That's all folks

So that's it... We did what we set out to do.

Left Tennessee, took the waterway down to the Gulf of Mexico, crossed the Gulf, went down to the Keys, up to Ft. Lauderdale, across the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas, across Little Bahama Bank to the Abacos, hung out there and had a great time, then turned around and reversed the whole trip. That's it... The whole rambling trip in one rambling sentence.

A picture taken from inside our sun room of the little deer that doesn't want to leave Rocky Point

It's nice being home and seeing all our friends in Memphis. I have enjoyed being back at work except for having to wear shoes. I may have to go back to wearing flip flops. This could be our new corporate look.

Mary, who was kind enough to keep our house while we were away, has stayed with us for the week. Today she is closing on her new home. Congratulations Mary!

Richard on his horse Little General came by to say hello.

We will probably do another trip this fall. Cruising the beautiful Tennessee river in the fall is always fun.

We have really enjoyed doing this blog and thanks everyone for all the kind comments.

Hopefully, if we are as fortunate as we have been, there will be an Istaboa's cruise 2008.

Here's to everyone's health and happiness,

Bob and Melonie and Radar and Sadie

Happy days...

We have changed the format of the archives to show start to finish. If you care to see how this little sojourn started goto archives and click on Catching Up

So until the next cruise...

That's all folks

The final leg

On this last day of our trip I woke up early and the weather was beautiful. I took the dogs out for a walk at Bay Springs Marina then quietly untethered Istaboa from the dock and we slowly poked away. Heading home. After a couple of hours Melonie woke up to find we were underway. She took this shot of Radar and Me running the boat then readied things for Grand Harbor Marina.
Soon we passed the last marker on the waterway. It's been a long run up the waterway 450 miles. But this time I have to admit it wasn't so bad. This time of year it's a lot prettier than in the dead of winter or after the ravaging spring floods.
Then we see Grand Harbor. it's really over and we feel like we've won the marathon. Nothing harmed, we have all our fingers and toes, and the boat came through without a scratch. Once again we beat the waterway.

It was nice pulling in. Our good friend and boat neighbor Ben on Lady Sadie was there to help us tie up. We looked at the view from our slip and remembered why we always come back here for hurricane season. Then we broke out the celebratory bottle of champagne and made a toast to Istaboa and to being home. Ben said he had been reading our blog but still wanted to hear some stories. So we told a few unabashed tales of the trip and the new friends we made along the way.

And that was it. We settled back into our normal Pickwick lifestyle. We had dinner with our friends Ruth and Lea and their friends Bob and Emily. It was 4th of July coming up and it was good seeing all our other boat neighbors. But then we decided we would rather be home at Rocky Point in the woods than deal with the crowds at Pickwick on the 4th. So we loaded up the pups and went home.

Happy days

next up: epilogue in pictures

The run to Bay Springs

Early in the morning when the sun has just come up it paints the waterway in it's fresh light and makes for some beautiful images. These white cliffs reflecting off the mirror like water is one of prettier spots along the way.

The approach to Whitten Lock. The last one.
And when these doors close it's symbolically the end of the locks, the end of the waterway, and the end of Istaboa's cruise. This is where it started... this is where it ends.


We pull into Bay Springs marina to stay the night. It's been only 70 miles but we had to lock 7 times which makes for a long day. We could have made it to Pickwick today but we are still not ready to go home. We will wait one more day.



Next up: Pickwick, home, the end

Columbus Marina

In an earlier post we mentioned the Fishing tournament. We decided to stick around to try out the new restaurant Chuck had mentioned so we had to endure the crowds that the tournament drew. It was interesting to watch the process of the whole thing. The sponsors of the tournament went to great lenghts to keep the fish alive. Special bags, special fluids to keep the fish in, and a tube to release the fish through. (Unfortunately for the fish it didn't work very well. Later that day after the tournament was over and everyone was gone there were dead Bass floating everywhere.)

We were walking around the marina looking at the facility and the boats when we met this delightful lady. Her name is Mo and she's 72. She and her dog Honey live aboard her boat Motu. She has been a liveaboard for over thirty years. We enjoyed her company and her stories so much we invited her to dinner at Woody's on the Water. It was a great meal and Mo made it even better with her stories of sailing the world. She is heading to Pickwick so we are sure we will see her again.
After dinner we walked the pups and met a few more.

Next up: Almost home... Bay Springs lake.

Demopolis Yacht Basin

As we left our sailboat friends at Bobby's and made way for Demopolis it was a beautiful day. No wind made the river reflect like a mirror.

We have never seen so many Herons as we saw this year. Maybe it's because we have never done the waterway this late in the summer.


When we left the lock at Demopolis the lockmaster called us on the radio to point our these deer on the bank next to the lock. The lock operators on the waterway are the most courteous, kind, and friendly we have ever dealt with. They go out of their way to be helpful.

We took on fuel and water in Demopolis and ate the best Dominoe's pizza we had ever tasted. (Maybe because we were tired and hungry)

At first light we left Demopolis for Columbus.... a long run... 135 miles and 3 locks

Next up Columbus, MS.... Mo and Honey

Now for page two

Ok... we've made it back to Pickwick and we're proud to say we did it with no loss of blood. The waterway can be a grueling run if you get in a hurry and because we had spent so much time in the Bahamas we were pushing it kinda hard.

Now to fill in the blanks.

When we left Pensacola we only went as far as Orange Beach, AL. We stayed at the Wharf Marina and had dinner at Ginny Lane's....A very good restaurant.

Woke up at the crack of dawn and pushed out of Bon Secour Bay and into Mobile Bay.
On this day we ran through Mobile and up as far as mile marker 39.2 which is a nice quiet little anchorage. (pictures of the anchorage in the previous post called The Waterway)
We left early to make it to Bobby's Fish Camp and ran through the fog for a while. Finally pulled into Bobby's at around 4:oo. The pups were glad to see grass.

We had passed these sailboaters a couple of times in the last 2 days and now they were coming around the bend heading for Bobby's to spend the night.

Very nice folks.

Jay and Nancy on Serendipity were from Oak Ridge, TN

Lee and Susan aboard Restless from Jonesville, VA.

They had been living aboard for the last 2 years and were heading for home in Tennessee.

Oddly enough another sailboater was already tied up at Bobby's and later when we all started talking we found out Jeff and Elizabeth on Decisive were heading for the same Marina as the other two boats. Blue Springs Marina on Watts Bar lake, The Tennessee River.

We are heading for Memphis tomorrow; the 4th of July. To our home in the dirt and the woods at Rocky Point. We have a lot more story to tell and a lot of nice pics of the waterway. We will post more tomorrow when we have full blown high speed internet.

Happy 4th of July everyone.

Happy days