The Nina, the Pinta and the ... Down Time?

We've seen some interesting things boating up the Tennessee River, but the most interesting, so far, has to be the replicas of Columbus' boats, the Nina and the Pinta.  Our first hint of their existence came when we called the city marina in Florence, Alabama, to reserve a slip for the night and the dockmaster told us to just pull in in front of the "Christopher Columbus boats."

These are the two life size replicas we caught up with in Florence.  They are crewed by volunteers who ride on them through various locations, stopping for 2-3 days and selling opportunities for people to see them.  We had heard they were in Grand Rivers Kentucky when we were there although we did not see them. From Florence they were headed up the Tennessee to Decatur, Alabama, and then Knoxville, Tennessee.  Just to give you an idea of how big they are, here is a picture with Down Time, a 36 foot boat.

As you can see, they make Down Time look small.

We actually left Florence with the Nina and Pinta headed upriver. Just  past Florence is the Wilson Dam and lock, the tallest lock on the Tennessee River. Having the Nina and Pinta to photograph gives me an opportunity to help illustrate just how big this lock is.

Wilson Lock gates opening

This is what the lock gates look like when they are opening in front of you.  And here is how small the Nina and Pinta look inside the lock.

Nina and Pinta in the lock

This is my view of the lock looking up, waiting for the lock to fill.

These are the depth gauges on the boat during our locking through in the Wilson Lock.  The top one shows we had 16 feet of water under the boat when we entered the lock and the bottom one shows the 111 feet of water under us when we reached the top of the lock.

Entering depth

Exiting depth

We had one other lock to get through after the Wilson Lock the day we traveled with the Nina and Pinta.  We could have passed the two replica boats and hurried up to the next lock, but the lock tender would very likely have held us there waiting for the replica boats, so we just held back and followed them up Wilson Lake. It was actually quite fun to watch the reactions of the local boaters who saw these two fifteenth century galleons crossing their lake.  One guy came out on his jet ski to circumnavigate the two boats.

The other fun thing we saw was this sign in Decatur, Alabama, positioned to be viewed from the river. I guess every place has to be proud of something. In Decatur, it's cat food.