Late October 2024 is when the third segment truly began. After learning that Pete’s mom was going to be fine, we chose to depart Ditto Landing once again and head to Joe Wheeler as the rendezvous was now over. When we arrived at Joe Wheeler, we were met by Martin from Cavalier and Scott from Knot Again who helped us dock the boat. Martin and his wife Melissa were leaving the next day so we talked about coordinating and leaving together for an early departure to try to get through the dreaded Wilson Lock. Martin called the lock the next morning and truly with the luck o’ the Irish, we made it through both chambers with no wait at all! They allowed us to enter the first chamber with a Tow and down we went to the second chamber. They had us pass and exit that chamber before the Tow which allowed us to be able to depart before the Tow and not have to wait once we had gone down. We arrived at the Florence Harbor Marina in Alabama and hung out there for a few days. Then on to Aqua Yacht Safe Harbor – where the Big Butt caused a few issues last year. LOL!! We met up with a few more loopers for Docktails – Tony and Katie from Katie B, and Ali and Duncan from La La 3 and Martin and Melissa.
November 3, 2024 was truly the start of the third segment! As we headed south and entered the Tenn-Tom Waterway, we were now encountering new territory. 1st stop – Bay Springs Marina where we met Canadians, Sylvain and Marie from Hakuna Matata who put Pete in charge of organizing our passage through the next locks. The next morning Pete called the Lock Master and communicated to the group that we were all good to enter the first lock. And so we started our downward journey through the locks. 3 Locks that day. Onto Midway Marina and then 4 locks arriving at Columbus Marina. The next day we went through 3 locks and even rafted up with Cavalier in one and then anchored just past the Heflin Lock for the night. We were the last to leave the anchorage and were quite surprised when we came upon a few of the boats totally stopped a ways down the river. Once we came around the bend, we saw the reason why. The White Cliffs of Epes in Alabama are similar to the White cliff of Dover in England. These cliffs are part of Selma Chalk formations deposited around the same time as the world famous ones in England. After pictures were taken, we continued on to Kingfisher Bay Marina.
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We had hoped to relax for a few days for a much needed break. But word spread through the marina that the Demopolis Lock was going to have intermittent closures starting soon as they worked on the lock. Having had “interesting” experiences with the Wilson Lock as we started the third segment, we joined with most of the other Loopers and left at 6am to get another lock behind us!!! When we arrived in the lock, we rafted up with Cavalier once again. This was a very long haul day but we ended up at Bobby’s Fish Camp. Bobby’s is one of those iconic places you hear about in Looper Lore! And so it was! LOL! We rafted up with 2 other boats for the night and awoke to fog.
Even though there was fog, the group that had anchored got up early and went right by us to enter the lock. So, off we all went to the very last lock – Coffeeville Lock where we rafted with Cavalier once again! And then we continued journeying down until our last anchorage on the Tenn-Tom. The next day we left our anchorage and continued south until we entered Mobile Bay on a very rainy, cool, and overcast day! This was truly an accomplishment to travel down the rivers and finally arrive in Mobile Bay. The waters were always calm, but the days were long and having to traverse through the many locks was both exhausting and fulfilling!
