Month: November 2019

The water on the river was better north of Demopolis so that brought another 7-10 boats into the marina from Columbus and some anchorages. A number are planning a few days but others want to leave as soon as possible.

Seven boats left on Thursday even though the water levels were still high. Many of us decided to wait another day or two before leaving. We heard from the boats that left and they said there was much debris and you really needed to be very careful and slow down so that you could navigate around the logs. A few did not heed this warning as they usually travel faster and hit submerged logs and did damage to their running gear. As there are also no services on this stretch of the journey, they now need to get to Mobile for any repairs. They plan to continue and limp to Mobile.

Once again there was a Looper meeting to discuss water conditions. It’s proven very helpful. There is much to be said about local knowledge. About 7 boats plan to leave in the morning but we were thinking that Saturday looked more favorable. So we celebrated Halloween in Demopolis. The marina has a Halloween party every year as it is the Dockmaster’s favorite holiday. The weather put a damper on the event as it was raining and cold. They moved the party into the Boaters Lounge but very few were in the party mode.

The group that left on Friday reported back that 9 boats are rafted at Bobby’s Fish Camp. The debris was better than Thursday but still plenty of both large and small pieces in the river. Our plan was to leave on Saturday as the water level is better but the river still did not crest.

Saturday arrived and there were 13 boats leaving to go to Bobby’s. A few had planned to leave on Friday but changed their minds when they assessed the wind in the morning. Morning was a bit foggy but the lock master said it was only a little foggy so we all left. As we traveled the short distance to the lock, either the fog just moved in or the definition of “little” was different.

Boat order to enter the Dempolis lock was done in two ways – by traveling speed and length. Similar to other large groups, one of the “captains” takes on the role of “looper leadership” so that the entrance to the lock will be smooth. This time, that role was taken by the “captain” of Independence, one of the larger boats. Boats larger than 35′ generally do not fit at the first pin since there is not enough clearance when the lock doors open. As for traveling speed, there are some that travel faster and you don’t want to pass other boats with the conditions we were traveling in so better to have them in the lock first. There was a pin missing from one bollard so there were not enough pins for all of us. Since we are one of the slower boats, we entered last and rafted to Paddy Wagon.

We all entered the lock and traveled in single file carefully navigating around the debris. With the difference in speed, we were broken into three separate groups as we traveled to Bobby’s. The boats in the first group would radio back about conditions and when they saw large trees or telephone poles in the water.

We all planned to stay at Bobby’s Fish Camp. Bobby’s doesn’t have much to offer but it is the only place to dock between Demopolis and Mobile, AL. It carries “looper legend” similar to Hoppies so most people plan a stop and deal with the conditions in an effort to eat the “best catfish” ever. We have heard stories of 17 or more boats rafted together with only a few boats secured on the dock with power. Even though we only had 13 boats in the lock heading to Bobby’s you never know if there were others who anchored the night before and were heading there too. We were also concerned since we were traveling with three large boats – 50′, 59′, and 80′. As they are the larger boats, they would be the ones tied to the dock and others would raft to them. However, the dock will only be large enough to accommodate two of these boats.

When we arrived at Bobby’s, it was a bit chaotic as to order and rafting. The two largest boats were on the dock and there was only about 30′ left for a smaller boat at the fuel dock. Boaters were trying to raft to others by size and if possible, run an electric line across to have power. After the first 8 boats got settled, there was limited space and the smallest boat was 36′. Bahama Voyager is 32′ but left and was searching for an anchorage. The boat is also too light to tie to the dock and have other larger boats raft off. Since we are a heavy 36′ boat we said we would try to squeeze on the dock as long as our side door was accessible to get off the boat. We got the final spot at the end of the dock, barely, but we docked, had power and had two other 36′ boats raft to us. The remaining boat was able to pull into a ramp space as it was more of a speed boat and did not have a deep draft.

We found that Bobby’s charges the same dockage fee, with or without electric. Most people are willing to pay this anyway since the boats are secured, generally Bobby’s has fuel, and provides a space that is not available anywhere else on this long stretch. There is a restaurant at the camp and the catfish is the specialty. While catfish is not my preferred fish, I ordered it anyway but Peter went for a burger. The meal came with coleslaw, potato salad,and hush puppies. Although it was good, I have sampled other catfish along this trip that I enjoyed more. The beer selection was no surprise; Budweiser, Coors and Miller products, similar to what we have become accustomed to along the river system.

No one planned to stay at Bobby’s any longer than one night. We all had plans to anchor out after we left at various anchorages along the way to Mobile Bay. Our group of three spoke about the Tensas River which is a bit further than some but if we were able to get into the lock in Coffeeville, the last lock until we start back north in the Spring, we would be able to be settled before dark. The change in daylight savings time will be working against us for the next few weeks until we get to Ft Myers where we will be spending part of the winter.

The plan was to leave early, between 6:30-7:00am and our “looper leader” was going to contact the lock to see whether we could all be accommodated early as the lock was only a short distance from Bobby’s. The lock master advised that we would need to wait as he had a tow coming up river and another coming down and he would need to accommodate the commercial traffic first. He then advised that he would only be able to take 5 boats the first time. Bahama Voyager was tied to the mooring cell and advised the lock master that he would not be going through the first time as he would be waiting for us and Paddy Wagon so we could all travel together. When the time came to select which 5 boats were leaving (needed to be done in the order of how we were rafted because of the current), Peter and I figured out that the three of us would not all fit in the lock if we followed the rafting order, and included Bahama Voyager in the count of 5 so we didn’t leave and figured we would need to go with the next opening. Paddy Wagon decided to leave with the first 5 and they went through the lock and the lock master told Bahama Voyager that they needed to lock through also. Depending on the time for the next opening, we would or would not be able to catch up to them. As it turned it there were more tows coming and we needed to wait a total of 6 hours before locking through. At this point, a number of the boats decided to stay another day since they would be unable to reach the anchorage they planned before dark. Only three boats decided to leave and we left with two of the larger boats (50′ and 59′) and we only traveled to Sunflower Cut Off and anchored on the river outside of the channel. Both of these boats have AIS so they had us anchor between them so that anyone traveling along the river who had AIS (particularly the tows) would know that there were boats anchored in advance of getting to us and seeing our anchor lights. Since our buddy boats were way ahead of us, we notified them that we would catch up to them in Mobile Bay. We continued to travel with the other two boats until Dog River Marina near the bottom of Mobile Bay. This was not a marina we planned to stay more than a night.

The next day we left Dog River Marina and traveled towards The Wharf in Orange Beach, AL. It was supposed to be a nice place to spend a few days and relax. Near town, Uber/Lyft friendly and a number of tourist sites to visit. The Wharf was as described – nice marina, clean bathrooms/showers but still poor WiFi. We really find it hard to understand that no one really has mastered how to set up their servers to accommodate a marina. I actually told one of their staff that they should take WiFi off of their “amenities” since it doesn’t exist on the docks and not even in the boaters lounge. She agreed and told me that they are installing a new system that should be better. I cannot tell you how many times we have heard that along the way.

While we were at The Wharf we took an Uber to Lulu’s in Gulf Shores. Lulu’s is owned by Lucy Buffet, Jimmy Buffet’s sister and is one of the recommended restaurants in the area. Peter and I had been to Lulu’s in Destin, FL during Spring Break when we had a family vacation in Miramar Beach, FL. The vibe and food were very similar and we had a nice dinner. Another tourist activity was to visit FloraBama a huge place with multiple bars and restaurants. They even hold a non-denominational service every Sunday – the basic premise is to be a good person and treat others well. This is not your usual Sunday service. The bars are open and people bring their drinks to the service. There is live music in various bars and we also happened to be there at the beginning of an 11 day Songwriters Festival. The singer at one of the bars, Neil Dover, was good and of course sold copies of his albums but I looked him up on Apple Music and added a few of the songs we enjoyed to my library.

The Wharf was preparing for the Christmas holidays and it is interesting to see decorations so similar to what we see in New York, in the cold, down in a warmer climate. There are many specialty shops along the main street and there is a ferris wheel that operates on demand. Since so many of us had not been on a ferris wheel since we first accompanied our children on the ride, we decided to take a ride and get a different view of the marina and the local area.

We were scheduled to leave The Wharf on Thursday and head to Pensacola but the weather prediction changed and it was going to rain so we stayed another day and will leave on Friday. We’re hoping that when we cross into Florida that we will have warmer weather. The past few days in Alabama have been cold 34-39 degrees. Peter told me we would be following the seasons and I would not be cold. That has not been the case.

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Our plan was to stay in Demopolis two days and leave on Friday, October 25th. We knew rain was expected but didn’t anticipate a major storm. That meant we needed to postpone our departure until Monday. As the days went on, things were not looking positive. There was tremendous rain and that caused flooding on the river and much debris…..lots of logs floating down river. To add to this, more rain was expected for at least three more days so that meant we would be here at least a week.

For the first time since we owned the boat, we had a leak in the saloon. It appears that the rain came into the pilot house via the canvas and traveled into the air conditioner and leaked through the vent over our table. We used a bucket and by morning had collected about 5 inches. There was also a small leak in the stateroom at the head of the bed. There was a drip from some of the bolts on the bow – we believe it was the windlass but these type of leaks find their own path so it could also have been from the cleats. Fortunately, a small towel absorbed the drips and that was sufficient. My hope is that the next round of rain will be more manageable – no flooding and no leaks.

While we were safe in the marina, had access to a courtesy car and their boaters lounge for WiFi, there is little to do in town. We are also too far to do any major sightseeing without renting a car, something we did not want to do since we watched weather daily and planned to leave as soon as we could. I cannot tell you how much reading we have been doing this week. I am so thankful for the Libby App that allows me to connect my three library cards (local, Jersey Shore, and NYPL), to download multiple ebooks for both of us. In addition to reading, we have spent time learning Farkel, a dice game that has multiple versions for various ages. We spent a few hours one rainy day on our boat playing the game. It’s one more of those good travel games that are not only easy to learn but take up no space to store on the boat. We all had a few laughs as we tried to plan our strategy to win.

In addition to wanting to move, we had also hoped to be ahead of some of the crowds of boats coming down the river. Spaces at marinas tend to shrink with too many boats traveling at the same time. From Demopolis, there is really only one place to stop and tie up and it is not really a marina. It is another long dock similar to Hoppies and Riverwalk on the Mississippi. Places that you would prefer to skip but the only place to stop unless you want to anchor on the side of the river. On the other hand, these are places that are “looper legends” so you almost feel compelled to stay there even though you would not miss anything if you opted to skip them.

The flood levels continued for the next few days and we were hoping for a window to leave. Every day we met above the boater’s lounge for an update on the water levels and waited for the river to crest. During this time, another ten+ boats came down from Columbus so that would make leaving even more difficult. To stop at the one available dock, we all needed to be aware of the maximum number of boats – even though they will raft a large number – that would safely fit. Since many of the boats are large, only three-four boats would fit on this 150′ dock and that includes the fuel dock. Generally there are 3-4 boats rafted to the boats on the dock that are usually the largest/heaviest. The boat on the dock will have access to power and perhaps a few of the first rafted if they had a long enough power cord.

The daily updates seem to have the earliest date to leave as Thursday. Most of us do not like the projection and figure Friday would be the earliest we would feel is safe. In the meantime, we will continue to stay put and find a few places in town for lunch or dinner that are not a fast food eatery. You know that you are in one place too long when you need to provision a second time before you can leave.

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