To East Port Marina

In Rather Heavy Seas

We got a late start out of Aqua Harbor.  That is late in the sense that you only have so much daylight.  And it is the rule aboard the Sea Me Smile that we don't travel in the dark.  I think even one of the Tow Boat US skippers told us not to do that, which was promptly met with a bristled reply from my old ship mate, Wayne: "Well, hell fire fella, it wasn't dark when we got stuck here!  Where the hell have you been?"  But back to the point.  You shouldn't hurry when you're doing a trip like this.  So my point is that you're not late in the true sense of the word, but rather short of daylight.

We entered the Tennessee River and went about an hour before arriving at our first lock.  It was here I started to get concerned.  I realized we were going the wrong way because we were going to lock down.  This was not correct.  As "wrong way loopers" and at least for the time being, we, in our quest for Knoxville, had only locked up.  After some banter with the lady lock master, she made it plain that we should have "Geed" instead of "Hawed" when we left Aqua Yacht Harbor.  In other words, we should have turned right instead of left.  So promptly we got back on track. It was a short delay by highway standards, but a two hour delay by our standards and that sets us up for a short cruising day. Thank goodness for the lock.... there is no telling how far we would have gone in the wrong direction.

To further slow our progress, we started to pick up a very high wind which was sending waves over the bow of the boat like we saw when we were in the Gulf of Mexico.  We had only gone about 25 miles for the day when we read the reviews about East Port Marina, near East Port, Mississippi.  We contacted them on the radio, and they said they could accommodate us for the night, so we set a course for East Port. East Port Marina is at mile marker 225, however there is a whole lot of the Tennessee River that is in Mississippi & Alabama.  It will be another milestone when we are finally cruising on the Tennessee River in Tennessee.

East port Marina is on Pickwick Lake and is a fun little spot.  It reminded us somewhat of our own little Lake View Marina at home on Boone Lake, TN.  The people were helpful and friendly as we came off the lake in something of a gale.  Some of the locals said they couldn't remember waves that high.  A sharp turn and a big roller as we started our approach into the marina and, you guessed it, Gracie got bucked right off her booster seat and onto the floor of the bridge. The good news is only her pride was hurt .  She is, after all, a "Master Faller".

Once we got tied off and secure, everything was fine.  The protected harbor allowed the girls to hit the water in a matter of minutes.  And to our amazement, the entire "B" Dock had broken out into a cocktail party, an event, according to the manager, that could occur there at any time, for any reason.  Today, he said, it could be the wind.  But they were definitely celebrating something.  As I walked by on my way to settle up with the manager, I told 'em I had a couple of stories to share if they were interested.  However no one took me up on my offer so I just shuffled around the rest of the day feeling like a social outcast.         

The marina had a breakfast nook called Gilligan's and it was good fare. Bellies full, we would continue up river and see if we could get a few more miles under our belt as well as breakfast.