Nov 9 Demopolis to Bobby's Fish Camp

Nov 9


Back on the water today with a VERY early start.  Big group leaving Demopolis before first light as lockmaster said to come down as a group.  Told us to be there by 6 and we’ll be coming out lock in daylight.   Our group of 10 boats got through the lock and then split into groups of similar speed.    Fast boats or ones like us willing to make a LONG day of it were headed to Bobby’s Fish Camp – almost 100 miles away.  Slower boats would anchor further upstream at Bashi Creek.  We were the next to last boat to arrive at Bobby’s at 4:15. Last boat came in right at 4:45 just minutes before sunset.    Only that one lock in Demopolis to get through then just winding river scenery.   Nice day.  Started off very cold around freezing but as the sun came out it warmed into the lower 60’s.  Our enclosed flybridge along with the dark fabric  on the bimini top turns it into a greenhouse once the sun is out.  Hit a milestone today – we are now over 4000 miles into our trip – roughly 2/3 done.

Dressed up for the cold weather. 

We had 5 tows pass us so this seems like a little busier section of river.  Even had one going downstream we needed to pass.    I was hoping with a big group we would hook up with someone with AIS but that didn’t work out.  Only issue was a tow coming around one of the tight curves.   Saw him in plenty of time to communicate and work out passing directions but was surprised when the first barge suddenly poked out from the curve.

Tow passing us late in afternoon

Sometimes you forget just how small you are when compared to even a small tow

Bobby’s Fish Camp is an iconic stopping place for loopers.   Nothing special – just a 150’ floating dock where boats can tie up.  Seven boats rafted up tonight.  Interestingly they charge the same rate if you’re tied to the dock or the 3^rd boat out rafted – pretty good racket but it’s the only place   between Demopolis and Mobile you can actually tie up.  Otherwise this entire 200 mile stretch requires anchoring and there’s a very limited number of places.  Bobby’s is an old fish camp established in 1956 known for their “World’s Best Catfish”.  We opted for a shrimp platter and a catfish filet platter.    We’re not typically catfish eaters as it can too often be mushy and taste “muddy”, but this was some of the better catfish we’ve eaten.  

Bobby's fish camp

The dock at Bobby's

Journey for Nov 10

Nov 7-8 Playing Tourists

Nov 7-8

We've been in such a hurry to get down the river we really haven't done much exploring of the areas we're passing.   So we took a few days and rented a car and went backtracking.   Spent Thurs.  back in Columbus, MS visiting the Tennessee Williams birthplace, strolling along the Columbus Riverwalk and visiting Friendship Cemetery.   Columbus has an interesting history and a nice collection of well-preserved Antebellum and other historic homes.  After the Battle of Shiloh many Confederate as well as Union injured and dead soldiers wound up here as it became a “hospital town”.   The nearby Friendship Cemetery became the final resting place for over 2600 Confederate as well as roughly 60 Union soldiers.  During Sherman’s march he detoured around Columbus supposedly due to these reasons.

All headstones read the same in this section of cemetery -  "Unknown Confederate Soldier"

  Like the girl in the cemetery in Savanah immortalized on the cover of the book “Midnight in the Garden of Eden” , The Friendship Cemetery has an iconic tombstone.  Reverend Teasdale was a long-time pastor at the Firt Baptist Church.   When he passed away the congregation raised funds for a special tombstone commemorating how heartbroken they were.  It was said that “even the angels cried” the day he died.

  Next up was the Tom Bevill Visitors Center at the Lock and Dam that bears his name.   The COE recreated an Antebellum style house on the river as the visitor center.   On display is the 108’ snag barge "Montgomery.   It was built in 1926 in Charleston, SC and was finally retired in 1986.  It was used for 60 years to remove snags (floating and submerged trees) and dredge numerous southern rivers.  The amazing thing is it's a steel hulled, steam powered sternwheeler. 

Snag Boat "Montgomery"

 Our final destination on Thursday was Aliceville and a visit to their museum documenting the German POW camp that was built there in 1942.   It housed over 6000 German prisoner’s primary captured in the North Africa campaign.  It was only used for 2 years before the war ended and all prisoners were repatriated back to Germany and the camp dismantled.

On Friday we stayed in Demopolis to visit two of their local historic homes – Gaineswood and Bluff Hall.   Gaineswood is considered one of the finest examples of Greek Revival architecture in America.   It’s an interesting house as it started as a “dog trot” wood structure and  over the years was added to and embellished.  Rather than tearing down old portions they were simply incorporated into the additions which gives it some funkiness as far as the interior flow, but it is very grand in overall design.  Amazing plasterwork in the public rooms.  The plantation owner – Mr Whitfield – would only bring in artisans for several weeks.  They would teach his slaves the required trades to construct each new addition and then leave.  

Gaineswood Dining Room

Gaineswood Drawing Room/Ball Room

Bluff Hall was built in 1832 as a wedding gift to one of his daughters. It was initially a fairly basic Federal Style townhouse that later  had more rooms added to the rear and a front portico added giving it a more fashionable Greek Revival façade.  The rear of the property has a great view of the Black Warrior River.   Both houses are decorated with original antique pieces that came from Whitfield heirs who still live in the area.

Nov 6 Sumpter Anchorage to Demopolis

Nov 6 

Another beautiful day on the river after a fitful night at anchor.   Our little anchorage was perfect.  Out of the river current and  no wind  to push us around and  make us worry about the anchor holding.   Woke up one time during the night so got up and checked on things outside.  Pretty dark in the middle of Nowheresville, AL and just a partial moon so  lots of stars shining brightly.  

Beautiful day on the water

Our group of 3 trawlers had decided to leave at 7 AM sharp so at 6:45 we all raised anchor and headed the 3 miles down to the lock.   Our group had called and the lock doors were open and waiting.  We figured a quick lock through but apparently the other boats at anchor decided otherwise.  They had called the lock and raised their own anchors after we left.  The lockmaster decided he wanted to lock us all through together, so we got tied to a bollard and waited.   Finally saw the two power boats come around the bend 2 miles back.   Lockmaster told them to bring it on down  quick as he had to be ready for an upbound tow.  They got in and then in the distance a sailboat was visible.  While the sailor said he was fine with waiting for the next lockage, the lockmaster decided we should wait and all go through together.   So, we waited some more for him to arrive and tie up. Apparently the upbound tow was still a ways off.   Overall, about an hour wait.  It really didn't put is behind as it was the only lock we had all day and we had a favorable 1 knot current pushing us downstream.  It's just fascinating the differences between lockmasters.   While this one was plenty cordial, he was also very specific designating which bollards he wanted each boat to tie to and when we departed the sequence he wanted to see us leave.   They're in charge so you can't really argue with them and it had no impact on us but it was unusual getting such specific instructions.  We didn't get that much instruction when we rafted 4 across and had 28 boats in one of those Illinois River locks.  This poor guy would have had a heart attack stressing over that lockage.  

It's nice to be back south.  Temperatures started a bit cool in the 40’s but quickly went up and we had mid 70’s for the high.   Had to swap into shorts and a t-shirt for the first time in days.   Cruise was still a fairly long 50+ mile day on a winding river. 

A new turn at every mile - hit every point on the compass at some time during the day

 Sort of a mini Mississippi ride with muddy water, the current running with us and floating debris to dodge.  Thankfully, at least no whirlpools or eddies.  Had a tow come around a bend full speed with a 3x4 group of loaded barges pushing a big  bow wave and even bigger  churn off the stern.   Hadn’t seen that since the big muddy either!  

Tow pushing a good sized bow and stern wave

  About the only other sites of interest were some whitish stone cliffs and a very large motor yacht passing us making very quick time and a huge wake.  Not sure what his hurry was all about as we saw him fueling up at the marina while we docked.

White stone cliffs

Journey for Nov 6

Nov 5 Columbus Marina to Sumpter Rec Area Anchorage

Nov  5

We decided to spend an extra day in Columbus.  The marina had a courtesy car and we wanted to check out the town which requires driving.   Had dinner on Sunday at Harvey's with a couple of other loopers.   Then got the car on Monday  for a few hours so went downtown to walk the main street, look at a few historic homes and have lunch at Huck's - pretty darn good  Cajun and Creole food.   Did you know Catfish Alley in Columbus was the center of Blues music before Nashville?  Or that it was the birthplace of Tennessee Williams?  Also home to Columbus Air Force Base.   Lot's going on here - except for any  local breweries.  Starting to get thirsty for a  good flight of beers.

Tennessee Williams birthplace/Columbus Visitors Center - naturally, it's closed on Mondays

Today was just a glorious day to be on the water.  We had planned to leave Columbus marina at 7 AM with several other trawler boats that run our same speed.  As we were prepping they came over and said we need to leave if you’re ready.    A “fast” boat hoping to make the full 100+ mile run to Demopolis had left early and was in the lock already. The lock was open and waiting.  So after a quick final checkoff we released the lines with 5 other boats and headed to the lock.  Probably aggravated the “fast” boat who had to wait for us a bit – but such is life.   Another 60-mile day for us with 2 locks.  One lock basically right outside the marina and another at about the halfway mark.    Once outside the first lock the “fast” boat took off but amazingly when we got to the second lock, he and another boat where sitting inside tied to their bollards just waiting for us.   Took off again for his run to Demopolis again once we were lowered and never saw him again.  After that second lock we are now just 109’ above sea level.  Just 3 more locks to go and we’ll be all the way down and lock free.

Traveling companions for the day "Red Dog" and "Bunganuc II"

Back to our day cruising the river.   Other than the 2 locks  and passing 4 tows which were pretty much a non-issue for us, the rest of our cruise was a delight.   No fog this morning so great visibility. Temperature started a bit cool in the 40’s but quickly climbed into the lower 70’s by mid-day.  Plenty of sunshine although the sun is definitely at a lower angle in the sky which creates extra glare off the water’s surface. Scenery is winding river with trees on the banks and just an occasional house. Heading south so we’re losing more and more color in the trees.  A welcome tradeoff for warmer weather.  The biggest drawback to this river travel is there’s only a limited number of anchorages.    We are at one called Sumter Recreational Area.  There are now 6 boats squeezed in here.   About 7 miles back we passed 2 other nice areas in oxbows on the river with deeper water but with a current.  Ours is a well-protected cove with no current but since there’s no wind expected tonight it’s really not a big issue for us.   On this entire 60 mile run there’s probably less than half a dozen anchorages suitable for us and no marinas or towns.  Pretty isolated - but again it’s been quite scenic.

Scenic anchorage looking back out to the river

Journey for Nov 5 - lots of twists and turns - more to come

Nov 3 Midway Marina to Columbus Marina

Nov 3


Martha informed me today is our 100th actual travel day while looping.  We are now off daylight savings time but still on central time.  This means the sun sets at 5pm here. It gets dark EARLY!!  Fog delays in the morning exasperate our travel situation.


 Up early today hoping we might be able to get an early start, but we were greeted by another morning of heavy fog.   Learned my lesson the previous day not to go until it clears so stayed put and cooked a nice Sunday morning breakfast while waiting and waiting and waiting.  4 other boats also waiting to head downstream to the first lock.  The fog finally lifted at 8:30 (old 9:30 time) and after a quick call to make sure the lock was ready, we headed out. 

Fog gone and our group gets lowered at Fulton lock

  We had 4 locks and 60 miles planned for today.  For locks on the Tenn-Tom we were told to plan for 2 hour waits and if you get through faster it was a bonus.   We hit the jackpot today as every lock was waiting for us with the doors open!!  Only 1 tow all day and he was heading upbound just as we exited our second lock.  

Only tow for the day as we exited Wilkins lock

 It wound up being a beautiful travel day with crisp cool temperatures and plenty of sunshine which warmed up into the lower 60’s by mid-afternoon.  Mostly tree lined river shores which are showing minor fall colors. You can tell we’re getting further south just by the heavier number of pine trees.

We've seen several mulch processing plants but this was the biggest pile 

Some of the areas open up and look like lakes but are really just large swamps with shallow water, rotting timber and extra floating debris to make sure we’re paying attention. 

Wood debris floating in the Aberdeen lock with us

 Our big drama for the day was trying to determine if we would run out of daylight before getting to Columbus Marina requiring us to pull off the river to anchor.   Until we got through the last lock we wouldn’t know for sure.  But once out of it and up to a very robust 8 knot cruising speed our ETA was showing 4:20. So we pushed on and arrived as the sun was just falling below the tree line.    

Sun setting at 5:00 makes for a short day

Last boat in for the day.  Big pack of loopers here.  It will be interesting to see who and how many leave tomorrow.  Next big stop is Demopolis but it requires 1 or 2 nights anchoring out to get there. 

Journey for Nov 3

  

Nov 2 Bay Springs Anchorage to Midway Marina

Nov 2


Two quick stories before I begin.  Number 1 - Before starting the loop we collected a set of previously used chartbooks.  Our set for the  Tenn-Tom was used 2 years ago and the owner did a good job of listing dates and times he passed various points.  Surprisingly, we are on his exact same schedule matching each date and location.   He made an interesting note in the side of the chartbook – “ Do not travel  until the fog clears and you can see for 1 mile”.     Number 2 – Can’t even remember where we were, but I sure should have bought the T-shirt we saw.  Printed on it was “Bad choices make great stories”.  


 So today we (I) made a bad choice and didn’t heed the warning in the chartbook and left our anchorage early in the fog.  With the lock opening for pleasure craft at 8 AM or noon I was determined to get through the morning opening so we could get docked early, relax a bit and listen to Clemson football.   There was fog in our cove but it didn’t seem too bad.   Should have recognized the bad omen when as I was washing the mud off the raised anchor the water was freezing on the deck making them super slippery.  Luckily, not falls and I made it to the flybridge safely.  Anyway, we headed out knowing 3 other boats at a marina were coming down a creek across the river for the same lockage.   We called the lockmaster and he confirmed he had a small tow he was lifting but would be ready for us at 8.  We headed out onto the river only to be consumed by a wall of fog. I’m talking complete white-out.  Disorienting, absolute zero visibility.  Complete navigation by electronics – chartplotter and radar. Idle speed was way too fast - inch up a bit and then back to neutral.  Headed for a couple of mooring cells to hide behind until the lockmaster got on the radio and said he was letting the tow out– be sure and get out of the channel.  We were already as far off to the side as possible and using the cell as our only visible bearing point.  Siren sounded to let us know the gates had opened. Never saw the tow at all as he passed.  Not even his running lights.  Then he said come on in slowly.  The other 3 boats were ahead of us.  It wasn’t until I was almost at the lock entrance walls that I finally saw a “ghost” ship just off my starboard.  Back to neutral as he quickly was enveloped in fog again. All four of us finally got secured but visibility was so limited I couldn’t even see the 2 boats at the front of the lock. Sort of eerie watching fog materialize and rise  off the warm wet concrete walls of the lock as we were being lowered 84’.  

There's another boat in front of the one you barely see

Comparison shot from later in the day

We exited and traveled another few miles at idle speed down to the next lock.   The fog seemed to be breaking up but then we hit open water for the last mile which swallowed us in fog again.  

Things were getting better then we headed into another fog bank at the  second lock

There was a northbound tow who had tied to the wall of the lock during the night. He was still waiting for the fog to dissipate before moving and was blocking our entrance. We waited patiently and suddenly within 15 minutes all the fog was gone. Two hours of nerve-wracking tensions until 10 AM and then POOF – all gone!

Fog suddenly just about gone as the tow starts moving.

 The sun came out, the tow started his trip, we entered the lock and had an uneventful rest of the trip through one more lock and arrived at Midway Marina by 12:30.    Hindsight is an odd thing.    Several other boats anchored in our general area waited out the fog and caught the noon opening – getting through the locks without issue and arriving at the marina drama free at 4:00.   Drama free,  but without a great story to tell.

Once the fog lifted it was a nice sunny but cool  day

We had another boating milestone today.  Martha captained the boat into the 3rd lock  and laid it smoothly against the wall  right at our planned stop at the second bollard where John  was able to easily just loop  and secure the line.  Piece of cake - looked like a pro.

Journey for Nov 2

Nov 1 Aqua Harbor Marina to Bay Springs Anchorage

Nov 1


First, everything is fine with Martha’s tooth.  She got in to see a local dentist, x-rays taken, consultation with our home dentist, and all agree unless it starts giving her pain she can just wait until we’re home at Thanksgiving in a few more weeks and have our dentist work on it.  So major crisis avoided. As expected the weather did turn nasty with 2 days of clouds, rain, wind, etc.so we stayed put at the marina, reprovisioned, went to the Shiloh National Military Park and watched a great film detailing  the civil war battle, had docktails with 21 other loopers one evening celebrating Ben’s birthday on “At Ease” and then had a great chili dinner another night with several other looper couples at the local harbor hosts – Charlie and Robin from “The Lower Place” - who we met  while they were doing their 2^nd loop. Not a bad way to spend a few weather days.

Docktails aboard "At Ease" celebrating Ben's B'day

I don’t know what the deal is with trying to start our travel days early at Aqua Harbor Marina but when we tried leaving for our trip up the Tennessee we got fogged in and delayed by several hours.  It happened again this morning as we were trying to leave for the trip down the Tenn-Tom.   Even more interesting this morning,  on top of the fog was the freezing temperatures we got overnight leaving frost all over the boat.  I had to put on jeans and a sweatshirt!!  I know it’s now Nov. - but still – it just doesn’t seem right to have all these clothes on when you’re traveling through Alabama and Mississippi. We’re in the deep south – we want warmth and humidity.

Frost on the ropes, rails, deck and kayak - yuck!!

FOG !!!

Our original plan was to make a long day of it and head all the way to Midway Marina.  That requires going through 3 locks and a 60+ mile run.  The first lock – Whitten Lock – implemented a new policy effective TODAY (just our luck) where they will only lock pleasure craft through at 8AM, noon, and 4PM (or anytime on demand during the night).  It’s a little over 30 miles from Aqua to Whitten so we were hoping to leave at 7 and arrive at the lock for the noon opening.   With our fog delayed late departure we knew we wouldn’t make it so went to Plan B which was to drop the hook for the night in a nice anchorage right before the lock.  It lets us make the 8AM lockage and then another easy day down to Midway.  And even if we get fogged in again, we’ll hit the noon lockage and still be in Midway before dark.   The Tenn-Tom between Pickwick Lake and Bay Springs Lake is 25 miles of man-made canal.  I was hoping to follow someone with AIS (an electronic system that notifies you of oncoming boats) but it didn’t work out and we wound up going through this section solo.  Surprisingly we met 4 different tows heading upbound.   The first one was a surprise as we both came around a corner.  Went to idle and he gave an actual “one whistle” horn blast to direct us to pass port to port.  All the other tows came while we were in straighter sections of the canal, so we had plenty of time to maneuver around them without issue.  We were just surprised by the number of tows. For a short day it was more than we’ve seen in a while. 

Tow #1 pushing empty barges around a tight corner

Tow #2 pushing barges of chemicals

Tow #3 loaded with mulch!!

Tow #4 with covers over his shipment

  Dropped the hook at 2.  Pretty anchorage with plenty of fall colors surrounding us.  Very light NW breeze with plenty of sunshine making the enclosed flybridge the place to spend the afternoon.  Great sunset but then freezing temperatures again tonight so some chili and sandwiches for dinner and then snuggle under our flannel sheets for the night.

Canada Geese visiting us at our anchorage

Sunset view out our anchorage onto the Tenn-Tom

Journey for Nov 1