Leg 2, Day 1: Some luck and some knot.

October 15, 2026: We left Aqua Yachts with the … uhm, belief that we were going about 37 miles ending at a particular marina after transiting a lock. Well, the marina turned out to be before the lock, not after, so when we went through the lock we had to make a new plan. We went through the second lock not much later and thought we were doing great which is, of course, when something happened.

What happened? We shoaled or put another way, we hit a shoal and the boat stopped. Never mind that we were in the channel. The channel markers (buoys) were difficult to see and we can only surmise may have moved during recent storms. We called for a tow but Tom managed to maneuver the boat off the shoal and we proceeded to the next lock. All this while, we are trying to figure out where we can spend the night. We did make it to a marina! Yay, our luck was with us at least to that extent.

Special Note: There is a saying that you are not really a sailor until you have run aground. A milestone? Maybe not but Rayma was glad it was Tom at the helm.

The above photos show the Ten-Tom (aka the Tom Bigby River) specifically the part known locally as Yellow Creek. Tom was captain today as shown above. The area just outside the marina (Midway Marina) just before sunset and one of the boats that, as we say, has been buried above water. What’s the story with the old boat? No clue.

We are still debating staying here another day or whether to push on. Stay tuned.