Fairhope, AL

(Tuesday Oct 30 - Dist: 28.8 mi; Seas: 1-2 ft; TTT: 3:45)

We got up well before dawn and pulled anchor (with great difficulty) at first light.  Our anchor was dug in so deep, thanks to the strong winds, that we needed both engines to yank it out of the mud and clay.  It was caked over a foot thick on the anchor.  I am glad that I had the saltwater wash down pump ready to hose everything off.  And it was cold.  I know that I am getting soft but the 38 degrees at 6:30 AM was not pleasant.

It did not take us long to get to the Port of Mobile along with all of the loading docks, warehouses and ships.  I enjoy going through a busy port such as this.

Not only do they repair ships here they also build them.  Is there such a thing as a stealth Naval ship??  these two certainly look different.

Mobile Bay was as good as we had hoped.  The marine forecast did say "Choppy" but the waves were basically on our stern so we were fairly comfortable and the drugs didn't hurt either.  We arrived at Eastern Shore Marina by noon and borrowed the courtesy vehicle to re-provision with both food and booze.  Later that evening we had an excellent meal at Tamarra's restaurant.  We figured the girls need a break after being on the hook for 3 days.

Here are some views of the port:

Free Dock at Convention Center.

Big Briar Creek

(Saturday Oct 27 – Dist: 42.1 mi; TTT: 5:15 hrs)

Our luck with regards to good travel weather has finally run out. A cold front from the west is being held up by Hurricane Sandy on the east coast and is producing strong north winds. It was OK to travel the river but Mobile Bay is “Rough”. We found a good anchorage here at Big Briar Creek, which is about 1 mile up the Tensaw River Cutoff from the Mobile River. We are only about 13 miles from the Bay but neither Seamoore nor us want to deal with the rough seas in the Bay. When we looked on Sunday, waves were 3 feet and going to 6 by noon. So we are staying put until Tuesday when we hope that the small craft warnings are lifted. As it is, Linda and I are anchoring in the strongest wind conditions that we ever had. Winds are 20 mph with higher gusts.

Not much going on. The girls are doing lots of reading and I am getting caught up on the blog off line and some small chores and repairs on the boat. I did succeed in getting my AM/FM radio on the helm working for the first time in a year.

Here are some photos to tide you by.

A new steel plant is being built by the Germans. It is huge, actually 2 plants, one for stainless steel and the other for “mild” steel. It has one of the largest private docks that I have seen. Many city harbors are not as well equipped as this one.

Big Briar Creek at near low tide. We are definitely in gator country although we have yet to see one.

The wind is still a’blowin. You can see how taut are anchor rode is.

Alabama River Cutoff

(Friday Oct 26 – Dist: 68.2 mi; Avg Speed: 8.5 mph;
Locks: 1; LWT: 0; TTT: 8:45 hrs)

After the excellent stop at Bobby’s, we cleared the Coffeeville Lock by 8:00 AM. HURRAY, no more locks. We were fortunate on this trip because we had very few delays and there was little wind so locking through was not stressful, even somewhat relaxing. I am sure that part of this new attitude is the experience of the captain and crew. I hate to think how many locks that we now have completed with just Linda and I; hundreds.

This also means that we are now at sea level in tidal waters and will have to be more aware of the tides especially when anchoring and tying to stationary docks. It is only a couple of feet in this region and other than the fact that we are approaching a full moon it should not affect us too much.

We have been blessed with superb travelling weather making the very long day much more pleasant. We arrived at our anchorage rather late but did manage to get in a drink or two.

Following a nice meal it was early to bed.

Here are a few shots from along the way earlier today.

 Yes, we have started seeing Spanish moss for the past three days already.

Bobby’s Fish Camp

(Thursday Oct 25 – Dist: 25.8 mi; Avg Speed: 7.9 mph; Temp: 82 F; TTT: 4:00 hrs)

There is Bobby’s Fish Camp; a single dock that will hold about 4 boats, a restaurant and some cabins. The nearest town is about 22 miles away. Linda and I were very disappointed the first time that we were here but not this time. We had plenty of time to walk around on this absolutely gorgeous day.

One of the highlights was meeting Gunny a retired marine who specialized in explosives disposal.

Not sure how old he is but he got fed up with the DVA retirement institution that he was in and moved to this spot next to the dock. He purchased a small trailer, put it on stilts and then designed a cedar cabin around it. The place was amazing; all his design and concept. He had to rough carpenters do the actual work but he over saw every detail.

Gunny has a very creative mind. He finds and polishes pieces of wood which he displays, makes furniture and he even wrote a song this past May which he had published in Nashville. He admits himself that he loves to show off and we enjoyed every minute of it. I believe that the song can be found by searching Itunes for W L (Bill) Adams. The song is on an album called the “Other Side of the River”; I think.

The other highlight this year was the catfish dinner. It was by far the best ever even better than Hagy’s Catfish Hotel. It was even delicious the next day as left overs; they were that good.

Of course Linda could not leave with a souvenir. This gator was caught by some of the swamp people and the proceeds go to support one of their own who was injured or sick, not sure which. Anyway we contributed $2.50 per inch for this lovely head. One of the swamp guys, Bodine, happened to come by (we were warned by the owner not to be worried), and he estimated that our little guy was about 6 feet long during better times.

Into the Alabama Wilderness

(Wednesday Oct 24 – Dist: 70.8 mi; Avg Speed: 8.5 mph;
Locks: 1; LWT: 0; TTT: 8:50 hrs)

Seamoore and Q’s End left the comforts of Kingfisher Bay Marina at Demopolis early in order to catch up with some other boats who had the lock ready for them. As it turned out there were 7 of us who made it through and it was a good thing because there were a couple of tows approaching the lock. If we had been delayed there would have been a good chance that we may not have made the 70 miles to the nearest anchorage before darkness.

We are now on the Mobile River. The shores of the river have changed yet again. In this first section it seems to be carved out of the rock and woods.

It was another beautiful day for travelling: sunny, hot (80 F) and calm. We easily did the 70 miles and by 4 PM we reached Bashi Creek, our anchorage for the night. Since we needed both a forward and stern anchor in the narrow creek, we decided to raft together, nose to tail. With this configuration we could both use our primary anchors and not have to worry about digging out a second anchor and man handling it to somehow to set it in the opposite direction. Another of the boats (Ben’s Play Pen) whom we met at the lock that morning also made it and joined us for Happy Hour. It was a beautiful evening and we slept well.

We were tucked right in close to nature so that the fishermen and hunters could still get by.

Kingfisher Marina, Demopolis AL

(Monday Oct 22 - Dist: 53.2 mi; Avg Speed: 8.4 mph;
        Locks: 1; LWT: 0 mins; TTT: 6:45 hrs)

Aside from the early start, the thick, wet dew (at least we did not need an ice scraper) on the enclosures, the patch of fog, it turned out to be a beautiful day along a beautiful stretch of the river. 

These limestone cliffs, called Cliffs of Epes, were interesting to say the least.  The fall colors on some of the trees only adds to the beauty.  With the bright sunshine the temperatures got into the 80's AGAIN.  The nights are becoming cool but the days are great.  Y'all got to love the south.

Kingfisher Bay marina was not here 2 years ago so everything is brand new... and very impressive.  The facilities are great; the laundry room is massive and has a 62" TV to watch on a rocker while waiting for your laundry to finish.

The patio on top of the laundry / restroom / lounge building is a great place for the daily Looper gathering.  We can attest to that after our first night here.  Our boat is just past the far railing under cover.  Hurray, no cleaning the enclosures when we leave.

Linda has threatened to use the new swimming pool but with the water temp at 75 I think that she will chicken out.  There is no doubt that these Canadians are getting soft.  We now prefer the water to be at least 80 degrees.

We are going out tonight, to the Red Barn, one of Carleton's favourite places here in Demopolis.  He says it is a little rustic and here in Alabama, I am not sure what to expect.  I will try to remember to let you know when we return to civilization.  We are leaving in the morning for Mobile.  It is 217 miles down the Black Warrior river and there are no more marinas.  We will likely be out of touch (ie. no cell coverage) so do not be surprised if you do not hear from us for 4-5 days.  I'll leave you with a few more shots of the Cliffs of Epes.

Sumpter Landing Anchorage, AL

(Sunday Oct 21 - Dist: 64.7 mi; Avg Speed: 7.9 mph;
        Locks: 2; LWT: 10 mins; TTT: 8:55 hrs)

T'was a long day but we managed to get to the anchorage and there was still room for us.  This part of the Tenn-Tom is fairly remote with lots of trees and little bays where the land was flooded. 

It was also interesting that there was a ton of water hyacinths floating down the river, sometimes quite thick and sometimes with small branches and logs floating in their midst.  Not sure how or why they get separated from the shore but there is a lot of them, some still with their flowers blooming.

We are still facing 1 or 2 dams each day but not for long; we are very near the half way point between the Tennessee River and Mobile Bay, 450 miles in total.  Linda and I have met up with Carleton and Becky on Seamoore, a 40 foot mainship, whom we knew, and liked, from the first Loop.  They too have reservations in Marathon for December.

 

We are still running into some barge traffic but they are few and far between, smaller in size and there is generally more room to past them.  They only become a problem when they are in or near a lock when we arrive.

Well we spent the night in a nice anchorage but we forgot to take any photos after the long day.  Linda and I set the anchor after two false tries and then had Seamoore and another small trawler raft to us for the night.  We BBQ'd aboard the mainship and used their outdoor Jenn-aire barbecue.  It was good.

There were three other boats in the anchorage with us and they wanted to leave at 7 AM.  With the lock nearby we knew that we should all lock through together.  It was cold (60), it was wet with dew and it was still fairly dark but we pulled up the hook a 7 AM.  We slowly found our way through a patch of fog and got through the lock immediately.  We were off to Demopolis. 

Columbus Marina, Columbus MS

(Tuesday Oct 16 - Dist: 59.6 mi; Locks: 4; LWT: 20 mins; TTT: 7:40 hrs)

It was a very long day again but pleasant enough.  Leaving Midway in the morning were 4 boats including a 22' sailboat with a 8 HP outboard.  It could only do about 5 mph so after some discussion and the blessing of the sailboat we pulled away leaving them behind.  After another lock one of the other boats encountered transmission problems and we pulled away from them.  In the end the other remaining boat decided to fuel up before the last lock so we ended up going through that lock by ourselves.  It was the quickest ever; the gates started closing the moment we cleared them and the water started dropping as soon as we gave the "all secure" to the lockmaster.  From start to finish it was less than 20 mins.

Attempting to remove the prop from this 62 foot Nordhaven.

 Columbus Marina is a busy and popular place.  Everyone stops here and many use the marina for staging and provisioning for the remainder of the trip to the Gulf.  People move their cars to Florida, have visitors meet them here or do minor repairs on their boats.  In the bay by the marina there is a serious crop of water lilies.  I have never seen so many nor ones so big.

My most favourite BBQ in the world is nearby and of course we stopped on our first day here right after stocking up on supplies.  We brought home a rack of ribs and a pound of brisket... unbelievably good.

I am not alone in my fondness for Hanks BBQ.  On Friday the marina had a pot luck get together and they supplied the brisket and the pulled pork.  With all of the covered dishes brought by the other boaters, we had a feast; a very great time.

Linda is going golfing today with another lady and I will end up watching football with the rest of the guys.  I tweaked my knee again and want to give it a rest for a couple of days.  That is becoming an ongoing annoyance.

Tomorrow we head for an anchorage that is 65 miles down river and 2 locks away.  We will be travelling with Carleton and Becky on Seamore whom we met on our first Loop.  We both have reservations for the winter in Marathon.

I will leave you with a couple of pics from inside my favourite BBQ place.  It is not much inside or out but the food is oh so good.