Christmas on the boat! M366 to almost Mobile AL

Merry Christmas to everyone! 

None. The answer to the question of whether we had any breakdowns or difficult situations since 12/23 when we grounded. Must be the luck four leaf clover keychains from Eve and Bill Gribble we received for Christmas! Thank you for that good luck. The luck charms along with plenty of prayers and a good mechanic seem to be making the difference. 

Leaving on 12/23

 Fog and rain are the story of these last few days. Except Christmas. Christmas day was beautiful.

We left you last with our adventure on December 23. We grounded out then was blown off the dirt by a little center console at Smithville. Then we went through a lock at dusk and another in the dark then played blind man’s bluff to get to the anchorage at M366.3 on the Tombigbee Waterway.

Let’s pick up the story on Christmas Eve, December 24. It was foggy at dawn. Icey frost covered everything. Kermit wore his life jacket to pull up the anchor because the water was so cold. We were still tense from yesterday’s adventure. We weren’t saying much. With that much tension, silence is the better part of valor.

Anchoring at
Windham Landing at dusk 

Our goal was an anchorage at M286 called Windham Landing. We went through 3 locks, Aberdeen at 357.5, Stennis at M334.7 and Bevill at M306.8 for an 80 mile trip. That is a lot of miles and a lot of locks to travel in about 9 hours. We can only travel during daylight between about 7am and 4pm, so everything has to run smoothly. Fog was not in the plan.

Windham Landing anchorage

We waited as long as we could. We pulled the anchor when we saw the other side of the shore. We tip toed down the river until the sun burnt off the fog. We passed fewer tows than usual and made good time.

Rivers look like rivers. Trees on the side, red and green markers, birds flitting in and out, but very few people. On the rare occasion we saw a person we waved like crazy people! Not much going on here.

Pineapple Upside down
cake for Christmas dessert

We passed Columbus, our original target on 12/23 and kept going until we reached M286. This anchorage is on the Right Descending Bank which is standard terminology for the west side of the river, on an oxbow, a place where a side spit of water winds away from the main river around a small piece of land, creating an island. We dropped anchor as the sun went down.

In the distance, we could hear cows mooing and moving on the bank. This was a cattle farm!! With a farmhouse at the back of the oxbow!! After being so alone, it was comforting to know people were nearby even if we couldn’t see them.

We made a wonder steak dinner and opened a few presents. Marissa gave us the cutest little waffle maker that makes one waffle at a time! We made waffles the next morning!

Christmas morning, our goal was Demopolis at M216, another 70 mile day with only 1 lock, the Heflin Lock with a 32’ drop. It was a spectacular day for a boat ride - sunny, clear and flat with the most amazing sunlight. 

We pulled into Demopolis around 3pm. This beautiful marina is called Kingfisher, designed for larger boats. It has floating cement docks with dockside pump out. Most docks are covered with those big metal roofs to protect from hot summer sun. 

We tried the dockside pump out but couldn't make it work. I know, we took a risk to pass up a pump out but Kermit seems to be able to fix the toilets now. Turns out Don's simple turn of a wrench releases an airlock and the potty's work again! 

Kingfisher Marina at Demopolis

We got to Demopolis in time for the end of the Christmas party which gave us a chance to meet a few locals. No food left but nice conversation. We went back to the boat, opened the rest of our presents then to bed for an early departure the next morning.

On the way out in the morning we ran into Mike, a Looper just coming out of the shower. They were stopping for fuel before leaving so we left for the lock. They are in a Mainship Trawler so they go a little slower than we do.

Our goal that night was Bobby’s Fish Camp, a gigantic 98 mile journey. We could only make it if we get through the lock promptly. The Demopolis Lock is just 3 miles down the river. We made it through promptly and headed down the river.

Two things are interesting as we left the lock. 

Bubbles everywhere - not the
best photo

First, there was a ton of fluffy cloud like floaters on the water that looked like ice burgs. A million little ice burgs floating around. We know they couldn’t be ice burgs. So the other thought was someone poured a bunch of detergent in the water creating a gazillion tons of bubbles. Odd.

Swings outside Demospolis Lock

The other interesting thing was the beautiful vista across the down side of the lock. There is no dam on the river here. The water cascades naturally across rocks making a beautiful vista. The community installed swings on the eastern shore so folks can picnic while watching the hypnotic water flow.

Bobby’s Fish Camp, our target is the only place to tie up on a dock between Demopolis and Mobile. Only a few anchorages are noted in that 98 mile stretch. Mike and Brenda from Visignet (the folks we met leaving Demopolis) anchored at one of those spots but we persevered.

See our boat coming up on two tows going in
opposite directions. We went through the middle. 

The only interesting thing that happened took place around one of the many curves. When we left Demopolis we were on the Black River. As a result there are a million twists and turns. That 98 mile distance could actually be much shorter as the crow flies if the waterway were straightened. 

The twists and turns make it fun to meet the many tows around corners.

The two tows going in opposite
directions! We went through the middle. 

One memorable time we met two tows, one going south and one going north. They allowed us to move south between them! As we moved between the tows everyone on both tows came out of the little houses and waved at each other like crazy people!! So we went out and waved too! They were chatting it up on the radio to catch up on family and friends. Evidently they feel as lonely as we do when no one is around for days at a time.

We pulled into Bobby’s Fish Camp at about 3:30pm. It was a sunny day so we tied up alone and went for a little walk up the hill. No people visible, anywhere. A fish camp is a southern thing. Imagine a bunch of beat up cabins and not much else.

Bobby's Fish Camp

The guidebook indicated a new bathroom available so we set off to investigate. We found it. Imagine a brown Rubbermaid shed about 8’ x 6’. Inside is a shower, a toilet and a sink. There is no way to lock the door. The only lock is on the outside. I declined. 

Kermit grabbed his shower gear to test it out. Evidently the water comes out of the faucet at the same temperature as the outside air – 65 degrees, so his shower was brief.  You have to run the shower for a while to dislodging a bunch of bugs unhappy to be so rudely disturbed. He saw an unsettling clump of fur on the floor.  

The electrical set up would have made Paul Bates proud. No grounding. No GFIs. An electric cord ran to an extension cord cut off to plug into an outlet. Great!

When you go to out of the shower had to wipe his feet to remove the dirt before putting on his socks.

The weather looked really crappy. A big storm was coming across the south. In the morning we decided to stay put another day to wait out the worst of the storm. Around midday we saw Visignet pass. Kermit suggested they might consider staying at Bobby’s Fish Camp to wait out the storm. 

They elected to keep going. At the Coffeeville Lock immediately south, the lockmaster suggested Visignet would be safer if they turned back to Bobby’s because the storms were supposed to bring flood water, high winds making a downriver anchorage risky. They turned around and joined us!

We had a few beers and some appetizers at the restaurant. Alabama health food: fried dill pickles so fried that they disintegrated in our mouths, fried sweet potatoes, hush puppies and fried onion rings. I have had enough salt, so much salt even the beer did not wash it away!

Lunch on the road

The storm was bad. In the morning the water was much higher. Coffeeville Lock just south of Bobby’s Fish Camp is the last lock on the river system. After this, the water is no longer regulated. It is subject to currents and tides. This lock is supposed to drop us 34’ but it only went down 12’. The doors opened to really high water and lots of logs and crap floating through. It made travel difficult as we picked our way through. To make it more fun, the entire day was foggy. Sometimes full fog and sometimes wisps of fog floating across the river. We persevered.

Our target that night was the Tensas River M39. We anchored upstream about a mile in 25 feet of water. The rain stopped but the fog rolled in turning the river from a white cover to a full blanket of fog.

We showed Mike and Brenda how to raft off us then we proceeded to have a wonderful pot luck dinner. More pictures of that later. I haven't pulled them off the camera yet.

These loopers started their loop in when they bought their boat this summer in Dunedin FL. They took the boat to Demopolis for the hurricane season then picked up the boat and traveled upriver to the AGLCA rondevouz on the Tennessee River then traveled to Chattanooga. They are downward bound now just like us.

Today we are traveling to Mobile. As I write this we can see Mobile in the distance. We are going to Fairhope for a reunion with Charlie and Mary, Loopers from Bama Belle in our looper year. It will be great to be back in civilization again with a boat that works!!

We will stay in the Mobile area for a few days. First at Fairhope then on to the Wharf at Orange Beach where we will meet up with Visignet again along with Texas Two Step, the old Good Karma. We are excited to be at places where we can watch football on tv in civilization.

Happy New Year friends!!