Aberdeen and Ida Updates

Look behind me at the water on the other side of the lock and you can see how straight the waterway is on the downstream side of the locks on the upper part of the TennTom.

Back home boating friends, Steve and Julie, were our Aberdeen, MS, hosts for the past 2 days. We arrived at the Aberdeen Marina and fueled up at $2.46 a gallon, the cheapest diesel we've seen...plus the marina has some mighty tasty hot wings. Steve and Julie got on the boat to guide us into their neighborhood, a cozy complex of canals with a great variety of homes, docks and boats. Neighbors Ed and Lee were an interesting couple who had started down the Great Loop several years ago. They got as far as the Aberdeen canals, bought a lot, put up their home and haven't left since. They have a great little seawall where Steve had arranged our dockage. We've been looping long enough now to appreciate the value of a free dock, so thanks Ed and Lee !! Steve and Julie gave us the locals' view of Aberdeen and we sampled some good ole southern food and hospitality. It's always great to see folks from back home. I didn't take many pictures, but here's one of the swamp areas we saw right next to the road. You can see the cypress "knees", always a sign you are in the south. We wound our way out of the canals early this morning and put in a good 50 mile travel day, crossing into Alabama where we are at Marina Cove. There are about 5 other looper boats here.

I'm sure the TV weather has already forgotten about Hurricane Ida, but her effects linger here. The Gulf is still rolling so none of the boats waiting to cross the "big bend" can leave the Florida Panhandle. Since those marinas are full, the boats in Mobile Bay can't leave and us loopers who are still up here on the river system....well, you get the picture, we're having a bit of a looper log jam down here. The rumor is that the storm surge and rain caused the river downstream to rise 10-20 feet. With the flood gates open on the dams, the current is reputed to be as fast as 8 knots. While it might be fun to go 16 mph in the Shingebiss, we also heard that some boats who did venture out collided with submerged buoys or one of the trees floating along. The looper web sites are still urging everyone to stay put for a couple of days, and we likely will.