Boating to Bay Springs

We started this weekend at the Lake by getting there late Thursday night. We have learned that a great day on the Lake for water sports is Friday before the crowds arrive.  Eric and Lori did the same thing so we decided to boat to Bay Springs, MS for the day. We started out by driving by "Goat Island" and made a little detour to feed the goats! There used to be a lot more goats on the Island, but it looks like they are dying off. So we sacrificed a bag of Blue Doritos and they ate the entire bag! They were starving:-(( The kids want to make it their mission to "save the goats"!

Of course, the baby goat was our favorite. We tried to give him the most food, but it was hard to keep it from the Grandaddy!

Then we started our trip to Bay Springs via the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway or as we call it the TomBigbee. If you do not know the history of the Tombigbee, I challenge you to click on my link and read about it! I did not realize just how new it was-it wasn't completed until 1985. Here is a little snippet from the website...

The Tenn-Tom officially opened to commerce on January 10, 1985 when the Towboat, Eddie Waxler, transporting nearly 2.7 million gallons of petroleum products, made its maiden voyage on the waterway. A lottery was held to select the first commercial tow to transit the waterway.

Guess what??? My Aunt Delaine and Uncle Billy Waxler owned Waxler Towing Company at that time. Eddie Waxler was Uncle Billy's brother. WTC sold out to a larger company in 2007, however the Waxler boys, Alan and Ted, continue to have a hand in the daily operations of the company.  I am sure I have been told that piece of history at some point in my life...I am just now realizing it though! Pretty neat, huh?

A picture that I took earlier in the Summer of a WTC Barge, the "Delaine", that was traveling down Yellow Creek towards the Tombigbee!

The kids skied or wake boarded the ENTIRE way...I can't believe that their arms didn't fall off! I took WAY too many pictures of course...so I am going to do a separate post of just watersports pictures. Here are just a couple of pictures that I took of the Beach at Bay Springs.

The Beach

Swimming area at the Beach

We floated while the kids swam and played along the beach. The water there is so much clearer than it is at Pickwick! I am not sure why...but we could see several feet deep into the water. There were tons of fish there, too.

We pulled the kids again the entire way back. We all agreed to administer two Advil's before bedtime that night because the kids were going to be VERY sore! Unfortunately, on the way back we BOTH (Naifehs/Regis) started having boat troubles. It was a very unsettling feeling to say the least.  Whenever Eric's boat would accelerate, it started sputtering. Our boat began taking on water in the engine compartment, which caused the bilge pump to work NONSTOP. Our engine roared like it had a "Captains Call" (and it does not).  Needless to say, we were both so RELIEVED when we saw the flags at Grand Harbor and new we could make it in from there.

Well, Saturday morning Eric started calling/texting Jud about the repairs at 6:30a.m.  Judson was able to hold Eric off until Marine Sales opened at 8:00a.m.  We were BOTH in SHOCK when Marine Sales stated it would be 6 weeks before they would even LOOK at either of our boats. Well, they stormed out as you would imagine and headed straight to Aqua Yacht where we used to store our boat. They were so accommodating. Long story short, it was two simple, inexpensive fixes, a fuel filter ($8.00) and a hose connector ($35.00). 

Less than an hour later, BOTH boats were back in action!!! KUDOS to AQUA YACHT and as for you...Marine Sales...you will have hell to pay before we buy another Cobalt anytime soon!

The rest of this weekend will be in the next several posts...there was just too much action this weekend to combine it all into one!!! Buckle up!