Day 34: Perryville Marina to Pickwick, TN

We have received a number of emails and so we tried to answer them before getting into the day.The InReach works very well to answer curious people who were asking and it looks pretty good at the flybridge of the Swift Trawler! Thanks guys for following along.

We spent the night at Perryville Marina, and enjoyed our visit with Harbor Master Billy Baugus and his crew. Had a good evening meal at Monroe's just up the highway about two miles, and a courtesy ride to and from with the owner, Renee, the third generation of her family in that business. Capt. Jeremy had fried oysters and I went for the steak and baked potato. Delicious!

We were and will be keep being cautious heading south, and will be watching its development and track. We were on the Tennessee River, still seeing a few tows, but did have any real open water to deal with yet. If the storm came ashore between the Florida panhandle and Mobile,AL, we would surely have had heavy rains and strong winds to deal with. The lower helm station is well-protected and has outstanding visibility, so we thought we should be able to make some progress unless our visibility and handling got severely restricted. We also both thought the N Mississippi was interesting and enjoyable. Talking with the tug captains was straightforward and they were happy to have a chance to advise about making safe passes. Those guys are real professionals!

There were miles and miles of beauty, the occasional rock quarry or power plant, small towns with commercial waterfronts, and weir dams to avoid. We will try to keep the story coming over the next few days, and wish that you could all see what we are seeing. By the way, check the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/TheGreatestLoopByBeneteau for a variety of photos taken along the way.

Stopping for fuel on Kentucky Lake, we were lucky to meet Cdr. Hank Evans USN (Ret) and his wife Queen Ann Evans at Cuba Landing Marina. Hank and Ann are members of the American Great Loop Cruisers Association (AGLCA) and the Marine Trawler Owners Association (MTOA), two organizations serious cruisers should know about. The Evans' have done the Great Loop aboard their Hampton trawler, and are members of the Youngstown Yacht Club, where Hank is a Past Commodore. It was great visiting with them. By the way, the boat's name is Queen Ann's Revenge, which was the name of Blackbeard's boat!

We spent the day with Mike and Kathleen Wise and had a wonderful time. Jeremy & I both wish to see them again for a cruise around Maryland. Anyway, by the greatest chance the Wise family booked trawler lessons with Capt. Hopkins even before they knew he was captaining The Greatest Loop, which is amazing and makes the story even more interesting and enjoyable. We left them at Pickwick Lock & Dam to get underway at 8.30pm for the last little episode of this day. Watch our updates tomorrow!

Best,

John