Dog River Marina, Mobile

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 195 - October 12,. 2017

Cecil and Danny  left the Alabama River Cutoff at 6:45 a.m. on Desperado, and Rico on Ossaze was not far behind at 7:00 a.m.  We didn't dawdle but we didn't hurry, either.  Baxter duty, one cup of coffee and toast, put kayak up, pull the anchor, and we were off at 7:30 a.,m. 

The river becomes the Mobile River downstream of the Alabama River junction. The run from the Alabama River Cutoff to Mobile, we knew from Skipper Bob, affords not one single place for a boat  to stop. The shoreline was uniformly marshy and inhospitable, at least to humans!

Mobile River shoreline - great for wildlife, not so much for people!

We eventually overtook Rico.  A few miles later, he phoned to tell us that his chartplotter had stopped working and he did not know the way to the marina, so we told him we would wait for him so he could just follow us.  We came to a fork in the river, to the left was the Big Bayou Canot channel, and the main river channel to the right.  It was about lunch time, so we stopped and just bobbed in the channel until Rico caught up. I was surprised to see tows coming out of the other channel, but when we zoomed Garmin Blue Chart Mobile out quite a ways, it was obvious that the Big Bayou Canot channel rejoined the main channel, and apparently it was preferred by the tows for some reason.

From the point where the main channel and the Big Bayou Canot channel rejoined, we saw steadily increasing tow activity. As we approached Mobile, the Mobile River became a complete zoo, with dozens, scores or maybe hundreds of barges and tows lining the shores and coming and going both directions. This would have literally overwhelmed the AIS, which I had not turned on anyway!  I picked my way through them on visual flight rules! 

Pretty soon we were on the other side of most of the tow activity and adjacent to downtown. There were quite a few cargo ships along the shore, but very few tows in the river. The most interesting sight was passing that Austal Shipyard, where we saw this ship, which is a "littoral combat ship." According to Wikipedia, the littoral combat ship (LCS) is a class of relatively small surface vessels intended for operations in the littoral zone (close to shore) by the United States Navy. It was "envisioned to be a networked, agile, stealthy surface combatant capable of defeating anti-access and asymmetric threats in the littorals."

New LCS class Navy ship at Austal Shipyard in Mobile

As we passed downtown, we passed the Carnival Fantasy cruise ship and the downtown skyline. A long time ago, we used to enjoy cruise ships, but we were more the Royal Caribbean type than the Carnival type!

Carnival Fantasy cruise ship in Mobile 

Downtown Mobile skyline

 It was quite a ways farther on the river out to Mobile Bay than we were expecting. The significance of reaching Mobile Bay was that the "Chicago to Mobile" river leg of our Loop is  over, and we are officially starting the Gulf Coast leg! We have traveled 1,307 miles from the Chicago lock to Mobile Bay on the Chicago, Illinois, Mississippi, Ohio, Cumberland, Tennessee, Tenn-Tom, Tombigbee, Black Warrior -. Tombigbee, and Mobile rivers, and transited Barkley Lake, Kentucky Lake and Lake Pickwick along the way!

Our destination was the Dog River Marina, which I had called on the way, and was assured there was plenty of room. Turns out that was an understatement! This marina was hit hard by Hurricane Nate, and they had just re-opened. The fuel dock had just resumed operations a few days earlier. We fueled at the fuel dock, and were delighted to see that they were still giving one night's free moorage to Loopers with a fuel fill.  Rico pulled in behind us at the fuel dock. Since he is not a Looper, he had to pay for his moorage, but the rate was only $1.00 a foot. Unfortunately for us and Rico, the restrooms and showers are not yet functional.

We asked for a recommendation for a restaurant from the Dog River Marina staff, and they pointed us to the Dog River Yacht Club restaurant that was across the street, We had a very nice meal out with Rico, and a lot of good conversation!

We have now done a few calculations on our cruise from Demopolis to Dog River Marina in Mobile. We had run 234 miles, 31 engine hours and on fill took 46.2 gallons of gas. This computes to 5.06 SMPG and 1.48 GPH average. Almost all of this trip we were running 2,200 - 2,400 RPMs, probably split about 50-50, so that would suggest 1 GPH at 2,200 RPMs and 2 GPH at 2,400 RPMs. 

Tomorrow on to the Gulf Coast ICW and back to Florida! We will visit Bob and Marie Austin in Pensacola for a few days. We are really looking forward to showers and a real bed!

Alabama River Cutoff, BWT Mile 52.8

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 194 - October 11,. 2017

We got up early, and against my better judgment, left in the fog with the two big yachts and Desperado headed for the Coffeeville Lock three miles downstream. The two big yachts had pre-arranged an opening, and Patty's thought was we could keep them in sight and did not want to miss the scheduled lock opening. Turns out she was right, but it was still not comfortable cruising with such limited visibility. We all had our running lights on and did not encounter any traffic on the way to the lock.

Out of the lock, visibility improved significantly. Our run was a nominal 64 miles, and it could have been a long day, but running at 2,400 RPMs we were burning about 1.0 GPH per the Navman, and making about 8.5 MPH with the current, which allowed us to keep up with Desperado. We soon passed Rico on Ossaze. We don't know where Rico had anchored, but it must not have been too far below the Coffeeville Lock. Rico runs at about 6 MPH with his little 9.9 outboard, so we waved as we went by!

Passing Rico on Ossaze on Black Warrior - Tombigbee Waterway

We left not knowing where we would anchor, although we had read about all the possible choices in both Skipper Bob and Active Captain. Not one was a good choice - none apparently had any shore access, and I was thinking Baxter just might have an uncomfortable night and next day. He would rather explode than go on the boat. We had narrowed our choices down to Bates Lake and the Alabama River Cutoff. Desperado told us they were heading to the Alabama River Cutoff anchorage, but we were leaning toward Bates Lake because Navionics showed that there was a boat ramp there, and the Active Captain reviews mentioned a fish camp, either of which might have provided possible shore access.

We let Desperado know that we were going to explore Bates Lake, and if we liked it, we would be anchoring there for the night, but otherwise we would join them at the Alabama River Cutoff. It turned out there was no boat ramp, or at least no public boat ramp at Bates Lake - we saw several private boat ramps at the numerous lakeside cottages. The fish camp was at the far end of the lake, and it turned out to be a floating fish camp with no shore access. So we turned around and headed back out to the river and down to the Alabama River Cutoff, which was a mile or two farther downstream. It looked bleak for Baxter, since not only do the reviews all say there is no shore access, but they also mention the family of alligators that lives there!

As we pulled into the Alabama River Cutoff with Patty driving, I scanned the shoreline and had the first glimmer of hope for Baxter. First, the shoreline was flat, unlike so much of the high bank shoreline we had been passing on Black Warrior - Tombigbee.  Second, although it was wooded, I could see that the ground was flat and appeared firm. Third, maybe, just maybe, I could get the nose of the kayak in between a couple of bushes, Baxter could jump out on a long leash, do his business, hop back on, and I could paddle back to the boat.

Screenshot of Alabama River Cutoff anchorage

The first potential hitch in this plan was the current in the Alabama River. I have no way to measure its speed, but everything coming downstream was literally whizzing by. Our anchor set immediately, and the current held us absolutely straight. I started doubting my ability to paddle the kayak upstream, and I certainly did not want to be swept out to the Black Warrior - Tombigbee. I don't know how long I stood on the bow debating whether to take the kayak down, but there was a lot of vacilating and  it was not a quick decision! The second potential hitch was the alligators, but I scanned the shoreline and did not see any alligators. That is not to say, (A) there weren't any alligators there, or (2) they were not watching me!

Patty came up with a plan. We would attach one of the 50 foot lock lines to one of the stern D rings on the kayak, I would see if I could paddle upstream, and if not, I could pull myself back to the boat by the long line. It turned out paddling upstream was easier than I anticipated, and although I would not have wanted to paddle very far upstream, all I had to do was paddle across the current to the shore and then back. We took the lock line off, got Baxter in his doggie PFD, and headed off with a longer than normal leash (a length of utility cord attached to his normal leash). He hopped out, did his business, and promptly wrapped his leash around a tree! My plan had been to stay in the kayak, but now I had to get out to extricate Baxter!  I was hoping a cute little dog wrapped around a tree would not look like food to some alligator!  It  turned out not to be too difficult for me to get out of the kayak, untangle Baxter, and get us both quickly back in the kayak!

Patty and I had a very pleasant evening on the cockpit listening to our favorite classical guitarist, Javier Van Velthoven, courtesy of the iPad Music app and our Bose Soundlink Mini. Twenty years ago we were in Barcelona, and stopped to listen to this fantastic guitarist playing on the steps of the Gothic Cathedral in Cathedral Square. He was playing melody, chords and bass line all at the same time, simply astounding to me, a mere chord banger. He had his guitar case open with CDs, so I bought one. We later Googled him (Google was brand new back then, and Patty was an early adopter!) - turns out he was already a world famous classical guitarist who had studied under Segovia. Every track on the album, entitled simply Guitarra, is a masterpiece that we never tire of hearing. This album is our usual sundowner music. Pure serendipity that he was playing on the Cathedral steps!

Tomorrow, at last, we will reach Mobile. Our goal is the Dog River Marina, and we will, finally, have completed the Chicago to Mobile leg of our Loop! The following day we will be in Florida, and on our way to visit our friends Bob and Marie Austin in Pensacola, where we visited on our way down back in March! 

  

Bobby's Fish Camp

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 193 - October 10m. 2017

We left our anchorage at Mile 168.5, Old Lock 2, a little later than planned because of the fog, but we were away by 7:30 a.m. Our destination was the famous Bobby's Fish Camp!

For Loopers, two marinas are kind of "must stop" places. The first of course is Hoppies, which is the beginning of the 250 mile run with no fuel (shorter now that the Paducah marina and fuel dock are open) to Green Turtle Bay, and the other is Bobby's Fish Camp. Bobby's is the only marina and fuel stop  on the 212 mile run from Demopolis to Mobile. In truth, neither is anything more than a place Loopers need to stop because of where they are!

Bobby's Fish Camp is a single tie along side, single dock right on the river, about 120 feet long (not sure of the length, maybe 150 feet). It is first come, first-served, and rafting is common, and you pay the per foot fee whether you are on the dock or rafted! The restaurant at Bobby's is famous for the fried catfish dinners, but it is only open from Thursday through Sunday, and we were there on a Tuesday, so no catfish for us!

We got to Bobby's earlier than we thought we would. Cecil and Danny on Desperado were already there tied up at the far end, as was Rico, whose 25 foot sailboat Osazze was tied up at the fuel dock. Rico told us he was not staying the night, and after he fueled up, he headed for the Coffeyville Lock. We tied up near the fuel dock, but Lora, Bobby's daughter who now runs the marina since Bobby died in 2011, told us two large yachts were coming, so we moved back just in front of Desperado.

The large yachts that soon arrived were Moon River, a 90 footer, complete with captain and crew, and Katybird IV, a mere 70 footer.  Katybird IV tied up to the dock and Moon River rafter to her. We said our hellos but otherwise did not have a lot of interaction with the crew or guests on the big boys!

Moon River and Katybird IV at Bobby's Fish Camp

We had a very pleasant evening sitting on the dock with Cecil and Danny from the trawler Depserado,  and this was the longest time we had to converse with them, even though we had rafted to them in several locks on the Trent-Severn.  Some adult beverages were enjoyed! They are from Cape Coral, Florida, and we may or may not have a chance to see them again there!

Cecil and Danny, Desperado in the background!

Once again, we were treated to a pretty spectacular afterglow up the Black Warrior - Tombigbee Waterway!

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Evening view up the Black Warrior - Tombigbee Waterway from Bobby's Fish Camp

We are now two days from Mobile. There is one more night we must anchor out, and this one really has me worried.  There is simply no anchorage that has any dry land to take Baxter to shore. Not  a boat ramp even. And there are alligators downstream from the Coffeyville Lock. This it seems will be a test!

Mile 168.5 on BWTB Waterway - Old Lock 2 Anchorage

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 192 - October 9. 2017

We set our alarm for 5:30 a.m. to be ready for a 7:00 a.m. departure, but as it turned out, we really did not need to get up so early!  Not only was it still quite dark at 7:00 a.m. but it was also a bit foggy, so we and Cecil and Danny on Desperado decided to delay our departure until 7:30 a.m. Getting up early did let me have extra time for things like filling the water tank and walking Baxter. Coffee and toast, and it was 7:30 a.m. soon enough!

Visibility had improved somewhat by 7:30 a.m., and we departed with Cecil and Danny on Desperado, Rico on his sailboat., and one other trawler, headed for the Demopolis Lock about three miles downstream. Cecil had telephoned the lock master, who was expecting us and had the lock ready.  We entered the lock except the fourth boat, which radioed the lock master that they were having engine trouble and were turning around and going back. The view of the downside of the dam of the Demopolis Lock was very pretty, but unfortunately, we did not have a chance to take a picture.

Our boats all travel at different speeds. Desperado travels at 8+ mph, we travel (with the push or the river current) between 7 and 8 mph, and Rico, whose 25 foot sailboat is powered by a 9.9 hp outboard, travels at about 6 mph, so we soon got fairly widely spread out. We were able to keep Desperado in sight for quite a long time, but with  all  the serpentine bends in the Black Warrior - Tombigbee Waterway and the speed differential, we eventually lost sight of them.

We knew they were headed for an anchorage about five miles farther downstream than the one we had selected. Picking anchorages out of Skipper Bob, or Active Captain for that matter, is a bit of a crap shoot! You don't know what you will actually find until you get there!

We had picked Old Lock 2 at Mile 168.5 from Active Captain. There were only three reviews, but they were all favorable, and what carried the day was that there was a boat ramp, which had been mentioned in one review as being available for landing pets. We were amazed that we covered the 47 miles so quickly and arrived at about 2 p.m.

We made a couple of attempts at positioning the boat in the anchorage. BWTB anchorages are all mostly just notches in the river out of the channel so the tows can safely pass, although there are several that are actually creeks off the channel. The first one of those, however, Bashi Creek, at 70 miles from Demopolis, was farther than we wanted to travel. The first spot seemed too close to the shore. The second spot seemed too far out in the channel. The third spot was just right!  We anchored in about 12 feet just past the end of the rip rap for the boat ramp, and just to be safe, we ran a stern line around a tree on the shore and pulled the stern in farther away from the channel. We confirmed by VHF with the fist passing tow that we were safely out of the channel.

Screenshot of Old Lock 2 anchorage

Daydream tucked into the notch off the channel at Old Lock 2 at Mile 168.5 

We thought there might be some remnants of Old Lock 2 at the anchorage but there was no evidence we could see that there had ever been a lock at this location. What we did find at the top of the boat ramp, though, completely blew us away.

There was a large Corps of Engineers park, just like the parks that we had seen associated with active locks, that was still being maintained. It had acres of grass that was still being mowed, picnic tables with BBQ stands, trash cans, pit toilets with TP and working water spigots. This is not a facility that we had expected to find on the Black Warrior - Tombigbee Waterway. Strangest of all to me was that this park had not even been mentioned in any of the Active Captain reviews. I can only guess that nobody else had ever walked up to the top of the boat ramp, because if they had, they surely would have mentioned the park! Or maybe it didn't matter to them because they don't have pets and don't ever get off their boats. But if you travel with your  four legged friends, not only does shore access matter, but so does the quality of the shore! We have had shore access where Baxter had to be content on a 20 foot mud bar!  Not only is there shore access here, but there is the best imaginable spot for Fido to romp in the park!  Old Lock 2 anchorage at Mile 168.5 is a hidden treasure!

A bit later, we saw Rico coming down the river in this sailboat, and he pulled over for a minute. We thought he might like to stay here with us, but he had decided he was going to push on to Bashi Creek. He has more stamina than we do for sure! Seventy miles at 6 miles per hour makes for a long day!

Tomorrow we press on to Bobby's Fish Camp, which is the only marina / fuel stop on the Black Warrior - Tombigbee Waterway!

  

The Day After

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 191 - October 8. 2017

It is not as though there was no Hurricane Nate, we saw many cities on the TV news with flooded streets. It's just that while we were sleeping it either totally missed us or passed over us with no perceptible effects. The worst part, it turns out, was all the anxiety in the days leading up to last night!

So we got busy putting things back together.  

First I moved the boat back to the starboard finger pier so getting on and off was not an exercise in broad jumping. Then we had to remember how the pieces of that jigsaw puzzle that is our camperback fit together.  Fortunately, after 12 years we can pretty much look at each piece and it will come to us where it goes with a minimum of wrong guesses! Then the kayak had to be pulled out and put back up on top. Finally, all the stuff in the cockpit had to be put back where it goes for cruising instead of for potential hurricanes. 

We started talking with other Loopers about their plans to depart. tomorrow morning.  We will at least start out with Cecil and Danny on Desperado, and a couple of other boats. We'll aim to be on the river cruising toward the Demopolis Lock by 7 a.m.

Now the fun part. We had become friends with Rico who was on our dock at Kingfisher Marina on a 25 foot sailboat. I don't know Rico's last name, and I can't remember the name of his boat. I don't know all of Rico's story, but his daughter and 14 year old grandson live in Oregon, but he has spent the last 14 years with his mother in Tennessee because she asked him to, and he felt the need to honor her wishes.  But now he is on his way back to Oregon. When he gets to Mobile, the rest of us will turn left for Florida, but Rico will turn right for Texas for Galveston. We are not sure how but somehow he plans to get himself and his sailboat back to Oregon.

So what it the fun part, you ask? Well, Rico was standing on our finger pier saying how he admired the C-Dory and really like the name Daydream. Patty asked him if he had ever seen the movie The Scarlet Pimpernel. Rico replied "You mean the 1982 version with Anthony Andrews and Jane Seymour?" The movie is about an English nobleman, Sir Percy Blakeney, who through clever disguises and guile is on a mission to save the French noblemen, many of whom were innocent of any wrong doing, from madame la guillotine This is the premise of the movie, not a comment on the French Revolution! His symbol was a scarlet pimpernel, which Sir Percy describes as "but a humble English flower."

Apparently he had!  In fact, it is on his computer, and, like us, he has watched it over and over...and in his case, over and over some more! He instantly understood why our boat is named Daydream - it is from the pivotal scene in the movie where Chauvelin (Ian McKellen) and Sir Percy (Anthony Andrews) have just had a duel which Sir Percy of course won but he declined to kill Chauvelin. Chauvelin points out that there is no escape, his men are guarding the causeway which is the only way off the island castle.

We are pretty sure that there is not another human alive on this planet who knows ALL the dialog from The Scarlet Pimpernel as well as we do. Rico gave us Sir Percy's reply: "Ah, but if you will care to look out THAT window, you will see my yacht The Daydream waiting to carry me and my men safely back to England!" We spent the next half hour quoting the dialog from all the great scenes of this movie back and forth to each other!

Rico is a kindred spirit!

Hurricane Eve and the Morning After

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 190 - October 7. 2017

Although this is dated October 7, which, as I write this, is yesterday, I am going to include this morning as well. I will write tomorrow about what we did today!

The day was devoted to watching the weather news in the TV room, talking to other Loopers, walking Baxter,  and readying Daydream for a storm of unknown track and intensity. 

Daydream was first secured more or less in the center of the slip with six lines, three on each side, loose enough that she could rise and fall if there were flood waters but tight enough that she would not bang into the floating finger pier on either side. It took some time to adjust the lines so the boat was both riding where we wanted her and we were still able to get on and off without taking a swim! Fortunately, these slips are one boat per slip, so there was no boat next to us to contend with. It is also a covered slip long enough to accommodate 40 foot boats, so we tucked her way up into the slip as far forward as she could go, with one of the lines on each side as a spring line to the stern to keep the bow off the main dock.

Daydream secured in slip

We removed all the cockpit canvas on the sides and rear, all 11 pieces, rolled them up, and secured them with velcro straps. This cockpit camperback is a real jigsaw puzzle! I rolled the camperback roof (we all call it the "bimini," but it is really a full roof, not a bimini like on a center console), wrapped it around the supporting frame, secured it with more velcro, and laid that down resting on the Honda BF150.

Everything else in the cockpit was moved to the floor, and a few light items were moved inside.

I decided against taking the folding bikes down, because they seemed pretty well secured on the roof below the radar arch.

The Sea Eagle was left floating between the finger piers with a long line attached loosely to each end and to the finger piers on each side. My main concern for the kayak was that it not be rubbing against anything if the waves or wind kicked up. Since it too was under the cover, I figured whatever water might get into it would be easy enough to dump out.

Sea Eagle was left floating between floating finger piers

And we waited along with everyone else until we went to bed.

We had a peaceful night's sleep. We heard some hard rain falling on the tin roof of the structure covering the slips, be we felt absolutely no wind or waves. The main issue for sleeping was the heat and humidity. We put our screen on the cockpit door and left the door open, with our Endless Breeze fan blowing into the vee-berth.  I fell asleep promptly but Patty has really been bothered by the stickiness of the heavy air.

When I woke up at 7:30 a.m., I did not know if Nate had been here and gone or was still on its way!  After taking Baxter for a quick walk, I poked my head into the TV room to see the news update. I still do not know whether Nate just missed us or went through here as such a weak storm that we were not even aware of it. The news was showing the flooding and power outages  in the coastal cities, but it was clear from the storm track map they were showing that Nate was already well past us.

Nate was, thankfully, a non-event in Demopolis. I will not say that we were over-anxious, because the best way to get in trouble with a hurricane or tropical storm is to underestimate it! I have no way of knowing if our preparations would have been sufficient if Nate had been what it might have been, and we are very glad for that!

Today will be devoted to putting the camperback up again, and revisiting plans for our departure tomorrow!

A lingering thought that is bothering me this morning  is what might have happened to the Loopers who had already gone past Demopolis, who might have been caught somewhere between Demopolis and Mobile, or worse, might have actually reached Mobile and were there when Nate hit. We'll be anxious to hear about how they fared.

Another Day Waiting for Nate

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 189 - October 6. 2017

Hurricane Nate is inexorably working his way here, and yet it is another normal day at Kingfisher Bay Marina in every respect.  We are even getting tired of watching the weather channel, because what the talking heads are saying never seems to change much.

I have received some good advice about how to prepare for what we know is coming. Tie the boat with double lines in the middle of the slip. Take down the cockpit canvas. Move anything that might become a flying object inside.  

Tomorrow will be no different, except I will start working on the actual preparations. Based on forecasts, I will have pretty much all day tomorrow because the earliest anything is likely to happen is Saturday night or Sunday morning or even later.

It seems the biggest impact here will likely be high winds and rain. There will be no storm surge because there are two locks between the Gulf and here. We are tucked way up under a covered slip with our 25 foot boat in a slip that can accommodate 40 footers, so we are not too concerned about the rain except as it impacts flooding on the Tombigbee. We are on the north side of the marina on the "A" side with "B," "C" and "D" at least somewhat acting as windbreaks. We have been warned we could see winds up to 70 miles an hour, but we will have done as much about that as we can by tomorrow.  

Today is also our daughter Lydia's 35th birthday! Since I don't have any other pictures from Demopolis, here is a great shot of Lydia and son-in-law Conor! back in Okanogan, WA. Happy birthday, sweetie!

Conor and Lydia Hamilton

Since we are from Washington, where among the things we don't have are hurricanes and tornadoes, I thought I would close this post with a little silliness - some of the lyrics from one of our favorite songs, "Washington, Washington" - we like the version by the Olga Symphony best!

(CHORUS) 
Washington, Washington 
Come to the land of the rhododendron 
We got the geoduck and the mountain range 
The aplet and the cotlet* and the hydroplane 

A land devoid of the alligator 
No tsetse fly and no tornado 
No pyramid, no Irish stew 
Whatever you got, we don't want it too (CHORUS) 

A land devoid of the mango tree 
Flamingo or dingo and killer bee 
No pesky sunshine to spoil the view 
Whatever you want, we don't got it too (CHORUS) 

OLE!