Halfway to the Gulf!!!

Picking up where I left the last post Columbus, MS.  Nice marina with the biggest Lilly Pads I've ever seen...they must measure a foot and a-half a cross!!!  It's also were we started seeing these large clumps of floating water hyacinths.  Though they look pretty a quick Google search uncovers they are one of the world’s worst non-native invasive freshwater plants costing millions of dollars to manage.  Stay out of my engine water intake!! 

Sunset over Columbus Marina

Sunrise at Columbus

Hate to see the frogs that sit on these Lilly pads!

Water Hyacinths - Weeds of the River!!

ARiverDerci - Yes, he's Italian!

But like Columbus not such a great navigator...he missed the Ohio
River and had to ask a Mississipi Tow Captain which way to go!
A river version of  "Captain Ron" !!

Down we go again!!

Looked like the lock door was going to crush ARiverDerci!!

Best of both worlds!!

From there we made our way down to Pirates Cove Marina.  When I asked the Columbus marina manager about Pirates Cove he said he didn’t like to talk negative about others but this place is “a little rough”.  Yep, he was trying to be nice.  We got there and no, there are no pirates (very friendly owners), but yes, a little rough indeed.  Two things you notice when you step on the dock…first watch your foot placement cause you could go threw the decking, and two, watch your foot placement cause if you’re to close to the edge the dock will dip into the water and you’ll get a soaker!  But the electricity worked and marina owners are very nice.  I would stop again because as you know I like it a little rough!

While there we got to tour two wonderful boats.  First was the U.S. Snagboat Montgomrey.  It is an old paddle wheeler used to keep the rivers clear.  Must have been a site to watch on the river in action.

Second, was a 58 ft Trumpy owned by Dr. Jacob Deegan of Houuuuuston, TX.  Chris walked up to the boat to see what time they were leaving for the lock in the morning and before we knew it Jake had us on-board feeding us snacks, wine and beer.  Beautiful boat!!  We didn’t know till later we were on one of the most “classic” of classic wooden boats. 

Beautiful Tom Bevil Visitor Center...oh, and beautiful Chris too!!

Good illustration of the size of barges vs. trucks.  An eight barge tow was small.  We were seeing 12 to 24 barge tows!!

Pirates Cove...a little rough!

Aurora at end of dock.

Leaving the next morning.

Next stop was an anchorage at Sumpter Recreational Park.  There we employed the newly honed skill of arriving last, because we are slow, and accepting the gracious invitation to raft onto faster power boats that arrived first!!  That way we meet new people, and most importantly, I don’t have to put an anchor out!  Just tie up and accept a cold beer…easy peesee!!  Our new friends are on Gemini Dreams and Bucket List.