Why Get Up Early?

Sunrise this morning from the dinghy as we took it out just to get cell service

"The Second Noelle" at anchor this morning

Whitten Lock 84' drop

"Trident" and "Blue Moon"

As Bob on “The Bar-B” just informed us recently, the most dangerous thing on a boat is a schedule.  Every time we get up early with a plan, something goes awry.  This time it was not fog, it was Whitten Lock.  A tow just came up through the lock so we thought it was perfect timing at 7:00 a.m.  “What’s Next”, one of those three boats in the next cove informed us that he talked to the lock master via telephone and was told that the lock was closed until about 10:00-11:00 a.m. because of a pin stuck in a door.  Not sure if that is a correct diagnosis, but we confirmed that it was closed via VHF radio.

"Blue Moon" in Whitten Lock

At 10:00 a.m. of course we (pleasure boaters) hailed the lock to find out the status.  Still working on it.  Probably a couple of more hours.  In the mean time another pleasure boat "Blue Moon" arrived, whom we saw heading up stream to Chattanooga as soon as we left.  He was informed of the delay.  We knew a tow boat was making its way up the lock system so we thought for sure when it called Whitten Lock it would be allowed to lock through while us pleasure boaters kept waiting.  We were pleasantly surprised however when it called the lock master stated the maintenance issue and that the pleasure boats would be locked down first.

Check out that swim platform

All of the sudden the lock doors were open at 1:30 p.m. and it was a mass exodus of anchoring pleasure boats headed for the lock.  All except for "Lady Jane" who we kept in contact with via VHF, informing them earlier that we would not lock down after 1:30 p.m. for time and destination constraints.  They ducked into Bay Springs Marina for some reason and missed their opportunity.  They sounded disappointed that we were gone and Ray is worried about them, so we hope to catch up with them again soon so Ray can take them under his wing.
The three locks for the day took only about 15 minutes each for the four of us pleasure boats that did lock down.  The other three of those boats stopped at Midway Marina for the night.  We continued on for a whopping 21 miles of travel today in the 12 hours from awakening to anchoring.  We are near Fulton, Mississippi in almost the same spot we anchored in on the way up in the spring.


As a side note:  while in one of the locks this afternoon, Ray realized that "Blue Moon" was from the port of Point Breeze, New York, one of the towns he grew up in.