We stay several days at Grand Harbor Marina to prepare for our journey south. As the boat was winterized, we need to de winterize, fill the water tanks, and top off with diesel fuel. The water at our dock is turned off, as, like everywhere in the south, it is COLD and water lines are freezing. We move to the main fuel dock, which still has running water, to fuel up, get water, and use the laundry, refreshing our bedding that sat for 6 months. As we traveled from Cincinnati in a rental car, we also need to make a drop off in Corinth, MS, 18 miles away. (They allow you to return a rental car to Mississippi from out of state, but not vice versa.) Fortunately, the marina has a loaner car that we use to drop the car and bring us back to the marina, stopping at Kroger along the way. The one advantage of January Tennessee boating is that no one else is crazy to do it… so no competition for the marina’s loaner car!

We decide to leave on Saturday, January 18th, which appears to be the last “nice” day before the brutal cold wave hits the south.


Our travel today is a long one, 115 miles, with 4 locks to pass through.




From Grand Harbor, on Yellow Creek, we enter the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway (aka Tenn-Tom). The Tenn-Tom is an artificial 234 mile waterway connecting the Tennessee River at Pickwick Lake to the Black Warrior River near Demopolis, AL. The project was completed in 1984 at the cost of $2 billion. The first part of the Tenn-Tom, traveling south, is the Divide Cut. The Divide Cut is a 29 mile dug out channel that is just 280 feet wide with an average depth of 12 feet. The project was one of the largest earth moving projects, taking 10 years at a price tag of 500 million dollars. The 150 million cubic yards of dirt removed was 1 1/2 times the amount dug for the Suez Canal.

Whitten Lock, the 4th highest single lift lock in the U.S., will lower us up 84 feet into Bay Springs Lake. The lock, named after James Whiten, a US congressman from Mississippi who served in the house for 50 years (longest tenured of any representative in the U.S.), was built at a cost of $75 million.


An advantage (perhaps the only one?) of cruising this time of year, this far north, is the nonexistent traffic of other pleasure craft. The locks are ready with a green light before we arrive. Once in the chamber, we can tie up to any ballard we want, as we are all alone. With four locks in one day, any long lock delay could significantly lengthen your trip. Combine this with the shorter daylight winter hours, problems making your intended destination become a real concern. Plan B, of an anchorage along the way, is advised as the marinas are far and few between during this part of the great loop route. Cruising at night, in unfamiliar waters to an unfamiliar marina, is risky at best.
Today we left around 9 am, and although we experienced a fog delay and locked through 4 times, we were able to arrive a little past 5pm, just as the sun was setting, to our reserved slip at Columbus Marina. If we had encountered any delays locking through any one of the 4, I’m not sure we could have made this destination from Grand Harbor in one day.

It was a long but productive day, as we bit off a good chunk of the Tenn-Tom. We will stay at Columbus Marina for several days until this cold snap breaks.
Really enjoying your updates! We went through these waters in an eerily similar way, though 6 months earlier when it was the heat, not the cold that was keeping other boaters away. Though conditions weren’t ideal there was something magical about being almost the only pleasure craft on the water. Great photos. I hope the cranes and egrets are still fishing in the lock gates
Thank you! They are. I suppose heat nor cold will stop their fishing in the lock gates!
Love following you guys again
Tom And Colleen OToole
Winthrop harbor Il 2 seasons ago.
Off Mic
Thanks! Loved seeing all your recent cruise pictures! Looks a bitter warmer where you were!