On Saturday, October 15, 2022 we officially started our Great Loop at Paris Landing on the Tennessee River. This is where we will ‘cross our wake’ in about a year. We loaded up on fuel and had a pump out before we left. And said goodbye to our friends on Phoenix and Volition. Our next stop was Birdsong Marina where we planned to stay for a couple of nights. Along the way we saw flocks of white pelicans and fall colors.
Birdsong is a tiny marina up a creek and back into a pretty cove. It’s also home to a freshwater pearl farm and museum. The ride in was tortuous and shallow. One wrong turn or a turn too wide would lead you aground. The captain guided the ship expertly to the dock. This is definitely a ‘marina with character’ as it was surrounded by a trailer park and the sunken paddlewheeler in the dock. This Saturday was the Tennessee-Alabama game and the marina was hosting a potluck at the marina community center and invited the transient boaters to join them. We were deep into Vol territory so it was fun to watch the locals enjoy the game. After the game, the crews from Moonshadow II and Crew Lounge joined us aboard for a glass of champagne to celebrate our first day on The Loop.
The next morning the first mate took a tour of the pearl museum. The tour consisted of the CBS Morning Show video on freshwater pearls, some homemade displays on mollusks and pearls, and plenty of pearl jewelry for sale. Selling pearl jewelry seemed to be the point of the tour. They did have remnants of the farm in the cove which looked interesting. You can learn more about the pearl farm here. It rained most of Sunday. And once the weather cleared we were graced by a bald eagle flying in the cove. You never tire of seeing eagles. The second night we were joined by our friends from Volition. We shared cocktails and stories aboard Arabella.
We left on Monday but didn’t have reservations for the night so we decided to anchor behind Swallow Bluff Island. There were two other boats there and positive reviews on Active Captain so we knew it would be a good place. We enjoyed a beautiful sunset until it turned VERY cold. We stayed warm as best we could but decided we needed more blankets on board.
We donned coats, hats, and gloves the next morning when we left for Aqua Yacht Marina. On the way we passed by familiar sites like the abandoned grain elevator, railroad bridge, ferry, houses on stilts, and the Cherry Mansion. And we had to go up Pickwick Lock. We arrived with seven other boats and were asked to wait below the lock as a tow was coming down and needed extra clearance to get out of the lock. Once that happened we entered and rode up with the other boats. A fun thing that Pickwick Lock does is take pictures of boats and post them to Facebook. They had some great photos of our flotilla in the lock. After the lock, we had an easy trip into Aqua Yacht. We planned to stay there for a few days before heading south.
There were many other Loopers staying here and many of them we met at the Rendezvous. The first night we ran into friends, Tracy and Joel, aboard Summer Place. We had docktails with them on their boat. We used one of the three marina cars to go to Walmart to buy blankets. Thursday night we rode into Corinth, MS for dinner at Russell’s Beef House. This was a restaurant that Karen visited during many trials developing the breathable diaper while working for Kimberly-Clark. The restaurant is family-owned and run and the steaks were as good as remembered. Friday night was the marina’s Halloween party. They provided food and a band. Capel went as the Captain from Gilligan’s Island and Karen wore cat ears. We also ran into old friends on Branch Office and Solstice from our days at Kingfisher Bay in Demopolis.
On Saturday we provisioned at Kroger and got Chick-fil-a fix. On Sunday we readied the boat for an early Monday morning departure for Midway Marina.
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| Our first day of the Loop |
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| Sunken paddlewheeler City of Memphis at Birdsong Marina |
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| How freshwater pearls are 'farmed' |
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| Freshwater pearl farm at Birdsong Marina |
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| Cove at Birdsong Marina |
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| Sunset at Birdsong Marina |
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| Sunset at Swallow Bluff Island anchorage |
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| Abandoned grain elevator on the Tennessee River |
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| Ready for a party on the Tennessee River |
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| Tennessee River Lighthouse |
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| Fall colors on the Tennessee River |
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| Railroad bridge on the Tennessee River |
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| This may or may not be the Cherry Mansion |
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| Locking through at Pickwick Lock |
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| Locking through at Pickwick Lock |
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| Russell's Beef House in Corinth, MS |
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Halloween decorations at Aqua Yacht Marina
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| Sunrise at Aqua Yacht Marina |
What a neat way to see the Country! I didn't even know such a thing as The Great Loop existed, much less that there was a whole Looper subculture. Can you tell us the backstory about how you found out about this Great Loop thing, and decided you wanted to do it?
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