Wow - What a journey
so far!! We left the dock at Demopolis
(Kingfisher Bay Marina) at coffee:30 6:15 am) with fellow gold looper Emery El
by our side. The plan was to reach
Bobby’s Fish Camp and tie up for the day…that’s 97 miles!!!! Almost 2 days worth of travel rolled into
1…ok, I can do this for sunshine!
It was overcast
& cloudy (or maybe still dark) when we approached the lock. Before long we were cruising south again AND
the current was with us. Our standard
cruising speed is 8 mph…the current bumped us to 10-12 mph…yippee!! Of course we stayed on constant alert for
debris – limbs, logs, trees, the random deck cushion, lawn chair or ice chest –
all fair game in the flooded Tombigbee River!
![]() |
Bashi Creek anchorage a "no-go" H I G H water! |
It was a quick and
uneventful 9 hours to Bobby’s Fish Camp just north of Coffeeville AL. We didn’t stay here on our last trip so this
was quite the experience. Yes, we had
electricity and that was new. I didn’t
get off the dock because EVERYTHING was a slippery, muddy mess due to the
recent flooding. Randall (husband to the
Bobby’s owner) climbed off his tractor & watched us tie up. He was pleasant and said his wife would be by
after 5:30 to collect our dock fee. Sure
enough at 5:35 Randall drove down to the waters’ edge in his side by side. He picked up Charlie (I wasn’t going) and
John (Emery EL) & they drove off into the woods as I heard banjos playing
quietly in the background. Gulp!
LOL!! Before long they returned on
foot…I never saw Randall again. Their
feet were muddy but they didn’t look traumatized - Don’t ask, don’t tell.
After a light dinner
it was early to bed because another early departure was scheduled for Wed 2/21/2018. I woke up at 9:30pm, the boat was rocking and
it was POURING rain! I got up checked
the lines/ & closed a couple windows – we were secured. Back to bed for me!
![]() |
It's not unusual to have a deer crossing area on the river! |
Before I knew it –
5:30 am was staring me in the face…Charlie was still sleeping too and we agreed
to a 6:15 cast off….yikes! Until we looked outside – the evening rain brought morning
fog & the Coffeeville Lockmaster strongly suggested we stay tied to the
dock & let the fog life…YAY!!! Within 30 minutes the fog “cleared enough”
so we took off.
To give a little perspective
on the flooding: The Coffeeville Lock
has a normal 34’ drop – today (2/21/2018) we dropped 8’.
THAT’S a lot of high water but we are using the current to our
advantage. Now that we are south of the
lock system we are officially in “tidal water”.
So in addition to flooding we must consider the tide swing – fortunately
it’s only a couple feet in this part of the world.
After a cloudy,
windy travel morning & the realization of most of the anchorages being
flooded we opted to stop early – before 1:00pm – on Wednesday. This will give us the afternoon to work on a
few boat projects, update the blog & plan our approach to Mobile AL!! So here we sit in “3 Rivers Anchorage”
enjoying an afternoon of sunshine & boat work…not a bad way to spend a
Wednesday.
Have a fabulous week
No comments:
Post a Comment