Today we set our sights on new horizons. Mark attached our American Great Loop Cruising Association (AGLCA) burgee to our bow. We set sail at 8.00am in the company of Summer Wind (Gregg and Carol) and Water Music (Bob and Renae). We bade farewell to Aqua Marina, Bushranger’s home for the last 18 months, fully stocked, engine checked, fueled and watered for the next leg.

We sailed off in a clear and glassy morning, via Yellow River to the entranceway of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. What a mighty feat of the Army Corp of Engineers! Locally known as “The Ditch”, the Tenn-Tom is an essential ‘canal’ which provides the water route from the Tennessee River to the Gulf of Mexico via the states of Mississippi and Alabama for commercial barges and pleasure craft. We had been told it is just a service canal, but I beg to differ. The foliage is beautiful and the going is easy. Many kinds of birdlife are present. We sailed an easy 38 miles to Bay Springs Marina located on the lake created by Whitten Lock. The lake is gorgeous. The water is green and clear with tree-studded coves and small beaches dotted sporadically. As we sailed to the marina, there was not a breath of air to move the listless foliage or produce a ripple on the water. The heat was oppressive. The air was heavy with humidity as we docked. This is Mississippi!

As Mark tinkered, I dozed – couldn’t do anything else. There is no respite from the heat and humidity, not even at night. Fall is late in coming.

We spent a very pleasurable evening on board Summer Wind, where we dined for the last time with our good friends. Tomorrow they head north, from whence we came, and we head south – to new horizons. We take very happy memories with us, and the promise of more to come.

Such is Life!