Day#61=Pirate's Cove, Josephine, AL

Well....I thought yesterday was stressful! Actually we got up early, forget the extra hour of sleep, so we could get a early start for the long day ahead of us. We left anchorage @ 6:30 just before sunrise. We motored through Mobile, AL which is one of the largest seaports on the Gulf Coast. It was very interesting to see the variety of commercial vessels. Scot also took pictures of the Battleship Alabama.

Jim, Sharon and Scot

Next, we had to cross Mobile Bay. The weather forecast called for strong east winds gusting up to 25mph. Thank goodness our crossing only took about 3 hours, but we did get some good waves at times. It sure is great to be traveling with "Blue Angel". Thanks Jim for leading the way today and taking us to another great anchorage at Pirate's Cove. We especially enjoyed entering the Intercoastal Waterway, seeing LuLu's restaurant (Jimmy Buffet's sister), palm trees and the dophins following the wakes of the boats. After anchoring in the cove, we took the dinghy to a near by restaurant that served delicious hamburgers. We spent some quality time talking with Jim and Sharon about the last couple of days on the river. Looking forward to a good nights rest with an extra hour of sleep! 

Day#60-Tensas Cut Off

Big Lizard Creek

Railroad bridge on Tensas River

What a long day.....So many tows coming and going...very stressful day!  Had to take a "short-cut" because he heard that the 14 mile bridge was not in service today. We inched down a "Big Lizard Creek" to get to the Tensas River to make the other railroad bridge before 5:00 pm. Sure enough, when we were ready to cross the railroad bridge,a train was coming, so we had to wait. Got through and again "inched" our way into our home for the night. It was low tide and very tricky to get into our anchorage area. We had lots of fishermen watching us and just waiting for us to go aground. Anyway, we finally anchored around 3:30 pm and it turned out to be another beautiful anchorage. We took showers and just sat on top deck in the sun to dry off. It was truly beautiful after a long and stressful day. Looking forward to an extra hour of sleep.

Day#59-Alabama River Cut-off

Here we go again....up at 7:00am and heading south for some warm weather. It was very cold this am, but thank goodness no fog and no more locks.  Wearing our usual winter gear of couple layers of clothing, hat and gloves. Met a few tows, of course, and a guy in a kayak. See anybody can do this trip! 
Traveled about 50 miles again today and finally anchored in the Alabama River Cut-Off. It's  a very nice protected branch off the river system. The sun finally came out to warm us up before we anchored.

Still heading to Mobile, AL which is about 50+ miles south, down to Dog River Marina.

Day#58-Lock 1 Cut-off

Wow....what a long and stressful day!  Got up and left @ 7:00am, the usual. Got underway and heading for the last lock, Coffeeville, on this side of the trip. Radioed ahead to the lockmaster and he said, "Sorry, you're 5 minutes to late."  Which means that the lock is going down with a boat, then picks up a tow coming north, and then we get to go. While waiting, we tied up to some "cells" by the lock and dam, as suggested by the lockmaster. All at once there was a surge of water pushing us against these gigantic "cells" which had a connection with the water that the dam was using. So then the lockmaster tells us that we need to move away from the cells because the 15 barge tow is coming out and no telling what might happen. OK....so we untie and go back to an area that we were in when we did call the lockmaster. Guess what...then it starts to rain...and sheets of rain and wind are coming at us while waiting for the tow to get passed us. We finally get into the lock, tie up to a bollard. I put on my "frog togs", rain boots and holding an unbrella while we are locking down. Glad that it was the last lock. Usually it takes about an hour per lock, which takes extra time while traveling the river system.
Finally got to anchor around 3:30ish in an old lock. We were freezing all day and Scot made some delicious gumbo. It was great to take a warm bath and slip into some pj's, read a book and get ready for another adventureous day.

Coming out of the lock

 

 

Anchorage near an old lock

Day #57-Bashi Creek

Left Demopolis around 7:00am and heading toward the Demopolis Lock. Thank goodness we were on time and the lock was full with 10 boats! That's the most I have seen in a lock.
Along the way cruising down the beautiful Black Warrior River, Jim pointed out an alligator sunning on the beach. Sure enough, we looked through the binoculars and there he was. That made our day for sight-seeing.

"Blue Angel" anchored near Bashi Creek

Anchored on the river around 5:00pm. It was a very long 71 miles on the river. Of course, we had to try and anchor a few times because the hook was not grabbing. There were a few tows that went through the night but we were protected anchored out behind a green buoy.

Day#56-Demopolis

Well, we got up early to get the courtesy car to go to mass today, All Saints Day, but the courtesy car wasn't returned by 8:00am. We waited outside in the chilly air for more than 1/2 hour. We decided to go back to the boat and make a breakfast to warm us up. Anyway, we finally got the courtesy car from 9-11am enough time to go to Walmart and TSC to buy some motor oil for the boat. Scot did get to change the engine oil after 200 hours in Demopolis yesterday while the engine oil was still warm.
Taking off tomorrow....destination Mobile, Al. Not sure how far we will get and if you don't hear from us, its because we're anchored off in some "romantic" cove far away from the real world.

Today became a beautiful day after the fog burned off again. We had a social to meet other boaters and exchange boat cards again. It is very interesting and informative to listen to other boaters' stories and advice. You never know when you might meet them again!

Day#55-Demopolis,AL

Arrived here around 3:00pm. Had to wait to fuel up and then we got tied up to our slip next to Angels.
Nice cruising down the river today. Borrowed the courtesy car to get groceries at a store called Vowell's. Then got home and showered. Because it was Halloween, Scot invited me out for a date. We went to a restaurant called New Orleans Bar and Grill. Not too much going on there except for some loud locals.  Needless to say we didn't stay long.

White Cliffs

Anyway, hope you had a great Halloween trick or treat yourself.