Demopolis to anchorage??

Friday morning we leave bright and early and lock through  Demopolis, without any problem.

Goodbye Demopolis!

The water over the spillway is really amazing.  We have a good view of it from our fly bridge.

Demopolis Lock and Dam

Once leaving this lock, we are now on the Black Warrior River portion of the Tenn Tom.  It is a beautiful day to cruise, although a little chilly, but not snowing like at home!  We pass numerous barges, often in tight quarters, and watch for fishing boats as our wake could swamp them. In this neck of the woods, they are hunters too. Boats have been known to be shot at, so we take care. Around 4 pm, traveling 100 miles,   we arrive to Bobby's Fish Camp.  Just in time for docktails (we are on central time, so it is 5:00!).

 

We tie up to a floating dock next to the fuel dock and are in luck;  no one else is here so we grab one of the four electric services. There is no water, but that is fine. We have enough on board until we reach a marina tomorrow. (ha ha)  We  have no idea where  Bobby's Fish Camp is by land. It seems to be in a remote area to which our cell phones and Internet do not work.  However, it must be close to Tuscaloosa, as many locals are attending the Alabama/Tennessee game on Saturday. It was a big deal!

Four boats showed up. Four electric panels.  Time to celebrate with catfish at Bobby's. Best meal yet.

We wake at 7 am today.  We need to make an early start as there is over 120 miles to travel into Mobile and to Eastern Shore Marina.  We head to Coffeeville Lock in the fog.

7:30 am October 26th-

We lock through Coffeeville.  This is the last of the dirty dozen. The first lock of the dirty dozen we were 414 feet above sea level, now with no more locks  we are heading for the Gulf of Mexico.

Coffee cheers to the last of the locks, Coffeeville.

We leave the lock and proceed southbound.  There are weird crazy eight turns, fishing boats in odd places, and more barges than you expect in places where you least would want to pass them. Basically, it was not an easy run and takes a bit longer than we anticipated.   We know we are getting close to Mobile and making progress when we see the I-65 bridge, known as the Dolly Parton Bridge,.

Dolly Parton Bridge

But what is that saying....close only matters in horseshoes?  So true.  Our next bridge is known as the mile 14 (14 miles out of Mobile) CSX railroad bridge.  It is a new bridge we are told.  Today the bridge was stuck down and could not be raised. We are too high to pass under the bridge with a clearance this low.  At 3:00 they say it will be an hour.  Come 5:00, still waiting, it becomes a problem.  We will run out of daylight soon ( this is central time here, reminder).  6:09 is sunset. With 14 miles to get into Mobile, of that five miles are a  no wake zone,  and with another 10 to the marina, we come up with plan B.

It finally ascends as the sun descends.

We are able to pass the bridge around 6 pm. An alert for other southbound boaters, they will open every 6 hours for marine traffic...so plan accordingly. The bridge's number is 251-379-2690 so you can call and find out the status. 

Sun going down, unfamiliar waters,  need to find an anchorage soon.

We head south one mile and turn to our port into the Tensaw River Cut Off. From there we travel one mile and enter the Big Briar Creek. According to the Nitty Gritty Book it is a good hurricane hole. We navigate in the dark at least two miles looking for a good "pee" spot for the dogs.  There really is none. We anchor, along with our boat buddy, Dulcenea.  Tom and I head out on the dinghy with the dogs into muck and more muck.  The dogs do pee, of course it is almost 12 hours for them, so how could they not?  But they are dirty and Tom's gym shoes likely will need to be thrown out. It is not a pleasant experience. Plus we heard noises in the dark we never heard before.  I guess we need to watch swamp people more seriously.  We made it back to the boat, cooked some hamburgers for us and our buddies Dan and Nancy, and will now go to bed with the drag queen app in place. All I can think of now, as I sit in this cove, with only the battery to the boat working,  is that I wish I was in Siesta Key celebrating a wedding of our dear friend's daughter.  Goodnight All and Congrats to Erin and Ben!