Travelling south from Demopolis, Alabama does not seem that different from our travels just before arriving in Demopolis, but there are two key things about this stop. First of all, it marks the end of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway and the start of the Black Warrior-Tombigbee Waterway. Secondly, many boats wait in this area for November 1st and hurricane season to end so their insurance will cover them to go further south. We had seen them on Nebo piling up in Demopolis prior to November 1st but those boats were well underway by the time we arrived. There are only two locks on this 217 statute mile waterway and after the second lock we will reach our first salt water and tides! You can also watch our video called Locking Down Part 2.
Demopolis to Silas, Alabama
The marina had organized a meeting of boaters heading south the night before. As planned at the meeting, Cam called the lock at 5:30 AM and he notified the group that we were told to call back at 7 AM. Then we overheard chatter on the radio and learned that at least two more boats were going and they were calling the lock and getting a different message. So everyone quickly loosed their lines and headed to the lock just as a northbound tow exited the lock. There were twelve of us in the Demopolis Lock and we had Peregrine rafted to us for the 40 foot drop. After the lock, we had to do a lot of jockeying for position until Off Leash was in the lead with us following, both at speed. We ran at speed most of the time, and decided to maintain speed and head for Bobby's Fish Camp where we could get fuel. That way we would be able to calculate our fuel consumption at speed. We called Bobby's Fish Camp when we were approaching and they said to tie up and they'd be down in 20 minutes. An hour later, no one had shown up. Off Leash was approaching so they called and were told the same thing. Karen responded that they understood there was already a boat waiting for fuel. That got things started. Heather had to watch the fuel readouts from the tanks up the hill while Cam filled at the docks. We ended up tied to the dock with Off Leash rafted to us so Cra-sea Horse could tie up to the dock with Compass Rose rafted to them.
After everyone was secure, we tried to go for a walk but turned around quickly when a dog that we weren't sure about started barking at us. We were being accompanied by two of their 17 cats! Heather had counted 12 cats but Cam was told there were five more at their house. We wandered through their former restaurant looking at their museum-like collection. Then we made plans for the morning, had dinner and called it an early night.
Silas to the Alabama River Cutoff
We had a good rest and woke up in a cozy warm cabin thanks to our little space heater. We find we don't need too much heat if we keep our cabin door closed. Outside it was a different story with -2C and a frost on our deck and dinghy. The fenders were also somewhat deflated from the cold. Compass Rose called the lock about 6 AM after a northbound tow had gone through. That meant that the lock was up at the level that we needed but the lock master was very non-committal about letting us lock through. Then we heard another northbound tow hail the lock to say that he was approaching in a half hour and he was requesting to lock up. Compass Rose convinced the lock master that he should let us lock down when he lowered the lock for the northbound tow. He agreed but we had to be there in 10 minutes. We hurried off the dock and raced to the lock, just over 2 miles away. It was freezing locking through the Coffeeville Lock for our last 34 foot drop, and even with gloves, my fingers were frozen! At the bottom, the lock gates started to open, and then stopped. They closed, cracked opened and stopped again. It took about 10-12 minutes for the gates to open. Phew! We did not want to be stuck in a lock!
We had reached sea level and were in brackish water that would soon be salt water and we would experience our first tides of around 1-1.5 feet!! Poor Sea Clef - salt is hard on a boat! It had been misty before we went through the lock, and there continued to be a light fog that was more like tendrils of mist spiralling up from the water for more than an hour. We travelled at an easy pace of about 8.5 knots all day through some very twisty passages. We enjoyed the scenery and even saw deer on shore. Our lead boat, Cra-sea Horse, decided to carry on ahead while the rest of us went into the Alabama River Cutoff anchorage. We inched along, checking our depths, and anchored in about 11 feet of depth. With tidal waters, we had to consider the tide change and the current tide level when letting out our scope. We put out a stern anchor as well to keep the boat in the middle of the river since it was narrow. It was a quiet night as we all kept to ourselves. We had a good view of Jupiter and her moons with the binoculars!
It poured rain overnight and off and on through the morning. We decided we needed a rest so we stayed put for the day but Compass Rose left. We managed to get lots of chores done, including baking banana bread!
Alabama River Cutoff to Mobile, Alabama
The next morning, we planned a slow 40 mile run to Big Briar Creek. It was a cool grey day and we had a heater running on the bridge for most of the time. We dropped anchor and it felt windier than the 11 knots that were predicted. We certainly felt the gusts. Cam and I went out on the dingy to explore further back. We could have anchored much further back out of the wind but we decided that the wind was settling, so we stayed put. It was a good day for hot chocolate and staying inside and playing games.
Big Briar Creek to Ingram Bayou
Our plan that day was to go to Mobile Bay and then stay at the Dog River Marina. We had a lazy morning because we did not want to get to the marina until sometime after 12 noon. About 9 AM we started thinking that it might be a good day to cross Mobile Bay and anchor near Orange Beach instead. So we started running around prepping the boat and got away by about 9:30 AM. As we left the creek, we were enjoying watching the herons and pelicans. Then just as we exited the creek, Heather saw an Osprey swoop down and catch a fish with it's talons! So cool!
We watched the Aqua Maps as it counted down to mile 0 and we celebrated the end of the river system. When we entered the shipping channel in Mobile Bay, it was clear that this was a good crossing day. We were behind Off Leash and suddenly saw dolphins in their wake! Our first dolphins! The bay was pretty comfortable and we went at speed, except when we cut through the spoils. The spoils are on either side of the shipping channel that runs through Mobile Bay. At various points there is a cut that is dredged so that you can exit the shipping channel, which we did in order to head east toward Orange Beach. We also had to slow down to fix our fenders. We kick up a bigger wake at speed and a couple of our fenders needed to be secured higher. We were surprised at how quickly one of the fender lines had frayed. We entered a marked channel in the southeast end of the bay and we were getting the waves just aft of the beam. We tried speeding up but we had to stay in the narrow marked channel and we were getting thrown around quite a bit. We ended up taking it slow, which was much more comfortable.
We entered the protected part of the channel, officially the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway or GICW. Heather was filming a pelican and suddenly, there was a dolphin swimming right beside our boat. It seemed surreal to us that we had actually made it to the ICW and we were seeing dolphins! There were lots of homes along the shoreline with individual docks that lift their boats right out of the water and there was lots of new construction too. We went past the infamous Lulu's, which belongs to Jimmy Buffet's sister, Tacky Jacky's, which definitely looked tacky, and The Wharf, which is the marina where we would be going the next day. We finally arrived at Ingram Bayou and went in quite far to set the hook. If it weren't so cold out, we would have gone for a dinghy explore. The skies cleared in the evening so we did get a nice show from the stars, including a shooting star that we both managed to see!
We have lots of pictures below and you can also see our video called Locking Down Part 2.
Comments