I've been down twice, once in a
Cabo Rico 38 in 2007 and in 2013-14 down from Kentucky Dam to Punta Gorda, Fl and returned once in March 2014 in our
Hunter 356. We
cruise at 6.2 knots and that is what the plan below is based on. You would need to adjust for any layover days,
fog, rain, and reprovisioning time you would need on top of the schedule below.
You are getting late this year and will experience
fog delays if you don't have
radar (or don't want to run in reduced visibility and at night ) and you will be cold. Other than the cold and the fog, it is a good time to go. Once you get to the Northern
Gulf coast it can be pretty cold there too. A friend of mine got to Mobile at the end of October, but didn't go back to cross the Gulf to SW
Florida until mid December. They were in a
Beneteau 34 without an enclosure and they nearly froze. They also didn't have a
generator, so had no heat while cruising. I don't think he would recommend a trip in those conditions. I know his wife wouldn't.
From the
canal between The Cumberland and Tennessee (I am a mile north at Lighthouse Landing), it is 658 SM to Turner
Marine in Mobile. We made the trip in 10 days, stopping over in Columbus, MS an extra day to reprovision and do
laundry. From LHL our itenerary was as follows:
LHL (24.4) to Pebble Isle Marina mile 96.1
Pebble isle Marina to Clifton, Marina mile 158.5
Clifton Marina to Grand Harbor Marina (top of Tenn-Tom mile 450)
Grand Harbor to Midway Marina - mile 394.0
Midway Marina to Columbus, Marina mile 335
Columbus Marina to Windham Landing Anchorage mile 286.2
Windham Landing to Demopolis Kingfisher Marina mile 216.1
Kingfisher Marina to Bashi Creek Anchorage mile 145
Bashi Creek to Upper Sunflower Cut-off anchorage mile 78.6
Upper Sunflower to Turner
Marine - 78.6 + 15 miles on Mobile Bay
The above is 10 travel days with no layovers and I have
radar, so I run in fog and at night. I also run our
generator full time while not at the
dock and have a full enclosure on the
cockpit. I stay dry and in cold
weather stand in the open
companionway where the heat from our heat
pump rises and keeps me warm, while
steering with my hand held
autopilot.
We made the trip in October. We returned in flooding conditions in March and if we do the return trip again, it will be in May, not March.
You can look at Active
Captain and most all of the marina's,
anchorages, bridge heights, etc are there. You have a clearance of 52 feet max from waterline to many of the bridges, so if your
mast height is higher, you will need to step the
mast.
There are 13 locks you will go through on the way down. They take between 15 to 45 minutes to go through, plus the wait if a
commercial tow is there when you get there. The most time we
lost in a
single day was 2-1/2 hours due to tows. In the spring, we hit all but one lock and had or,al waits jus TDOT the lockmaster to set up the lock for us.
There is only one
fuel stop between Demopolis and Mobile at Bobbies
Fish Camp,at mile 118, so carry jerry cans if you don't have capacity to go that far.
Where on the Cumberland are you located?
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