SeaDream Ports at Ditto Landing Marina for the Summer

Living aboard SeaDream now ends until the Fall. Leaving in March from Green Cove Springs, FL, moving south from Jacksonville, across Lake Okeechobee and up to St. Petersburg. Leaving there with Fred and Linda Mangelsdorf, we continued across the Gulf of Mexico to Mobile, AL, and up the Tennessee TomBigbee Waterway, through Mississippi into Pickwick Lake to the Tennessee River, Wilson Lake, and finally Wheeler Lake in Huntsville, Alabama. Each segment has been an interesting and exciting adventure. The scenery changed from ocean coastal to tidal marshes to lush green tree-lined, clear freshwater rivers. As always, Mike and I enjoyed learning the history of the many places we passed. Mississippi and Alabama are simply filled with notable Civil War history.

The vitality of the rivers, with so many barges delivering loads to shore side industries, is amazing. Even with so much commerce, the rivers are full of wildlife and the water, though silt-filled is some southern-most stretches, appears healthy. Many evenings, as the sun set, we would gaze over the water to see fish jumping and turtles bobbing, listening to birds and frogs singing their evening songs. Every small community along the way extended gracious “southern hospitality” to passing boaters.

Our last two cruising days were easy, with only two locks the first day and none the second. Wilson Lock was the highest lift yet at 100 feet!

Joe Wheeler State Park Marina was our port on Tuesday evening, with a lovely lodge and pool by the marina and inexpensive rates.

Our last day, we cruised the gentle wide Tennessee River, passing tree lined shores and limestone cliffs here and there looking like the remains of majestic castle walls. Decatur, Alabama, was busy with many factories and industries along its banks. Tows busily nudged barges into place at a wide variety of riverside facilities, including a big Meow Mix factory and the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant. At 3:30PM, our destination, Huntsville’s Ditto Landing Marina, appeared around the final bend. After more than 1500 miles, SeaDream has finally reached her summer home.

History of Ditto Landing:

Sometime around 1802-1804 James Ditto rounded the Great Bend of the Tennessee River to the point of Chickasaw Island (now called Hobbs Island). Landing among friendly Chickasaw Indians in the area known as the Chickasaw Old Fields, Ditto established a trading post in 1805 and a ferry in 1807, creating Ditto Landing. His ferry transported Andrew Jackson and Davy Crockett across the Tennessee River on their way to the Creek and Indian War. Around 1824, the area became known as Whitesburg, named for James White, a salt trader. Being near the early Western boundary of the United States, Ditto Landing was one of our first inland ports of entry and remained a hub of trade and economic activity for the Huntsville area into the 1840s.

Ditto Marina is operated by Huntsville-Madison County and has clean new facilities and nicely designed docks. The road trip to Nashville is just a little over two hours so we plan to visit SeaDream often. She’s safe from hurricanes and will be sitting in clean freshwater.  

Entrance to Ditto Landing Marina off Tennessee River.

SeaDream on left at Ditto Landing Marina.

All Locked Up

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MONDAY: After our delightful stay in Columbus Marina we set out for more serious traveling. The Tom Bigbee has twelve locks and we have seven to go. There are few stopping places in this section of waterway so we got an early sunrise start to try and make four of the locks. Much to our dismay, we got behind a tow of barges and at every lock we had to wait for him to get through. Our speeds and the distances between locks aligned in such a way that we could never get far enough ahead of him to have first dibs at the locks. Mike and I really got into the lock routine and had the fenders dropped on both sides and lines ready for what would come as we entered each lock. Mike eased the boat to the bollard and I wound the line around and up we went 30 feet or so. Each lock took about thirty minutes but the “barge wait” took over an hour as the tow maneuvered his barges in and out of the lock. Our day started at 6:30AM and ended at 6:30PM docked at Midway Marina. We took their courtesy car to a Mexican restaurant for dinner.

TUESDAY: we had three locks, the last one being the “cave”, Witten Lock, with an 84’ rise. What a ride that was! Now there are no more locks until the Tennessee River. We decided to end our day early and turned into a pristine, clear water cove just after the lock in Sandy Bay and drop the hook. Linda & Fred rafted up and Linda and Mike took a swim. A nice evening meal together of grilled fish was a perfect ending to our busy lock adventures. Rain came in the night and washed the boats a little.

Entering Whitten Lock on Tom Bigbee.

Young America in Whitten Lock.

WEDNESDAY: Today brought some boat challenges. When I pulled the anchor it was loaded with a grass ball about the size of a small goat! Luckily it was soft and I pulled at the clump until it was gone. A little persistently hung from our anchor like a goatee! After about five minutes of cruising, I checked the engine room and we were getting a slight water spray from the starboard propeller shaft seal. Mike assessed the situation and we anchored in a near by cove to clean it. In a few minutes, it seemed okay so we took off into the narrow Tom Bigbee cut that is about 30 miles long with no place to stop. About half way along the bilge water alarm sounded. The shaft seal was leaking more but Mike said we could still continue as the bilge pump could more than handle it. The day ended early at 4:30PM at a beautiful anchorage in the Pickwick Lake right at the corners of the three states of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama. Mike cleaned and readjusted the leaking shaft seal but it continued dripping even at rest, a sure sign of damage. It’s a nearly new seal so who knows what could make it fail. We haven’t been aground or abused it in any way.

In the evening, Linda M. grilled hamburgers and we enjoyed another great meal together.

THURSDAY: Still in Zippy Cove, Mike spoke with the shaft seal manufacturer and we have a new one on the way at half price. It’ll arrive Monday. We’ve also made arrangements to haul out at Lee Spry boat yard nearby to replace it. They have a 100 ton lift, the largest between Mobil and Chicago, and have a great reputation for good service.

In the evening Fred & Linda M. and Mike & I took our two dinghys out to explore and to Let Louis ashore to sniff around and cruised over to Aqua Harbor Marina where we might move until Monday morning. Linda and Fred took their dinghy “Chucky” for a spin but ended up with their brand new propane powered outboard engine locked up and oozing oil. We towed them back to the boats. What a bummer!

Later we grilled chicken and shared a meal again. I will miss our dinners together when we part.

FRIDAY: We left Zippy Cove and tied up at the transient dock at Aqua Harbor Marina after lunch and the rain quit. Docking was easy, with little wind and a nice face dock. We visited the local restaurant with our “lock partners”, Ed & Janice from their cruiser “Eagle’s Nest”, for a really fun, animated dinner. They have a house here on Pickwick Lake and are a wealth of information about the area. 

Mike swimming in Zippy Cove.

Banks in Zippy Cove.

SATURDAY: Sight seeing is sparse here as the closest town is Iuka, Mississippi. However, the great Civil War Battle of Shilo was fought only 18 miles away and is now a a national military park. Linda M. and I took out the marina’s courtesy car for a tour of the battlefield. There was no entrance fee and it had a very nice visitor’s center and bookstore. On our way home we bought a pizza for dinner then watched Goldfinger.

SUNDAY: Drove to Corinth, Mississippi and saw the train tracks that crossed North and South and East and West in the middle of town and were a strategic object of the battle of Shilo during the Civil War. 

Crossing RR Tracks in Corinth.

MONDAY: Spent the day at Spry Boat Yard in Pickwick Lake sitting in a 100 ton boat lift while the leaking starboard shaft seal was replaced. Came into Spry’s at 11:00AM and we were out by 3:00PM. Mike was very pleased with the quality of work and the owners of the yard. Anchored near-by in Zippy Cove where Linda and Fred joined us. We rafted again and in the evening Linda had us over for another delicious meal.  

SeaDream in hoist getting shaft seal repaired.

Alabama Into Mississippi

Since our last entry, we have traveled from mile marker 216.1 in Demopolis to mile marker 335.0 in Columbus, Mississippi and passed through three more locks. The barges are getting fewer since the cut-off of Black Warrior River toward Birmingham, Alabama, where much of the cargo is headed.

We anchored Wednesday evening in Windham Landing, a small side creek on the Tom-Bigbee. Thursday we crossed the Mississippi state line about noon.  Two locks later, Mike made a very good docking in gusting wind and threatening skies at the Columbus Marina, then the weather passed with no rain.

Louis had a fun run in a large grassy area at the marina, then we freshened up for a short trip in the marina’s courtesy van to a local Mexican restaurant where we joined some friends of Linda & Fred for dinner. They are boaters, too, so we swapped stories and had a very nice meal. 

Phone booth on the rivers edge.

Chalk cliffs on Tom Bigbee River.

Our boats in Columbus Marina, Columbus, Mississippi.

FRIDAY: Spent the day grocery shopping, cleaning and catching up on email since we’ve had no WiFi or cell service for several days. In the evening, we found a back woods Mississippi restaurant for some local flavor (maybe too local) and topped it off with frozen yogurt at “Smacks.” Afterward Mike drove us through the historic section of Columbus with its many impressive antebellum houses. 

Antebellum home in the old part of Columbus.

Oklahoma’s fronts are headed our way so may stay one or two more days. Only thunderstorms are expected but it’s not fun boating in those. We’ll wait for better weather.

SATURDAY: Out for a day of sight seeing. We took the courtesy van 12 miles north to historic Waverly Mansion. Linda M. joined us.

Built in 1852, Waverly sits in woods near the river but its hundreds of acres were once open cotton fields worked by a thousand slaves. The last family son died in 1913 and the house sat empty for 50 years until, in 1963, the Snow family bought it with 50 acres and lovingly restored the structure to its original glory. Amazingly, most of the original window glass, hardware and fixtures were untouched and, being built of cypress and heart of pine, it remains structurally sound,. Even the window sashes still work freely! Only the daughter and father live there now and give tours. We thoroughly enjoyed walking through the rooms and drifting back in time. The five stories of exquisite bannisters are simply amazing. How did this amazing building survive the ravages of time? It houses many, many Civil War memories. 

Linda and I in front of the Waverly Mansion in Columbus, Mississippi.

The evening was movie night at Fred & Linda’s. We brought “Lincoln” and they provided the popcorn.

Today we’ll wait out another stormy forecast doing boat chores and leave tomorrow morning. We are having dinner at Sonics!