Catfish, Gators and Fog

We did get to tour two of the historic antebellum homes in Demopolis before we left: Bluff Hill and Gainswood, both very interesting. They use the term antebellum to refer to anything before the Civil War. Right after Demopolis is the Demopolis Lock (go figure!) Another 40 feet down we went after delaying an hour or so for early morning fog. After going about 50 miles down river, we anchored just off the channel with five other boats. We all got together on Transition, Bill and Jill's 42 ft. Kadey Krogen from Vermont. I was afraid I'd develop "trawler envy" after seeing how 12 people can socialize on a boat and not feel crowded, but I didn't. I purposely avoided touring their sleeping areas however; ignorance is bliss!
















We saw our first alligators the next day: three separate sightings of them just relaxing in the sun - very creepy looking. We're definitely "not in Kansas anymore!"

That night we got to experience Bobby's Fish Camp - a must stop along the Loop. It's just a dock, fuel and the restaurant where 12 of us had a Friday night fish fry southern style. That's fried catfish, french fries, cole slaw and hushpuppies. Paul had catfish at the marina restaurant in Demopolis but it was the first time I'd had it. If you want any alcoholic beverages besides canned beer, you bring your own and they provide the glasses. It was very tasty and a fun time.












Going down 34 feet at the Coffeeville Lock the next morning completed the 26 locks on our way down and we are now basically at sea level. Also the water is considered tidal from this point forward. We felt a sense of accomplishment! That night we anchored in a little creek with just a houseboat for company. That was our first experience with tidal activity. It was doing strange things to our bow and stern anchors so we left there at first light - in the fog. A little scary but we went slowly and made sure the two tows we encountered knew where we were. Ginger did not enjoy the horn we blew every two minutes during the most dense parts. Only one gator spotted on gator watch today.













Check out these chart pages. As you can see, river miles vs. net miles are somewhat of a disparity! Sometimes it was hard to tell what direction you were traveling.

We caught up to the "pack" again and anchored with the same five boats in a very peaceful anchorage a mile up the Tensas cut off, about a mile off the channel. We were now officially on the Mobile River, so named after the Alabama River flowed into it. There was moss hanging off the cypress trees and mullet fish jumping out of the water, no gators though. It was in the high 70s and sunny. Cocktail hour again on the same trawler; kind of nostalgic as this is the last night we'll probably all be at anchor together. On to Mobile tomorrow!