TERI ANN: Pirate's Marina Cove

We are now in the "River" section of the waterway. We chose to have an easy day today with only one lock and 28 miles to the marina. We were able to sleep late, enjoy breakfast and travel solo today. We went through the Stennis Lock and then went to Pirate's Marina Cove. I'll call this marina rustic (really the docks are just old and worn out). Along the way we saw a water snake in the river. The locals around here have warned us that we have to becareful now taking Hooper to shore because of snakes and alligators.

Once we were settled at the Marina Al took a look at the windlass. Lately, when we anchored the chain would get jammed in the windlass. Al took it all apart and told me there was a problem with the stripper pole. I told him he was crazy and looking at the wrong thing. I just heard him wrong and there really was a problem with the stripper pawl. Once again he was able to fix it with parts that he had onboard.

We then launched the dinghy to go see The Tom Bevill Visitor Center by the lock. The building was completed in 1985, but was built to depict the time period between 1830-1860. Throughout the visitor center there are antiques and reproductions of antiques. We also saw the US Snagboat Montgomery, which was the last steam-powered sternwheeler to ply the inland waterways of the south. For nearly six decades the Montgomery kept seven of the south's major rivers navigable. It was built in 1926 and retired in 1982.