We arrived at Kingfisher Marina, Demopolis Alabama on November 17th. Nice marina and the last one we’ll see for several days, so we stayed 2 nights to rest (i.e. do laundry, clean and provision).
The next leg of our trip is the Black Warrior-Tombigbee Waterway; 217 miles of very windy river and 2 locks between Demopolis and Mobile Bay. There are no stops on this section of the rivers, other than Bobby’s Fish Camp (enough said), so we will anchor out each night. This brings up several concerns for us: Can we keep the electronics charged (phones, laptop, hotspot, VHF radio, pocket juice, etc.)? Will the ice in our beverage/vegetable cooler hold out that long? Will our 12-volt system (refrigerator, lights) stay charged overnight without shore power? Will our holding tank capacity be enough? Will we freeze? We hope to make the journey in 4-5 days, but weather, including rain and fog, can turn this into an adventure of longer duration.
We left Kingfisher Marina with a Nordic Tug (C-Bird II) later than hoped due to heavy fog. C-Bird II was kind enough to run our speed, leading the way with her radar, until the fog lifted. We hoped to make Bashi Creek, the first real anchorage, before nightfall, a 70-mile run. We were not eager to anchor just out of the channel behind a bridge abutment with tows passing during the night! The river gave us a good push; we dropped anchor in Bashi Creek at 4:00. The creek was very narrow and surrounded by overhanging trees. Thank goodness we don’t have our masts up!
We were tired after a long day underway and only 20-miles to our second anchorage, so we slept in until 6:00 and had a hot breakfast before weighing anchor. Sunny with temps forecast at 75 degrees, so Jim filled a sun shower in hopes of a warm shower in the cockpit tonight😊. We dropped anchor in Okatuppa Creek at noon. Much wider (and less eerie) than Bashi Creek. The weather was as forecast, absolutely beautiful! We grilled dogs for lunch and soaked up the sun. Unfortunately, it was not warm enough to heat up our sun shower, so I heated water on the stove to compensate.
Our third day out was a 60-mile run plus our final lock. We hoped to be underway at first light, but the lock 6-miles downriver was tied up with a couple of tows. We made our way slowly down the river and cleared the Coffeeville Lock at 9:10 a.m. We made our anchorage, Three Rivers Lake, at 4:00, thanks to the boost from the current. So far, we have had no problem keeping everything charged with Ruby and the solar panels. The sunny days have been a blessing!
Day 4 is a 52-mile journey with no locks. We do have to request a bridge opening at a railroad lift bridge, our first this season. We turn off the Mobile River at the Tensas Cutoff and drop anchor in Big Briar Creek at 2:00. We are now only 12-miles from the mouth of Mobile Bay. And we still have ice in the cooler! It got very windy during the night, but our anchor held tight.
At 7:00 a.m., we weighed anchor and headed down the final stretch of the Mobile River. The river became very industrial and busy. The banks were lined with cranes and loading docks; the river was crowded with tows, barges, and tankers. As the river dumped us into the bay, we were met with whitecaps and 15-20 knot winds. The dinghy started submarining in the high waves; as she filled with water, I feared she might leave us!
Uncomfortable 8-miles to the entrance of Dog River and it didn’t improve there. The north winds were blowing the water out of the river, we had only a foot of water under our keel most of the way into the marina. Fortunately, we did not run aground! We took on fuel and pumped out at Dog River Marina, then headed to our slip at Turner Marine. Steal Away weathered the 5-day journey very well, keeping us safe, warm, and charged with a little bit of ice remaining in the cooler! After a year as an ugly trawler, we are scheduled to step our masts here converting Steal Away to a sailing vessel once again😊.