11/11/18 Sunday: The weather settled today, we left Dog River Marina around 7:30 and made our way out into Mobile Bay. The water was fairly calm at the marina, and a little choppier out in the Bay. And it was cold! The wind was from the north and had a chilly northern winter bite in it. We were bundled up, and the wind wanted to blow us south.
Alabama
Day 243: A down day at Dog River
11/10/18 Saturday: There were just a few things on the agenda today. The electrical crew got busy working on the fly bridge VHF radio. It has been extremely noisy and static-y, particularly on channel 16. Kenny figured it was some kind of ground or wiring issue because there seemed to be interference between it and the auto pilot. HUH? There has been something weird going on with it for a week or so. And for the last couple of days, people have not been able to hear or understand him very easily when he talks on it, saying his voice is all muffled. So he got up there and did some magic, and we’ll see if it performs better.
Day 242: The River Wrap-up
11/9/18 Friday: We tried to sleep in today since we didn’t have far to travel. All these 5:00 mornings reset my internal hopper, and I was awake. I finally got up around 6. We had such a peaceful and calm night! This little creek was great. The It’s OK2 boat was already gone. I rechecked the weather forecast, and it was still showing that there would be wind and rain in Mobile around noon. If we left here by 8:00 or so, we’d likely beat the yucky weather. Here’s our new First Mate enjoying the nice calm morning – not too cold out there, as you can see by the short sleeve uniform.
Day 241: 105 river miles… or 63 as the crow flies.
11/8/18 Thursday: We got our VHF call from Parrot Bay Mike at 5:30. The lock wanted us all there and in the lock by 6:15. That meant we needed to be peeling off the dock by 5:45 to get the whole pile of us in there on time. No problem – we were ready to roll! It was cloudy. This wasn’t a marina with a lot of lights like yesterday. Bobby’s had just a few lights right here where we were docked. It was dark out there on that river. And a tow just came up river and parked on the opposite bank from us. We needed him to shine his spotlights back down the river to show us the way – about a zillion candlewatt power. We made some coffee and got set free from Bay Tripper. It was quite the ballet to watch as the boats each quietly found their way out and did a pirouette around to head back down river. (All boats were docked with their bow facing up-river.) It looked like we were sneaking away and escaping under the cover of night!
Day 240: Back in action, and Bobby’s catfish
11/7/18 Wednesday: We got the radio call from ‘It’s OK2’, and heard that the lock would be ready for us at 6:00. It wasn’t far from here, and as far as we knew, there were just three boats going. It was partly cloudy, so there was a bit of light coming from the east. The water was splat flat, so we could actually see well enough to be able to spot any debris in the water. Whew! This is looking toward the exit of the marina.
Day 239: The gift of additional crew
11/6/18 Tuesday: In a matter of about 26 hours, we went from having a random idea that maybe Wayne would like to come give us a hand, to actually having him sitting here on the boat! How does that happen?! It’s total awesomeness, that’s how! Give this man a superhero cape…. and a beer. And give God a big giant thank YOU!
Day 238: It’s not terrible!
11/5/18 Monday: “It’s not terrible” is a phrase that we’ve enjoyed since spending time with our buddies on SeaJamm. They crossed their wake last month, but we have such fond memories of our time with them. One of the phrases we shared was “It’s not terrible” – which applies to many things in life; from dinner, to a marina, to a situation, or to an injury. Anyway… on with the results! Oh wait – I forgot to tell you this. When I was at the Urgent Care yesterday, I was nearly their last patient of the day, on a Sunday. The nurse took me into the little nurse room to get the scoop, do blood pressure and all that. There were actually two of them in the room at the time. One asked me if I had hypertension, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, any of those things. I said “nope. The only thing I have is joy – J.O.Y.” They smiled and laughed and said they wished more people suffered from that! It was fun. What the heck. Life could be so much worse. Even with a broken foot, it’s not terrible! Read more
Day 237: Metatarsals are fragile and necessary
11/4/18 Sunday: This is really hard for the Gladys Cravits in me. (Remember Bewitched?). I have been inside the boat since we got here. I haven’t seen the marina. I haven’t seen what other boats are here. I haven’t been out to visit with anybody. I don’t know what’s going on out there! Thank goodness we have a nice shower on Island Girl, because I wouldn’t be able to walk to the marina washroom. This is a bummer being a one-legged pirate! Read more
Day 236: Not a great ending in Demopolis
11/3/18 Saturday: Today was the last day of daylight savings time, so sunrise was at 7:15. I was up at 6:30 to get ready and to hear the lock situation from Mike. He had not called them yet. It was a bit foggy, and we had several fishing boats launching at the Recreation Area. I wondered if it was a tournament, but they were all pretty quiet and subdued about their business. They meandered around – some in the lagoon, some went out in the river. One of them floated by and said their tournament is next weekend, so this was a warm-up. Read more
Day 235: Gagglealoopas Rollin Down Da Rivah
11/2/18 Friday: I have to look at the calendar every day, because I really have no idea what day it is. Our wake-up was 6:30 today. Mike on Parrot Bay talked to the lock at 7, and the chamber was preparing for us. Woohoo! We cast off lines, followed by 5 other boats, and we made our way into the lock. Then there was a call from a southbound pleasure craft about 15 minutes out, and another coming out of the marina. So we waited just a bit to get locked through. There were eight of us by the time the lock gates closed behind us – a nice gaggle-a-loopas.
This was the John Stennis Lock, and the lockmaster gathered data from each vessel: vessel name, origination and destination ports, length of vessel, and registration or documentation number. This was all for the Army Corp of Engineers who manages this Waterway. Even the marina is managed by and needed data info “for the Corps”.
We were through the lock, lowered about 30’ by 8:00 and on our way down da rivah. We went past a dredging operation, but it wasn’t active, so that was easy.
I saw this house, houseboat, and camp-duck-hunter. This guy has some serious toys!
You can see that it was really cloudy. And it was really cold. We were inside with sweatshirts, jeans and socks, but even that wasn’t enough. Captain put on his superhero cape to stay warm. (The picture was for our granddaughter, who was Batgirl for Halloween.) And I had a fuzzie blankie on too!
And just when we were cursing that the cell service was bad, there was an available alternative if we needed it. HA!
About 27 miles later, we arrived at the next lock at 11:00, which was the Tom Bevill Lock. Everybody stayed pretty much together during this whole stretch, because we all knew that we needed to lock through this one together. If anybody had gotten there early, they would have just had to wait for the rest of us. The Stennis Lock had called ahead so that this lock knew we were all coming. There is a visitor’s center here, and this! The US Snagboat Montgomery was the last steam-powered sternwheeler on the inland waters. It worked at keeping the waterways clear and navigable for nearly 60 years. Now it is preserved up high & dry, and full of exhibits and displays about how it was used ‘back in the day’.
This was the visitor’s center. There must have been a way for us to pull over and park somewhere if we wanted to, but we didn’t look into it since we wanted to keep moving.
These locks required that everyone on board have their PFD on. I always wear mine in the locks since I have to walk up and down the gunwales to the bow.
It was breezy outside, which made it feel even more cold. I was Chilly Willy!
Here is Bay Tripper behind us, with Bev all bundled up with her stocking hat on! I should have brought one. Wait – I don’t think I own one anymore since moving to Florida.
Away we went. This was about a 32’ drop. After this lock, we didn’t need to stay together, so we cruised at nearly our normal speed, and the slower boats could cruise at their comfortable speed.
It’s nice to have a chart plotter that can keep you on track. Look at this squiggly mess of waterways!
The sun finally came out and helped to warm things up a bit. And everything is prettier in the sunshine!
I thought this was a neat old river house.
We had two boats stop at an anchorage about seven miles up river from our destination, and two boats that continued down through the lock to an anchorage below. The remaining four of us went in to Sumter Recreation Area. It is a nice quiet lagoon with lots of floating garden!
Parrot Bay and Bay Tripper anchored together, with their anchors in opposite directions, and then we rafted up to the other side of Parrot Bay.
The breeze was calming down, and this was going to be a really nice spot.
Dash Away came in and anchored between our flotilla and the river.
We were told that these are water hyacinth? It was kind of a pretty floating garden. It was all floating peacefully over by the bank when we came in. After we settled in, it started floating past us like it was headed for the river. I think the Mechanic better check our engine strainers after this.
The sun was setting and leaving us here in our quiet little serene lagoon.
After a cold day on the river, 65 miles and two locks, our three boats enjoyed some ‘boattails’ and the rest of the nice sunny afternoon.
Dinner on our boat was left over BBQ ribs, smashed taters and coleslaw – all easy things to prepare without running the generator. After dinner we joined the gang on Bay Tripper and visited awhile longer while they played a round of ‘Golf” – a card game. Mike said he would call the lock in the morning and get the scoop on moving along to Demopolis. The lock is just about four miles from here, and then we’ll have interruption free cruising for 50 miles. This was a nice place to anchor, and we cheated because our anchor didn’t even have to be deployed. I hope all the anchorages on the rest of the journey to the Gulf are as easy!