2 weeks or more for it to clear up most of the logs and debris. It would be disastrous to leave now.
So here is my new dilemma. we are very itchy to leave even if only to Mobile, Al. That would get us a day closer to our destination and we would feel like we are at least now underway. this is also very close to where I stored my van when I thought we would be gone by now. So if we waited in Mobile for a month, we would at least have my van close by. We brought the van there last weekend to be near a Greyhound Bus Depot so I could get back to it from Joe Wheeler St. Park in Al.
Soooooooooooooo................Does anyone here live near Mobile River or is there anyway to find out how much, if any, debris is coming down the river into Mobile Bay. I would assume it is, But maybe not.

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Two people or groups of people to call. The marinas, such as Dog River. Or the tow services. Both should be able to tell you what things are like there right now. Can't imagine Mobile Bay not impacted. The trash coming down has to go somewhere.

Band B: Thanks for the idea of calling Sea Tow. I hadn't thought about them.

This is becoming like an episode on The Twilight Zone. We just cant escape.
Every time we set a new departure date base on fairly decent weather reports, the weather and forecasts change drastically.
My marina monthly fee is due tomorrow and the weather forecast yesterday was so-so but we were ready to leave tomorrow. Later on during yesterday afternoon, the forecast changed again.
There are now small craft warnings and flood warnings for Mobile Bay. I also called Tow Boat US (thanks to Band B), on two different numbers and spoke to 2 different people. Also called Grand Mariners Marina. The debris from up river is now starting to show up in Mobile Bay. The next good weather report is Tuesday and by then there will be more debris. So we decided to stay in Gautier, Ms another 3 weeks or so and hope things settle down by then. We are no longer waiting on weather, we are now waiting on debris to pass by.
Eventually we will get there but for now I don't want to risk my props and other collateral damage from logs both floating and submerged. As much as we want to get going we are going to exercise discipline and wait. It's tough but I'll live.
Tomorrow, I will get my van back. My sis-in-law will drive us there. We have already succumb to the idea of waiting.

Tony B said:

Band B: Thanks for the idea of calling Sea Tow. I hadn't thought about them.

This is becoming like an episode on The Twilight Zone. We just cant escape.
Every time we set a new departure date base on fairly decent weather reports, the weather and forecasts change drastically.
My marina monthly fee is due tomorrow and the weather forecast yesterday was so-so but we were ready to leave tomorrow. Later on during yesterday afternoon, the forecast changed again.
There are now small craft warnings and flood warnings for Mobile Bay. I also called Tow Boat US (thanks to Band B), on two different numbers and spoke to 2 different people. Also called Grand Mariners Marina. The debris from up river is now starting to show up in Mobile Bay. The next good weather report is Tuesday and by then there will be more debris. So we decided to stay in Gautier, Ms another 3 weeks or so and hope things settle down by then. We are no longer waiting on weather, we are now waiting on debris to pass by.
Eventually we will get there but for now I don't want to risk my props and other collateral damage from logs both floating and submerged. As much as we want to get going we are going to exercise discipline and wait. It's tough but I'll live.
Tomorrow, I will get my van back. My sis-in-law will drive us there. We have already succumb to the idea of waiting.

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That's the discipline we all have to maintain, whether a day or weeks. Can't have to be anywhere at a specific time as we don't control the weather. This is a very unusual situation on the Tenn Tom. Glad you were able to get good information. Both of the tow services are incredible sources of information. Every one we've spoken to has been so nice.

Tony,

Last Tango is also on hold and itching to go.

We will probably depart late next week, make a slow passage inside to Mobile and if (probably) conditions are still bad in the rivers, continue east to Pirates Cove.

From there, who knows, who cares?

Keep safe.

Looked for Ourselves

Yesterday was a pretty day so we decided to take a drive and look for ourselves.
First Stop: Mobile
We went to the Mobile Convention Center so we could be on the river and look. It didn't look as bad as I thought but still bad. Whether you looked up-river or down-river or straight across, you always saw at least 2 or 3 logs and big ones at that.
2nd Stop: Coffeeville Lock and Dam.
On the way we say the sign for "Old Lock No.1" and decided to detour and check it out. We went down this road for several miles and then came 2 large road blockers. Someone had moved them slightly over so my van could fit through. We went down about another 3/4 mile or so and the water was flowing both over and under the road eating up everything in its path. walked a little and turned back. Never did see the old lock. When we got to Coffeeville, we went over a bridge over the Tenn-Tom and there was nobody behind us so we stopped in the middle of the bridge. From the van we could see many logs flowing down the river and this time, from a higher perspective (height, not weed), we could see many submerged logs flowing along. Scary. So we continued on to the Coffeeville Lock and Dam. Went down the road to the Lock and Dam and the road was closed to the public.
Couldn't see the Lock and dam from there.
3rd Stop: Bobby's Fish Camp - the only fuel stop I know of between Mobile and Demopolis.
It was very evident where the water height had been just a few days earlier. We trekked across the mud to the floating dock and there was a trawler there. They had come down from the Demopolis area. They said it wasn't too bad. As we were talking, I could see logs floating merrily down the river. These guys didn't seem to concerned. I would have been.
4th and last stop on the way back was to go down a road by the bridge crossing the river that we had been on earlier. At the bottom area, we parked and walked across a grassy area. We met a man that worked for the health Dept - Environmental Services. he explained the river was about 5 feet above flood stage and another 20 feet above normal level.
He said it should be almost normal in a week or so. But I should wait about 2 weeks for most of the debris to clear up.
Sorry, didn'r take any pics.
Oh, well, that's what we found and will wait probably the weeks before we leave.

This is all pretty interesting to me. We are in the PNW now and have cruised the ICW/East Coast offshore in past years, but have never been up any river/lake systems. I am very used to paying close attention to the weather but had always sort of imagined that you didn't need to pay such close attention to it on rivers and inland lakes. This is a real eye-opener for me!

Hope things clear and your trip can get going soon!

THD said:

This is all pretty interesting to me. We are in the PNW now and have cruised the ICW/East Coast offshore in past years, but have never been up any river/lake systems. I am very used to paying close attention to the weather but had always sort of imagined that you didn't need to pay such close attention to it on rivers and inland lakes. This is a real eye-opener for me!

Hope things clear and your trip can get going soon!

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Have you cruised the Columbia River? Boat on Lake Union and Lake Washington?

Or go to San Francisco and then river cruise to Sacramento.

THD said:

..... We .have cruised the ICW/East Coast offshore in past years, but have never been up any river/lake systems. I am very used to paying close attention to the weather but had always sort of imagined that you didn't need to pay such close attention to it on rivers and inland lakes.!

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Pretty much the same here. I have always sailed and on the Gulf it's either hurricane season or it's not. Inland rivers are new to me as are inboard gasoline engines. The Tenn-Tom Waterway has several websites and you can get the current flood stage data and the forecast water level for different areas. That is what I will be watching. This should take a week to get to normal water level and then I will wait another week for upriver trash to settle or pass by.

B&B-Lakes Union and Washington of course. We hit every UW home football game. But both are pretty benign though. Lake Washington can get a bit rough with a strong south wind. We have not made it down to the Columbia yet and probably won't until we go for good in a few years.

Having to pay attention to up-river flooding, debris, etc. is a whole new thing for me!

THD said:

B&B-Lakes Union and Washington of course. We hit every UW home football game. But both are pretty benign though. Lake Washington can get a bit rough with a strong south wind. We have not made it down to the Columbia yet and probably won't until we go for good in a few years.

Having to pay attention to up-river flooding, debris, etc. is a whole new thing for me!

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Well you'd get a bit of that on the Columbia, especially beyond Portland. We even got it on the Lake we lived on in NC, even though it was dammed. There were several lakes on the river above it and the uppermost ones were more in the mountain area. So when the snow melted and the spring showers hit the water could end up rising (controlled through dams but still rising) and it would pick up trash from the banks. They would pull the level of our lake down in the winter just to be ready for that rise.

On the Tennessee River system, the level in the spring can be used as a kind of flushing action. Raising and lowering the level raising it again to "summer pool" will loosen some of the debris from the banks. It then will usually float down stream and collect behind the dams. The have an A frame crane on a barge that they will collect it. Pretty neat really. The Tennessee from Knoxville to Kentucky Dam is mostly impoundments. The river is a workhorse providing water, electric power, recreation, transportation, and scenic beauty.

Good intel. Thanks Tony.

Last Tango

Here is a link to the first lock and dam at Coffeeville. National Weather Service Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service
Everything looks good from there.
Some of the last debris should clear Mobile river by mid week, next week.
I will drive to Mobile again tomorrow, its only about 40 mins. from here. If all looks better, I will put my van back in mini-storage and be ready for departure around Tues or Wed if weather permits.
I will keep u informed.
Call me if you want.

Tony B said:

Here is a link to the first lock and dam at Coffeeville. National Weather Service Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service
Everything looks good from there.
Some of the last debris should clear Mobile river by mid week, next week.
I will drive to Mobile again tomorrow, its only about 40 mins. from here. If all looks better, I will put my van back in mini-storage and be ready for departure around Tues or Wed if weather permits.
I will keep u informed.
Call me if you want.

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Wow. Dropping 20 feet in a week. That's a lot of water being pushed through and out.

Yup, and it all funnels down into the narrow Mobile River and into Mobile Bay about 100 miles south of it. that's why I will wait til about mid-week. The current should also slow down quite a bit. Don't want to waste 100 gals of gas fighting it.

Mobile River Report

We got there about noon and there was a cluster of logs coming down which made me think "not good". Then it cleared up and there was just a random log here and there. Then for the next 30 minutes, we didn't see any logs. I have no idea of the ratio of 'seen' vs. 'unseen' logs is so I can't comment on that. Then I saw 2 small crew boats running about 20 kts and the a mid size Cabin type fishing boat cruising at high speed looking like they didn't have a care in the world. I would assume that the crew boats and the pleasure craft were familiar with the area and were relatively unconcerned so I think it's about cleared of most logs.
The current was very slow. Not being familiar with the river system, I am totally in awe over how quickly things change from good to bad and back to good again.

As far as I am concerned, the river is safe to travel.

We don't like to start out unless we have a forecast of 3 good days in a row. Then after that, it doesn't matter. The admiral and I have had 2 really bad days on Mobile Bay in the past and so she is a little gun shy.

We will be bringing van back to mini-storage on Monday and then standing by for weather forecast. Looks like around wed or Thurs.