Trying again for Columbus, and staying there 10-26 through 10-29

Sunday, October 26 through Wednesday, October 29

On Sunday, the crews of Brisa and Sea Fever set out once again for Columbus, MS.  Given all the difficulty we’ve had getting started on this journey, it has taken on a more elevated stature than it deserves. The trip to Columbus is but 23 miles, and one lock. Less than 30 minutes as the car drives. But Sea Fever ain’t no car.

Our travel-range per day is about 50 miles. Less if there are locks.  We travel at 5-6 miles per hour. Each lock takes from ½ to 2 ½ hours to clear and you never know how much time it will take until you get there. We are confined to 10-hour days because traveling the waterways in the dark isn’t encouraged. 

In Columbus’ case, 23 miles and one lock is a short day. However, the alternative was a marina some 55 miles and two locks away. We would never get there in daylight. So we decided to go to Columbus.

We got a late start, delayed by the one-and-only lock for about 2 hours as a tow went through. The rest of the trip was uneventful, but we were anxious the whole time that something would go wrong.  Fortunately, our repairs were successful. Brisa’s engine ran perfectly and Sea Fever’s didn’t leak even a drop of diesel.

The entrance to Columbus was less dicey than Aberdeen except for the aquatic vegetation. Floating islands of water hyacinths and marsh marigolds clogged the waterway and the channel into the marina. 

Flocks of white pelicans watched with amusement as we dodged around the flowers. We wondered if they were the same pelicans that flew with us earlier in the trip! Fortunately (for us) Brisa was in the lead so they plowed a path for us through the ones we couldn’t avoid. 


Amused Pelicans

We got to the Columbus Marina just before sunset.  We were greeted at the dock by “T”, the marina manager, and his staff.  T is a bear of a guy, who loves to talk and tell stories!  As he fueled up the boats, he told us that he is not a fan of the water vegetation. It is the curse of the marina because the marina staff constantly has to clean it out of water intake hoses and the slips in the docks.



Water Hyacinth

Marsh Marigolds

  



Kathy asked T if there were any alligators this far north (alligators are a subset of her general aversion to things reptilian).  T said, “You’ve been in alligator country since Aberdeen.”  This did not please Kathy nor did his subsequent stories about a “16-footer” he once saw in the marina.

However, T did confirm Kathy’s belief that alligators cannot jump, so she was less anxious about one leaping aboard Sea Fever. One less thing to fret about…of course, there’s still the possibility that a water moccasin will climb up the anchor line. Cruising is risky business.

We secured Sea Fever in a slip across from Brisa. We were sandwiched between two 40+ foot cruisers that protected us from winds coming off the river.

Monday, we grabbed the courtesy van and went to Walmart.  Woohoo.  Our friend Tracy will note that we have taken Costco out of our vocabulary, and replaced it with Walmart.  We look forward to Florida, and replacing Walmart with Costco.

One of the challenges, when doing this kind of travel, is provisioning the boat.  We have limited space on Sea Fever to carry food.  We have two lockers under the settees, two cupboards that are devoted to food stuffs and an ice box that is about 4 ft. deep and two feet wide. 

And yes, it is an icebox.  Block ice lasts about three days and cubes only two. As a result, getting to a grocery frequently is important, simply because we can’t keep fresh food fresh for very long. We carry a store of canned and packaged food, so don’t worry about us starving. 

Many marinas have courtesy cars that transient boaters can use for a couple hours for the price of the gas they use. They are in high demand, so the schedule for the courtesy car often fills up quickly. Some of us buddy up, and instead of taking 4 folks in a 2 hour window we sign up each for adjacent windows so that we can “achieve” Walmart and something else in 4 hours.

Tuesday. we buddied up with our friends from Brisa, and did a four hour stint to town.  We visited Tennessee William’s birthplace (did you all know his first name was Tom?).



Tennessee Williams birthplace in Columbus, MS

We drove through historic Columbus to look at the many antebellum homes.  Tim needed to hold Kathy down at the “For Sale” signs on the old, decrepit homes with potential.  Gorgeous places. Or, at least they could be!

Back at the marina we noticed a couple tents and a canoe parked by the fuel dock. There we met a couple of guys who were traveling from Knoxville, TN to Mobile.  In a canoe.  Yep, you read that right.  A canoe.  And tents.  We were amazed and could not imagine making the trip in a canoe! There’s no room for stuff in a canoe.

The guys figured that they would travel some 1000 miles and they were current averaging about 30 miles each day.  Kathy asked one of them why he was doing this in a canoe and he gave the perfect response, “Because I always wanted to.” Enough said.

He also told her about two other guys making this sojourn in a kayak.  He was amazed and could not imagine making the trip in a kayak! There’s no room for stuff in a kayak.

I guess it is all a matter of perspective! 

Canoeists make their way from Knoxville, TN to Mobile, AL

On Day 3 of our stay in Columbus, we heard that a buddy boat from earlier in our trip was in the marina.  Estrallita had shown up.  We couldn’t find owners Stel and Burke anywhere, but figured we would find them later.

Elizabeth and Daniel from Brisa and Kathy decided to take a quick trip to Kroger foods, and we were promised the black SUV.  When we went to pick it up, it wasn’t there! And no one knew where it was!  We waited about a half hour, and sure enough, the SUV came roaring into the parking lot.  Burke jumped out to empty the truck, then Burke, Stel and Kathy hugged like old friends, and we heard the story of why the truck was so late in returning.

They needed to fill a prescription.  The pharmacy wouldn’t honor a scrip from another state, so they had to go to an urgent care facility to get a Mississippi prescription that the pharmacy would fill the prescription.  They spent 2 hours at the urgent care! Makes us wonder about Tim’s meds and how easy they will be to refill.  We thought we had that one covered with CVS before we left!

Tim and Jeff traded notes, and the decision was made to get through the next lock (Stennis lock) early in the day on Thursday, travel 25 miles closer to our Demopolis destination.  It was a good weather day, and some cold and stormy weather was coming up.  Always move when the weather is on your side.