Thursday, Nov. 8
While we enjoyed Columbus Marina and would have been fine staying a little longer, we needed to get moving to stay ahead of some upcoming weather patterns…like the approaching COLD snap! Columbus is 335 miles from Mobile. There are very few marinas (so we must anchor out some nights) and longer passages along this leg of the trip, so weather conditions play a bigger role in our schedule.
We departed Columbus at 7:45am in a light drizzle. We needed to cover 65 miles and get through 2 locks to make it to our selected anchorage before dark. Passing through the locks was uneventful, so we spent the day chugging along at 10 mph in the rain. No flotillas today ... most Loopers prefer traveling in dry weather.
As usual, the river provided some items of interest along the way. We came upon the US Snagboat Montgomery just before the Tom Bevill Lock. It is now a museum with a visitor center. It was the last steam-powered sternwheeler (paddle-propelled boat) that had worked the southern waterways for nearly six decades - launched in 1925 and taken out of service in 1982. A snagboat is equipped to move/remove obstructions (snags) in the water that make inland waterways impassable.
The next couple hours had very few sightings of other boats or civilization. Then, as we rounded a bend, we spotted a telephone booth next to the river bank. It appears to be in very good shape. There is no sign of a town or campground, just a phone booth. Go figure!
A little further on we encountered some men working along barges on the bank causing Bo to become very excited and bark profusely. This made no sense since we have frequently passed by plants with men working. Then we got it. Each man was wearing a bright neon green safety rain suit (see photo - look closely, they are hard to see). Did Bo think they were tennis balls?? Maybe they look like it from a distance. Maybe Bo needs glasses! Disappointed that we did not stop to play with the tennis balls (Bo can get a little moody during these longer passages) we later found him chillin' on the couch listening to some sort of rap music (see photo).
We passed by the “Alligator Hilton” house boat just before reaching our anchorage around 3pm. We selected this anchorage because of its good reviews on Active Captain and location along the river. It is well protected, sufficiently deep to get in, has a boat ramp (to get Bo to shore without alligator hassles) and has enough room for 5 or 6 boats. There was one other boat in the anchorage when we arrived. We got anchored, dropped the dinghy in the water and got Bo to shore for a while.
We were all set for a quite night at anchor until about 3am. A thunderstorm moved in and caused an unexpected wind shift. We had a good set on our bow anchor, but the wind shift was putting a lot more strain on our stern anchor than expected. If the stern anchor lost its grip, we would likely get pushed into the shoreline. Brian did anchor watch for a couple hours until the storm passed. The lightning provided enough light at times to make sure we were not drifting, or he used a handheld spotlight when the lightning subsided. (Question – does anyone know if alligator eyes glow bright green when you shine a spotlight at them at night? If so, he saw an alligator!!!)
The weather in the morning encouraged us to get the anchor up and get moving (or we'd have to reset the stern anchor to stay away from the shoreline). We had both anchors up and were underway towards Demopolis by 6:50 am. The foredeck and swim platform had a new layer of Tenn-Tom waterway mud from hauling up our anchor chains. Fortunately, we would have a full day of rainy travel to wash some of it away.