Knoxville, TN to Niceville, FL

Total Miles Traveled 1104.5

I truly intended to get a blog out every couple of weeks, but here it is almost a month already since my last entry.  We have moved almost every day since leaving our anchorage on the Little Tennessee River,  locking through 19 locks dropping us over 800 feet  to Mobile Bay.

Our adventure down the rivers and lakes started out with mild temperatures, but as time passed we had some pretty chilly weather, we even had a brief snow flurry one evening anchored on the Tenn-Tom.  We have met a few old friends, and made a few new ones on our journey south this year.  I still have to stop and think before hailing someone on the radio as Best Mate instead of Moni Jean. 

We had a good current push most the way down the rivers, after passing Chattanooga, we averaged about 11 mph (almost boat hair speeds) and saw depths of 120 feet.

This is one of the valves at the Raccoon Mountain hydroelectric facility.  The plant works like a large storage battery.  During periods of low demand, water is pumped from the Nickajack Reservoir at the base of the mountain to the reservoir built at the top.  It takes 28 hours to fill the upper reservoir.  When demand is high, water is released via a tunnel drilled through the center of the mountain to drive generators in the mountains underground power plant.

We have found that maneuvering in the locks is much easier with Best Mate than Moni Jean.

We only had a problem with one lock out of the 19, when we approached the Joe Wheeler Lock we could not get a response by radio or phone.  It looked as if there was a tow inside but we couldn't tell for sure and didn't want to get too close before knowing what was going on.  It was getting late and for some reason our depth sounder decided to quit so exploring an anchorage was out of the question.  Finally the lock called and said they would lock us through with a tow but it would be about an hour.....which would be dark thirty.  

When the gates opened we saw the delay, barges were tied to the lock wall waiting for the tow.  Our first, and hopefully our last,  after dark lock through.  At least we had reservations at the Florence, Al Marina about 2 miles out of the lock and we followed the tow to the entrance.    

We've had a few great anchorages along the way.......

We stopped at one of our favorite anchorages on the way to Mobile Bay and found it's a popular spot for other cruisers heading south too.

Mobile Ship Harbor

Mobile Bay

Dog River Marina

The shrimp boat came in just before dark so Moni walked over and bought 3 pounds of fresh shrimp.

Our friends that we crossed to the Bahamas with in 2016, Robin and Charley on The Lower Place.  We had them over for a cut throat game of Mexican Train.

Nice Catamaran

Ft Walton Beach

Our friends Fred and Kathy stopped by for a visit on their way back to Indiana from Panama City.  We also had lunch with another friend of ours from Indiana Brad Crackel, he and his wife Nancy retired here in 2016 so we try to stop and say hello when passing through.

We'll be here at the Bluewater Bay Marina near Niceville, Fl a few days waiting on the storms to pass through before heading east.

First Cruise on Best Mate to Knoxville

Total Miles Traveled 123.9

Yes, we have changed the name of our blog from Cruising with Moni Jean, to Cruising with Best Mate.  It’s been a busy summer since returning to our home port at Green Turtle Bay last May; we have sold our house, and our 390 Mainship, and have purchased a “new to us” boat, Best Mate. 

This was not a spur of the moment decision for us, since starting the Great Loop in 2015 we have spent more time on a boat than at home.  When we return home in the spring, we spend most of the summer with home maintenance projects, just in time to leave again in the fall, and then start over again the following spring.  We’ll still be returning to the Midwest in the spring, but will now have the opportunity to spend more time with our family and friends and exploring the inland waterways.

“Best Mate” is a 2005 forty-five foot DeFever raised pilot house trawler (DeFever 45 RPH).  We purchased her in October near Lenoir City, Tennessee. 

After fitting her with a new name and port of call, we conducted a christening ceremony with our new friends at Fort Loudon Marina. 

We even had friends stop by that we met on our Great Loop in 2015, Rob and Sandy from “Sandrobber”.

We started our new adventure October 30^th and planned on an early departure, but Mother Nature had a different plan for us.

This is a very scenic and mountainous area of Tennessee so we decided to cruise about 45 miles from the Fort Loudon Marina to Knoxville.  We weren’t disappointed in our decision to go farther North, as the cruise up the river was beautiful, especially with the colorful autumn foliage.

We arrived at the city dock in Knoxville with plenty of room to tie up.  We checked the football schedule before leaving as the locals told us if there was a VOL’s home game the docks would be full.  We decided to stay another day and visited downtown and the Farmers Market. 

Knoxville is a hilly town.

My Best Mate at the helm of Best Mate.

We left Knoxville on November 1^st and headed back down the Tennessee River to the Little Tennesse River and anchored in a quiet cove called Dead Cow.  We didn’t see any dead cows but suspect there must have been one here at some point in time. 

On November 2^nd we continued up the Little Tennessee River and anchored in front of a replica of a 1700’s British Fort, Fort Loudoun.  The fort was built to help garner Cherokee support for the British at the outset of the Seven Years War; the fort was one of the first significant British outposts west of the Appalachian Mountains.

 

We were fogged in this morning but as the fog cleared we had a beautiful day and cruise to our next anchorage at Turtle Cove.

Tomorrow we will start our journey south starting with our first lock at Fort Loudoun Dam.  Fort Loudoun Reservoir is the uppermost in the chain of nine TVA reservoirs that form a continuous navigable channel from here to Paducah Kentucky, 652 miles away.  We will travel about 400 miles on the Tennessee River before turning south on the Tenn-Tom waterway eventually ending up at Mobile,  Alabama and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.