On Monday, August 29th, we left Ditto Landing and covered about 60 miles over a seven-hour period to anchor in Second Creek. Tuesday we made it through Wheeler Lock without much delay and then had to wait an hour at Wilson Lock. But we made it to the Waterfall by 5:00 p.m. and got situated in our spot.
On our way downriver we had been in touch with Mo & Gale on “Blue Heron” who were at Aqua Yacht Harbor. They pulled up about an hour after us, followed by Bud (a.k.a. the Iceman), and we all sat on his pontoon chatting and catching up.
Wednesday was a quiet, hot day spent fishing, reading and struggling to put a resume together. It’s been a while since I’ve had to worry about that! Bud came out around 5:00 and Mo & Gale introduced us to Bob & Susie, new full-time cruisers on a sailboat from Wisconsin.
I’m not sure which day Gale caught these bass but he was very proud of them!
Thursday was another hot one! Kelly showed up about 2:00 and David on “Moonstruck” pulled in a few hours later after having made it downriver from Island Cove above Chattanooga in a few very long days. We all floated in the water to cool off, grabbed a bite of dinner and then built a nice campfire on the gravel bar. Gale had made a run to the marina in his dinghy earlier in the day and brought back some firewood.
David took his dinghy to J.P. Coleman State Park Friday morning and learned that three big houseboats were on their way to the Waterfall for the Labor Day weekend. Bud showed up on the pontoon in time to secure a spot next to “Life’s2Short” and enjoy a few Bloody Mary’s with Todd. Kelly & Michelle also came out with Frank, Tank and crew and we all floated in the water to stay cool.
After hot dogs and baked beans for dinner, we (Mo & Gale, David, me and Todd) decided to take Bud home in the pontoon so we could continue to use it as our patio. As we pulled in to Bud’s boat house, his neighbor’s wife came over saying that she couldn’t find her husband, J.C. Apparently he had left the house hours earlier to go check on their pontoon and hadn’t returned. In the meantime, she had fallen asleep and didn’t realize he’d been gone so long.
By this time it was dark, so Todd, David and I backed the pontoon out, turned the headlights on and headed up a small canal where we could see the pontoon floating. Mo & Gale and Bud got in his golf cart and headed the same direction by land. When we reached the pontoon Todd stepped on board and began looking for J.C. David got in the water and was searching alongside the boat and saw him floating face-down in the canal a short distance away!
We don’t know what happened or how long he had actually been in the water but the thinking is that he probably had a stroke and fell overboard. In the meantime, I was trying to hold the two pontoons together with one leg on each and managed to fall in the water right between the two boats! Anyway, after dealing with the Sheriff’s Office and other authorities, we finally left Bud’s house and cruised back to the Waterfall where we ended the evening with another campfire. What a day!
Ben & Terri came out late Saturday morning in her Tahoe and Bud rode out on the Sea Doo a few hours later. Jim & Liz arrived about 3:30 with the requested bags of ice; unfortunately, they had a sick passenger and had to leave after about 30 minutes. Later that afternoon, Ben, David and Todd all swam over to the Waterfall and jumped off. We finally convinced Ben & Terri to spend the night and enjoyed another campfire on the gravel bar that evening.
It was a crazy, fun day and we had some great photos (not just of Saturday but since our arrival at the Waterfall) and all of them got “lost” when Todd was loading them on the computer. Big-time bummer! So we had to beg and scrounge for what few we have up to this point.
Sunday we awoke to threatening rain so Ben & Terri took off about 9:30. “Blue Heron” took off around noon to go back to Aqua Yacht for another day or two before heading south on the Tenn-Tom. Several boats were in and out early in the day but then the rain moved in and didn’t stop until Monday evening sometime so we all stayed hunkered down in our boats for the most part. Todd cleaned all the wet leaves off our boat and the patio on Tuesday and then we sat on the patio and enjoyed a rain-free evening chatting with David.
The sun finally reappeared on Wednesday. Todd discovered that the bilge on the patio wasn’t working so he spent the morning dealing with that. David made a dinghy run to J.P. Coleman to dispose of trash and get some ice and got soaked coming back in the choppy water. That afternoon David took a hike on some of the trails around the Waterfall while we visited with Don who showed up on his pontoon. Bud also made an appearance on the Sea Doo just as Don was leaving.
How many boats do you see with motorcycles sitting on top of them?!!!
Thursday morning we took the patio to pick up Wayne & Lynn at Aqua Yacht. We met and got to know Wayne & Lynn in Baltimore last year. At the time they were living on their boat “Skinwalker” but they have since swallowed the anchor and purchased a small farm in Michie, not far from Pickwick. At any rate, we thought they might enjoy a day on the water again and we wanted to see them while we were in the area.
Wayne & Lynn chatting with the Captain.
Bo arrives on his boat called “The Office.”
Ronnie and Kelly.
Bud came out on the Sea Doo and then John on “Thats Me” showed up. We hadn’t seen John since Chattanooga in 2009 so we were happy to finally reconnect! Todd ran Wayne & Lynn back to Aqua Yacht late afternoon while we got John secured next to “Moonstruck” and then the party continued! To simplify things, Bud decided to spend the night on “Life’s2Short.”
Friday was a fairly quiet day. Bud went home for a while and returned about 5:00 p.m. Kelly came out with Ronnie that afternoon to visit for a while. John and Todd did a little fishing but John wasn’t feeling well at all so we didn’t see much more of him that evening. Bud ended up staying over again.
David returns from a chilly early-morning run in John’s center console.
John on “Thats Me” on the left and David on “Moonstruck” on the right.
The Captain reviewing East Coast charts with the Iceman in preparation for his upcoming trip to Cocoa Beach.
Todd took this picture from the top of Bo’s sundeck.
Bud went home Saturday morning to get a few things he’d forgotten on his previous trip and Terri came out in her Tahoe. Jim arrived solo about 3:30 and then several of us went for a ride in Terri’s boat. When we returned we had dinner (thanks, Jim!) and then proceeded to build another fire on shore with John playing taxi between the patio and the shore in his center console. Late that evening more rowdy boaters pulled in to the gravel bar. Some spent the night, others didn’t. Jim elected to spend the night with us.
Our little cluster of boats all alone at the Waterfall.
By mid-afternoon we had a pretty good crowd going!
Todd and the Iceman having some fun.
Captain Terri in her Tahoe.
Jim took off mid-morning Sunday in a few light sprinkles that didn’t last long. Todd did some fishing and gathered more wood so we could have another fire that evening while the rest of us spent a mellow day on the patio. Bud was out for a little while but it looked like more rain was threatening so he boogied home on the Sea Doo. There were a number of boats on shore all day but they all pulled out by the time we had dinner and got the fire going. It was a beautiful full-moon evening on shore!
Monday morning David took “Moonstruck” to Aqua Yacht to have some work done so “Thats Me” pulled up to the gravel bar and Todd took the patio back to Bud. The rest of the day was fairly quiet for us although several boats showed up to enjoy another wonderfully warm, sunny day. Todd and John went fishing about 4:30 so I busied myself catching up on a long overdue blog update and preparing dinner for them.
Our untying process wasn’t very well planned. “Moonstruck” started floating away while David was on our boat!
But Todd shuttled him over in the dinghy and everything turned out fine.
We left the Waterfall Tuesday morning and moved to Aqua Yacht to pump out the holding tanks, take on water, take care of some home-buying paperwork, do laundry, re-provision, upload the blog, etc., before heading to Bay Springs Lake. “Thats Me” also pulled out and went on down to Bay Springs. David helped us get tied up to the dock after we pumped out and then let us use his truck to run some of our errands.
“Thats Me” heading to Bay Springs Lake.
That evening we again used David’s truck and drove to Michie to have dinner with Wayne & Lynn and see their new home in the country. We had a very nice time and really enjoyed touring their 20-acre farm, looking in on the baby chickens, playing with their 11-week-old rat terrier puppy (Sheena) and feeding the catfish in one of their four ponds. They appear to have adjusted well to life on the dirt and are happy in their new home.
Wayne & Lynn at their new home, Paradise Flatts.
Wayne at his writing desk on the front porch.
What an inspirational view!
Feeding the catfish.
On Wednesday David chauffeured us to Savannah to re-provision after stopping at Cactus Jack’s for lunch and at Bud’s house to repair a few carpet snaps and install a new bilge pump in his pontoon (a.k.a. our patio at the Waterfall). After a busy couple of days at the dock, I think we have accomplished what we needed to and are ready to head down the ditch to Bay Springs Lake.
Today is Thursday, September 15th, and the Captain is in the process of changing the generator oil before we head out. Two of the locks on the Tenn-Tom are scheduled to be closed for maintenance until September 24th, so we still have several days to spend on Bay Springs before we can begin the journey to Demopolis. Hopefully we will be able to find some exposed beaches to build campfires on. The weather is perfect for it!
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