{"id":2568,"date":"2025-01-27T17:34:47","date_gmt":"2025-01-27T22:34:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cincinnatiprime11.com\/?p=2568"},"modified":"2025-01-27T17:55:42","modified_gmt":"2025-01-27T22:55:42","slug":"grand-harbor-marina-tn-or-ms-depending-where-you-are-in-the-marina-to-columbus-marina-ms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cincinnatiprime11.com\/?p=2568","title":{"rendered":"Grand Harbor Marina, (TN or MS depending where you are in the marina) to Columbus Marina, MS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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!<\/p>\n\n\n

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Our new slip location is next to the office and ship’s store. During season, this is a happening place with cold ice cream, hot pizza and chilled beer being purchased along with any needed gas or diesel. Today, a ghost town. Everything is closed, deserted and frozen. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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

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It is not the prettiest day, but the temperatures are in the low 40’s, the warmest it will be for the next week.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Our travel today is a long one, 115 miles, with 4 locks to pass through.<\/p>\n\n\n

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We barely left the dock, and the fog appears.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Well this is a unplanned surprise! Conditions are such that we slow down, move out of the channel, and drop anchor. The trip is delayed until the fog clears (or Rudolph appears \ud83d\ude09 ). <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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45 minutes later…much better and off we go.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Our route looks like our boat will need to grow some wheels! <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n

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We navigate the Cut Divide (in green) which ends at our first lock of the day, Whitten Lock.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Entering Whitten Lock where the flags still fly at half mast in honor of President Carter.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n